Over the years I’ve encountered one attitude that still irks me. The attitude that the Internet is not “real life” which manifests in antagonistic behaviour, justified by the belief that whatever they say can’t really affect someone else because it’s not “real life”

Michael linked to a great story (which I can’t find now) of someone’s experience of online gameplay which reduced a player to tears. He accidentally did something which caused an uproar because it nullified many hours of effort that another player had put in, broke the trust another group of players had tentatively given him, and sullied their trust of the friend who convinced the group to give him a chance. Clearly social dynamics are as much in effect online as they are offline.