Problems and Solutions

Sometimes, in the course of my Ptolus campaign, some of my players would seem incredulous that certain bad things could exist in that fictional world and the people there would tolerate it. "Why," they would ask, "wouldn't all the warriors and able-bodied citizens go to the Necropolis where all the undead are coming from and tear the place down once and for all?" "And if that's not possible, why wouldn't the people move away?" Good questions, I suppose, and the fact that they even exist seems to make that fictional setting even more like our real world, I think. Because the real world is full of questions like that too.

In short, the fictional world seems to be more real because it doesn't all make logical sense. Just like the real world.

What do I mean? Well, I'll skip over all the obvious violence, crime, destruction of the environment, and overpopulation issues, simply because unlike what many people would have you believe, those issues aren't new. They're also heavy and depressing. I'd rather be a little more lighthearted. Let's look at (reminiscent of that old Chevy Chase movie) "modern problems."

1. Telemarketers
Sue and I got an automated "courtesy call" at 6:30 in the morning today. Now at our house, if someone isn't dying, calling at 6:30 in the morning is a crime punishable by, well, death, pretty much. It was from AT&T, a company we're already using. Now, however, we're thinking about changing, based on that call alone.

Like I'm sure you do, we get two to three telemarketer calls every day. We've never bought anything from one. They are purely annoying. But it's more than that. It's an invasion of our privacy in our home. Why are we, as a society, tolerating it? We all complain about it. Stand up comedians go on and on about it. But we do nothing.

Is there a solution? Well, I do know that some legislation is in the works to reduce the problem, but for now you can go here and sign up to be on a do-not-call list. If you do it by mail there's no charge. It can't really hurt. You can also read about the list at junkbusters.com, as well as some other things you can do.

2. Email Spam
Like telemarketer calls, I get two to three emails a day advertising how I can work at home for big bucks, help Nigerians launder money, get better car insurance, or go to websites with content better left unmentioned. It's an annoyance and it's so prevalent it clogs the Internet. But it keeps on coming.

Can we do anything about it? Some. Junkbusters.com also provides some advice about spam and how to get rid of it. (The whole junkbusters site is a good one for advice on privacy issues like these and what you can do about it.)

3. Computer Viruses
Speaking of email, I get a couple emails every day infected with some computer virus. Fortunately, I've got good protection against infected emails and never open attachments from hardly anyone (if you sent me an attachment, sorry -- I didn't open it). Viruses you can fight against. Get some good virus protection software, and be careful about what you download and whom you accept things from. Or, just get yourself a firewall.

But still, I think to myself, how much time and money and effort are we spending dealing with these stupid annoyances? Working online with all these viruses flying about is like trying to get your taxes done in a room full of squealing children. At some point, don't we as a computerized society need to come up with some way to just put a stop to them?

Regarding #2 and #3, the thing that makes me the maddest is that I can remember when the Internet was a friendly place. You could go to any website, download any little bit of freeware (screen savers, desktop images, games, or whatever) and never have to worry. You could send your friends an attached file of something interesting or funny that you found and they'd be grateful, not suspicious. Now the Internet is a dangerous place. "If I download this, am I going to get a virus? Is it going to load some spyware on my computer? (Don't know about spyware? Get yourself a copy of ad aware right now.) Am I going to be bombarded with pop-up ads, flashing, squealing banner ads, or animated ads that dance annoying across my browser? (Marketers are the devil, and the devil has come to the Internet.)

While there are defenses that you and I can personally take against these threats and annoyances, doesn't it seem like someone should do something about this stuff? I mean, really do something? We all know, though, that the answers are complicated. Come up with some ultimate virus defense and the little creeps out there making viruses will just find a way around it. Create a way to find and kill spyware, and they'll create spyware that finds and uninstalls your anti-spyware software (no, I'm not making that up). Plus, it's almost all driven by economics. As long as there is money in spam, or telemarketing calls, or whatever, it'll always be around.

Ultimately, there are answers regarding why bad things happened and why they were tolerated in the fictional-world Ptolus campaign. As in the real world, the answers are complicated.