Oberost, on 06 February 2017 - 06:16 AM, said:
Is the lack of penalty what drives these people to act that way. IRL if you're an ******* and cross some of the lines that we all call laws, you get punished, while on the internet you can be a jerk because it's free. A 10 minutes penalty for TK someone? Go ahead and do it, it's almost free. And so on...
We are not good people per se, we are what we are because we have an education, culture and FEAR of the consequences of breaking our social codes. There is nothing of that on the internet.
The honor system doesn't work. Only the threat of physical violence and economic penalties really change a person's behavior (unless they choose to change themselves). Since neither of those motivating factors are present online, people act however they want.
I always imagine how it would be to drive in rush hour traffic on the freeway if everyone was allowed to open carry and shoot at other drivers. Sure, there would be more random deaths at first but I think it would work itself out and eventually everyone would drive around politely and on alert. A-holes might kill a few people on the road but they'd get gunned down themselves eventually.