Sociology in Fantasia.

• Author: Rathburn, John M.
• Position: Letters - Letter to the editor

I was delighted to see some serious discussion of computer gaming culture in your June issue, including Bryan Alexander's review ("Sociology in Fantasia") of Nick Yee's book The Proteus Paradox: How Online Games and Virtual Worlds Change Us--and How They Don't. The material on racism and sexism, however, seemed a bit overdrawn.

Serious e-sportsmen detest gold spammers, botters, power-levelers, and the like (Alexander seems unclear as to the meaning of these terms) not because of who they are, but because of what they do: They appropriate resources, like mining nodes and communication channels, for commercial use that are necessary for the rest of us to play.

Additionally, they distort the player economy and cheapen the accomplishments of those who choose to earn their honors rather than purchase them. Although joining an online role-playing game...