and defeat more agonizing. heh. (Welcome to the Wide World of Sports!) I would rather view the ship as an extension of self rather than just a dumb screwdriver.

It would be like looking at the game and thinking your only seeing digital pixels and complex algorithms rather than planets, gates, ships and explosions. We invest emotionally in the pixels because it’s what we want to do, to escape RL methinks.

And people are reacting to the grief that pilots feel after losing a ship. Take for instance Alexia Morgan‘s recent post. I don’t think there’s much doubt that grief in any form is seen as weak and pathetic attraction to simple tools.

My point is that there is grief. It is proportional to the amount of emotion energy invested in the procurement and subsequent endeavors of the “tool”. Grief is a natural response. The lack of grief demonstrates either emotional disconnect similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, disassociation or schizophrenia and can result in even greater problems down the road if left unchecked.

If you lose a loved one, grief is understandable and encouraged. If you decide to kick and scream and throw a tantrum over it, then you’re an immature fool.

Emotional maturity is being able to swallow the former without necessarily resulting in the latter.