I am offended that you're offended

Please read the following with a sense of humor. If you don't have a sense of humor, please leave the blog as you will be offended by this post. Thank you.

So, now that the rest of them are gone, how many of the 3 of you are left. *counts hands* One? Good. Let's get started.

It only took me 30 years, but I've finally figured out that everything I do offends someone somewhere. I used to fret about this, but now, I find that I'm learning to be okay with it. In fact, I find it pretty funny.

Example One:

Back when I first began playing Sapphire, I got three sex-related tells in the space of a week. Two were outright "Cool bio/char...Wanna cyber?" types, and one was a query as to whether or not I was an MRP'er. (For those of you who may be as naive as I once was, this stands for "Mature Role Player". Took me a few weeks to realize that there were no G-rated equivalent titles and "mature" didn't mean more developed stories so much as stories which will contain sex.) Admittedly, this last query caught me on a day where I was in a rather silly mood, and I asked what an MRPer was. The other player didn't want to explain it to me. Apparently, you can be an MRPer without being mature enough to have a discussion about sexual rp.

Let me stop right here and tell you that I have no problems with MRPers, ERPers, or Zaninubian RPers. I figure to each his own, and there's got to be enough people playing this game that everyone can find their own flavor of playmate. I don't judge. Not my job. But, in the last year and a half, about 90% of the time I spend in game is now done with a great deal of humor. I rp, sure, and I stay in character, and I like rp, but it is not the serious business it once was. (May it never be again, and if that ever happens, PLEASE mock me until I come to my senses, as I do to anyone else in the game who takes something game related as serious business.)

And so, with tongue in cheek, I added some lines to Sapph's bio that read something like "Don't they use the term 'mature' to refer to old people? I'm not interested in pointless cyber.", and over the following months, I got a chuckle from someone in a tell now and then about it. I never dreamed it would offend anyone.

And then, I got a tell from someone reaming me out for being judgemental and intolerant. I even got accused of being a Republican and informed that gay people are now allowed to marry in California.

Example Two:

In a discussion in broadcast with 3 other players about what makes up an effective team, our conversation apparently offended a young man who felt that we should not be talking in the broadcast channel about the game we were playing. He subsequently threatened us each in tells that he would own us in PvP if we weren't too cowardly to face him.

I found that just too hilarious.

Example Three:

When I explained to someone I've recently met in game that I do not consider my online friendships in any way as important as my relationships here in real life with those around me, I was told how wrong I was, and that they're all equal. I asked if that person's fiance agreed with them, and they claimed the fiance did.

I give that marriage a year. ("I know your upset, honey, but I'm trying to help Jane through this messy break-up with her boyfriend in this IM. Just give me a few more minutes, and then, I'll help you. 'kay?")

It seems that whenever I respond to something with humorous intent, at least one reader will find my response insulting or offensive, rather than taking it in the spirit in which it is meant. I've found that when I fall into this trap myself, I need to take a deep breath, push my chair backward, and walk away from the computer for a few minutes to remind myself that I can, indeed, find you all hilarious. I've also found that when someone else falls into this trap, I'm gonna get yelled at.

And I've come to find that funny every time.