disturbing stuff1 min read

a guy called ripper takes lots of drugs while chatting in front of his webcam – he consumes more and more – mixes benzos and ritalin and methadon – cheered on by some of his chatbuddies – he shows off how tough he is – and eventually dies of an overdose with the webcam transmitting untill the bitter end.
yesterday a friend gave me the url, where one can read the transcript of ripper’s last chat. it’s tragic. it’s scary. it’s deeply disturbing.
yet it adresses a very real issue: where is the line between talking shit and things getting serious in online interactions? what responsibilty do we have towards our chat-friends?
it seems clear, that if someone did this in the same room with us, we would call an ambulance without much hesitation. yet with this whole interaction taking place in an irc chat-room and on a webcam the other chatters were hesitant untill it was too late. and when they did try to intervene, they realised they did not have the necessary info, because of the relative anonymity of the web…

[04:19] Oea> don’t die motherfucker
[04:19] Oea> i’ll kill you
[04:20] phalaris> ripper .. you should try as best to pass out in front of the cam
[…]
[04:23] Smoke2k> ok look dude
[04:23] Smoke2k> heres the plan
[04:23] Smoke2k> cram the pill up your ass
[04:24] Smoke2k> look if we pay pal you enough money will you do it
[…]
[04:45] ripper> tonight is a good night
[…]
[05:04] ripper> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~shoa
[05:04] ripper> I’m fukcin