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My son was recently duped out of his precious mithriol plate armour on Runescape . Some savy preteen took advantage of my 8 year-old's greed for more armour in his first contact with "if it sounds too good to be true...." It was very emotional for him but thankfully not very signifcant in his real life well-being. It reminded me of when my daughter had something stolen at school and she felt responsible for her own misfortune until school administration rallied around her and seriously investigated this Junior High larceny. Ender is taken advantage of again and again by the adults around him but he doesn't fully realized he has been manipulated until the end of the novel. He ends up taking upon himself the responsiblity for all the acts he was manipulated and tricked into.
Are there other characters in OSC's works that deal with being duped? Do they usualy blame themselves? Ender deals with the anguish and anger by shutting down. How do other characters deal with such feelings?
Posts: 26 | Registered: Jan 2005
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RuneScape, Theres so many scammers in there. its so easy to get duped, or to dupe someone else...not that ive ever done that.
Posts: 332 | Registered: Apr 2005
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As all the "gains" in such games are completely hypothetical, and represent -- at least with MMORPGs -- the amount of time you're willing to spend rather than any sort of actual skill, and as challenges ramp up to meet your ability so that you never actually gain any real advantage over the world no matter how much time you spend (except as compared to other players who have not spent as much time), why not turn it into a game?
In other words, why not see how much valuable stuff you can give away to people who think they're scamming you? Document it. Put it on a webpage. Say something like "OMGeyeGotBig1 thinks he fooled me into giving up my mithril armor, but I farmed the Highlands for three weeks specifically so I could give it away to the most annoying doofus I met today. Congratulations, OMeyeGotBig1, for winning the prize!"
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:Are there other characters in OSC's works that deal with being duped?
Back to your original question...
Yes, I think I see this in some of his other works, as well. That's how I felt about the main character in Songmaster.
Betrayal, or being duped, happens to people at a very basic level (meaning, it doesn't depend on social standing, culture, etc. etc. - it seems to be something innate in human nature -- that some people just have the lack of character, or whatever you want to call it, and will dupe others). I think OSC captures this basic human nature very well in all his novels.
I'm trying to think if I could qualify any of the characters as being "duped" in the Alvin Maker series...
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Thrower and Planter, although I'd argue they were willing dupes. And the men of Vigor Church were duped by Harrison, although the dupees still committed evil through their own fault.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Tom, most gains are essentially meaningless, if you don't let yourself buy into the system. Real world gains have even less relation to skill than virtual ones, but most people chose to keep playing the game. It's more fun, and better for your sanity.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Apr 2005
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What came to mind first was little boys who were tricked into bad situations. Teague in Folk of the Fringe was manipulated to become his brother's and sister's jailor and Stevie in Lost Boys was caught in such a horrific snare I don't want to think about it. Both weren't completely taken by surprise. It seems a stretch, though, to call them duped. They were viciously abused.
Posts: 26 | Registered: Jan 2005
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