What if the end was nigh? - Part 3 of 3

www.doom2.net/toke/, .../thunder/, .../noskill/ [*]

Memorial sites about the users of some Internet communities are not a new thing. A couple of years ago (in the 20^th century though...) the most convenient way to commemorate someone on the Internet was to make a simple web page with a few last words about the deceased. I found an interesting example of a community of the Doom game players.

The game itself is old enough to have a solid and numerous community of players. The members of that community were growing old together with the game. At the beginning young fans of the game were experiencing all the aspects of real life over that time, as well as the unavoidable aspect – death. Some of them passed away and their friends built special websites to commemorate them

That was an example of somehow old fashioned way, today another custom is more likely to be observed. As almost everyone is using some social networking service, friends or the family are changing the profiles of the deceased to “in Memoriam” pages (you're probably also familiar with the [*] - http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%5B%2A%5D&defid=4829973 ).

The problem with access to your e-mail, IM or social account after your death is that not every company wants to hand over the credentials even to the closest family. So in most cases when nobody else but the user knows the passwords to the Internet profiles, they remain active for months or even years... What can be sad and unpleasant for the nearest and dearest.

Legacylocker.com, Zostawslad.com

That's how we get closer to the idea of the digital testament. There's a couple of services allowing its' users to store their most important passwords, documents or images in one place just in case they die. The first internatioal service was the Legacylocker.com. The Polish equivalent also came to life quickly and is called Zostawslad.pl. These are special services with designed procedures of handing your digital propety to your friends or family. Zostawslad.pl for instance expects the user to log in periodically or else the procedure of death confirmation is launched and the passwords, credentials, documents are handed to the closest chosen people...

The virtual graveyard or cemetery is also not a new invention. The polish service called WirtualnyCmentarz.pl offers a simple memorial pages on their website. But would you really want to light “virtual candles” on the virtual graves of your friends or family? Especially when that Virtual Graveyard offers a digital place to rest for your pets as well... Just next to the memorial pages for the humans.

Not only our lives but our deaths also are becoming digital. Every day the bond between the real life and cyberspace is getting stronger... But are all those services just a fruit of commercial thinking or maybe the vision of the future? Are we ready to live and die on the Internet? Or does this just disgust you?