Social Media Last Will and Testament

The Setting: So what happens when an online gamer dies? How will his online gaming buddies know about it? Will they think he just abandoned them? Do we care?

I read an interesting article about family members searching down their dead gamer relative's passwords to online sites and then logging on to contact the gamer's friends to let them know what happened. Some gamers are actually leaving their log in / password details where family members can find them so that if they should die, their family members can log on to the various sites and communicate their demise.

There is a site called Deathswitch where members pay $20 a year and set up to 30 e-mails. If they don't check in at regular intervals, the e-mails are automatically sent to whomever the member specified. Another site called Slightlymorbid, whose byline says "Notify your online friends if something happens to you," is similar to Deathswitch. The difference is that the member does not need to check in at regular times; instead, their family member contacts the company if something happens to the member to start the "notification process." The Legacy Locker site plans to launch in April. It will require a death certificate before releasing any information.

With the popularity of online games and social media, I imagine we'll see more and more companies like these popping up. Click here to view the Death of gamers article.