eLanguage

Our language, evolved over thousands of years, breaks down in cyber space. For instance, this dialogue occurred while playing halo 2 online:

WeStSiDEkillA: I swear ya'll, if you let dem score I'll rip off yo balls and feed dem to ya'll.

Now this is typical male sporting lingo and if we were on a soccer field I would kick it up a notch so that WeStSidEkillA wouldn't castrate me and my team mates. But in cyberspace what does this threat really mean? The threat of physical/material harm in an immaterial environment is a completely empty threat. I imagine that this sort of perform-or-be-assaulted interaction among men originated deep in the historical past when warriors rallied the weaker men to defend tribal territories. It doesn't work however when the people in your tribe are thousands of miles apart, sitting on thier couches, drinking beer, smoking weed--are completely removed from reality.