We've discussed the aspect of taking risks while playing, and my position on it hasn't changed.

If you are going to take risks that could require emergency assistance and thereby incur a significant cost to save your sorry butt, then you ought to be held accountable for those costs. Since most people don't have a spare $100,000+ laying around in a bank account (in other words self-insured), it would therefore make sense that anyone willing to take such a risk ought to be required to have insurance, post a bond, or otherwise provide some surety of payment in the event that their luck runs out before they get back to civilization.

In the real world, whenever people engage in risky activities as a means of earning money, they are usually required to have some sort of surety, usually in the form of insurance, that pays the bills for them if something goes wrong. The more risky opportunities usually require a higher premium for coverage, and to be sure there are laws and regs that limit the amount of liability should it become a matter or civil remedy in court.

Look, if I go to Baghdad on my own nickel just to see what it is like over there today, and I get myself in a bad way, should I expect the US government to send in the troops to come save me because I thought the risk was acceptable for the adventure potential? Lot on your knife (A Conan phrase).

I have no problem with people doing things that are challenging, that connect them to their environment at a basic, less civilized level. If they would include in their preparations for such endeavors some measure of personal accountability so that I and the rest of the folks in our community who aren't so adventurous don't have to come save them by paying for well trained teams of rescuers and the best equipment money can buy, then I think there would be a lot less griping from the peanut gallery about reckless behavior.

Then again, that whole argument could be applied to our society in general. There was a time when if you went off on a little adventure and you got in trouble, there wasn't going to be a big rescue, unless you had planned for it beforehand and someone with a vested interest in your rescue was committed to it.