abstract:Fear play is any sexual activity involving the use of fear to create sexual arousal. Unlike masochistic tendencies, fear play does not offer the subject pleasure or arousal through a rush of endorphins, but rather a terrified mental state which triggers a release of adrenaline.
This wouldn't be an ugly Willie Horton-type tactic intended to harvest fear and play on stereotypes about who is a criminal and who isn't, or -- in this case -- who uses drugs and who sells them?
The fear comes into play when a consumer takes to Twitter to rattle off a Tweet complaining about this or that or ask specific product and service questions.
Some now fear Microsoft could play that game after open-source software distributor Novell (nasdaq: NOVL - news - people ) struck a sales and marketing pact with Microsoft last year.