In 'Second Life,' the ring of revolution?

(continued from previous page)

"My sense is that (Second Life radicals) tend to be like college students or people who are politically active in real life, and they want to role-play being on-the-fringe activists and radicals," he theorized. "There are people who role-play being humanoid furry squirrels or robots. This is just another extension of that."

Au has a point. But SLLA representatives are quick to note that the majority of their members are involved in leftist causes in the real world--though they often decline to be more specific.

Solidad Sugarbeet said the SLLA is comprised of people "from all across the left in Second Life and real life, as well as people whose primary concern is avatar rights in Second Life." Another SLLA member, with an avatar by the name of Hythlodaeus Uggla, claims to belong to the former group.

"(The) SLLA is a platform (for) the right to elect and have influence on your world," Hythlodaues Uggla said. "If we criticize that people are allowed to own our virtual world, maybe people will get their eyes opened to the absurdity of people owning our real world."

That said, most think it's a serious stretch to think the poseurs will be joined by real-life menaces. In fact, the bigger concern for some is drawing real-life government interest.

"I think it's very plausible that in the next few years, there's going to be at least some limited government presence, if there's not already," Au said. In 2005, after all, he used his blog to highlight a U.S. Department of Homeland Security experiment in Second Life.

The SLLA scoffs at the terrorist talk.

"Honestly, that's such a red herring," Sugarbeet said. "All political organizations use the Internet, both left and right, extremist and mainstream. Further, concealing one's identity is hardly a new thing on the Internet."

Undoubtedly, the future of grassroots politics in Second Life--both mainstream and fringe--depends on the future of Second Life itself. And that's still a question.

While some are optimistic about the future of the virtual world as a new platform for everything from big media to the boardroom, many critics dismiss Second Life as overhyped at best and a scam at worst.

Grassroots political activism, of course, has found a stable home on Web forums and blogs, and if Second Life manages to continue, it will likely stay there as well--provided that participants can deal with the occasional Super Mario griefing.

As for Second Life's terrorists, the best that can be said is that anyone who uses the avatar name Hythlodaeus (which means "knower of nonsense" in Greek and is the name of a character in Renaissance author Thomas More's Utopia) is at least rather well-read.

"Show me the proof," Galloway said. "Where are the terrorists in Second Life? I think at this point, it's basically vaporware."

[Dr. B]

Stupid Terrorists

It's even dumber in the virtual world than it is in real life. Don't
they realize a key difference between real life and this game?
They can quit second life and not suffer any consequences. They
still have their first life to go back to. That's what the SECOND in
Second Life is there for isn't it?

If they really want to vote, they should vote with their wallets
and action and go find a different game that'll serve their
purpouses better. Or go start their own game. They they can
choose whether or not to let people vote in it. MMOGs are not
democracies, they're dictatorships of those who own and run
them, and who are the players to demand the right to vote in
game?

[Sir Limey]

Too True!

Perhaps it is because these people don't have a real life that they go down these paths. As usual some people want it all without paying for it. If you don,t like the rules don't play the game

[mcugaedu]

Revolutionaries or bullies?

All forms of online interaction develop a serious problem with bullies or "griefers" once the novelty wears off. Maybe that's what's about to happen to Second Life.

[Too Old For IT]

Why should Second Life be any different than real life?

Bullies, jocks, the in-crowd have all ruled the roost as long as I can remember.

[cohaver]

Something to think about?

Ask yourself this this type of game format should
given to Terrorists or Convicts in prisons to probe there minds it would open the minds of our intelligence organizations and Law enforcement to their fantasy's and how they operate.

[cirland]

Violation of user agreement.

I've never played second life, but I do play WoW (surprise I know). I know if you do any sort of act that has an adverse affect on the servers that would get you banned (for life?). I can see this getting bigger only because people with extreme passions do extreme things.

If it were my server I would be a bit ticked off.

[qwerty75]

actually

the account gets banned not the person. It is next to impossible to ban someone in a online game.

Even if the only payment accepted is a credit card it is still very difficult to ban someone, and not just the account.

[jleemc44]

why second life?

What's cnets obsession with second life and why all the free press for a fad we won?t remember 4 or 5 years from now?

Or is it free....

[gabegard]

They have a stake

CNET's coverage of SL has gone through the roof since the opened a 'virtual office' in the game. They've invested in SL, so they pump it endlessly. Honestly, I think all they're doing is turning people off.

[Hardrada]

Good God, enough already!

Why not have a daily article about knitting? It would be relevant to more people in this forum.

[avfolk--2008]

ENOUGH OF THIS HYPE

This is a marketing gimmick. That's it folks.
It's a game, where the players are pawns for ad agencies like
GSD&M to profit from.... get over it. YOU HAVE BEEN HAD.
And yeah, if you're into 'Second Life'... how about working on your
first one?

[mjm01010101]

I agree, why is CNET Second Life's Proxy?

I get RSS feeds, and for the past six months I see Second life stories coming from Cnet bi-weekly. I agree with the above poster: We are sick of reading about it. We don't use it and have no plans to (remember the data breach, anyone still using it is getting what they ask for.)

Sick of it. Remember when you covered the entire industry? The big picture?

[zoetherot]

read your cardholder agreement

if you think the breach that happened in second life is significant in the slightest, you need to start looking around. Besides, your acquiring bank and the card brands eat all the cost of fraud anyway, so what do you care? All you have to do is fill out the form....

[Jerry Dawson]

You missed the point, guys...

The point is simply that you can have discussions that cross all boundaries - the group is made up of people from all over the world. A marvellous exchange of viewpoints. We took it to the John Edwards campaign HQ last night, and it was fun, to say the least. No bombs or silliness, just an open discussion.

[extinctone]

Wow, that really makes John Edwards look like a loser.

Maybe he should start campaigning on online gambling sites or dungeons and dragons newsgroups.

[zoetherot]

people will do anything for publicity

authoritarian government? wrong.
Are you a shareholder in second life? No.
You own zero assets, therefore you get to make zero rules.

LL created SL, therefore in your model, LL is god.
Would you start an opposition group against god?

No, you wouldn't. I would though - because i'm hardcore and you are not. I'm coming for you God.

[direlobo]

Edwards

As more and more mainstream politicians--like Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards--begin using Second Life as a campaign venue, the

FALSE. Simple fact checking would reveal that the so-called campaign site in Second Life was set up by an Edwards fan and has no ties to the campaign. Its no different then if I put up signs in my front yard.

John Edwards did NOT begin using Second Life as a campaign venue.

[Siegfried Schtauffen]

How much do you get per article?

There are too many SL stories on CNET.

[Len Bullard]

Is SL the Poster Child for Bad Business?

The rest of the 3D On the Web industry welcome the success of SecondLife, WoW and others. It increases the market, it increases the mindshare. All good.

But someone at LL may want to take notice that SL is, by virtue of this reporting or ad campaign, whatever fast becoming the poster child for bad behavior of a community in a social network. The rising tenor of a backlash here at CNet is the emerging signal that this publicity blitz is beginning to backfire. Too may claims made here for SL have been shown to be historically inaccurate, too many problems with the technology are being outed as showing it to be unsafe for commerce, and the validity of using what is functionally an entertainment site for serious business applications is being questioned.

The danger is that the hype wears away at the front offices of the companies that LL needs to make a go of this as a profit-center and then the company officials begin to question the investments made by the second-tier managers and innovators in the SL-hosted experiments.

Caveat vendor.