The whole Second Life phenomenon has been quite interesting to watch evolve. For those of you still somewhat ignorant to the game, it centers around the premise that its world is completely flexible – with users able to create new content and interaction for the Second Life world. Hell, it even has its own monetary system, the Linden. What is so compelling about the concept of a completely free world is when people try to take the world in a completely different direction. Recently, long time gamers decided to nuke two corporate-owned stores (American Apparel and Reebok).
The person responsible for destroying these two stores is not too happy about the direction the game’s world is moving and came to the conclusion that blowing some things up was a good solution. This same person apparently wants the creators of Second Life to give his army (yes, he had an army) the ability to vote on future changes. Through this little experiment, “citizens” have begun to rebel and ask for more democratic power. I find this all extremely interesting. I am quite curious how these same people will react if they do not get what they want. It could soon be a very unhappy (not to mention radioactive) world in Second Life…
I am not a gamer myself, I myself look forward to seeing how this pans out. This has to be the first case where violent actions in a game’s world impacts they way that world works.
The Discussion
6 Comments on “Daily Delicious – Second Life Gets Nuclear”kellie
26.02.2007 2:42 pmWhile in general, I see a lot of problems with people who immerse themselves in virtual worlds, Second Life has turned into quite the social experiment. For a spectator like me with no investment in this game, I am finding its developments to be very fascinating. I am interested to hear what the high and mighty academics think about the events taking place in this game. There is definitely a sense of irony that a totally brand new world with infinite potential to go in any direction, is taking a turn toward violence. Is this just human nature?
Cool article PJ!
*Sad to see American Apparel bombed. Honestly, they are on the very low spectrum of evil corporations.
somerandomdude
26.02.2007 3:18 pmYeah, I basically came to the same conclusion – violent action seemed all too predictable of an action. Seems like second life is emulating the real world more than we would like to think…
Funny you mention American Apparel – Leah said the same exact thing.
kellie
26.02.2007 4:36 pmAmerican Apparel – Sketchy advertising, BUT staunch supporters of fair worker wages, benefits, etc. Extremely anti-sweatshop.
Honestly, these virtual terrorists need to do their research before they target companies. But once again, isn’t it very close to the real world…action without thinking. Sad.
somerandomdude
26.02.2007 5:14 pmI’m in total agreement with you on this. I really wonder how this virtual-terrorism will impact the world. It may have the complete opposite effect they were intending. No one dies or gets hurt in these sorts of actions – it could just attract people that are interested in causing chaos and playing war in a unique way. The reason why these folks were upset in the first place was due to the bulge in new users – they may just have attracted a whole new bunch who just want to participate in blowing things up.
Very interesting.
Vending Machine Man
23.04.2008 9:33 amI still think it’s funny that corporations have a virtual store in Second Life.
Vending Machine Man’s last blog post..Apparel Vending Machines
Lionel Oliva
22.09.2008 9:08 pmCoughcough *no rez* coughcough
I mean seriously, how dumb did the people who set up RL/SL shops have to be to have all this stuff go on? I bet a pretty filthy chunk of money got wasted… hey corporations, why not hire someone who knows what he’s doing? :D
Lionel Oliva’s last blog post..Plan A Trip To This SL Planetarium!