Second Life Meets French Politics
Exploding pink pigs, holographic attacks, Hitler mustaches and French flags: all this and more in Second Life!
A by-line like that might just summarize the vast arra of objects that one can find in Linden Lab’s ever expanding virtual world. It also might attract reams of new users drawn by the fascinating mash-up of reality and virtuality that is common occurence. Or, because people are violent-minded lemmings, it could be a description of an in-game protest gone wrong.
Say, as a merchant on the shopping island of Porcupine, that you have a group of folks from France’s political far right, set up shop next door. Say this group, called the Front National, advocates the forceable expulsion of non-Europeans from within French borders and despite racist ideals, garnered 18% of the popular vote. What do you do? You meet intolerance with intolerance. You meet belligerence with violence. You recreate real world protests of the G7 Summit. It started off peaceably enough, with anti-FN groups and users placing placards on the adjoining properties, gathering in front of the FN headquarters with slogans and signs, and setting up their own headquarters in the vicinity in order to present a different perspective.
At some point though, things started getting out of hand. Weapons appeared, gunshots flew unchecked, holograms of evil-looking Thomas the Tank Engine appeared, and exploding pig munitions where unleashed, grinding servers to a halt with all of the projectiles and hyper-active chat. Throughout, the FN merely rolled its eyes from within HQ, while its security forces kept the rampaging crowds at bay, but protestors may have gotten their point across with Second Life higher ups, as the HQ has now been replaced by a small casino. Profit over politics wins again.
Second Life commentator James Wagner Au has a comprehensive look at the in game happenings, as well as some quotes direct from the avatars participating, over at his blog: New World Notes.
Image via New World Notes
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POSTED IN: Culture, News, Online Gaming, Second Life
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