Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog.

Friday, March 30, 2007

It's the new blogs

It's a jungle in there.
The clash started on a January morning when protesters attacked the cyberspace headquarters of extremist French presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in the popular 3-D Internet fantasy world Second Life.

Le Pen security forces responded with push guns, whimsical digital weapons that tossed bodies through the air "like rag dolls," according to one witness. Protesters fought back with pig grenades, firing fat pink porkers that exploded in neon pink splatters. When the shooting ended, Le Pen's headquarters lay in ruins, deserted by staff and guards.
What's funny about media coverage of politics in Second Life is that the true nature of Second Life is rarely mentioned. What most people seem to want in their Second Life is smut and gambling.

People who are legally allowed to do smut and gambling can do that, but American politicians might want to go give a look-see to Second Life before they get too involved in it. I signed up recently for a free account, meaning unless I want to give Linden Labs money I'm homeless and broke. Frankly Second Life could be the most boring and insipid thing ever created by humans. No wonder the only thing interesting that seems to happen is virtual terrorist attacks using exploding pigs. People are bored to tears.

And the "economy" in Second Life appears to be essentially a Ponzi scheme. You have to convert real US dollars into "Linden dollars," based on some alleged currency market that is controlled by, guess who, Linden Labs. Nice work if you can get it.

But seriously, someone please tell me what a pose ball is. For research purposes of course.

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