When I heard the news that digitized brownshirts with Bush ‘08 insignia had vandalized Silky Pony’s Second Life site, and that one of his IT people was pitching a fit about it, I began laughing my ass off, because I’m mean. So, of course, the first thing I did was email Wuzzadem John about it, who did a funny post and then expanded it a bit to talk about Kirsten Powers’s investigation into the seedy side of Second Life. The situation became yet more ridiculous when Silky Ponyists began suggesting people donate Coulter Cash to the poor multimillionaire ambulance chaser to send a message to the haters, which quickly became known as “faggot offsets.”
Some of the comments in Wuzzadem’s thread were hilarious:
I read in some magazine about this virtual world stuff: the gamers get pretty sucked in to it and form relationships with each other.
In one case, a guy who died in real life got a touching funeral in the virtual world. The funeral was invaded and the mourners slaughtered by a competing gang.
I’m torn between thinking that was beyond the pale, to laughing my ass off.
Posted by: lauraw | Mar 3, 2007 6:42:54 AM
It could have been worse. This sort of thing apparently is not uncommon in Second Life. Take this infamous incident (NSFW). (This might also answer your first update. If they can make… those, they can make a “feces spewing obscenity”.)
Posted by: dorkafork | Mar 4, 2007 9:08:57 PM
Do click that link and then consider what abuse Jeff’s taken.
“In one case, a guy who died in real life got a touching funeral in the virtual world. The funeral was invaded and the mourners slaughtered by a competing gang.”
It was a female teenager who died of leukemia. She had friends in both “gangs.” And yes, it qualifies as friendship- we all talk to one another with headsets and microphones, typically use our real names, etc. She played under a rules-set where you must deliberately flag yourself for player-versus-player (PvP)fghting. So this movie turns up with seamless footage of both “gangs” walking single-file to the upper and lower levels of an out-of-the way area that is miraculously free of monsters. A eulogy is delivered: “…she loved pizza, her boyfriend, but most of all, she loved PvP…” whereupon, almost as if on cue, the upper gang jumps down on the lower gang who, by an uncanny coincidence, are all flagged, and they mix it up. This gets national media attention with no one, including the clueless Blizzard Entertainment Group PR guy, suspecting that just maybe the point was a common effort to make a movie commemorating their late friend.
lol
Posted by: wowhead | Mar 5, 2007 6:00:02 AM
Now comes word that Second Life is getting still better. I can’t wait for the day when all of us can sit in a virtual arena watching Patterico kick the crap out of Greenwald(s) whilst simultaneously debating them.
And just when I think I’m kind of getting the hang of this blogging stuff, I’m confronted with this presumably sage advice:
Salen Says:
December 21st, 2006 at 8:43 am
Sadly, I’d like to say I’m suprised, but I’m not. You know, if you’re gunna hold a serious interview, you might want to find yourself a nice private sim that griefers can’t teleport to, before you go forth with it. Or at least make a nice space that autoreturns stuff that isn’t your own stuff. That works too.
Here are some screencaps.
I should be too old to be so amused by this shit, but it appears that community standards are in a state of flux, there.
In the immortal words of Chris Tucker, “Which one of y’all just kicked me. That was childish.”
I really don’t understand any of this. Maybe that’s a good thing.
How can one have a second life without having a first?
Silky Ponies and Velour puppy dogs…
In the Second Life, everything can be. Just be.
http://www.leeroyjenkins.net/soundbites/warcry.wav
I’m with you, Cynn. What the fuck are they talking about?
At least I got chicken.
A virtual interview disrupted by virtual flying penises? LOL! Now that’s funny right there, I don’t who you are.
/larry
*I don’t care*
Flibbedygibbets!
Ah, youth. Back in the day when MUDs were text-only and their “programming” language was more cryptic than any assembly language, I made an animated piece of dwarf crap that wandered around and spoke to people. No, I don’t know how anyone knew it was dwarf crap.
Years later, the idea would be revisited at a job, but the object in that case was a group of pigeons that wandered around a virtual office…
Controlled by virtual Chinese, I’ll bet.
That second life looks kinda boring. What’s the point in playing a game if you can’t cast spells and crush your enemies?
Or at least shoot everything that moves with a machine gun.
I have heard the same thing can happen on a golf course. Bizzare.
Seriously, I have played a couple of mmo’s, still play Final Fantasy XI some, and of course you form friendships with other players, you are playing a game together for God’s sake. The thing I don’t understand about Second Life is apparently you do the same thing in game you do in real life: get a job, buy a house, etc. I don’t really understand the deal. I like games where I can go hit somebody in the fucking face with a huge ass battle axe and not get arrested. It can be quite theraputic.
Careful, B Moe – your comment is just ripe for GiGi Ellensburg to cherry pick and use to paint us Reichwingers with a very broad brush.
‘Course, I wouldn’t be too surprised if he had a Second Life account or three…
I thought I was lame with the Neverwinter Nights and The elder scrolls and all that other D&D crap, but this is ultra lame.
I, at least, go out into the sunlight once in a while*.
*I live in Michigan – once in a while is the best we get.
Fixed it for ya.
Does anyone else get from this what an absolute prophet Neil Stephenson has turned out to be?
I mean, the ghost of H.G. Wells is begging to be c**k-slapped by Neil.