Sometimes even reporters need help - The Register
Friday Oct 13, 2006
In the wake of Sun's step into the virtual world of SecondLife, there have been many interesting news bits that have turned up. From the interview with cNet, to the ranting of Slashdot, this activity seems to have generated quite a bit of discussion and has been fun to read through. However, sometimes you read a piece where the reporter is just completely off the mark and treads into water they are uncomfortable with. After reading one such piece, I feel compelled to try and help this particular reporter understand what he is really writing about.
Ashlee Vance, reporter for The Register, delivered a story reporting on Sun's activity this week in the world of SecondLife. While Mr. Vance describes the world of SL as “vacuous” and inane, I wonder if he has actually spent any amount of time in SL. Most of his dissection of the SL environment seems to come from what he picks up in conversation with others who probably have never actually explored the world either. I'm just guessing here.
So, I would like to take some of his comments from the article and respond, hopefully shedding some light on the other, more positive activities that are occurring in SL.
From his article:
Second Life, for those of you who have been spared its inanity, is a video game full of fake cities, shops and people. It's the type of place where people who have sex with dolls in real life can have sex with avatars in fake life. And, oh my, what forms these avatars can take.Mr. Vance seems to have glommed on to some of the more thematically mature activities that can occur within SecondLife and uses them here to debase the SL environment in it's entirety. I should not have to point out to him that he makes his living writing for a publication who's delivery mechanism (teh Interwebs) is LITTERED with pornography and deviant behavior. Ah, irony!
And so we started wondering what forms virtual press conferences from the likes of Sun and IBM will take now that they're deciding to cater to hapless furries who feel no pain while in the guise of a triceratops or throbbing member.
Apparently, the reporters and onlookers were all well-behaved. We've yet to encounter a story about Gage being molested mid-conference by a vagina or a lion with a peanut butter complex. But wouldn't that be fantastic.
I should also point out that SecondLife is not a video game. If you tried the service, it would become apparent to you almost immediately. And yes, there are virtual cities, shops in which you can purchase real world items and have them delivered to your real world home, and people visiting through an assumed identity. So what? This is no different that other web based communities, forums, etc. that have been around for as long as computers started to connect to each other. I suggest for you to Sci-fi geeks have been dreaming about these kinds of worlds since the dreamers first put pen to paper.
Again, from his article:
The Guardian vomited out about 15,000 enlightening words on Second Life this weekend. The piece opened with the reporter declaring, "I am pole dancing for $18 in a sleazy club and I've never felt so alive! I've got pecs to die for, a lady-pleaser of a beard and an aura of sexual ambiguity!"
Again, Mr. Vance seems to pull out the most scandalous pieces of The Guardian article while completely ignoring the socially redeeming activities occurring in SL, as outlined in the same article. Activities such as:
- Universities staking out places on Second Life to offer virtual courses
- Avatars gather to simulate terrorist attacks using software that might be used in the real world
- Politicians have started doing interviews in Second Life
- Doctors are doing simulations that may have real-world benefits
- The Hedrons will become the first British band to do a virtual concert in Second Life
Some others not in the Guardian Article:
- Lower East Side Girls Club of New York setting up information kiosks for inner city programs for girls age 8 to 18 and their families.
- Dr. John Bransford building and “innovation island” to develop learning environments
- Lichtenstein Creative Media – The Peabody Award-winning producers of public television, radio and documentary films has stood up a permanent presence
- The New Media Consortium has a virtual campus that includes a library, museum, planetarium, classrooms, etc.
- American Cancer Society held a virtual Relay for Life fundraising event
- The US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a shop set up, called Meteroa, that offers interactive educational demos and simulations about the oceans and weathers. You can take a sea life submarine ride, see tsnuami demos, real-time temperature map or an airplane ride into a hurricane.
There are many, many other examples of “good things” happening in SL but, let's face it, dirt sells. Right Mr. Vance?
Now, regarding Project Darkstar, while your description is not entirely wrong, here is a link to what it actually is: http://www.sun.com/2006-0328/feature/index.jsp Let me know if you have any questions.
Is there objectionable and/or vulgar content to be found within the world of SL? Sure. But there are also many great and wonderful things happening in SL as well. Why not focus on those? Perhaps you just didn't know about them. I would be happy, Mr. Vance, to give you a tour of some of the places I mentioned above if you would like. You can reach me in SL through IM. First Name: ChrisMelissinos Last Name: SunMicrosystems
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If Linden can oblige, there will shortly be "DaveWalker SunMicrosystems" wandering about the place, being a reasonably accurate representation of me and, more than likely, rather confused for a while (except when discussing security) :-).
Now that Reuters are setting up a SL news agency, I figure I can only have a shot at spotting potential SL security issues from the inside - or at least, that's my excuse for now!
Posted by Dave Walker on October 16, 2006 at 10:44 AM EDT #
Posted by Matthew Barker on October 17, 2006 at 07:24 PM EDT #
As for kids in SL, not to worry, Matthew. You were looking at the grownups world in SL. Kids are not allowed there - kids have their own "G-rated" world to visit, entirely separate from the grownup world.
Posted by John Chadwick on October 17, 2006 at 09:06 PM EDT #
Posted by Dave Levy's Weblog on October 27, 2006 at 09:22 AM EDT #
It isn't called "Sadville" for nothing. Lighten up.
Posted by Dr Stephen Jones on October 27, 2006 at 01:57 PM EDT #
Posted by Ashlee V on October 27, 2006 at 01:58 PM EDT #
Posted by Chris Melissinos on October 30, 2006 at 03:40 PM EST #