First They Came For the Gamers, And I Didn’t Speak Up, Because...Well, Because It's Kind Of Silly, Really (UPDATED)

Get a grip, people:

Blasphemy!

Shortly before midnight (CST) on Monday, February 26, a group of republican Second Life users, some sporting "Bush '08" tags, vandalized the John Edwards Second Life HQ. They plastered the area with Marxist/Lenninist posters and slogans, a feces spewing obsenity, and a photoshopped picture of John in blackface, all the while harrassing visitors with right-wing nonsense and obsenity-laden abuse of Democrats in general and John in particular.

I witnessed this event, taking names and photos, including the owners of the pictures. I also kept and saved a copy of the chat log. I have filed an abuse report with Linden Labs, and am awaiting their investigation.

When I first read this I thought Second Life was the name of some nutroots offshoot - apparently it's a "virtual world", which I'm pretty sure means it's a game.

A game. Let that sink in.

So the Edwards campaign is awaiting an "investigation" into who "vandalized" their "headquarters" in a "virtual world".

Damn, I just broke the quote marks key.

Actual screenshot of the "vandalism".

BTW, who are these "Republicans" with "Bush '08" stickers? And how do you "harass" someone in a virtual world? Thick-skinned, these Edwards people are. Well, at least we have an idea of how Edwards would handle a major disaster if he were elected.

Wasn't Edwards going to "harness the power of the blogosphere" or some crap? Seems like his campaign blog has been nothing but a source of embarrassment so far.

Thanks to Dan Collins (not for the vandalism, for the tip).

UPDATE: Feces spewing obsenity [sic]? WTF?

UPDATE II: Kirsten Powers has an excellent v-log on " The Seedy World of Second Life" (H/T: mesablue). As she notes, Edwards picked a rather strange neighborhood in which to build his "virtual campaign headquarters":

As you will see, the Edwards HQ has some disturbed neighbors. Particularly troubling are the rape fantasy clubs and the child sex brothel called Jailbait (the "owner" of the club, a 35-year- old woman named Emily Semaphore refers it as "age-play.") The "Second Life Herald" complains that "Intersexed Avatar Children Hard to Find" and provides this handy graph to explain what kind of virtual child sex the adult members of Second Life are engaging in:

Nice neighbors you've got there, John.

As for Republicans being responsible for this wanton virtual destruction (virtually wanton destruction?), check out this comment from the Edwards campaign blog:

There are a lot of possibilities. Don't immediately jump at the idea that it is Republicans or progessives.

Second Life is the home to a lot of people who believe in almost anarchist level of freedom. I don't say that as a judgement one way or the other. But it is a realm where ANYTHING is possible and many a "prankster" will jump at the opportunity to stir things up. Edwards headquarters makes a perfect target. Just as the less destructive and more creative "John Edward" headquarters popping up right next door was stabbing at the absurb, this act of vandalism may very well be the same.

Anything in SL that smells of mainstream or popularity will be and is a target. Try not to read any more of an agenda than that: Chaos for chaos's sake.

I guess that would explain the "Bush '08" stickers. Thanks for the info, anonymous pervert loser "virtual world" enthusiast.

 

Comments

[damon]

I for one can't wait until we are asking for public apologies for things that happen in virtual worlds.

[Dan Collins]

I, for one, think those little digital brownshirts should have to go clean up, and then perform 20 hours of virtual community service.

[CavalierX]

Second Life? What are these people doing with their first life?

[CavalierX]

Whoops and all that.

[John from WuzzaDem]

Second Life? What are these people doing with their first life?

Objection: The question assumes facts not in evidence.

[Charley Foster]

Hey, wasn't this 'place' in the news lately? It WAS!

"Dutch demand ban of virtual child porn in Second Life

"Linden Lab's Second Life is an online digital world with almost three million "residents" claimed by the company. Some areas of Second Life allow adult members to have virtual sex with others who pretend to be children."

[Skul]

Aaw, they were just using the tactics of "progressive" libbys.

[mesablue]

Allah's squeeze just did a vlog about Breck Girl's Second Life home. Seems his neighbors are child rape fantasy sickos and S&M not as sickos:

http://www.powers-point.com/2007/02/seedy-world-of-second-life.html

[The Giant Claw]

Makm clean up the whole thing make them appoligise MAKE THEIR WORK OR YOU,LL SIC ALBATOSS ON THEM

[Dan Collins]

Hey, mesablue. Long time no see.
Yeah, she did. And she was ORANGE.

[mesablue]

Holy crap!

Spurwing is a big claw now?

Howdy, Dan.

[T1]

John Edwards and his Virtual Jerk Circle will have to do some “discovery” in case.

[Gordon]

A virtual disabled fetus just told me that this is ridiculous.

[wowhead]

2nd Life isn't really a game. It’s a virtual world, but there’s no winning or losing. You can accumulate virtual stuff by spending real money on it and be a richer 2nd lifer than the next guy, for whatever that’s worth.

I don’t do anything but work and play World of Warcraft (8 million players worldwide). It is a game, and spending real-world currency on WoW currency will get you permanently banned for cheating, not that it doesn’t happen. I only encountered people trying to have virtual sex with me once, and it was very weird. I went to a particular inn that I now know is where they hang out. Two female humans in their underwear, which is as naked as you can get, followed me around asking “Want me?” I ended up logging out. Why they picked me, when anybody with half a brain can tell just by looking at my character can tell that I play WoW to, um, play WoW, is beyond me. Also, I’m a dwarf. I guess I shouldn’t comment on somebody else’s peccadilloes, considering my own lifestyle. But they pay thirty bucks up front and fifteen bucks a month to have virtual sex with generic avatars in underwear in an environment where the vast majority of the population (I hope) don’t want to when they could pay ten bucks a month to look like whatever they want and have a much larger pool of like-minded folks in 2nd Life. Whatever.

[Gordon]

Damn, I miss Pong.

[lauraw]

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.

[Amador]

So, when you have sex, er, virtual sex, do you need a ciggy afterward ? A shower ? Anything ?
How is it done, up and down with the ENTER key ?

[dorkafork]

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".)

[wowhead]

"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

[TallDave]

wowhead:

I don't blame you for logging, the human women are ugly compared to the night elves (on our server, they run around Stormwind offering to strip for silver; pretty funny actualy).

Of course, the GTA strippers are still the gold standard for gaming porn. GTASA even has a light S&M game.

[TallDave]

Oh, and there was a very unauthorized funeral disruption that made some people angry. I can see why they were upset, but they really should have planned the event in a non-PVP area.

[TallDave]

Night elf strippers. Hilarious.