Second Life might not be as big as it has claimed in the past, but there is political agitation taking place on its cyberstreets.
First Jean Marie Le Pen's Front National HQ saw a storm of protest, now US presidential hopeful John Edwards has had his virtual base mobbed by Republicans. (note: their identities have yet to be confirmed)
Donna Bogatin at ZDNet picks up the story, from the Edwards website:
Shortly before midnight 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.
Of course, things like this are bound to happen in an online space where people are less accountable. But it happens in the real world from time to time as well. And complaints shouldn't be seen as party political, since this is going to happen again to people all over the political spectrum.
However, I'm slightly confused about how they were because I thought the owner of a particular landspace could boot all foreign objects off - as Warren Ellis recently documented.
But really, it's the same problem with the newly developing virtual worlds that exists on the rest of the web, and in meatspace too: idiots exist everywhere - but when they're in 3D, things can get out of hand.
