The Wild, Wild Second Life: Vigilantes

Welcome to the weird crap that often happens in Second Life because the same crap happens in the real world, too. Vigilantism. As observed by Joystiq’s Second Life Insider, there’s a bunch of Second Lifers going around and making Second Lives miserable for griefers, Terms of Service violators, and similar abusive b*****ds in the game.

Oh yes, the foul language is applicable here because foul language and other four-letter words are some of the weapons deployed by these SL vigilantes, aside from SL weaponry, SL cagers, SL griefers, and lawyers like Jack Thompson.

It almost would be a laughing matter, especially for someone who ISN’T a Second Lifer (e.g., this writer). How do you threaten an SL-abuser’s life if you can’t technically “threaten” his Second Life? (More appropriately, only admins have IP banning privileges). Look back two pages in our coverage of the game, though, and you could find reason enough for concerned Linden citizens to don Ghostrider costumes. Copybot. Er, prostitution. Er, rape (… don’t ask).

As Second Life Insider reveals, future updates to the game will include more robust abuse-reporting, hopefully to minimize cases of both SL abuse and SL vigilantism. Just as in the real world, Linden Labs frowns upon any violation of the TOS and other codes of conduct in Second Life – be they from abusers or vigilantes.

And if you can’t do the time, there’s the power button on that PC. Heaven’s sakes, the more Second Life parallels real life…

Welcome to the weird crap that often happens in Second Life because the same crap happens in the real world, too. Vigilantism. As observed by Joystiq’s Second Life Insider, there’s a bunch of Second Lifers going around and making Second Lives miserable for griefers, Terms of Service violators, and similar abusive b*****ds in the game.

Oh yes, the foul language is applicable here because foul language and other four-letter words are some of the weapons deployed by these SL vigilantes, aside from SL weaponry, SL cagers, SL griefers, and lawyers like Jack Thompson.

It almost would be a laughing matter, especially for someone who ISN’T a Second Lifer (e.g., this writer). How do you threaten an SL-abuser’s life if you can’t technically “threaten” his Second Life? (More appropriately, only admins have IP banning privileges). Look back two pages in our coverage of the game, though, and you could find reason enough for concerned Linden citizens to don Ghostrider costumes. Copybot. Er, prostitution. Er, rape (… don’t ask).

As Second Life Insider reveals, future updates to the game will include more robust abuse-reporting, hopefully to minimize cases of both SL abuse and SL vigilantism. Just as in the real world, Linden Labs frowns upon any violation of the TOS and other codes of conduct in Second Life – be they from abusers or vigilantes.

And if you can’t do the time, there’s the power button on that PC. Heaven’s sakes, the more Second Life parallels real life…