The 2008 Campaign Meets World Of Warcraft
Posted at 11:38pm on Apr. 21, 2008 Virtual Passion
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
How intense is the Democratic primary contest?
The presidential campaign has gotten nasty in the real world. It's getting nasty in the virtual world, too.
As Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama duke it out in the Democratic primary, unofficial campaigns are being waged by fervent supporters in Second Life, the virtual world run by Linden Lab.
In Second Life, where people create characters called avatars and own and develop land, the two main groups representing the rival candidates -- Obama for President and Hillary Clinton 2008 -- each have amassed more than 500 members, who have hosted virtual meetings and rallies where they urge others to make calls and donations in real life to support the politicians. Obama and Clinton supporters can be seen inside Second Life sporting shirts and caps boosting their candidate.
But campaign rallies increasingly are being disrupted by supposed supporters of other candidates. Virtual organizers have had their headquarters vandalized, their events ambushed and their marches sabotaged.
The incidents are the latest signs of bad behavior in Second Life, which has some 13.3 million residents, though only 1.3 million have logged on during the past 60 days, according to Linden Lab, in San Francisco. Disruptive behavior is often referred to as "griefing" and can include hurling insults or shooting at characters. While the virtual violence leaves no real bloodshed, enough bullets flying can crash a Second Life server and knock people offline.
Of course, this isn't the first time that things have gotten disturbingly serious at Second Life.
Posted in 2008 | The 2008 Campaign Meets World Of Warcraft — Comments (9)/ Email this page » / Read More »
