09-17-2003 15:23
A special two-week edition of the Police Blotter, one might expect, should hold twice as many tales of woe and misdeed. A two-week stretch of Second Life should, mathematically, contain twice as much abuse. This is sound reasoning, but I’m sorry to say that this installment of the PB may actually contain fewer pithy anecdotes about the ill-behaved denizens of Second Life.

The Blotter of was on vacation, you see; attending a wedding in Oregon’s high desert and fully anticipating a box full of Abuse Report upon returning to the Lab. Instead, the Blotter’s box was filled with very little of anything – the past two weeks, in fact, constitute just about the lowest abuse rates in recorded SL history (OK, the rate was lower in the very very beginning, but there were only, like, three people and everyone kept a pretty close eye on everyone else...). On one level, this is great news. Is it possible that the Residents of Second Life have moved beyond abuse and are existing on a more humane, enlightened plane? Don’t pat yourselves on the back just yet. Jung reminds us that we are all collectively guilty of all of society’s transgressions, past and present – so you’re not entirely off the hook.

On a more practical, Police Blotter-level, you might think it’s awfully difficult to build a weekly column on such exiguous source material. The unyielding creativity of Second Life’s residents has once again come to the Blotter’s aid by introducing the concept of extortion to our online world. If the word 'extortion' stirs images of mobsters and organized crime, then you’re greatly overestimating the abilities and ambitions of SL’s would-be blackmailers. Indeed, these specious gangsters limit their activities to such scams as “I’ll remove this hideous structure if you give me L$5” or “I’ll stop bugging you for L$10” or even “I’ll report you for abuse unless you give me L$100”. Don’t buy what these low characters are selling; file an abuse report and let them try to extort their way out of the penalty box.

Statistics: Twelve complaints of harassment, intimidation, or vandalism, eight complaints about assorted rule violations, seven instances of inappropriate content on a PG sim, and three complaints of an undisclosed nature. As a result of these complaints and our subsequent investigations, just one resident were suspended and four warnings were issued.