Could a world government ever work in SL ?

I think a SL government is possible. It's been stated that there would be no consensus to build one but that is not true.

No one said there had to be *one* government in SL. For example, there could be a country where people are free to build whatever they want on their mainland and ban lines would be allowed--while another country could place moderate restrictions on builds and disallow ban lines. You would join the country that matched your values.

I do believe this would have to be on future sims--forcing people who already own land to become part of a country would not be fair. However, new continent--new rules

When you think about all the threads in this forum about key issues, people generally are either against building codes or for them. Against banlines or for them. Not so much difference really.

I want to be King of France SL and have my capitol at a SL Versailles. Hordes of angry mobs could then overthrow me. Fun!

Excellent point. Each continent could be run independently. If someone wants complete anarchy then there would be a sim most likely for that purpose.

It would be interesting to see how quickly invasions and wars begin.

That would make SL infinately more interesting in my opinion! Imagine the psychological and sociological studies that would take place then. ha ha

What I think the majority of people fail to realize is that there already IS a system of de facto "government" in place in SL.

It's feudalism.

Every sim owner is a Lord, who administers his/her territory to the serfs, peons and indentured servants who call that territory home. He/she has a standing army (ban/eject), sets policy (covenants), establishes taxes (tier), and in turn, passes up the gold to the Once and Future King, His Royal Highness Phillip I.

The only thing which would make it better...would be war. Wouldn't you just love to see the steampunk armies of Caledon marching across the landscape and into the trenches of Dreamland?

/me would pay extra to see this.

Go Desmond!!!

I honestly think this would attract a lot of people to SL who currently think there is not "point" to it all. Suddenly, there would be a game element to it as well as an interesting political point.

It could be set up so that armies could invade, revolutions could occur etc etc. Kind of similar to the game of "Risk" but more complex because you are actually dealing with people. Once again though, this would need to happen on future mainland sims--the people who have bought land thus far have done so under certain terms and changing them radically would be unfair.

There would also need to be "countries" for people who take the concept more seriously and just want to be in a stable sim with different rules than the "anything goes" mainland--but yet not under the foot of a island owner.

moves to Canada.........



but seriously: how can we implement a Virtual Government? if one was to go by soem of the threads in the forum we can't even govern ourselves(and if this has been said already, i apologize for the repeat).

how would it be implemented?
Would Residents from other countries have a voice?
how much real world laws would be used in the making of it?


maybe im being too cynical, but i dont see it happening. at least not willingly.

isnt that...Tiny Empires? O.o!!

1. It would be implemented as an *option* for people who settle new continents that are designated as such. People who already have land in SL would not be a part of any new government(they would still be under the TOS of good ole LL) unless they wanted to sell their old land and move to a SL country. There would be more than one country for people with different values just as there is more than one country in RL. However, if you move to a continent designated as a "country" you have no choice but to follow the rules of the majority. If the majority wanted a dictatorship rather than a democracy, that's what you would live under.

2. Why wouldn't residents from other RL countries have a voice?

3. I'm sure one could model their country of RL law if they want or start from scratch. That is up to the citizens of that country right?

A lot of the concerns against the possibility of countries in SL are the same ones as in RL--yet RL countries manage to exist despite the fact that people who live in them disagree with their governments. I think its important not to over analyze. It's possible.

We're talking about creating new governments from scratch in SL. It wouldn't have to follow the government structure of any country. Realistically it couldn't ignore the RL laws that exist out there such as gambling, or child sex play issues, but we're discussing governing issues within SL itself.

wellllll.... okay if we could like do it like 'darwinia' and stage it with nameless flat pixely avatars... (but i'll end up being an 'mcp fascist' to the computerized members involved

I WANT CALEDONIA!! (love you desmond/ms. malaprop) hehe no worries!!)

If folks want to setup their own system of government on a private island, or collection of private islands, or even collection of mainland parcels that buy in - more power to them. Neualtenberg was a great example of this - Caledon is another. I find the things they & others similar are doing to be facinating.

The key to the above, however, is that its all optional. Folks choose to federate; that decision isn't made for them.

There are other world-wide governmental models that are being tossed around (Such as the Metaverse Republic), that while equally fascinating - depend upon universal buy-in to work. As balkanized as Second Life is, you'll never have universal buy-in on anything unless its originated or forced by Linden.

Yes, Linden could force a governmental model down everyone's throats without buy-in - but I predict that if they ever did such a thing, the outrage expressed by pitchforks and torches would be legendary.

Regardless of our willingness to do it, we can't. A government without power is useless and LL are really the only ones with power in SL.

edit: talking grid-wide here, not private islands or mainland parcels.

What if there was an uprising in Dreamland and the Forum Cartel were sent in as a peace keeping force?

The only way to make it work as an experiment would be to have everyone agree in advance to stay put where they are. That's the only way to see what types of governments would come out of each continent by determination by the masses. It wouldn't work as an experiment if people could quickly tp and set up stakes in a new region if they disagreed with the majority choice in the prior region. While I guess as an American I have that option in RL it obviously isn't the simple process it would be in SL.

There is no way to create total reality within SL. We just don't have the same issues. No one will die, or starve or go broke, etc based on their governments actions in SL.

Two words...insurgents...and quagmire. Oh...and IED's...but that's more like an acronym instead of a word, innit?

If SL government were such a great idea, more people with islands would be doing it already.

I don't get what's going on in this thread, but if you don't take some control over what goes on on your island, you could end up in alot of trouble...

But your "serfs, peons, and indentured servants" are always free to get up and leave. Something they weren't allowed to do under the feudal system.

That's the point I was saying earlier. No matter how realistic you try to make it, it's always going to be just a game with people agreeing to accept and play out their roles. It's not the same but it could still be done.

There will be no governemnt. LL has their anarchist roots but they should be able to see that a government is not going to happen. They must be planning for various contingencies.

People are not going to volunteer their time for long, no one is going to want to pay for a government and LL isn't about to pay for government workers and if they paid in Lindens they printed, then that would mean they were the first company to break through the Currency-Creation-from thin-air monopoly, that governments have-----But LL wouldn't put their anarchist money, where their anarchist mouth is and pay in Lindens. They must feel the residents are the one's to pay through the nose. Playing God was fun while it lasted.

The inevitibility of mass violence, looms in this thing called Second life---but in this case it will be no long-drawn out period of war and revolutions spanning decades and generations. It will be the unleashing of 1000x the amount of spam and then sudden closure, "unable to Log in" and whatever happens in SL (L$-investment) stays in SL and goes poof, when the plug is pulled after they finish erasing the user data. except for identifying account information, from the hard drives and all the back up servers and write zeros to the drives, just keeping their own programming.

Besides, internet providers are years away from providing the bandwidth necessary to sustain a serious online, 3D world war.

Then shortly after, a message will appear when we try to log on and it will say, "Due to the recent acquisition of "Second Life" by a government owned, chinese firm, and the subsequent name change, to "Good Luck Palace," all residents will be required to begin afresh with a new avatar and 0 Dymonds. You will be assigned a communal zone where you will reside, schooled and assigned occupations and work schedule.

/me warms up the Huey

Besides if you want a Government controlled virtual world you can go play HipHipHooray, or whatever the Chinese thing is called.

Create War: [box] All Residents [box] Group

step 1. sieze all private means of production for the State
step 2. issue 5 year production quotas
step 3. ???
step 4. profit