Could a world government ever work in SL ?

yes, 'bone up' on your SL history, folks!! the tea party (http://tinyurl.com/ytgo6d) has already happened. are ya up for the rest of it??

http://residents.com/bh/VOM.htm - cuz i wanna... ))

Im fine with sims and groups of sims having their own governments. People can move there and agree to the rules.

I'm not cool with a SL-wide mandatory world government.

Sorry, soon as other Residents have the power to force taxes on me to "live" in SL, I'm gone.

World Government in Second Life would be just like Student Government in High School. No Power at all. A figurehead Government, the Lindens will still call all the shots.

The smartest, nerdiest kid will be Treasurer and have to do the most work.

The most spirited SL cheerleader will be Secretary and be super happy annoying.

The Cool kid will be President and have to do lots of Schmoozing.

And the skank thats blowing Phil L under the bleachers will be V.P. and not have to do squat but gets out of class anyhow.

lol we need to start a 'heathers' sim

Fortunately, I do not think this scenario is what the Lindens have in mind when they think about self governance in Second Life. True to Philip's "The Code is God" philosophy, it simply means more, improved toolsets, sensible ideas to help arbitrate disputes between Residents - and accompanying that a more robust transaction system with better audit trails for verifying disputed transactions, routing abuse reports to owners of the estates on which the abuse occurs, etc.

I think they just recognize that they don't have the ability to handle all of this themselves, and it does seem that the community actually prefers the tools to enable them to manage their own affairs.

No, a "world government" run by the residents of Second Life would never work. Not even on paper. What does work pretty well is when like-minded residents congregate into communities such as Caledon. I'm sure Desmond has his own ideas about how the estate tools could be improved to make governance an easier prospect. But that's where it's going, not some crazy nationalized government organization.

Personally, like many others, I can't see any sort of grid wide "government" working, other than perhaps a very loose association of some sort - but even then it would have no real power and would probably end up as an ineffective talking shop ... hmmm ... perhaps they could all wear blue helmets....

The bottom line is that LL own the grid and will do whatever needs doing to stay in business, no matter what any of us individually think or want or where we are located. And given that SL is very much about making one's fantasy come to life, would we really want any form of higher control on that? (other than generally accepted societal ones e.g. age play) - bit too much like having the Thought Police for me.

That said, perhaps there IS scope for some loose form of federation... as many of you know I have a number of (loosely & residential) Victorian themed sims and I've been toying with the idea of an association of like-minded land/estate owners. But, I have to admit, I'm stuck on what such an association might be about, other than to comment on each others' builds/business model/whatever. I'm already a member of a couple of sim owner associations which have lofty ambitions in their charter about dealing with LL, but mostly seem to be a channel for asking estate management type questions. Interaction with LL seems to be non-existent, at that level at least.

If I expand enough I'd certainly be willing to consider some sort of estate "Town Hall" ... at the moment I'm still small enough that I and my partner can deal with issues on a 1-2-1 basis and not have any fallout.

/me wonders what some of the bigger estate owners do in this regard. Back to you, Steve

Inc

If you cruise around the forums and look at the wiki and the open sim project its pretty evident the direction that LL is going with SL.

So no goverment is not going to be appropriate since they are positioning themselves to be only a part of a larger element. Every day this "thingy" we play on which is going through some issues due to the fact that they are trying to change it to fit their plan (among other things) becomes more and more like the internet and less and less like a single community. IN the end its going to resemble the internet if the trend keeps moving in this direction. I think it will.

I think prices on things like land will drop over time once things even out among other things due to the fact that they will have conquered the issue of servers and scalability. Sims will be available from more then one sourc and each source will have its own set of rules etc.

Eventualy things like "antispam" laws and income tax (yes evil word) and filling out forms will become the norm. There may even be free space available similar to say yahoo geocities etc is now on the internet so those interested only in a little space to call their own and play with wont pay a dime.

The rules will be in the form of TOS by each seperate company that links itself to this grid and eventually the thing will just grow and one day someone will wonder where it begins and where it ends.

Player government was possible a few years back at this point and in looking at what is happening from an overall picture perspective I dont think its possible. I think the only rule makers in the end will be those "hosts" and real world governments.

That doesn't mean it can't be just a game for many because personal websites are for many just a game right now.

I'm assuming that once they finish working on the scalability issue things like the prim structure etc will become more modern as they are doing with the havok engine they will try to catch the rest of the technology up.

Second life and LL will just be one small piece we can't make the rules for everyone. Right now i see Hipihi as being the first of many to link to this grid once LL figures out how to scale it taht way. Hipihi is based in a communist country with communist ideals we can't make their rules and they can't make ours for obvious reasons but it doesn't mean we can't romp in each others playgrounds

I live in dreamland and have a huey and the forum cartel is in my bones.. so do i blow myself up or shoot myself in the foot or err what do i do first?

amen

'THE CODE RULES'... how true!!! )

'LIVE IT OR LIVE WITH IT!!' - firesign theater ;0

'WE ALL PAY A FABULOUS PRICE
FOR OUR VISIONS OF PARADISE' - rush

You can be our Kamikaze

I'Z DR()()()LLLLL OVER Y()UR R3GI()N....

I M()ST'VEEE HAVEEE IT!!!!!

GIVE IT T() MEEEEE N()W ()R 1 W1LL ANNNNNNNNH1LLL

8888ATE UUUUU

Y()()()()())()()()()0(*(^^&%$^%$
HAVE N() CH()*CE

-ny

surrender now!! mrew!!!

okay just get me really drunk before you prop me up in the Huey and glue my foot to the accelerator

Ok..we can make the glue from the dead horse that they are beating in the gambling thread.

that was glue i thought it was the dessert topping

*pullls sticky spoon out of his mouth*

suddenly I dont feel so well...

ewwww... y'know if you watch the extras on the 'animal farm' dvd it's like watching pink floyd's 'the wall'?? (a movie that seriously need put into the 'hall of fame'...) that flick seriously grabbed inspiration from brit wwII flixxx...

now -that's- inspiration )

What this world needs is a good WAR!
We can reduce overpopulation and create jobs at the same time!
First order of the day is to take the other mainlands, mega estates, then all the islands, then backstab my hired StarTrek, Furry and Gorean mercenary allies.

Vote 1 Tegg as Evil Overlord, cause I'll cheat, push and orbit to win it anyway
I'll even bring back gambling for a 50% cut in takings

World Government? horrible idea and it would never work. I am now busy hunting for my anarchy t shirts which i got 3 years ago when this was discussed on the forums. Buy your own island(s) if you fancy being a dictator.

Pitchfork at the ready!

What should you do first?

You would definitely have to shoot yourself in the foot before you blew yourself up Wilhelm.

A set of unique governments coinciding all at once was previously mentioned--I think, although this is a fun doppelganger style method, it would be more fun to exercise our capabilities at running a world government. Which let's face it, is far from occurring in the real life, but is a much better choice for the human race in the long run.

So...I think shooting for the stars and practicing for our future utopia would be a wiser choice.

A one world government.

With you in charge, of course. wink

Count me out. In both worlds.

A little more then 2 years ago there was much talk on the Pol-Sci forum (since closed) regarding this very topic. At that time, it seemed something that quite a few folks were pushing for, for who knows what reason other then their own sense of self-importance.

This is the thread I posted at the time, that has a lot of arguments from the people who felt they wanted to provide me with a government in exchange for my own SL freedom. I offer it as a contrast to the current attitude which happily I find much more refreshing.

/148/fa/42012/1.html



For Robots, yes... for Humans, no.

Let me clarify--I am not for any sort of Government in Second Life--I was only speaking hypothetically.

I think the 'pseudo-Governent' LL has in place now works just fine--the land owners should and do have a say in the rest.

However, I'm curious Pie, why you sigh at a one world government in real life. If all the worlds people worked together to form a unified government, it would be a huge step in solving many of the differences between societies. I'm not saying it would instantly resolve thousands of years of war--but I imagine by the time the human race can look past another persons beliefs, color, race, and social class...then we are ready for a one-world-government.

Just a theory of course.

Governments have never existed to solve the difference between societies, unless you call annihilation a solution. Name a single government that has solved a single difference between itself and its rival that didn't include killing the people with differing opinions.

When "the human race can look past another persons beliefs, color, race, and social class." then we will be ready for the end of all governments, and maybe then we can start building utopia.

Just a theory, of course.