Philip Rosedale says: "I think Second Life is a kind of a Wild West"

BBC Television programme The Money Programme, aired June 1st, 2007:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6708417.stm

"I think Second Life is a kind of a Wild West. I think the people coming there now are pioneers. Whether you're a person or a company, you need to be fearless and you need to be willing to try new things"

Unless they're broadly offensive...or unless LL are asking "Show us your papers please"...the brave new world. Don't fear the reaper.

To be truthful, I no longer have any interest in Mr Rosedale or his empty platitudes. Pretty much any Official Communication from LL does nothging but insult my intelligence.

That's what I've been calling it all along.

It is.

how would king phil know... aside from the occasional town hall he's never here

The usual, let the pioneers build it up and as soon its running fine the establishment moves in cleanes up and reapes the rewards
SL was exiting a little smutty in the corners but all over shiny and alive, now they turn it into another cooperate designed plastic world feeeeeh!
Time to move on.

Come on get your head together. SL is no different in this regard from any other web metting place; It never, ever works to sign on with your real name if you have any form of management role or indeed, public profile. I might once have known which worldwide system was used by David Bowie, Madonna, Stella McCartney and a whole other pile of A-listers: do you suppose they signed in with their real names?

As I believe they say in the Valley: du-uh!

I agree it is a kind of Wild West at present. But what will it become? At one time it looked like becoming a virtual Las Vegas but perhaps we'll be spared that. So maybe a virtual suburbia where you can mow the lawn every day? Or a virual corporate trade show where there's no point in trying to be anything? Or a Communist Utopia where we all get exactly the same deal. Fascism has been excluded, hopefully, and I would hope that religious fundmentalism and other forms of extreme politics (of left or right) will be kept out of SL.

Fascism is alive and well in SL, look to all the calls for land zoning and the slow grinding away of the rights of property owners for the "good" of the community.

But why should Communism get a free pass? The Commies murdered many many more people in the 20th century than the Fascists did, even if you add the Nazis in with the Fascists.

Isn't your rejection of "religious fundamentalism" and other extremes of politics intolerant? What is it about the free exchange of thought that you disapprove?

But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

Out of all those I'd take the Virtual Vegas personally. Unfortunately I see the Corporate Trade Show/ Semi Fascist model coming soon to a Sim near you.

I believe Philip Rosedale started SL with a very idealistic vision. However as is always the case with idealism, there are pragmatic issues that cannot be ignored. Making SL the best for the most is a very tricky thing, in particular given the weirdness inherent in laws regarding the Internet.

Germany's pedophilia law and the United States' Internet gambling laws are both examples of poorly-thought out legislation. Nobody wants children victimized by pedophiles on the internet or have them destroy their parents' credit by gambling online. However legislators in both countries have proven woefully ignorant on internet matters.

While many would give LL carte blanche for this reason, I feel it is up to us to stand up for freedom of expression--to help LL realize that our opinions do matter. There are also some who seem incapable of understanding that ageplay is not pedophilia and bondage is not rape--that is their problem and says more about their psyches than anything else.

In a small act of protest, I have resized my av to it's natural 5'4". I hope to see other visual representations of user discontent. Hopefully the Lindens read these forums and realize they risk pissing off a sizable chunk of their user-base, and that they have the strength of character to act in a manner that reflects Mr Rosedale's idealistic vision for Second Life.

anybody know if this programme is being repeated? i immediately checked the EPG for BBC News 24, thinking The Money Programme would be one of those 'on the half hour' space fillers at the weekend. but no.

It doesn't appear to be repeated on any BBC channel over the next seven days either, but I was speed-reading the EPG so I may be wrong.

They do have a legal minefield, yes. But when in a minefield one usually treads lightly and cautiously, all senses heightened, not stomping through with eyes closed and hands over ears. Pragmatism aside, the Providers were too busy counting Quatloos or whatever to keep track on what was going on, letting problems escalte to critical before doing anything about it. I applaud your "Act of protest" perhaps we should designate a "Small Avi Day" where we all go about our business in small Avi's. At least we wouldn't have to buy new clothes.

In a neither here nor there sense, I suspect Mr. Rosedale's idealistic vision for Second Life probably didn't take into consideration the possibility that people would use it to enact fantasies involving sex with children. Or sex with horses. Or sex with Great Danes.

That being said, walking around in child sized avatars really doesn't seem much of a protest to me. There's nothing wrong with playing a child avatar, if that floats your boat.

Hey it's worth a shot. Sometimes just doing ANYTHING as a group is a start. As far as Dr Phil's vision goes, if it was for a world where freedom and expression, and personal fantasy, rule and he didn't think some would bring their dark sides along with them, then he is incredibly naive. Humankind has not evolved into that sphere that he may be aspiring to, and probably never will.

hope has always been 5'2" in SL..just happens to match my real life height, in fact..and when she was created it was just to be different than all the 7 foot Amazon women out there. I must have done something right, she's an in-game model for a couple of agencies, and up til now I have never had any one make a comment about it except to say "wow, you're short!" She is not intended to be a child AV, her shape is in proportion to her height in all aspects. I for one, don't plan on changing just because some idiot decides that she's 'too small' to be an adult and therefore must be involved in ageplay. (yes, I am also a slave and participate in Gorean rp *gasp*)

I find it amusing that LL chose to make avs so unnaturally tall and now have had the error of their ways shown to them. Also folklore and fiction are both full of 'little people'. If one wanted to RP one of these they would risk AR. It all reminds me too much of a Simpsons episode a couple weeks ago where Ned Flanders sat around watching TV shows he'd taped in order to find new things to protest.

"Hi Diddley Ho, neighbor! I'm Ned Linden, your new Moral Conscious".

*grumbles* "Get lost, Linden"

"Okie Dokely."

while i do appreciate your pissy assault on what little intelligence i apparently have, all one has to do is read, king phil is quite often tickled pink over what he calls new stuff thats been widespread in the SL world for months and sometimes even years

Is it me, or s Philip Rosedale more and more out of touch with the world he helped set in motion?

Mari

Wait. Phil Rosedale is George Bush?

That would explain a lot of recent happenings, now wouldn't it?

Or perhaps THE MILD, LIMP, SISSYFIED, CORPORATE SPONSERED, SUGAR COATED, MY PRETTY PONY, WEST. Secondlife, a world created by its denizens for their own entertainment, NOW BEING STOMPED DOWN INTO A PALPABLE MUSH AND SNUFFED BY ZEALOTS WHO ARE NOT ENTERTAINED BY CERTAIN ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD CREATED BY ITS DENIZENS. Isnt there some room for a dark side in Phil's utopian vision? Must we all put on a big red nose and giant oversized shoes to conform to some politically correct happy happy joy joy world? StarWars was ok, but I really prefered Blade Runner.