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Second Life Controversy

Although this doesn't deal specifically with our project's approach to Second Life, I thought this article on Second Life as a virtual pyramid scheme might be of interest. Apparently this blogger finds Second Life to be particularly offensive and has posted quite a few entries that attempt to disparage the virtual world. The article referenced above consists primarily of a statement made by an "anonymous" financial advisor. I'm finding the ethos here questionable, particularly given the blog's stated purpose as a gossip column for the Silicon Valley folks. However, I do think that the blogosphere "controversy" over Second Life (what blogger James Au Wagner calls the "Second Life backlash") bears some consideration. Wagner has some interesting things to say with regard to the ratio between in-world experience and number and degree of complaints, which seem to be inversely proportionate. Blogger Mark Wallace critiques the critique here and here's where I fell down the rabbit-hole into crazy blogosphere controversy. (If you're teaching business writing, this might be fun to discuss with your students.)

Submitted by rhetoricat on Fri, 2007-02-23 16:17.
rhetoricat's blog

Controversey Makes the World Go Round
mark p's picture
Submitted by mark p on Sat, 2007-02-24 09:56.

Yep, from the start of my foray into SL i've constantly been fascinated by the variety of complaints and (sometimes) legitimate concerns. Economics and money matters are pretty far from my concerns, but as you suggest, someeone in business writing could have a field day with this topic. In my opinion, even the detractors are so passionate and vocal about their objections, that it suggests to me that they realize there is something important and potentially useful going on here, we just might need to make some democratic tweaks to get it working right!