SL image by Alsatian Kidd, who also has thoughts on the election
When I briefly noted that Philip Rosedale had endorsed Harris/Walz during a recent YouTube livestream (watch below), some reader comments were somewhat surprising:
Like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner with family, politics really should not be discussed, and it really has no place in SL
Rule #1 about all video games. Keep. Politics. Out. Of. Games.
But Second Life is not even a traditional game: It’s a metaverse platform, which by definition, is integrated with the real world economy -- and is therefore subject to government regulations formulated by elected politicians. Second Life content creators regularly receive bills from the IRS, which even has a written policy about taxing Linden Dollars; SL content must adhere to US laws banning online gambling, and so on.
There are hundreds of very good reasons to vote for Kamala Harris and vote against Donald Trump. But even if you are only thinking about the future well-being of your favorite virtual world/metaverse platform, and the user communities in them -- be it Second Life, Fortnite, VRChat, or many others -- here are a couple core reasons to cast your vote for Kamala:
Retaining Lina Khan to Protect Metaverse Companies & Consumers
Lina Khan, appointed by Biden/Harris as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, has been a fierce defender of both metaverse platform users and players against powerful interests.
Last year, her FTC won a $245 million refund for Fortnite players targeted by “dark patterns to trick players into making unwanted purchases and let children rack up unauthorized charges”.
And then this year, her FTC filed an amicus brief in support of Epic’s bid to require Google to open up in-app payment options apart from Google Play. As Tim Sweeney has often said, both Apple and Google’s control of mobile payment systems and their 30% commission fees threaten the future of the Metaverse. Just this week, Linden Lab’s Brad Oberwager mentioned to me how this IAP 30% charge is a serious challenge for fully bringing Second Life to mobile.
There’s a huge number of other outstanding challenges for metaverse platforms. If Harris/Walz win, Lina Khan will in all likelihood remain head of the FTC. If Trump wins, Khan -- already a target of GOP animus and powerful donors -- will be gone. Leaving metaverse consumers and creators to fend for ourselves. And whoever Trump/Vance appoints when Khan is gone, I wouldn't expect a full SL mobile app during their reign.
There’s an even more important metaverse-centric reason to support Harris/Walz: