Updated below
As pro-Mubarak protesters wage a counter-strike against demonstrators in the real world, some related strife is broiling in the Second Life sim of Egypt, which has become a gathering place for Egyptians and their supporters around the world since the uprising began. As Rik Riel of Betteverse first reported, the owner of SL Egypt has been banning avatars who make anti-Mubarak statements of any kind. I just contacted the owner, Ammroty Aedipo, avatar name of an Egyptian who lives in the United Arab Emirates, to get his perspective:
"I told everyone, 'Talk as you like'," Aedipo told me via IM. "But respect everyone too." Regarding Mubarak, Aedipo added, "He is still our president. And after that, he will [be an] Egyptian citizen." However, he insisted, he is not a Mubarak supporter. As a private sim owner in Second Life, he is well within his rights to limit what can and cannot be expressed on his land called Egypt. But as violence and strife continues in the real Egypt, this may become a difficult task.
Update, 11:30PM: In Comments, Ze Moo reported that pro-Mubarak signs are appearing in the Egypt sim. I just visited and confirm that that's the case (that's me above with Mr. Moo to my right), though it's unclear how many Residents are behind this. Most in attendance are clearly for the anti-Muburak demonstrators.
The Egypt sim owner is allowing pro-dictatorship signs to be rezzed at the welcome area of his sim. For instance: Portraits of Mubarak acompanied with lines like "PROUD TOE BE EGYPTIAN" - "PROUD OF MY PRESIDENT"
Also a few days ago, just after your first reports of the protests at this sim and when no pro-Mubarak signs were rezzed yet, an avatar called 'Jewboy' was there with pro-Mubarak signs attached to his avatar provoking the majority of pro-democracy protesters.
All this SL 'drama' is pretty insignificant for the developments in the orginal physical Egypt of course. But it might be some kind of glimpse of future communications & online clashes on a much more significant scale...
But then come to think of it, I haven't seen any pro-Mubarak outings like this on the net elsewhere so far. The general meme seems 'Pro- Mubarak protesters are mercenaries'... In this context I find the developments in SL interesing. Maybe this SL 'drama' could be historically relevant somehow?
Posted by: ZeMoo | Wednesday, February 02, 2011 at 10:36 PM
Here we see what on Al-Jazeera was explained as an element of Egyptian culture: no matter if you agree with the President or not, he is still the President, symbol of your country, and to see him weakened goes against your nationalist pride.
Posted by: Laetizia Coronet | Thursday, February 03, 2011 at 03:06 AM
Given the crimes against humanity we saw in Cairo yesterday carried out by the regime, and the facts of years of torture and murder that were the standards of this regime, Linden Labs should remove the theses SIM owners like they would remove any other criminals from Second Life.
Posted by: Robert Hooker | Thursday, February 03, 2011 at 07:03 AM
LL will be happy to sell a sim to the protestors... because in 'Merka, money equals freedom.
Posted by: Arcadia Codesmith | Thursday, February 03, 2011 at 08:30 AM