Reddit's Largest Second Life Group Bans SL Griefing Videos

The moderators of /r/secondlife (which has really become a very active and interesting SL user group of late), recently announced a fairly controversial policy: No more Second Life trolling videos. Which, as I wrote last week, have probably become the main thing Second Life is most known for, among YouTube viewers. So no more "Esteban Winsmore" videos (Google him, if you like) on/secondlife. In making the announcement, moderator /zebragrrl made an interesting point which I also largely disagree with:

As a moderator, I want to tell you that I thought a lot about this. Esteban's videos are very funny. He's a talented comedian, with a great sense of comedic timing. As a long time SL user, I really do enjoy his unexpected altercations with people. He's basically doing Borat in SL.

I know where she's going with the Borat comparison, but personally I don't think any of the well-known griefers can hold a candle to Sacha Baron Cohen in full Borat mode at his best. But the comparison is a good one, because it helps us distinguish between griefing, and Borat-style comedy:

With Borat, the mockery is directed just as much at his character, as the real people he's engaging with. And unlike Borat, who interacts in everyday situations which aren't funny in themselves, there's an abundance of strange/surreal/silly/unintentionally hilarious content in Second Life that is already entertaining in itself, without having to inject an outsider who artificially tries to juice up comedy on top of that.

By contrast, take Argyle Alligator, whose SL videos are not trolling, but IMO, a lot funnier, because he performs them with a straight face, and lets the comedy speak for itself:

In other words, SL troll videos are not just bad because they're griefing people - they're bad because they're not funny, and they're not funny because they don't even get how Second Life already is funny.

Please share this post:

Tweet

 

Comments

[Dan Coyote]

Griefing in SL is cyber bullying. There are two kinds of people in SL. Those who have been griefed relentlessly by some Bozo and some that have yet to feel the sting of this abuse. The ones who have not been victimized sometimes wonder publicly what the big deal is and compare griefing activity to art or to comedy or something that puts it in the acceptable category, when it is bullying and victimizing of another human being in the end. It's just not funny and sociopathic behavior that should not be encouraged or accepted by a civil community.

Worse yet is that there is no recourse in virtual worlds, no police, no lawyers no restraining orders no due process to see to it that people are civil and do not prey on others. This makes it all the more difficult to deal with, since there are MANY devious means to harass, belittle and generally psychologically torture someone in SL and other virtual worlds. How many teens need to suicide to show that this kind of activity is simple cruelty? Sure it is funny to some people, the same ones who laugh when someone falls down, the same heartless assholes we all hated in High School. The mean girls and boys grow up to be even worse when protected by pseudonymity.

Griefing in SL and other worlds is not like Borat or Andy Kaufman, who do their work for the broader audience, who do their work to expose societal ills and stand in public to take the heat for their work. Griefers in SL and other worlds hide in the shadows behind pseudonyms, cowardly and are more like mental rapists than comedians.

So if you condone or perform this activity, you are an asshole, I feel badly for your victims and hope you some day feel the same anguish you cause others.

DanCoyote

[Amanda Dallin]

Unless you're a Troll, how is banning trolling videos controversial? Interrupting others enjoyment of SL is not comedy. The Three Stooges were funny in a scripted environment but if someone walks up to a stranger and tweaks their nose pokes their eye or slaps them, then it's an assault and battery.

What Argyle Alligator does might be fine in a public area such as a info hub but going to private sims and interrupting people would not be ok, especially if he kept on after being asked to leave.

[Jeytr Stine]

Sucks for all 10 people that actually read /r/secondlife.

[Builderman]

Esteban is not that funny. Unfortunately. He gets an A for effort, but no.

[Daniel]

Britbongreturns is better than Esteban anyway.