Philip Rosedale is featured on the latest episode of NPR's "Ted Radio Hour" (September 18, "Screen Time - Part II"):
He covers most of the territory from his original TED talk (embedded below), with new emphasis on an idea I've heard him discuss in person, but not sure he's spelled out in public before -- that access to virtual worlds will soon become a civil right:
Our very access to virtual worlds will become a kind of civil right... maybe even 10 years from now, we’ll regard taking away your access to virtual worlds as completely inappropriate.
That's an appealing idea, I guess, though the consumer Internet is about 20 years old, and so far only a few countries have even made basic access to the Internet a civil right. (Not the US or most of the EU.) One reason Philip proposes this is because Philip believes that people in Second Life (or virtual worlds in general) are much more civil to each other.
On this point, there's considerable evidence that this is not the case. Indeed, Philip literally paid me for awhile to explore Second Life as an embedded journalist, and even back in the earliest years, incivility was a fairly regular occurrence -- and became even moreso, as the world grew. But hearing Philip's interview on NPR, it suddenly occurred to me why he maintains this conviction:
Philip was most active in Second Life during the first few years of its launch, when there were just a few hundred and then a few thousand active users. Back then, like Burning Man which inspired it, Second Life definitely was overall a highly supportive, extremely welcoming community. (And some tight-knit sub-communities within SL still maintain that spirit.)
However, I'd argue that that general Burning Man-esque civility eroded more and more as the population grew, and, of course, when it became possible to buy and sell land, and exchange Linden Dollars for US dollars, and the profit motive became a more important part of the platform. (Notably, Burning Man doesn't allow commercialism within its temporary community, for that very reason.) So the idea that virtual worlds per se enable more civility -- let alone should become a civil right -- my years writing about Second Life strongly suggest otherwise.
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Yeah I think the internet increased incivility... online gaming ramped that up a notch further to even more uncivil conduct, and virtual worlds take the cake on this score because not only can you be amazingly uncivil, you can make creations through which to harass and intimidate others - and largely be unchecked and unchallenged over this.
And if Facebook has proven anything - it has proven that forcing real life identities to be associated with this has all of zero impact, plus or minus, on changing civility.
Posted by: Pussycat Catnap | Friday, September 18, 2015 at 12:53 PM
@ Pussycat
Fully agree with that assessment!
having just logged out of grid after getting over 15 messages from people i do not know 'who are being fed by a troll..had to mute several because they would not give me a chance to explain what my position was and that it was all untrue. 'people pull drama right out of there asses.
+
I am at a point in life were i can just turn SL off while reading a good book in my lazy chair and not feel like anything was missed by me.
Posted by: Littlewing | Friday, September 18, 2015 at 05:20 PM
What does profit motive have to do with civility? That's a ridiculous thing to say. The only possible connection is that it attracted more people and more people means the jerks are more anonymous. I don't know of anyone making a profit from spamming penises. If anything it's some anti-profit people who are "uncivil" toward the capitalist (the infamous Anshe interview) but even that isn't exactly correct. People who are jerks and idiots are going to be jerks and idiots if they can get away with it.
Posted by: Amanda Dallin | Friday, September 18, 2015 at 07:06 PM
@ Amanda Dallin
There are always the youtubers who film their trolling.
Posted by: MoonSong | Friday, September 18, 2015 at 09:51 PM
@Amanda Dallin: I think the idea was that with real money attached, people get more uncivil because there is more to lose when you lose.
It is a proven fact that the more wealthy a person is, the less ethical they become. Like it or not that is what studies now prove.
But I don't think that maps out to civility so easily in this case.
Posted by: Pussycat Catnap | Sunday, September 20, 2015 at 12:43 AM
I wouldn't say Philip Rosedale had any illusions about "civility" in Second Life. It was under his watch that the Governance Team emerged and smacked griefers the head with their Mighty Linden Banhammers. Further, Philip had NO illusions about "violating" griefers rights when their in-world Denial of Service attacks threatened his company's bottom line. NO one has civil rights on another man's dime.
All those hippy-dippy sentiments SOUND good (to certain socialist types) but are soon forgotten when talking about monies. Ol' Dirt Face Phil had NO problem monetizing that Burning Man spirit and cashing in on the resulting fame.
Lest you get the wrong idea: Jumpy has always stood by The Lab and has a particular warm and fuzzy feeling deep in my heart for Philip Linden.
Posted by: Jumpman Lane | Sunday, September 20, 2015 at 06:56 PM
Burning Man got less civil as the technocrats influxed and some animals became more equal than others.
It's not a one-to-one correlation: some rich people are extraordinarily nice (they can afford to be, after all).
On the other hand, the asshole ratio increases noticeably as you move up the income scale. Selfishness is more profitable than altruism. And while selfishness can learn manners in its own selfish interest, the more wealth it acquires, the less it needs to care.
Posted by: Arcadia Codesmith | Monday, September 21, 2015 at 04:23 AM
people are civil in the RL bc we thump them when they arent. And we thump them bc we can actually do it. Thump them
we cant actual thump anyone on the internets. the owners can banhammer them, but is not the same thing if they dont care about getting banned
they care about getting thumped tho. So is why they dont do it in the RL. Like be uncivil
Posted by: irihapeti | Monday, September 21, 2015 at 06:39 AM
4 Teh Lulz
Posted by: Pathfinder | Monday, September 21, 2015 at 11:32 AM
I'M not that civil in real life CAWS JUMPY CAN FIGHT. I unno nothing bout thumping but folks better know how to thump FOR REAL lest they get scuffed up.
My daddy used to say " You can do what you want to do...long as you can fight. Then just play cool 'til the cops come." Hehehehe
Posted by: Jumpman Lane | Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 07:37 PM