Second Life at Least More Diverse Than Its Inspiration, Burning Man

Second Life was partly inspired by Burning Man, the annual temporary utopian community in Nevada's Black Rock desert, so I was sadly amused to read this UK Guardian interview with Burning Man founder Larry Harvey, which reveals just how non-diverse and non-inclusive Burning Man's "utopia" actually is:

According to the most recent Black Rock city census, complied yearly by a team of academic demographers and anthropologists to determine the makeup of the festival, 87% of burners identified as white; 6% identified as Hispanic, 6% as Asian, and 2% as Native Americans (figures rounded) – on the latter of whose ancestral lands the event occurs. The smallest demographic of burners – 1.3% – identified as black. According to the census, which also measures income, this means that the temporary city is home to twice as many people who earn $300,000 a year as it is to black people.

At Second Life's peak in media awareness, the world actually had more Brazilian and Japanese users, than users from Europe. So it's likely SL at least has more diversity among Asians and Hispanics, than Burning Man does. From that perspective, Philip Rosedale's goal of creating a virtual world that was a more accessible and diverse variation of Burning Man seems to have been realized. (Notwithstanding the real racism that still exists in SL.)

Harvey actually visited Second Life to talk about its parallels to Burning Man with Philip a few years ago:

Read more about that interview here. Above image from a 2009 post in which Philip argued that SL must evolve away from its Burning Man era.

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Comments

[Leondra]

We are alive and well in Burn2 (formerly Burning Life). We celebrate the 10 Principles year round with a variety of events. Right now we are getting ready for the BIG ONE, the October Burn2. We hold this in October to not conflict with the Burners attending the RL event. Check us out: http://burn2.org/ There are plots for sale and a lottery for free ones. The application for art builds has been extended. Come and participate!

[zz bottom]

And that link for the census is from 2007!!!

[Aliasi Stonebender]

And Burn2 has the issue that ever since being taken over, the ones I've peeked in on seem bound and determined to make it Yet Another Goddamn Barbie-Doll Showcase. Which is to say, something constrained by how things would be in reality, and a far cry from the exotic chaos of the early Burning Lifes.

I recall some of the guidelines being things like 'your build can't violate the laws of physics and float', and 'it should look like it's made out of materials you could have plausibly carried into a desert' and so on. Way to miss the point of being in Second Life, you know?