Does Second Life Have Way More Player Drama Than Traditional MMOs?

Bugs in Second Life may be less annoying than they are in structured, standard MMOs like Elder Scrolls Online, but here's something that does bug some SLers -- the open-ended virtual world seems to have way more player-to-player drama. 

At least reader Alicia, a veteran of both MMOs and SL, makes that case: 

There is drama in every MMO, no questions about that one. Drama can be created from the devs not fixing bugs that should've been fixed, the players' own whining that the game is too difficult, and so on.

Now, where it pertains to SL, the drama is amplified a thousand fold as people can become "keyboard warriors" or even spread rumors to ruin a person. Just like RL, right?

So, is SL a way to escape RL?

That really depends, Alicia argues:

In a way, yes, and most certainly no. People try to create role-play communities, etc. in SL, but that is most certainly ruined the moment the drama starts to take over. Drama, being power-tripping owners and mods, cliques, spiteful individuals, etc.

So, can a person learn how to act and behave in real life via SL? No, they can't. Why is that? That's right folks, if you're a selfish piece of crap in real life, then you're carrying that over into SL. Vice versa if you're the opposite of what a selfish, backstabbing prick is.

Everything starts with real life. Everything is learned at home. In all my years of being in the MMO world, nearly twenty years to be exact, has a bearing on anything, it's that the vast majority of the drama and toxicity I've encountered was not on most MMOs, and certainly not IMVU, but rather SL.

There's definitely some truth to this. According to one organizer of the late Second Life Community Convention, vicious drama among SLers was a key reason it was killed.

And there's a certain inevitability to this, when nearly everything in the virtual world is created by users. As Alicia notes, players of most MMOs spend more time directing drama at the MMO company itself, over bugs, policy changes, and so on. (And I do mean serious drama: After getting regular death threats from players, one MMO company I know posted a very mean-looking dude in military fatigues armed with a Desert Eagle hand cannon outside its entrance.) With Linden Lab keeping a light touch on the world, players are free to create more drama against each other. 

At the same time, I'd say Second Life also has some of the most positive and community-minded users on the whole ass Internet. Relay for Life in Second Life is proof of that, and I could name countless more examples. Because in the end, a virtual world like Second Life doesn't usually make you a worse or better person than you are in real life -- rather, it tends to amplify who you already are.

Comments

[Taima Fang]

Let me say it plainly. SL is NOT a game but it is a 3 D chat world. I say this because there are no NPCs and NO actual goals or achievements to complete. SL is user created these days. WE the USER control the drama. WE can remove it or we can chose to go with the flow. The USER is the one responsible for their own experiences. So ask yourself why you have drama personally? Is there a rumor about you? Why is there one? Our actions determine the out come just like in RL.

[swain]

totally, in SL there is drama for everything, for callling it a game, for not calling it a game, for having a mesh body, for not having a mesh body, for copybotters, for cheaters, etc XDD after all, SL is not as big as it looks, by the way, calling it an mmo is not bad actually, mmo mean masive multiplayer online,and SL is totally that, is not necesarilly calling it a game

[Jumpman Lane]

I think I can say, quite honestly this: NO ONE has had more drama in SL than me. If you google "Jumpman Lane," most of what you'll find is toxic, toxic drama. Much of it is still online somewhere. I wouldn't say that there is MORE drama in SL than traditional MMO's. I would say that it's probably about the same amount in all spaces online, where you have a bunch of people. All drama can be summed up as a disagreement, a running argument between people who ultimately don't like each other, over a period of time.

I would say the chief difference between drama in SL and say drama in The Elder Scrolls Online is a matter of scale, a matter of scope. Precisely because people in ESO aren't in a world where "nearly everything in the virtual world is created by users" they don't stir up drama outside their own rather small cliques. For example, take the Trial Scene. Trials are 12 man dungeons where players have to be rather accomplished players to be effective. A lot of finger pointing ensues as a result of failure. (Failure being measured by leader-board scores). Outside of the trial group, very few would be aware of the very REAL drama going on between the people within it.

Because people in ESO are shoe-horned into fitting within the world itself (made by the company developing it) they are limited in the means that they can use to "strike back" at their enemies. Even should they go outside their MMO world, to say Twitch or YouTube, the drama remains limited because the interest isn't there. people are rigidly, PvPers or PvEers and won't notice. As a result, their dramas are rather like tempests in a teapot (as opposed to the grid-wide drama possible in Second Life). As a result, I found the people in ESO very INNOCENT when it came to drama. I mean, I didn't even know what people meant by "toxic" until I played ESO. Once I realized what it meant, I realized, "These fools don't have a clue. I'm the most toxic person they're ever likely to ever MEET." What they considered "drama" was just another day in Second Life. You get that just logging in lol.

I had a friend in ESO who knew me in SL and she was like, "Jump! Do they know who you ARE?" I was like, "Nah, they don't have a clue..." Now, I had friends in ESO who I played with everyday. I was in Discord with them every day. Since my @name there is Jumpman Lane there too, I tried explaining about SL and who I was there. They were SHOCKED. Now, they had their own little dramas, people they didn't like or whatever in ESO. They couldn't CONCEIVE of the scale of drama possible in Second Life.

In a virtual world where you can be anything you want to be, stabbing back at your enemies is only limited by your imagination. Drama tends to spiral out of control in Second life. Though, Linden Lab is very pro-active in its governance of it's game. Lindens are people too and not above engaging in a bit of drama themselves. Lindens are more hands on with their virtual world, much of it they didn't even create. They "play" their "game" (contrasted with the devs of ESO, who MAKE their game but don't play it, and if they DO play it, they don't play it well). Again, Lindens are more hands on.

Torley Linden and I once famously "got in to it." See, Torley and I had the great fortune of being de-noobified by the same Class of 2003 person (Lady Dawson). By de-noobify, I mean that we were taught all the things a noob just doesn't know when starting SL. (Incidentally, the most important thing she taught me was that SL IS a world, with a history. As, exciting as the ready-made world seemed to me in 2007, MUCH came before that, and the WORLD, was a result of SOMEONE, having DONE something, often times for the very first time. It gave me a great sense of the EFFICACY of ACTION in a virtual world, and shaped my sensibilities from the start).

I won't go into the specifics of Torley and my lil drama. I called it the Great Watermelon War. That fool suspended me 14 days EVERY 14 days for 2 months. If it hadn't been for some great Lindens at The Lad (namely Zara), I'd probably still be suspended for 14 days every 14 days. My point is this: SL being a world made BY us, gives US a greater pallet with which to paint our little dramas. Having played ESO, I've learned that the rather ridiculous "high drama" of SL is best tempered by restraint. Because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD...especially in a world limited only by your imagination.

[Pulsar]

Drama and fights are usually triggered by what you care most / you are most invested emotionally. These things are present in both typical MMOG and social virtual worlds like SL, but they have different weights.

Socialization in MMOGs happens, love stories (and drama) may also happen. In Wow, players can roleplay weddings; in Ragnarok Online, weddings is even part of the game mechanics. In some case they become actual real life relationships.
Gaming in MMOGs is the main focus, however, and it revolves mostly around the game mechanics: raising your character level, finding rare equipment, guild or player vs player combat, and so on. Most players care about that, especially when it takes several months or years playing every day to obtain that, depending on the game.
Fights, disputes and drama in MMOGs also revolve mostly around that: unfairness in PvP, PvE "kill stealing", exploited bugs, your beloved and hardly earned equipment being "nerfed" by the developers...
In 2005, a Legend of Mir 3 player was murdered after he sold on Ebay the virtual sword lent to him by a fellow player.

Gaming in social virtual worlds like Second Life exists in several forms. Any kind of game and roleplay game can be created in SL (and then there are fights and drama within those, about the game or roleplay game itself). You can have fun playing dressing doll with your avatar or using any kind of avatar you want. And because SL is designed as a sort of universal simulator, you can even create simulation games and have virtual regattas. In a way the shops that have promotional treasure hunts are another form of gaming, of course with rewards.
Socialization in SL has more focus, though, than typical MMOGs, but also creating your own items and shop. SL is also used by people who have difficulties in their real lives either because living alone in remote places, disabilities, social anxiety or PTSD, or they are trans people (e.g. a trans woman who can take a breath and just be the woman she is) and so on. They just find relief in the virtual worlds; but there are also toxic, narcissists and manipulative sociopaths who can damage you further instead, so beware.
Fights, disputes and drama in SL revolve more around the social side, but also shops.
IP infringement, unfair competition, but also jealousy and so on. Not every shop that closes down is the offender...
Visitors could be trolls, rude or whatever, sim owners or someone they delegate a role could be awful too.
But among SLers a main source of drama comes from flirts and the erotic stuff... and from the delusion and greed for it. Not everyone is into that (and even who is, isn't always and everywhere), but some dude assumes so. Women are constantly targeted by "hi how r u" horny guys. Or some delusional dude who takes SL as a real life dating agency: in his mind, every woman's profile is meant for that, especially the woman he aims at. He reads her profile avidly, and if she didn't have specified every detail of her real life he doesn't like, must be because she deceived him. Of course there are also actual liars, like women telling made up stuff and wanting money or guys pretending to only be nice and friendly at first, but it's just flattery to get your trust, then flirt, but what they have in mind is sex beds and/or BDSM. Then if the guy does't get what he was thinking to get, he show his true colors, the pettiest insults and abuse to the poor girl, although she was the one being herself all the time. Again drama from delusion.
Then you have girls being jealous their boyfriend's female friends, even if they were just friends since ages ago. Women using some naive guy as an ATM. Real life married dudes that launch SL, flirt with other women in the virtual world, they marry them in there, just to flirt with other girls meanwhile. Drama from greed.

Already in 2007, there was a murder because of a love triangle in SL. A 47-year-old man, who was pretending to be 18 and a Marine bound for Iraq, had this relationship in SL with a woman in her 40s, who in turn claimed to be 18 as well and used the pictures of her daughter. The guy was even bragging with his workmates about the teen he ensnared. He had a 22-year-old friend in SL, who then also met the woman and some kind of romance ensued with them, then rivalry between the two men, until the 47-year-old guy murdered the other one in real life.
Similar things happened other times.

It's better to have fun and don't take SL too seriously.

[Yoof]

I usually find it quite eye-rolling avatars who list everything they don't like about other avatars and their behaviours in their profiles, in essence actually creating the drama they wish to appear free from. I also find these type of avatars quite vapid and vicious from those who may only say have a couple of nightclubs, gacha stores and star sign in their picks. I usually find the latter to be a little more approachable and pleasant in my experience.

[irihapeti]

the conversation in shooter games can be more verbally toxic than in a virtual world. Mostly due to people competing to win the combat, so there can be quite a lot of sledging to get the other players to tilt. And when a player does tilt they can go full-on toxic

this is not to say that sledging between virtual world creators, venue providers and users doesn't happen, it does, but happens on a longer lower-frequency cycle

[Alicia]

I'm liking some of the responses, especially from @Pulsar and @Jumpman Lane.

@rirhapeti, in any FPS or Competitive PvP, you will hear trash-talking the likes of which have been heard from when playing sports of any kind, or old-fashioned school-yard bullying. The vast majority of it today is done by keyboard warriors who believes themselves invincible when they're in front of a monitor and keyboard.

@Tamia Fang, at the end of the day, SL will always be a game. It's a game in which you can create games (sporting events, races, etc.), events, items, etc. To simply call it a 3D chat lessens it (SL) in its entirely, because in a simple, basic 3D chat... you couldn't do any of these things, except chat.

"With Linden Lab keeping a light touch on the world, players are free to create more drama against each other." - Hence, Linden Lab's most fatal flaw.

"Because in the end, a virtual world like Second Life doesn't usually make you a worse or better person than you are in real life -- rather, it tends to amplify who you already are." - B-I-N-G-O!!!! Like I said, everything starts at the home, how you were brought up, and how you are today.

[Jacques Mesrine]

Pfff, that "Drama-Talk" itself is per se BS.
I don't intend to explain why...