After Yesterday's Election, We Need Better Virtual Worlds More Than Ever

In cold and lonely nights, even digital bonfires can draw us together in

I woke this morning in the wake of stunning US election results with a headache but after a predictable storm of emotions, these recent words of Philip Rosedale, on why he rejoined leading Second Life development, began flickering in my mind's eye:

I'm super concerned about the state of the world. And I think that there is also a chance that our sort of dystopian future will drive more and more people into virtual worlds. 

If it happens -- or for the amount of time that we have to spend doing it -- I'd like [virtual worlds] to be a positive experience, without evil advertising or surveillance or whatever. Without needing to read a Cory Doctorow book, we know that could get pretty bad with virtual worlds.

He's right. We need virtual worlds designed to elevate the best versions of ourself -- now more than ever. And no, not just as an entertaining "escape" from our offline troubles (though we will surely want them for that to). If you're reading this blog, chances are you know they are much more than that. For example:

• Virtual worlds have a documented ability to give senior citizens and others deep social connections which would be difficult for them to create in the real world, especially if they have physical difficulty traveling outside their own. (There is even reason to believe they can help alleviate Parkinson's symptoms and other maladies.)
• Specific to virtual worlds that are also metaverse platforms, their integration with the real world economy enable people to create new income streams for themselves -- even create whole successful small businesses employing others.
• And unique to all Internet services, virtual worlds and metaverse platforms have very large LGBT communities. In a user survey I conducted with top VRChat streamer Syrmor, nearly 1 in 5 VRChat users identified as trans/non-binary, or otherwise outside traditional cis male/female categories. I suspect this is the case with other virtual worlds; Second Life has hundreds of trans-related groups.  They offer safe havens for people who want to express their sexual/gender identity through their customizable avatar, often in ways that would be difficult or even dangerous to do in the real world. As I wrote last week, they are safe havens which are not safe during a new Trump Presidency -- but all the more reason, per Philip, to create, advocate, and foster virtual worlds which better protect LGBT people's anonymity.

Virtual worlds also offer us a respite from other popular ways interacting online, even to our detriment. They are powerful and important alternatives to social media, where content is algorithmically served to enforce our preferences (often at the expense of seeing a fuller picture of current events, if not outright misinforming us), and optimized to encourage anger with each other. (More anger equals more engagement.) These algorithms were certainly a key contributor to the 2024 election.

In virtual worlds, no such algorithms of that kind exist. We must engage with each other serendipitously and in real time, always knowing that the avatar in front of us is an actual person in another part of the world. We know that so keenly, our avatars even follow the unwritten rules of eye contact and personal space.

Philip, by the way, has related thoughts on his own blog, pointing to the larger economic forces which helped impel these election results:

With a Trump administration we will instead see a return to boiling the frog: isolationist changes that generate some temporary gains, but with the wealth from those gains going only to the richest people and companies, with overall inequality increasing further until some new breaking point is reached.

It isn’t clear how we go forward from here, politically. Creating stronger local communities of interdependent, compassionate people able to weather the storms together will certainly be part of the solution.

And yes, you can call a virtual world a kind of "local community", where instead of sharing the same street or park, we share the same digital wonders just outside our door.

As Philip himself just texted me: "Yes, I believe Second Life can be a place which allows online groups to be connected and interdependent in a manner similar to geographically local communities."

We will need those communities in the coming years -- to share our fun, joy, and creativity, yes, and also our moral support and practical resources with each other, especially as the offline crises come. We are better off facing them together -- even or especially as avatars.

I continue working in and writing about virtual worlds because they and their user communities remain the most fascinating phenomenon of my career. Now, supporting and growing them to be the best versions of themselves and amplify the best of our humanity -- that's also my moral cause. I hope you share that sense too. 

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Comments

[Sowa Mai]

"They are powerful and important alternatives to social media, where content is algorithmically served to enforce our preferences (often at the expense of seeing a fuller picture of current events, if not outright misinforming us), and optimized to encourage anger with each other. (More anger equals more engagement.)"

exactly

SL is where i find out what people are thinking in other countries. The connections I make over the years has broadened my view, fostered empathy, and provided support I am not seeing in my local rl. The opposite of social media.

[David Bell]

I think you're mistaken about the LGBT+ community being virtual-worlds-only.

I also think that you and Mr. Rosedale are mistaken about the safety of any USA-based internet operation. Your country has almost no effective protection in law for personal data. Nothing makes virtual worlds special.

[LGBT+ anon]

Maybe if they move to the EU.
Virtual worlds are surely helpful to LGBT+ people, gender expression and more, and in general I agree, but since we are talking about safety and "safe havens" after this election, I think it's important a word of caution. Apart from some abusive people you could meet also in virtual worlds, I won't feel safe with USA-based Internet companies, as David Bell said, even less now and in the next years.

Second Life is an especially bad case: communication is still sent plain-text and it's logged, with anything you did and where you did go. They keep the info for long(*) also the employees access to those logs, your other data and your inventory. That's for tech support, but also to investigate abuse reports. For those purposes it is fine, right? Except it's well know - and also with sources on Wikipedia, see the articles on global surveillance - that US gov agencies spied on virtual worlds, among which Second Life.

Now, think about all this under a hostile government. Yikes!

And remember who is backing Trump now, it's not just Trump, Musk financed him, and used ex-Twitter to spew misinformation, he doesn't even care for his children and he's really against trans people; his trans daughter now wants to leave the United States.

Also on Second Life, even though you would be usually welcome, not all the users are LGBT+ friendly. Not counting trolls, anti-LGBT+ profiles aren't so rare, and they too spew misinformation and hate. Not just random avatars, but well established ones, some with their own land, Trump propaganda sings, also some community and several creators as well. A notorious vehicle builder was even calling for the death of woke people (she used a slur in place of people). Traderwinds Yach Club has been systematically harassed for years by their neighbors, until about 2021, you can ask them. Other dudes are less obvious at first, but then they tell toxic or hateful things. At one point, I decided to only go to LGBT+ places in SL. But a popular place had to put a "no politic" sign, because some of this happened there as well. Certain SL residents, who are clearly not LGBT+ friendly, often engage in the forums, skirting the rules and making it difficult to discuss trans topics, which frequently leads to threads being locked.

On the plus side, as you said, in a virtual world, this stuff won't be algorithmically recommended based on your past views, but it is definitely present.

So, although virtual worlds are surely beneficial for LGBT+ people, I think it's important to stay careful. Now even more, on US-based virtual worlds.

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* = the yearly rez-day summary sent to you by mail looks like an example of this. Not every user receive it, but many do. It contains how many regions you visited etc. since your previous rez-day. It doesn't look like it's just region crossing, but unique regions. So, they should have a list that they keep.

[Lydia Mulford]

This seems like a good place to mention the Avatar Therapy for psychosis study:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(17)30427-3/fulltext

[sirhc desantis]

The cult of Phil omits that he is a bit of a techbro. Possibly benevolent but still. For all my faults I trust him - but he flits in and out. And yes I am very scared for my Sisters and Brothers out there.
Also that Lancet thing posted by ser Mulford is from 2018. Things change