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John Edwards' Campaign Enters Second Life 151

politics 2.0 writes "It may not be an official effort — yet — but thanks to a grass-roots effort, John Edwards has become the first presidential candidate to set-up-shop in Second Life. Jerimee Richir, whose avatar is called Jose Rote, paid-for and developed Edwards' virtual headquarters, and, on a voluntary basis, is managing the in-world campaign. Considering that Second Life's user numbers are much smaller than other social networks, such as MySpace and Facebook — aside from generating press coverage — will campaigning in Second Life actually win many votes? Rote says yes, and that 'Second Life users are a unique audience, in that, they are first adopters. It is a smaller community, but I would argue it is a more influential community.'"
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John Edwards' Campaign Enters Second Life

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  • by P(0)(!P(k)+P(k+1)) ( 1012109 ) <math.induction@gmail.com> on Thursday February 15, 2007 @08:51AM (#18022338) Homepage Journal

    From TFS:

    [W]ill campaigning in Second Life actually win many votes?

    You know, I really liked John Edwards; granted, he pulled the daddy worked 36 years in NC textile [johnedwards.com] thing one too many times, but his daughter [johnedwards.com] is hot.

    As far as Second Life goes: you guys are just the next VRML [wikipedia.org]; deal with it.

    • Re:The Next VRML (Score:5, Insightful)

      by LinuxGeek ( 6139 ) * <djand,nc&gmail,com> on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:46AM (#18022684)
      Mr. Edwards gained quite a reputation [washingtontimes.com] both in NC and nation wide as an extremely aggressive attorney [findlaw.com]. Living in NC for most of my life, I got to see many effects of his record setting medical settlements and jury awards on both the patients and doctors. If he can do the same things for Second Life, then it probably won't last much longer... :~}
    • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by Dunbal ( 464142 )
      but his daughter is hot.


            Ewww. We obviously have different tastes in women. She could use some surgery on her chin...
      • Ewww. We obviously have different tastes in women. She could use some surgery on her chin...

        Dude, she got that chin from Bill Clinton! Maybe they were playing baseball or something, I seem to recall something about being hit in the face with too many balls.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anthracks ( 532185 )
      Hot compared to who? Tubgirl? I don't have anything to go on except that pic at the top of the page you linked, but yowza, that's not my idea of "total babe".
    • At least politically. He won his senate seat running against a right of Jesse Helms pig farmer right after a hurricane dumped pig poop all over eastern NC. He ran for president because he had no chance of re-election in NC (not because he was Democrat, but because he was not representive of the majority of people in the state). The VP pickup by Gore saved his career. So you have someone with limited experience, trial lawyer, and pretty. Obama beat Keyes (not the best canidate to understate the issue) a
  • Cool (Score:2, Funny)

    by mfh ( 56 )
    I think this guy should build a new America in Second Life and sell it to the Chinese government for enough money to fix the war problem.
  • The haves in the Second Life economy and the have nots?
  • *rolls eyes* (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Whiney Mac Fanboy ( 963289 ) * <whineymacfanboy@gmail.com> on Thursday February 15, 2007 @08:58AM (#18022378) Homepage Journal
    Rote says yes, and that 'Second Life users are a unique audience, in that, they are first adopters. It is a smaller community, but I would argue it is a more influential community.'

    Yeeesh! Smug SL user & lame* presidential candidate stories rolled into one! Thanks slashdot :-)

    Second life is great to show your "internet savvy", coz the mainstream press (newsites, tv, legacy print, etc) can report on your 'internet presence' with impressive pics of a 3d world.

    Second life is not great for the direct influence it has on the American public.

    *the story, not the candidate, dunno about him.

    PS. A comment on the linked article said Obama also had a SL presence. But with no backing evidence. Anyone on SL want to confirm/deny this for us?

    PPS. Did anyone else think the photo [zdnet.com] of the author of the linked article looked 'shopped?
  • Right... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Erwos ( 553607 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:00AM (#18022386)
    Second Life campaign team says Second Life is important to campaign. Who could have predicted such an outcome?

    This sounds remarkably like a Second Lifer who's gotten an inflated idea of how important their alternate reality is, asked the campaign team for permission, and then made something. The fact that the campaign itself doesn't seem to be investing money in this is telling as to how much _they_ think this is going to help. That's not to say an Internet presence isn't important, of course - but this is just a little too niche to matter.
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by inviolet ( 797804 )

      Indeed. Observe the Second Life guy's comment:

      Rote says yes, and that 'Second Life users are a unique audience, in that, they are first adopters. It is a smaller community, but I would argue it is a more influential community.'"

      Whenever anyone says "I would argue...", note that they have not actually said "I am now arguing...".

      In fact the phrase "I would argue" serves the same purpose as 'really', 'great', and 'literally': it is a flag to warn us that the speaker doesn't fully believe what he or she is s

      • Or, it could mean "if this point were up for debate, I would argue X... but it is not up for debate, so I won't be arguing."
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:05AM (#18022412)
    They influenced me to stay the hell away from second life.

    (Google "second life safari" somethingawful if you want to see what I mean)
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:10AM (#18022436)
    This is not the "Biggest Douche in the Universe" John Edwards, but rather the relatively-unknown outside the USA political candidate for President John Edwards [wikipedia.org].
    • Hey, cut the guy some slack. He may not have been featured on South Park, but he's still a giant fscking douche.
  • Its it bad that the first thing I thought of after having read that title was that the sci-fi guy would finally have to answer to all those angry spirits who watched him bilk their relatives on his cheasy tv show?
  • by rs232 ( 849320 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:13AM (#18022454)
    Wouldn't it be great if they moved wars to Second Life also. Wait isn't that an episode of Startrek.
    • Ya, but if I remember right, you still had to kill yourself in the disintegration chamber if the computer said you died in it's war simulation. So I don't think that would work out too well.
      • by rs232 ( 849320 )
        "you still had to kill yourself in the disintegration chamber"

        Only if you don't posess the cheat codes, dude. I wonder will his first virtual town hall meeting be interrupted by flying penii [gamepolitics.com] or be attended by this constituent [somethingawful.com].
  • by aadvancedGIR ( 959466 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:14AM (#18022458)
    This guy may be the first AMERICAN presidential candidate on second life, but we already have a few french presidential candidates there for a couple of mounthes now.
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      I wonder if France has figured out a way to surrender in Second Life yet.
      • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

        by Dunbal ( 464142 )
        I wonder if France has figured out a way to surrender in Second Life yet.

              Just as soon as the Americans manage to figure out how to lose yet another war to a bunch of peasants there.

              Love,

              A French guy.
        • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

          Like the French did in Vietnam? Or like the French did in the Ivory Coast? Or like the French did in Algeria? Those are some great examples!
          • After Afghanistan and Iraq, Americans joking about how the French always surrender has acquired a whole new level of unintentional irony. Sometimes, surrendering may be the smart choice. And it's not like the Yanks did so great in Vietnam, either. Either way, I hope facts won't keep anyone from making jingoistic remarks. They just lighten my day up.

            (Disclaimer: I'm neither French nor American)
            • That is exactly what I was pointing out. I am against the Iraq war, but I find it absolutely hilarious when Europeans get all sanctimonious about it. They are showing ignorance of their history, both past and present.
            • by AvitarX ( 172628 )
              1) I hope that facts stay out to, but you are not helping the fact.\

              2) The come-back the French should use against us is that we are fat and ugly and lazy, and drink piss beer.

              By conforming to rule #2 you can help spur both French and US nationalism in a humorous way. By pointing out that everyone is fucked up with fascists making inroads into the political system you are simply spreading misery and understanding.
          • Uh, when did the French surrender in the Côte d'Ivoire? I remember them destroying the entire Ivoirian air force, but not surrendering to anyone.
      • by VJ42 ( 860241 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:42AM (#18022660)

        I wonder if France has figured out a way to surrender in Second Life yet.
        Are you English? If not cease and desist from French bashing. The English peoples claim sole rights to that activity (after we spent the best part of a millennium at war with them, we deserve it), all other peoples are prohibited and licences are no longer granted since the whole "freedom fries" fiasco proved that no one else can do the job properly. Other prohibited activities reserved for the English and\or British are winding up the Germans over the war and\or football.
        • by bytesex ( 112972 )
          I disagree, governor. You can have your frogs and boil 'em in warm beer for all you like (and serve them with mint-sauce), but bashing Germans over football is a national pastime only reserved for the Dutch. And we're closer too, so there !

          Sincerely,

          A Cloggie.
          • by VJ42 ( 860241 )
            So what's the Dutch equivalent of the classic English football chant of "two world wars and one world cup"?

            Actually that's a totally pointless question as I don't understand Dutch, so I think we may have to grant you an unrestricted licence on annoying the Germans over football. I'll trade it for your sane drugs laws.

            To be fair we love it when anyone beats the Germans, so I think there might be grounds for some sort of copyleft licence.
        • by ab762 ( 138582 )
          The classic Brit position:

          "We shouldn't be upset when the Germans beat us at our national sport. After all we beat them at theirs twice in the twentieth century."
    • by sheldon ( 2322 )

      This guy may be the first AMERICAN presidential candidate on second life, but we already have a few french presidential candidates there for a couple of mounthes now.


      Oh hell, we've had a French President for the past six years.

  • "It is a smaller community, but I would argue it is a more influential community"

    Second Life is a ponzi scheme.

    http://randolfe.typepad.com/randolfe/2007/01/secon dlife_revo.html [typepad.com]
    http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/24/ 1319236 [slashdot.org]

    • by vadim_t ( 324782 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:48AM (#18022702) Homepage
      That article made no sense at all.

      (typing from memory, so I might get details wrong) Economist goes into SL, tries to earn cash from their internal currency which is *controlled by Linden Lab*, fails, and declares SL a scam.

      There's one important detail he missed here: LL controls the currency, and buys and sells as required to maintain a stable value. That means that after the percentage LL takes for buying/selling, the amount you can earn from simple buying/selling of currency is very little, if anything at all. No surpsise that he failed. But then, since when "making money in SL" was supposed to be done like in a stock market?

      SL has a services based economy. You make/do something for me, I pay you for it. The concept of a ponzi scheme simply doesn't apply in that situation, because a Ponzi scheme is an investment scam, and nobody sane earns money in SL by investing it. What there is is a straightforward system of supply and demand.
  • Guess this makes sense - he talks to the dead [wikipedia.org], might as well get their vote too.

    ...oh, Edward*s*, right.

    • You are new here aren't you? The dead have been voting in Chicago since the 1960s. Amazingly they all voted for the same candidate too! Obviously, the dead vote so every campaign needs a "Speaker For The Dead" ;)
  • In France we have too candidates who are on second life, the facists and the stupid Ségolène Royal [secondlifeherald.com]
  • More influential? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by 6Yankee ( 597075 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:20AM (#18022498)
    Considering that Second Life's user numbers are much smaller than other social networks, such as MySpace and Facebook -- aside from generating press coverage -- will campaigning in Second Life actually win many votes?

    It's not just about the raw numbers... Myspacers are spotty teenagers who can't vote, and Facebookers are hippie students who won't vote!
    • by Valdez ( 125966 )
      Yes, but until you can vote in-world, don't expect a lot of SL'ers to unplug and trudge down to a polling center IRL to tick their ballot.

      What a pain, and I can't even get there in a flying UPS truck. ;)

      • by 6Yankee ( 597075 )
        I can't even get there in a flying UPS truck. ;)

        Well, you could, but you'd need a big square cannon. I was about to say, "and a damned good airbag," but the stated requirement was to "get there". If you want to get there and be able to vote - instead of being able to go home in a bucket - that'll cost extra...
    • by kabocox ( 199019 )
      It's not just about the raw numbers... Myspacers are spotty teenagers who can't vote, and Facebookers are hippie students who won't vote!

      What about WOW then?
    • Whereas Second Lifers are likely to build a "polling place" inside the game, cast "votes" in there, then spend the rest of the night doing virtual high-fives about how someday that will be for real.
  • So someone sets up a political site on second life, quotes himself and gets slashdot to advertise it for him.
    It is not like this is the first time a political party or politician has setup a place on second life, and hey this is not even official.
    Now it would be neat if he duplicated edwards new house [carolinajournal.com]
  • Influential? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by toupsie ( 88295 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:25AM (#18022526) Homepage
    Influential? Maybe to clueless reporters in desperate need to fill airtime or page space. Second Life has maybe 650,000 [corante.com] real people logging in and tuning out of First Life [getafirstlife.com]. I can't think of one concept, product, idea or candidate the Second Life community has successfully promoted to myself, friends or coworkers (a fairly "wired" bunch). If internet savvy Edwards supporters want to assist his campaign, maybe they suggest that John paint a giant campaign sign on his 28,200 sq foot new home [carolinajournal.com] on 102 acres in North Carolina so it can be photographed for Google Earth. I am sure one of the two Americas will appreciate that...
    • 1. I've never been on Second Life, I don't know much about it, I don't care about it, but 650k people isn't exactly tiny. New Hampshire has just over 1MM, for example.

      2. The whole brouhaha about "OMG Edwards Is a Millionaire" is just ridiculously stupid. Here's a clue: Every Presidential Candidate that ran since Truman, or maybe Eisenhower, was a Millionaire. Yes, being a millionaire makes it more likely you'd know the kind of people you need to know to finance a run for President, but also, the type of peo
  • May I point out that until very recently, the French Front National had an office in SL... It may not be something the French are proud of, but well, Le Pen was there first...
  • by Jon Luckey ( 7563 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:31AM (#18022554)
    John Edward's Second Life Campaign Headquarters Griefed

    MPGs at 11.

  • Pro pron! (Score:4, Funny)

    by mwvdlee ( 775178 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:32AM (#18022560) Homepage
    By being active on Second Life, mr. Edwards takes a clear and unmistakable stand in favor of pornography and promiscuous sex. He's got my vote!
  • in other SL news (Score:3, Informative)

    by asv108 ( 141455 ) <asv@iREDHATvoss.com minus distro> on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:34AM (#18022578) Homepage Journal
    Second Life population figures are completely inflated. [alexvalentine.org]

    From Valleywag. [valleywag.com]

    Now that Linden is publishing actual user numbers, we can see that the Residents figure, as expected, is a big overcount over actual people (about 50% inflation, in fact, accounting for over a million ersatz users). Second Life doesn't have two million users. They have had two million users over the life of the service, and they've lost most of them. Of those users, the majority -- something like 5 out of 6 -- bailed in the first month.

    • That's traditional! Compuserve and the Source would talk about their millions of users too, but never mention their churn rate.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:42AM (#18022662)
    I'll probably get troll rated by Edwards partisans, but he just doesn't ring true to me. When I examine candidates, I examine their history and look at what they've said in the past and what they say now, to see if there's a thread of consistency and integrity.

    He's against the Iraq war now that it's safe and popular to be, but he not only voted for it, he was actually the Co-Sponsor of Lieberman's bill.
      http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:SJ000 46:@@@P [loc.gov]:
    Even Kerry, who caught a lot of flack for voting for the war before voting against it or whatever the mangled soundbite was, had the intelligence to not Co-Sponsor the war. But Edwards joined Zell Miller, Jesse Helms, and Sturm Thurmond to Co-Sponsor Lieberman's bill. He defended his vote for the war and even said he "wasn't duped" by the president, and said that he would invade Iraq if he were president even after no WMDs were found. He didn't back down until after 2004 was over, because he was afraid of looking "weak" on national security. Of course, now his tune has turned 180 degrees.

    He also said he's a champion of the poor, citing his work suing doctors for medical malpractice on behalf of "the little guy." And yet, when you examine his legal history, he has never done a single Pro Bono case.

    Now that he's wooing Labor Unions for primary support, he's done a lot of good work campaigning for raising the minimum wage, even though it doesn't take political courage for a Democrat to say he's in favor of it, since it plays well to the base. But if you look at his Senate record, he's responsible for a lot of stuff that went against Labor Union interests. He voted to give China most favored nation status and the attendant trade conditions of that status, even though we have a huge trade deficit with China and their taking of our manufacturing base. Edwards also voted for expansion of the H1B visa program that allows companies to import foreign high tech workers (such as programmers and computer engineers) to fill American jobs but deny them immigration status. This work visa is a non-immigration visa, so they end up taking American jobs but not being able to contribute to America's future by becoming citizens. H1-Bs have been blamed for helping to keep American software wages depressed.

    He tries to cater to the environmentalists and the poor, but then he engages in a major act of conspicuous consumption by tearing down wilderness to construct a new mansion. I think he has the right to live however he wishes, and his house is a silly issue to focus on, but it does underscore a lack of congruity.

    Now, people do change over time, and the positions of career politicians certainly do. Surely he has seen the error of Iraq by now, and perhaps he started to grow a focus on poverty and labor long after he left the Senate, thus accounting for why he didn't sponsor any anti-poverty legislation in congress. But when you see that he changes significantly on several major issues, a pattern begins to emerge.

    When I look for candidates, I try to see if their past actions match their current rhetoric and pandering. I try to see if their private faces out of the spotlight match their current public faces on the campaign trail.

    Unfortunately for Edwards, he falls short in my eyes. It rings false.

    He voted for....nay, CO-SPONSOREd...the Iraq War and now apologizes. Two ways of looking at it...Honest mistake, in which case he lacks the judgment on matters of war and peace to be president...or disingenious jockeying to follow public opinion, in which case he lacks the political courage to follow his conscience instead of the polls.

    I put a lot of thought into examining candidates who want to be my president...and I just cannot in good conscience vote for Edwards.

    Okay, pro-Edwards partisans may now troll-rate me.
    • Mod up! (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I was at the Feb 15, 2003 protests in Raleigh, NC. You know, the protests BEFORE the war, to PREVENT the Iraqi quagmire the Neocons dragged us all into. It was obvious as hell at that time that the Iraq invasion was based on lies. Yet Edwards would not come out and say so. The pictures in the media of Edwards holed up in his home were priceless.

      Unfortunately it looks like NO candidates in the major parties are worth supporting this go around. Sigh ... a Dean/Kucinich ticket would have stomped Bush, but
    • no kidding (Score:4, Insightful)

      by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @10:31AM (#18023156) Journal
      I think he has the right to live however he wishes, and his house is a silly issue to focus on, but it does underscore a lack of congruity.

      Silly? His political wing wants us to all live in crowded cities and use public transportation all the time. He's against "urban sprawl" in the sense that he doesn't want you and me to have any space because it might "sprawl" towards his splendid wilderness vistas in his huge, private country living space.

      His house is not so silly of an issue, if you ask me.
      • by sheldon ( 2322 )
        I know of nobody who wants to force you to live in a city and take publicn transport. But I know a lot of people who would like to have that option available to themselves. I choose to live in a 2nd ring suburb which has had a reemergence of neo-urban planning. neo-urban is some new fangled name for... building sidewalks so people can actually walk places.

        I don't understand why your political wing is opposed to sidewalks. Maybe you could help explain that to me.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by T.E.D. ( 34228 )

      but he not only voted for it, he was actually the Co-Sponsor of ...

      But if you look at his Senate record, ...He voted to give ....Edwards also voted for...

      This is one of the primo reasons why senators don't generally get elected president. If you want your party to win the general election, you should really be supporting a governor or former military leader. You want someone who can talk about things accomplished by the large bureaucracy they ran, not someone who's going to be talking about all the funny l

    • I'll probably get troll rated by Edwards partisans, but he just doesn't ring true to me.

      Isn't he a tort lawyer? And a politician on top of that. By definition he's constructed of pure molecular distortium. The truth, like light, can never escape from his intense obfuscation field.

    • I examine their history and look at what they've said in the past and what they say now, to see if there's a thread of consistency and integrity.
      A man who has never changed his mind in light of new information is a fool. It seems your criteria are selecting for foolishness.
  • I'm damn glad I don't have to put up with similar shit in games I choose to play [armageddon.org]
    • Damn right. I personally welcome Mr Edwards and many other politicians to the Half-Life 2 and PES6 online arenas. Cue multiple frags and red-card slide tackles...
  • by emilyridesabmx ( 1009713 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:47AM (#18022690) Homepage
    Well, with all the lag on Second Life, people voting for Edwards now may see their votes effect the outcome of the 2012 elections.
  • I'd like to ask him (Score:3, Informative)

    by doomy ( 7461 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @09:48AM (#18022698) Homepage Journal
    What his views are on rape and pedophilia.

    I've been in SL for over 2 year now and it seems to draw the worst kind of people.

    For instance there are huge communities of people who are obsessed over the torture and enslavement of women, to the end that they treat women as animals. This has also leaked onto real life (ala Kaotians). Not to mention the horror stories I've heard from people who got into this after being involved in similar cults online.

    I've had a friend from UK, who used to be a slave in one of these online cults. Her online Dom (Master) ordered her execution after not being satisfied with her. The order was carried out by her roommate who was also a slave to this dude (guy is in Denmark). This girl tied a rope around my friend while she was unconscious and tied the other end to her car and drove. Lucky the rope snapped and broke, but it put my friend in hospital for over 200+ days. While the girl who did this is in prison, the person who ordered this crime is still free.

    Then there are the pedophiles, I've been campaigning against them for quite a while in Second Life. For the life of me, I cannot think why an adult want to have have sexual role play with another who is pretending to be a 2 or 5 year old boy or girl, and wears a photo mapped skin of real child (completely realistic with nothing censored). I do not understand these people and I think by their use of the photo mapped skin they are doing something illegal.

    I've asked many times why Lindens allow this, but they have refused to answer this question.
  • ...I expect this will be just as successful.
  • Step 1: Figure out some way to make Arnold eligible to run for President.

    Step 2: Convince Blizzard to incorporate a virtual Arnold that wanders around Ironforge and occasionally hands out Epics.

    Step 3: Size Maria for an inauguration dress.
  • One of the French presidential candidate for the upcoming elections, Ségolène Royale, made the same move a while ago. See a screenshot of the virtual campaign [metrofrance.com].
  • So, what kind of voting machines do they have?
  • Judging by what I understand Second Life to be, I have to conclude that John Edwards is targeting furries. But seriously... it seems to me that any candidate spending any significant effort on campaigning in SL is basically saying "I have no sense of priorities but please vote for me!!!"
    • it seems to me that any candidate spending any significant effort on campaigning in SL is basically saying "I have no sense of priorities but please vote for me!!!"

      But he isn't spending anything on this.

      While I'm not supporter of Edwards and frankly think that Second Life is a bore I think this is a no-harm no-foul situation.

      Yeah, it's neat to a point but it'll be about as influential as getting the man a billboard spot in Antarctica.
      • Right. Let me rephrase this.

        If a candidate spends any significant effort on campaigning in SL, that candidate is basically saying "I have no sense of priorities but please vote for me!!!"

        John Edwards is no such candidate so far.

        My comment about John Edwards targeting furries was jab at SL.
    • by DrXym ( 126579 )
      Furries and other assorted weirdos. Seriously what the hell is the point of Second Life? The client is so atrocious and the world so painfully slow to load that I don't quite follow the point of it at all. It reminds me of TinyMud 15 years ago - you think it's going to be an MMPORG but its just a horribly inconsistent world with a bunch of people standing around asking passers by to play with the objects they created.
    • Come now, the furries are easily outnumbered by the "plastic perfection" female av's and the 7 foot tall guys with big biceps and too small heads. :-)

      That said, I think most SLers think of political figures coming into SL as a PR stunt. If the political figures took SL seriously (set up a permanent presenceon the grid with actual staffers manning it) that would be different. I personally have more respect for the artists/academics/writers who show up in SL than the politicians.
  • It brings us one step closer to a day when we can bombard the president with penises during his state of the union address!
  • Lessee, Edwards ventures into the world of blogging and hires left wing maniacs with a penchant for using the word "fuck" (in its many forms) while hating on anybody to the right of Lieberman. Now he's venturing into Second Life, a world chock a block with http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2006/11/did_li ve_help_l.html [secondlifeherald.com] furries sporting erections, http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/01/agepla y_in_seco.html [secondlifeherald.com] pedophiles and http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Sec ond_Life [encycloped...matica.com] other faggotry. I
  • Wrong Platform (Score:1, Insightful)

    by WingedEarth ( 958581 )
    If a candidate really wants to get elected, they should be using World of Warcraft rather than Second Life. WoW has a MUCH bigger community than Second Life, and WoW actually takes on important issues like war, diplomacy, the afterlife, and demon attack. Neocon globalists can satisfy their international bloodlust on battlegrounds, and cowardly Democrats can hide behind their tanks and pets when a confrontation happens. Disgusting political mudslinging campaigns can be replaced with a simple duel in front o
  • Never one to be upstaged, Hillary Clinton has joined WoW as level 42 gnome and can be seen tailoring and enchanting on a nightly basis. However, she has yet to reveal her position on the Scourge invasion. While she agrees she initially voted for patch 1.11, she claims her vote was based on faulty intelligence and now opposes it. She faults the Litch King and his administration for the resulting issues.
  • Dean seemingly came out of nowhere in the 2004 because he was the first presidential candidate to really leverage the internet and attract those young eyeballs who disdain conventional media. Unfortunately a combination of being the high-profile front-runner and a bad temper undid his internet advantage. I guess lots of candidates are trying to win the internet contest now.
  • by swid27 ( 869237 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @11:34AM (#18024100) Homepage

    This is a question that's been bugging me for a while: even if you use the non-inflated numbers, who and where are the people that actually play Second Life? I do not know a single person who has played it for longer than a trivial amount of time, even though my social circle is overrepresented in practically every other area of the online world. I find it strange that SL receives so much press even though the usual reason for unjustified media hype (being owned by a media conglomerate) doesn't apply to this situation.

    I had a discussion about this with my friends recently; the best answers I got about Second Life are that it's bigger in Europe than here in the U.S., it caters more to the MySpace crowd than, say, the WoW crowd, and that, of course, it's mostly for porn anyway.

    • by vadim_t ( 324782 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @03:35PM (#18028050) Homepage
      People play it for different reasons, but you could put it this way:

      "Who actually *reads* slashdot?" Well, the people who find that sort of thing interesting of course. SL at its base is graphical IRC with scripts. Many people use SL for the same reason people come here: because they found a place they like and where they can talk to interesting people.

      Where all the hype is coming from I'm not sure, but it's certainly not a bad place. If you're a geek, then there's a lot to tinker with, if you're a social kind of person then there are all kinds of people to meet and talk to.
    • by CronoCloud ( 590650 ) <cronocloudauronNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday February 15, 2007 @05:30PM (#18030106)
      I'll try to answer that question, as best I can anyway.

      SL is more popular in the US than in other parts of the world, but the demographics are changing. (Mor French and Italians showing up, for example)

      SL appeals not to hardcore geeks, or to the WoW crowd but to several groups:

      artistic folks, like those who use photoshop for work/study in RL, RL jewelry designers, clothing designers, art students, etc.

      social geeks: these folks might have hung out in certain communities in IRC and do pretty much the same in SL, The furries might be considered part of this group

      those who see something interesting in the scripting and object creation tools and try to make cool stuff.

      but overall, everyone who is in SL is in there just to have whatever fun and enjoyment they can find that they like. It could be pr0n and boobehs, it could be just hanging out with friends, it could even be shopping, or playing Tringo.

      I guess SL is what the individual makes of it.
  • That's strange, I wasn't aware it had a first life.
  • Here's my first thought on reading this

    Edwards ----> .e
                 .
                .  s <----- Shark
  • Of course (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rlp ( 11898 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @12:55PM (#18025428)
    Maybe it'll work out better than his campaign's first life. Especially, given the two foul-mouthed bloggers who were: hired, fired, re-hired, "resigned".
  • by moeinvt ( 851793 ) on Thursday February 15, 2007 @01:15PM (#18025772)
    . . .along with the rest of the politicians and their campaigns.
  • John Edwards just officially lost whatever chance he had at my vote. Next, please.
    • Exactly. I wouldn't vote for a guy who supports a community that supports pedophilia and furries very openly.
  • If I show up to a political rally dressed like a rabbit, or jackass, or a giant penis orbited by throbbing breasts, I would be immediately removed by the police, and would probably get the attention of the Federal government, in the bad way.

    But what if my SL avatar is a rabbit, or jackass, or a giant penis orbited by throbbing breasts, and I go visit John Edwards online? Will the Secret Service come visit me IRL? Or will they have a deal with SL to drop me from the service? Or... What?

    If I throw a rotten ve
    • I supposed the owner of the venue in question would set the rules. It would probably be something like:
      Rabbit avatar, fine
      Penis with orbiting boobies, not fine (It would be interesting to see though)

      The venue would probably have scripts, llPush, and object creation turned off so throwing stuff wouldn't work. You could try spamming the chat channel but any security around (and most serious events have it) would kick you out.

  • No offense to Second Life, but people get a bit silly about it. I understand that it's a an interesting, fun site, but I remember playing it in 1997 when it was called Alpha World

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