Second Life On Mission To Purge All The Fun
from the moving-on dept
Earlier this year, it was revealed that the FBI was watching the in-game Second Life casinos to see if they ran afoul of anti-gambling laws. In-game gambling is a tricky issue, since it brings up a litany of unresolved legal issues associated with virtual worlds. It looks like Second Life didn't want to take any chances, as it has summarily banned all gambling in the virtual world. Considering the harsh treatment of those affiliated with the industry, it's not surprising that Second Life would look to cover its hide. This news comes just days after Second Life announced that it would crack down on in-game sexual activity that it deemed to be "broadly offensive". In other words, so much for Second Life being a place to escape form the real world and virtually indulge all of your vices. All that's going to be left are half-baked corporate publicity stunts; too bad nobody goes there for that.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: gambling, virtual worlds
Companies: second life
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Amazing...
Murder? Property and identify theft? Idiots who send spam? Are all of these crimes solved, and they have nothing else to focus on? (Rhetorical, yes, I know)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Amazing...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Amazing...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Good
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Good
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bout time...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Bout time...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Bout time...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It's just a game.
We will always have some kind of virtual word to try however, long after Second Life pulls the plug. from role playing games and organizations like the Society for Creative anachronism, to VRML programming, and now Second Life. Lots and lots of people like a place to escape real life for a while.
Get used to it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How far might this go?
Seriously if gambling or having sex in a game warrants the FBI investigating then shouldn't I be expecting a knock on the door in the near future. Oh yes I also play do this on-line multi player.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: How far might this go?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: How far might this go?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: How far might this go?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Virtual Training....maybe
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2007/07/wiimote
It could be the first useful thing to come out of Second Life...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Proprietary = Restricted
A lesson already learnt with Napster.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/article_display.php?category=14
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Yes - couldn't have been said better.
This is our tax dollars at work - making sure the very few places to gamble are either State Lotteries or Big Corporate Casinos.
But - I choose not to partake in either of those - not that I'm much of a gambler at all, but I have in SL a few times, I've never been to a casino, and haven't played a lottery ticket in years. But even in SL, it wasn't for RL cash, just for fun.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It's nuts..
I guess - I'll be jailed for this later. But I'd rather die free than live a slave.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Alex Jones
> 'Alex Jones'. It's nuts..
It may be nuts but so is Alex Jones. The man is a certifiable paranoid loon. Half the things he says are flat-out false. The other half are so distorted, they might as well be.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Alex Jones (Score -5: off-topic!!)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
SL
There's support groups that meet...
Ppl who are disabled in real life are able to fly around and interact in 2nd life...
and there's millions of (real) dollars being made and moved by gamers
FTR.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
D&D
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: D&D
Those people give me the creeps. =o
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
My Name in Vain
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The point is...
As for cracking down on the overly offensive sex in-game, they are trying to:
1) not become a virtual breeding ground that supports and promotes real world illegal activity (ie sex with children and sex with animals) even if all parties are actually consenting adults.
2) protect the integrity of their product by enacting some sort of code of ethics making them more appealing to a larger number of people.
To those of you who would say that they ought to ban fighting, murder, etc...for the same reasons and therefore their decisions (and my arguments) are flawed, please take into consideration sex and murder are not the same. Most people have sex and it is much easier to continually degrade into deviancy through exposure than it is for people to cross the moral boundry for murder through exposure.
Just because you can legally do something in a virtual world doesn't mean the owners of that world want you doing it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The point is...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The point is...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: The point is...
Lol, that must be it. I stand by my post.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: The point is...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The point is...
> because online gambling is illegal
> in the US.
Really? I wonder if those guys out in Vegas and in Atlantic City know that...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Second Life
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Online gambling
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Illegal Activity
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Beside that, I am sick and %$#@ tired of second life, and i run a successful business in there, with nice customers and a low key product. but like right now, i cant get in. They changed ceo's and that means what? squat
Second life would be fine if you could use it, which even the dang creators cant do these days, they crash all the time too. I started playing world of warcraft because to get off crack sometimes you need heroin, and i was irate, where are all the crashes, the 2 fps?????????????????
Kurzweil and Kapoor and all those happy go lucky idiots can kiss my digital @ss, its over.
these constant viewer updates, the every damn day something is wrong like you damn skirt isnt showing so your @ss is hanging out or your hair/shoes/skirt is lodged up your tailpipe--- all of it-- sleeps with the fishes!!!!!!!!!
hopefully yall are right about Alex and you wont all end up sedated and chipped like dogs
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A potential solution?
Lure them into a game of Strip Poker?
I kid, but it is almost that ridiculous.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]