Transcript Second Life - Anti-Capitalist Operating System

Second Life
Basic statistics
• Game Company is Linden Labs based in
San Francisco
• Second Life has been around for 4 and a
half years. Only recently has it gotten a
large amount of media attention.
• Linden Labs is a private company and does
not state earnings.
History
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I. Colonization Small settlements of alpha testers arrive in March 2002. Cultural rifts
appear during beta, when militaristic immigrants arrive from the strategy game World
War II Online.
II. Tax Revolt Linden Lab’s policy of taxing residents for objects they create meets
vehement resistance. In July 2003, rebellious residents dress in colonial garb and cover
the land with giant tea crates and defiant signs that read born free: taxed to death!
III. Declaration of Independence On the advice of Stanford law professor Lawrence
Lessig – the Thomas Jefferson of SL – Linden Lab abolishes the tax in November ’03
and establishes a new policy stating that residents should retain intellectual property
rights over their creations.
IV. Manifest Destiny A great land rush begins in December 2003. Settlers fan out and
stake claims to property on the best servers. A class of land barons who sublet real estate
to other residents emerges.
V. The Gilded Age Reports in old-world journals (BBC, Fox, BusinessWeek, Wired)
describe wonders and wealth beyond measure, spurring a gold rush of entrepreneurs and
carpetbaggers. US corporations, including Coca-Cola, MTV, and Microsoft, establish
beachheads in SL.
Second Life Population Stats
(Oct 21st)
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Population 1,097,243
240,000 logged on in the last 14 days
10,000 people online at any time.
95 square miles of virtual “land”
Economy
• Currency Linden Dollar (270L$ = 1US$)
• 135million linden$ (US$500,000) changes
hands each day.
• Economy growing 10-15% a month
(roughly in line with population growth)
• GDP (as of september 2006) 64$ million US
Primary Industries
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Real Estate Speculation/Management
Gambling
Fashion
Clubs/Bars
Brothels/Stripclubs
Secondary Industries(?)
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Real world products
University Campuses
Robotic pets
Pyramid Schemes
Art Galleries
Scripted Dance-moves
Art Galleries
• Second Life has a small but definitely
visible Arts scene
• Much of it is musically and science fiction
literature driven, with concerts and readings
which take place in the sim and real world.
• There are several galleries and one Island
space devoted to interactive visual arts.
Government
• Land owners act as quasi-governments in the land
that they own. IE they keep unwanted people out
and teach their tenants how to make homes.
• Linden Labs acts as the central Bank by
controlling money supply through stipends to
premium users and fees for uploading pictures and
such. In future Linden Labs will provide Loans to
control the money supply just as National central
banks do.
Population Structure
• Only recently has Second Life been free to
all comers. Before everyone had to pay a
monthly fee. This has lead to more
“griefing” IE players spamming objects and
annoying others. In the long run this
inclusion of anyone will change the culture
of Second Life.
Discontent
• Apart from the early tax revolt there has been
relatively little political action in Second Life.
There is a politics forum on the Second life Site
but it has no posts.
• The Second Life Liberation Army is an in game
organization that has attacked Reebok and
American Apparel stores, harrassing customers.
However from what I saw of their video of the
attack on YouTube it was pretty lame.