The Alphaville Herald

GM Joins Corporate Invasion of SL: Residents Wake up and Begin to Smell the Coffee

by Urizenus Sklar on 21/10/06 at 11:19 pm

Concerned Citizens Debate Chief Pontiac’s Invasion of SL.

The Pontiac Division of failing Michigan-based auto-maker, General Motors Corporation, has announced that it will soon join the recent corporate invation of Second Life, offer free land (rumored to be as many as 5 simulators) to support the development of “car culture” in Second Life. According to the press release, it’s like this:

Staying true to the spirit of Second Life, which empowers members to build the community, Pontiac is providing parcels of land around Motorati Island to Second Life entrepreneurs and artists who wish to create their own projects devoted to car culture. The process for land proposals begins when users are invited to the island’s micro site, Motoratilife.com, to begin the submission process. Pontiac will review user’s proposed projects and appropriate land accordingly on which users can go forth and develop their own ideas, as they relate to the Motorati community.

But not all residents are sure this is a positive development. SL Agitprop Artist Prokofy Neva has already raised concerns on theSecond Life Homepage Forums, and sponsored a meeting of concerned citizens, who discussed the matter into the wee hours of the morning — or at least past this reporter’s bed time. For those who can’t get enough of meetings of concerned avatars, Mr. Neva has posted the transcript here.

Concerns range from effects on land value, to the effect on the indigenous car culture, to the radical changes in the social ecology of Second Life currently taking place, to worries that SL residents are becoming subjects in an elaborate focus group session, or worse that they are being mined for marketing data or even ideas and designs without any compensation whatsoever (except “free land”: whoop de fuckin’ do).