Archive for 'Philosophical Issues'
Through the Summer Door
(Not Second Life) The second in an occasional series from RL sci-fi scribe Budka Groshomme, who has been sharing with the Herald his first impressions of Second Life. Becoming a resident of Second Life appears quite unlike entereing the traditional science-fictional cyberspace, a virtual world made real from nothing more than bits and bytes, where [...]
Full StoryOp/Ed: “Bow, wanker” – Old Games Journalism Raises Its Fist
Fernando Martinez: “A real man needs more than one thing in life, you know what I’m saying here? The heart and the loins both on fire… groaning and straining and making hot dirty passionate encounters with the secretaries, while the wife she sleeps at home…” By Neal Stewart I’m clearly ‘a bit of a wanker’. [...]
Full StoryOff the Grid with Walker Spaight: A Bow to the New Games Journalism
The New Games Journalism takes a swipe at the ResistanceImage stolen from LucasArts Of course it’s the pot that calls the virtual kettle black. Or should I say, calls it “nigger”?
Full StoryThe Day the Toons Escaped the Grid
By Sheriff Oswald Picklebrains and Pearl Fuzzyswirl Toontown, the MMO by Disney Corporation, seems transgressive on the surface. Players create avatars that have the basic form of 1930’s animated animals and attack evil corporate “cogs” with gag weapons like cream pies, seltzer bottles, and falling pianos. The cogs – bossbots, lawbots, sellbots, and cashbots – [...]
Full StoryOpening the Cupboard Door
The Herald is proud to introduce to its readers our newest freelance correspondent, Budka Groshomme, who here brings his experience as a RL writer of science fiction to bear on the not-quite-fictional world of Second Life. As a long-time reader and writer of fantastic fiction, I thought myself well prepared to step into the cupboard [...]
Full StoryOp/Ed: Are You “Normal,” or teh Clone?
by Kendra Charlton Every time I see a furry, punk, goth, vampire, elf or feted SL resident, I notice them right away. However, whenever I see a “normal” resident — one who doesn’t obviously belong to any of these cliques — I never take note of their presence.
Full StoryAl Qaeda, Tribes, and Virtual Mafias
by Peter Ludlow Ok, I know Uri posted on simulating terrorist networks just a few days ago, but there is now an interesting article in First Monday by David F. Ronfeldt, who is a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. The headline idea of the paper – entitled Al Qaeda and its affiliates: A [...]
Full StorySL Ruined Again! This Week, Tringo did it.
Hammie Linden has a very nice piece, entitled THE TRAGICS OF TRINGO, which gives us the opening salvo in the inevitable handwringing war over Tringo. No doubt the phenomenon of Tringo represents a change of SL’s culture, but exactly what hasn’t? According to my notes, all of the following have killed SL: The arrival of [...]
Full StorySimulating terror? You’re soaking in it!
In a very interesting recent post on Terra Nova entitled Simulating terror, Ren Reynolds digs up the following gem from an interview with Will Wright last September. We’ve been talking to people in homeland security that want to know if we could simulate a terrorist network. I keep telling them they don’t have to; they [...]
Full StoryEditorial: Simulating Free Speech In Virtual Lives
“If Peter Ludlow is a journalist,then I’m a railroad tycoon whenever I play Monopoly.”– Jeff Brown, Electronic Arts – Vice President for Corporate Communications Neal Stewart comments on Eric Goldman’s draft paper ‘Speech Showdowns at the Virtual Corral’, where under-age cyber-prostitutes, free-speech, corporate censorship – and our very own Urizenus Sklar – are the topic [...]
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