Second Life, artivism and politics.

Second Life

The online multiplayer games are, in fact, the materialization of virtual communities very close to the real ones, thanks to the large capacity of graphic representation of self and the infinite possibility of building worlds. The 'life' that takes place within these spaces intangible assets is reflected more and more in everyday life that does play a role parallel and interconnected with real life. Even political activity, then, goes into spontaneous practices and necessary in these contexts where social activities are transposed into another dimension and interpreted through avatars. After the speeches pacifists Velvet Strike and protests carried out in the space of There.com , a long time in Second Life, which offers worlds and avatars in 3D, there are meetings and heated debates on topical issues. Among the latter could not miss those resulting from the U.S. elections. They began to call Bush supporters after winning a public debate. Immediately thwarted by the defeated Kerry supporters who have organized another then putting on display some 'sculptures', ie objects or compositions in rendering visible to all passers-by, which summarize their positions on topical political issues. All this activity is consistently and properly described by James Wagner , a sort of reporter of what is happening in Second Life, with sincere professionalism that tells the fanciful possible activities in an intangible space and programmable. The genuine enthusiasm collected on these occasions to reflect on the role that virtual communities (and especially those that closely simulate real ones like this one) play in the transformation of reality, and on their new role of space in classic expressive little irregimentabile fees' Government '.