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Stop Second Life, For The Children!
The dark side of the Internet site quickly became evident when one of his aides created an account last week, Kirk said.
Within half an hour, the aide said, she was perusing pornography and roaming in “virtual rape rooms” and drug dens.
Chris Hansen had no comment, though Ars Technica, CNET, and Valleywag did. But what do they know. Also, I have heard unsourced rumors that you can actually download pornography on the Interweb. SAVE US, CONGRESS!
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about 2 years ago
And I thought only the liberals do this kind of crap! The stupidity is on par with the windfall profit taxes…..
about 2 years ago
So wait just a cotton picking minute here. You go can on the internet, join up with this “Second Life” and act out sexual fantasies? So many Republican senators and representatives could have saved their reputation for all kinds of kinky things if they could have just done it virtually instead…
about 2 years ago
Why do you guys care if they put out a consumer alert warning?
Its obviously a useless grandstanding manuver. But who cares if there is a warning about pervs at Second Life. It is honest after all -l Second Life does have an abundance of shit I sure wouldnt want my 12 year old messing with(if I had kids.).
about 2 years ago
Man, those Neocons are so consistent! This stupidity is on par with cutting taxes at a time of war…
about 2 years ago
Boy, it sure is 2007 around here.
about 2 years ago
imo the internet, like the real world, had good places and ugly places. it`s up to every one of us to choose what we use and visit and it`s our own responsibility. if kids end up on porn sites, second life rape rooms or erotic role play games, it`s their parents fault. when i was small i would play in the backyard with other kids, not sit all day and stare at a computer monitor.
about 2 years ago
VPellen wrote:
Boy, it sure is 2007 around here.
You won the internet for today.
Dartwick wrote:
Why do you guys care if they put out a consumer alert warning?
The problem here is the basic assumption that video games are only for kids. What’s the problem with a “Rape Room” assuming that the participants don’t object and nobody is harmed offline? People have tons of weird kinks, and I don’t think it’s up to the government to regulate them. As for pornography, any kid who has to use Second Life to get it fails at life.
Second Life does have an abundance of shit I sure wouldnt want my 12 year old messing with(if I had kids.).
Well, that’s why those mythical kids you don’t have should probably be playing on Teen Second Life instead of the version with porn, raep rooms, and virtual stoners/tweakers.
This was just a way for a politician to waste tax money with a dog and pony show to demonstrate, “Holy shit those interwebs and the people on it are crazy! Things I don’t understand scare me!” How about spending that time tackling real issues, like how to fix the economy and try to prevent people from fucking it up quite this badly next time around. Not that I care, I’m getting paid in Pounds Sterling currently; it’s like getting a raise every month.
about 2 years ago
how the shit can you be raped in an online world?
wake up neo. the matrix doesnt have you.
about 2 years ago
Well said Brian. it is just a scheme to waste tax payer money.
But there are people who will fall for that. Remember the RIAA law suit on the mom? Some jury’s don’t even have internet.
about 2 years ago
Well the knee jerk attack on anything negative about vieo games is silly and you guys need to grow out of.
If you want to make fun of the politician for being useless – Im all with you. This was a bunch of grand standing nothingness.
But stop acting like the idea of warnings so clueless parents have better hints as to whats bad for their kids is some how an affront to you as a gamer.
Grow up.
about 2 years ago
I think the fact she found “rape rooms” in under half an hour says more about her than it does second life. I don’t think I could have found anything like that that fast. Maybe he should be careful around his aide.
about 2 years ago
Hey Dart,
The problem here is that this muck raker is presenting totally incorrect information. In effect he is lying by leaving out pertinent details. Yes, SL is full of pervs and freaks. But in attacking it this ass monkey is only publishing glittering generalities. He leaves out credit card payment options, the teen grid and age verification for the most part and concentrates on the negative. Why attack someone who is trying to warn clueless parents? Because it is our social responsibility as net savvy hipsters to fight oppression in any arena we can. Especially censorship from some pig ignorant conservative whose aid obviously went looking for the negative and not the positive. This is an affront to me not as a gamer but as an intelligent human being.
On the upside, any press is good press and I am certain that now the concurrent SL population will swell more than a little.
About “kneejerk” reactions- Would you prefer to act once it is too late? If someone told you that you had a type of cancer which could be cured by a simple surgery would you wait a few months to see how it went or would you get the surgery right away? What you, and many others, fail to realize is that there is a great deal of time and emotion invested into this particular virtual hobby. If you screw with it then you will rouse the ire of those dedicated to it.
So back the hell up and stop telling people to grow up, you pusillanimous callow cretin. Not only will we get riled up about this loathsome political hack attacking our choice of of erstwhile entertainments, but we will speak out against him. It is our right, grown up or not. Unless this has suddenly become an Orwellian state and you are with the Thought Police?
about 2 years ago
A “warning” about what is essentially just more porn is not “oppression.” Its just silly.
Thats the whole problem with you guys. You think you are oppressed. You are actually just whiners.
about 2 years ago
“It’s Honest, After All”
Sorry, Dartwick. It’s not. It’s really, really not.
about 2 years ago
Naw, her finding rape rooms in under a half hour says more about Second Life’s community than her or the game.
about 2 years ago
Second Life is full of pervs.
Many parents don’t know that second life is full of pervs.
Many children, either to feel grown-up or simply because the game’s options are cool, play/will play Second Life.
Congressman grandstands. This costs taxpayers nothing.
He proposes a “consumer alert,” which compared to the broader budget, also costs taxpayers nothing.
Yep, Dartwick has it. Grow up. Learn to think critically about a news item and stop dramatizing your hobbies and lives, and for the love of Zod stop calling out “censorship!” and “Orwell!” when it’s not there. You’re just crying wolf and lessening the chance that others outside of the circle jerk will take you seriously when they *really* try something akin to censorship.
about 2 years ago
[i]Especially censorship from some pig ignorant conservative whose aid obviously went looking for the negative and not the positive.[/i]
Because this would’ve been better coming from a pig ignorant liberal?
Politicians are idiots using things like this to get votes from their constituents. It happens on both sides of the aisle, let’s not demonize one party over another.
I think Dart had a good point, though – violent kneejerk reactions to every little thing will only make the gaming community look immature, which we’re not. Pulling out the 1984 tactic isn’t exactly scoring points, either. They’re attempting to regulate this industry without a precedent, and it’s not going to work.
Pick your battles. IMO, this isn’t the one.
about 2 years ago
Who gives a shit about the kids?? Stop Second LIfe for MY sake!!
about 2 years ago
Just a few months ago we were being warned how Second Life is a gathering place and training ground for terrorists. Evidently that’s no longer a threat. You’d think that the government would applaud the effort pedophiles and rape-room devotees are making towards winning the war on terror.
about 2 years ago
Talance wrote:
Pick your battles. IMO, this isn’t the one.
Actually, this is the fight to pick. Not that I’m a huge SL booster, but this is really a non-issue to bring up for a politician. Let’s break down the scenarios:
An adult wanders into SL and finds pornography and all sorts of unsavory things. Result: Welcome to the internet! Once you get your first glimpse of goatse.cx or understand what “2g1c” means, you’ll realize that being able to find a garishly textured location entitled “rape room” is the least of your worries online. As I said before, it’s not the government’s job to judge which kinks are good or bad if nobody is getting harmed. And, if you don’t already know that Second Life may not be all goth fairy wings and innocent flirty chat, a “consumer alert” is probably not going to help at all.
A kid wanders into SL: This is a failure of the parent, not of SL. SL offers the teen grid I talked about above, age verification, and all sorts of other systems in place to keep kids from seeing things like virtual hash dens. If a kid sneaks one of your Playboy magazines and hides it in his room, it’s not Playboy’s fault.
Really, SL is one of the companies that has done a consistent job of trying to keep minors away from the bad content. So, what’s next? Games have to track identities by social security number? Have games regulated like alcohol or tobacco? Sadly, history shows us that this is just the first step down a path we should prefer not to take.
The crowning bit here is the fact that this is from a Republican. You know, the guys that at one time advocated less government interference? Smaller government, less taxes? Instead, you get the “borrow and spend” Republican crowd that are all to happy to waste government effort on trivial things like this. And the “it doesn’t cost much” line of bullshit needs to stop; that’s the exact same reasoning that has gotten us into our current economic troubles. “Well, if we’re spending a billion dollars, a few million in pork barrel spending for my district isn’t that much!” Multiplied by dozens of congress people, of course.
So, yeah, this is exactly the fight to pick. Stop the cancer before it spreads. Sadly, this is more like King Canute beating back the sea than a real fight. The ignorant and apathetic attitudes shown here don’t make the fight any easier to win the fight, either.
about 2 years ago
I tried to find one of these “rape rooms” and all i found was a room with video on the walls depicting this white guy singing like a black dude. Something about never giving up.
about 2 years ago
Somehow this is all Julian Dibbell’s fucking fault.
about 2 years ago
Wait, wait. This doesn’t add up. The congressman’s aide found that place within a half an hour… How the hell did they figure out SL’s arcane interface in half an hour?
Meh. The aide probably already had an account if he managed to make it out of the newbie area in under an hour.
about 2 years ago
Brian ‘Psychochild’ Green
There is no fight to pick.
A bunch of duffuses want to put a warning out to parents.
They can do that. It doesnt impinge on our rights.
If they wanted to send out a warning to parents that some magazines contain pornography – that would be ok to. It wouldnt be an assult of the freedom of expression.
What they are doing is dumb. But thats it – save your tears for when they do something wrong rather than just when they essentially just say they dont like you.
about 2 years ago
@ dartwick:
You admit what they’re doing is dumb, and yet you don’t have a problem with them wasting your tax dollars to do it?
Then again, I’m of the general opinion that all politicians should by hung or shot or drawn-and-quartered. So maybe it is better if I don’t share my opinion of THIS topic.
about 2 years ago
http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/eco-friendly/fda-bpa-baby-bottles-460515
This article is about the chemical BPA. Peer-reviewers of studies claiming BPA is safe have expressed “concerns” about the results of these studies. According to the article, the primary manufacturer of baby bottles that contain the chemical BPA is going to stop making them (likely from PR problems). So, there’s at least some indication that the chemical may be harmful. But, the FDA refuses to issue a warning about it.
Consenting adults engaging in distasteful but not physiologically harmful activities in an online social site? Time to hold a press conference and argue for a consumer warning!
As I said above, there are a lot of other things that could benefit from the attention wasted on this non-issue. And, even if you hate Second Life, it’s still the principle of the matter because the core assumption is that the government needs to protect people from the scary internet. How about protecting us from things that actually cause harm?