January 13, 2004
Another Life on the Net … Real Life
An article by José Luis de Vicente in the January 9 El Mundo takes on some important issues with virtual worlds (focusing on MMORPGs) and describes some of the ways in which what goes on in them is real. Here’s the original article in Spanish, or you can see how well the Google translation reads. Here are some highlights that I translated:
… In the digital worlds of The Sims, Everquest or Red Moon organized crime, illegal gambling and casinos already exist. Antiglobalist activists demonstrate against the same fast food chains that exist in reality. The disputes that originate there end up being solved in real-world courts. The places that attempted to be virtual amusement parks are turning into territories of social, cultural, and political action. … While The Sims works according to strict capitalist rules and does not permit more than the simulation of an American suburb, with riotous consumption as the only way to advance, [Second Life and There] offer more utopian options. …
The article goes on to describe the much-ballyhooed controvery over Peter Ludlow’s Alphaville Herald, which was mentioned to me by Fernando over the Winter break. (I was going to blog about it, but there was so much news coverage that it seemed unnecessary.) Ludlow was expelled from The Sims after he reported on prostitution and other seamy matters that were going on online.
Muchas gracias, Elastico.
January 14th, 2004 at 12:16 pm
Thanks for the reference to the article…you can find a longer than the published, non-edited version of it at
http://www.elastico.net/archives/000394.html
BTW, keep up the good work
Jose Luis
January 15th, 2004 at 1:46 pm
The New York Times has finally caught up with the blog coverage of the Alphaville Herald incident. See the long article today.