House Subcommittee Explores Virtual Worlds, Simulcasts on Second Life

April 2, 2008

Yesterday's congressional visit to Second Life is chronicled by the Washington Post.

The Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, chaired by Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), heard from executives of Linden Lab (publisher of Second Life), IBM and other firms. The meeting was simulcast within Second Life, a Congressional first, according to Markey (seen in SL avatar form at left). WaPo reporter Mike Musgrove writes:

A virtual depiction of the Rayburn House Office Building meeting room was projected on television screens on the wall, so that real-world attendees could take a look at the small virtual crowd that logged on for the event. Attendees logging in from Second Life, meanwhile, could watch the proceedings in a video screen projected on the wall of the virtual room.

The subcommittee had questions about the potential for money laundering and whether children were safe in online worlds. This being Second Life, of course, there was some silliness:

As the politicians and the witnesses discussed the potentials of the online virtual world, the online visitors logged on in Second Life chatted away on the screen in conversations that ranged from the topic at hand and beyond:

"I think senators are superdelegates but not all reps."
"I love flip4mac."
"They should really move the x and the c away from each other on the keyboard." (this following a warning that the video might freeze for "just a sex.")

Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) joked that Markey arranged the hearing only to find out how to level up in World of Warcraft. Markey had previously participated in a climate change conference via Second Life.

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) fretted about the potential for child pornography and fraud in online games.

A video webcast of the hearing is available at the subcommittee site.

UPDATE: Liz Losh at Virtualpolitik offers her take on the subcommittee hearing and is troubled by some of the comments made by the congressional reps serving on the committee.

Posted in Games & Culture Politics & Legislation Second Life

Comments

Submitted by Dodgeblogium » House Subcommittee Explores Virtual Wor (not verified) on Thu, 04/03/2008 - 06:53.

[...] another good waste of Congressional time and money they held a hearings about virtual worlds. Just to try to demonstrate how “with it” they simulcast in Second Life. As you would expectmembers showed their ignorance about online worlds. Not as bad as the whole “steroids” thing but almost as bad. read more | diggstory [...]

Submitted by TheBird (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 08:22.

as if second life wasn't boring enough

Submitted by T5 (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 08:48.

I'm sure all three people that are still on second life had a wonderful time

Submitted by mottom22 (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 09:31.

"Lets show how out of touch with this generation we are by going on an MMO barely anyone plays"

Seriously... Is this game even valid anymore?

Submitted by TBone Tony (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 09:50.

Hey, it might not be all bad.

Like they might find out that the online world is acutely fun and meaningful even though they are not learning anything....

But yeah, talking to people online is fun, but not as fun as blowing someone up in a Videogame.

Submitted by Charlie (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 09:51.

I read in a Reuters article that they want to make sure terrorism doesn't happen in 2nd Life.

Lmao

Submitted by JustChris (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 09:53.

Well, when a group of them meet up Second Life, I don't really know who their intended audience is. Are they just using it as a medium for teleconferencing?

Submitted by DeusPayne (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 10:02.

Man... second life. Why don't they just hold conferences on 4chan? At least there, they'd have an audience.

Submitted by Godkarmachine O Inary (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 10:33.

It'd be nice if they picked a game that... I dunno had people on it. But I suppose listening to a politician standing in Orgrimmar as an Orc Hunter would be a little... odd.

Submitted by Laughing Man (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 11:39.

And nobody pelted them with dicks?

Submitted by SimonBob on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 12:33.

Am I the only one who's excited about the prospect of virtual reality becoming a common element of our lives? When I was a kid, this was the future, right up there with flying cars and robot butlers. The government might be unpopular, but getting them on board at this early stage seems like the surest way to keep the developments coming.

---
Fangamer

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 15:12.

Thank you Congress for wasting my tax money responcibily!

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 15:15.

Addendum

I use to want to play Second Life, then I thought "Why the hell would I want to play a boring 3d representation of reality when I could just go outside and live my First Boring Life for free?"

Submitted by House Subcommittee Explores Virtual Worlds, Simulcasts on Se (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 18:14.

[...] GamePolitics wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptYesterday’s congressional visit to Second Life is chronicled by the Washington Post. The Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, chaired by Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), heard from executives of Linden Lab (publisher of Second Life), IBM and other firms. The meeting was simulcast within Second Life, a Congressional first, according to Markey (seen in SL avatar form at left). WaPo reporter Mike Musgrove writes: A virtual depiction of the Rayburn House Office Building meeting room was projected on television screens on the wall, so that real-world attendees could take a look at the small virtual crowd that logged on for the event. Attendees logging in from Second Life, meanwhile, could watch the proceedings in a video screen projected on the wall of the virtual room. [...]

Submitted by Viralhunter (not verified) on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 20:28.

“Uh…the only reason I believe your…uh… avatar, is holding this hearing is to learn how to get past the…uh…7th level of the…uh…the world of warcraft. Unfortnuately this hearing is only worth 2 xp points.”

*facepalm*

Submitted by SourGr8pes (not verified) on Thu, 04/03/2008 - 02:38.

Why are our politicians so desperate to capture the Furry vote?

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Thu, 04/03/2008 - 09:25.

@ Viral

I...er uh... like to say....er uh... that Second Life...... suck compared to my err uh... reeal life... er uh... person.

ANd Kennedy is still fun to make fun of all these years later!

Shout box

Andrew Eisen: That article is over five years old, Uncharted. A fun blast from the past though.02/12/2012 - 10:47pm

Uncharted NES: Critics: 'Left Behind' game glorifies violence- http://tinyurl.com/wu64s02/12/2012 - 4:34pm

Zen: I felt Brutal Legends was a funny & beautiful look at the world of rock from Double Fines point of view. The only parts I wasn't hot for were the RTS bits as it felt forced. Otherwise fantastic.02/12/2012 - 1:34pm

DorthLous: Passed 1.5M$. And I'd also say that Brutal Legend is far from being a bad game. I just think it was a few levels under what people expected from the people working on the project.02/11/2012 - 8:25am

Technogeek: Brutal Legend wasn't bad so much as "marketing had no idea how the game actually played", causing it to suffer accordingly.02/10/2012 - 10:38pm

RedMage: It looks the CIA's website has been DDOS'ed. Anon?02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

RedMage: Brutal Legend.02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

ddrfr33k: Has anything Tim Schafer ever made been of crap caliber? I'm struggling to think of one...02/10/2012 - 7:37pm

Guamish: I think it is in good hands. Tim did a game for the GDC award show and that was fun for how short it was.02/10/2012 - 12:22pm

Andrew Eisen: It'll be tragic if the game ultimately sucks.02/10/2012 - 12:17pm

james_fudge: $1.3 million02/10/2012 - 11:32am

Uncharted NES: Germany Says It Won't Sign ACTA [Update: ... Yet]- http://tinyurl.com/7r2twrg02/10/2012 - 11:21am

Andrew Eisen: Damn. Double Fine's Kickstarter fund has already passed a million dollars.02/09/2012 - 8:16pm

Andrew Eisen: Audrey didn't quote the sassy parts. Here's IGN's article: http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218359p1.html And here's my original post: http://tinyurl.com/7y68a3902/09/2012 - 7:50pm

james_fudge: I hope you some said something sassy! Where's the link?02/09/2012 - 7:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Hey, neat. IGN quoted a blog I had writen only two hours earlier. I certainly timed that one pretty well.02/09/2012 - 7:38pm

Andrew Eisen: Toki Tori has been added to the Humble Bundle for Android.02/09/2012 - 5:11pm

james_fudge: Thanks for the heads-up DorthLous02/09/2012 - 4:33pm

DorthLous: Will do, my apologies.02/09/2012 - 4:14pm

Andrew Eisen: I appreciate the heads up but please keep typo alerts to the specific article's comments or PMs.02/09/2012 - 3:33pm

All shouts

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