The Click Heard Round the World has a recap of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's Second Life appearance yesterday. Albright was streamed into SL by way of a live video feed:
The LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin hosted an address by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. I got to watch and participate in this event at the GSD&M Idea City Island Amphitheatre in Second Life... It was a good crowd for a foreign policy talk, with 50-some avatars present in-world.
I asked Ms. Albright about her thoughts on the role of the United States in relation to the International Criminal Court... I loved Madeleine Albright's closing words: "This is exactly the kind of interchange, both in first life and Second Life, that will allow us to figure our way through the 21st century in a better way."
Comments
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
Second Life has a *huge* political community, I'm suprised this didn't gather more attention.
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
Wow, such negativity for a product you've never even tried! For your information, many members of the SL community are highly skilled software developers, college graduates, educators, incredible musicians, artists, authors, CEO's of large corporations, not to mention the opportunities it offers the physically and mentally challenged... shall I go on? Yes, the "noob" avatars are not top notch, but step inside the SL world of commerce and you will find thousands of options for customizing your avatar. All designed and created by the community members. While most people prefer to sit in front of their x-box and interact with a computer chip, SL'ers prefer a true interactive passtime that brings people from all walks of life, and all regions of the world together. Don't knock it until you've truly tried it.
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
I didn't even know this event was taking place though I usually dont check on what the government events are. On average there are 50,000+ people logged on at a time.
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
Whatever happened to webcasts and teleconferencing?
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
What was he hoping to accomplish anyways? Everybody knows that 2Lers don't vote
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
No flying penis attacks at this one? I'm actually moderately impressed.
While i think the world of politicians reaching out to the gaming voter, I think they are going about it the wrong way. Instead of merely "going into second life", why not actually address issues gamers like, such as stating that they won't pass needless laws that "enforce" things that are already in place or create shadow/puppet organizations that serve no purpose other than reelection.
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
It's pretty certain - if politicians get involved in the 'gaming' world, it will turn into a corporate disaster, with only corporate bottom lines mattering. Then they'll start to tell us what we can and can't do in games (gambling in SL anyone?)
Oh wait, they have already got their greedy, power hungry hands in all of this. So much for the 'fun' of games - now it's time for corporate profits and laws!! Yipppie!!!
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
Oh wow, is this supposed to impress someone?
The best thing that can happen to virtual worlds, and online gaming - is for politicians to stay the far as fuck away as we can keep them.
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
Would be more relevant ot my interests if I cared about attendign political thignsi n SL. I'm just there to race bikes o nthe available tracks.
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
2nd life is a online comunity that involes codeing and other od thigns, its nota game but more like a ofrum where you have to code and edited models and pictures and stuff.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
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Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
Am i the only person on a planet who hasn't played this game, and does not want to?
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
dont lie youve played it ... why whould you be on the website if you havent
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
You can add me to that list... unless the Secretary drops phat lewt. Then I'm all over it.
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
Honestly, I donwloaded to see what all the fuss is about (basically it's free, but a paid account brings more priviledges) and I couldn't get past the avatar creation. It's SO detailed it goes straight past "awesome" and lands squarely in "WTF?" Add to that the fact that nobody I encountered seemed interested in interacting with me in the slightest, even on the Noob Island where you start. If I want to be ignored by strangers, I can just go to the bar and at least there I'm drinking and watching baseball.
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
The fact that there were only 50 people who showed up virtually for this event should give you an idea of Second Life's scope - IE, not very big, really.
Also, the "newbie" avatars that you can make are pathetic shadows of what can be done with the scripting engine and avatar creation software, but it's really, REALLY awkward to use. Also, the engine is now 8 years old (although the game itself is 5 years old, officially), which makes it somewhat minimalistic in the extreme. If they take the effort to streamline their tools and update the engine sometime soon, they might achieve relevance (although some would argue that if politicians view SL as a valid campaign "stop," that, in and of itself, is an indicator of relevance).
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
That would make the two of us...
I haven't played it and I don't want to.
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
How about the three of us start a game called Thrid Life. The catch of this game would be that its simply us just going around doing thigns in our first lives but only when we are wearing a "Can't talk I'm currently playing Thrid Life." t shirts. :D
Re: Former Secretary of State Makes Second Life Appearance
After that, we can add the fourth game of the series. I wonder if I'm one of the few that actually has a life NOT to bother with Second Life.