Online Dispute Resolution and Second Life

Slide 1: S econd L ife: Nirvana or conflict? S anjana Hattotuwa InfoS hare

Slide 2: Qiu Chengwei stabbed Zhu Caoyuan in the chest when he found out he had sold his virtual sword for 7,200 Y uan (£473). June 2005

Slide 3: Why I am interested in Second Life • “ It’s not a game” – S econd L ife is to date the only M M ORPG allowed to auction virtual items on eB ay • The commerce is real – Over 1.5 million residents logging in the last 60 days / Over 5 million residents – Over US $ 2 million spent within S L in the last 24 hours • The interest is real – Global media, think-tanks, global corporations, political parties, the Department of Homeland Defense, Governments, civil society are all in it

Slide 4: New Communities

Slide 5: Characteristics • Neutral Ground – Individuals are free to come and go as they please. In online games, players are not obligated to play; joins and quits are not significant events. • L eveller – A n individual’s real world identity (individual or group based) are not always as significant as they are in the real world. Players on online games use a separate avatar often unrelated to their real life person, and social status is rarely invoked. • Conversations – Depending on the nature of the sim, conversations play a crucial role in communications within S econd L ife.

Slide 6: Characteristics • A ccessibility & A ccommodation – S econd L ife allows avatars to log on and off at will. There is always somebody online, though the hours of commerce are sometimes determined by the time-zone of the person • A Home A way from Home – Rootedness, feelings of possession, spiritual regeneration, feelings of being at ease, and warmth.

Slide 7: Community characteristics • S ocial bonding: – Bridging - when individuals connect with those from different backgrounds. The advantage if bridging social capital include gaining access to new information and resources. – Bonding - when individuals that are already close provide support for each other, making the relationship stronger. – In a sense, bridging provides breadth while bonding provides depth.

Slide 8: Open Source Foundation • SL released as Open Source its viewer code in January 2007: – More complex scripting and automation – Richer interactivity – Better, faster, more stable viewer for a wider range of computing platforms

Slide 9: Political activism • Every single major candidate in the US and French Presidential elections is on Second Life, along with their political parties • The UK Independence Party has promised to open a SL office • The US Congress is in SL

Slide 10: What I’ve proposed • Sims for peacebuilding, negotiations, reconciliation • Sims for future scenario building - one sim for each scenario played out in SL with representation from key political stakeholders • Linking diaspora - sims that connect diaspora to local communities • Mediation training - sims that help teach mediation and negotiation techniques, and test them out • Language training - sims that use avatars to teach language

Slide 11: Challenges - Technical • Scalability: – Reports earlier this year that Linden Labs servers can only accommodate between 50 - 100 avatars in one place at the same time. • Bandwidth – Almost unplayable in Sri Lanka / Since most users in the US, low-bandwidth versions will not be a high priority • Computing power – High-end CPU, high-end GPU, oodles of RAM

Slide 12: Social & Political challenges • What if violence in the real world spills over into virtual communities in Second Life, or more disturbingly, vice-versa? • Privacy, identity, location, ODR • Does my skin colour matter? • Re-creating the real world in Second Life - how real should simulations get?

Slide 13: Other challenges • The copybot challenge to copyright • The “grey-goo” attack - criminal incarceration? • Sex with children (well adults as children) and the imposition of real world morality • What is the framework for the imagination? How deviant can we be?

Slide 14: • “ I pe rso nally think that SL is inde e d a part o f w hat w ill bring abo ut w o rld pe ace , thro ugh gre ate r co mmunicatio n and unde rstanding. B ut it cannot be the peace of the graveyard, the peace of silenced dissenters in mass graves, or the ethnically cleansed, the peace of anonymized and erased differences that in fact should remain meaningful and must be managed, not muted. It cannot be the peace of closed forums. It has to be a democratic, just peace. What the world’s hideous armed conflicts have told us is true at home as well as abroad: no justice, no peace. Wo rk mo re o n justice in Se co nd Life ; the pe ace w ill be gin to co me o f its o w n acco rd; the tw o are inse parable .”

Slide 15: Thank You !