Coming of Age: Chap. 8
This chapter talks about the political economy in Second Life. There are governments and powers that hold power over the residents of SL. One major difference that Boellstroff talks about is that unlike the real world, virtual worlds can be owned, either by companies, linden lab, or the residents themselves. A major concept he refers to that is he believes is the basis for economics and politics in SL is creationist capitalist which can be described as the mode of capitalism in which labor is understood in the terms of creativity, so that production is understood as creation. Overall, this idea od creationist capitalist is that the self is indeed seen as the creator best understood that workers are not just the workers they are also creators of their own worlds.
In terms of the economy, their money and labor, in SL residents are given the opportunity to receive or purchase items for free which could be saved in their inventory for later use. not only can they buy things for free such as clothes but they could also socialize fore free as well and SL, during the writing of this book, was the only virtual world that allowed working wages. Residents could take on many jobs such as becoming teachers, disc jockeys, dancers, etc and the money given to them were called lindens.
People could also purchase and sell property which was very lucrative in SL. Some of the lost successful residents were labeled land barons who sold land and made profit. One thing that Boelstroff talks about is that when companies came in to purchase land or markets their products residents did not take much liking to them. Some residents felt that the corporations were intruding and threatening because they lacked creativity. There was also a governance of populations in SL. It was known that Linden Lab had total control over SL and that everything that a resident did on SL was stored something within the Linden Lab corporation. The only two main ways residents would encounter Linden governance was through filing abuse reports or when experiencing changes to the SL platform but all residents were given the Terms of Services which they had to abide by.
Some people thought there would be inequality in SL because of those people who had more authority over them. There are ranked statuses who included gods and wizards who were above others. Some people were treated differently then others while others were more privileged and given a higher status and invited to attend things regular residents were not. There were also inequality in Sl based on the those who were computer savy to those who were not based on what they could or could no accolimph in SL. Today, virtual worlds because it can be looked at in terms of how our society is today in the real world. Some platforms in SL could be from building to having and maintaining friendships which also included groups that members could join. There were also romantic relationships that took place, heterosexual and homosexual. Overall, the main concern that residents have over the new SL is that more and more people are connecting because it is free and one does not need personal information such as credit card or anything to sign up which could seem to others as a joke; that SL is just another virtual world without governance.
After looking at the political economy of SL I never realized that there were statues of of different residents. Granted, I think one could tell a newbie from someone who has been on for years but I did not believe one could have a higher status power over another. Knowing this, I am ussure how people feel they are escaping reality when this how it is in the real world. I think that it more vague about who is of higher status over another but it still exists. One thing I still like about SL is that one can obtain many things for free which helps a lot when starting up a character on SL. I feel it would have been a lot harder to maintain or find things without a little free help. Overall, I think it is important that there is a little governance in SL because then it would not maintain order or it would go out of service real quick.