Of Metaverses And Flying Phalluses

The always amusing Warren Ellis has a story filed with Reuters about pretty much everything Second Life recently, from the hoofrah over “Resident” numbers to the phallocentric attack on Anshe Chung.

There are two dominant perceptions of Second Life right now. Due to what some see as clever presentation of numbers, Linden Labs, the creators and operators of Second Life, have parlayed a supposed “Residents” number in excess of two millions into a good story: That Second Life is a snowballing Internet application that gains speed by the moment. […]

The other perception, of course, is that Second Life is a psychosexual nightmare given virtual form, where giant penises roam the land and disturbed people wear the forms of bears and then have repulsive intercourse.

It was interesting to me to see both perceptions collide a few weeks back.

And now, it’s interesting for you as well. Both for Ellis’ reaction to the wackiness that is Second Life, and the fallout thereof as it impacts the rest of us.

Both the widely-read blog BoingBoing and the website of the Sydney Morning Herald reported on this [the flying phallus incident], leading to nastygrams from Ailin Graef’s husband and business partner Guntram, threatening legal action for reporting on the event – which he categorized as “cyber rape porn” — and posting screenshots of the attack, in an email to BoingBoing’s Xeni Jardin, a California-based print and radio journalist.

Cyber rape porn? Someone’s been reading my blog spam.