Remember Monday: The fight against the National Front in Second Life illustrates the challenges of extremist expression in immersive virtual worlds.

Above: Dr. King’s face shining in a virtual sun at an anti-fascist protest against the Front National in Second Life.

In early 2007, ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, Second Life was thrown into turmoil by protests against France’s leading far-right political party, the Front National. world. However, the surrounding community was not very happy with these plans.

The first night I arrived at a protest against the Second Life headquarters of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s French far-right party, the Front National, protesters rang in from all directions, with signs to wave and statements to hand out. The second night I came (late last week) the conflict became more literal as many residents armed themselves. Explosions of color and constant gunfire swept the air over Porcupine, the shopping island chosen by FN as the site of its virtual world headquarters last December.

Too many people shooting too much caused server lag, slowing the fight down to a slow-motion gunfight, but I got to TonTonCarton Yue, who was strafing the FN building with the chaingun normally associated with an AC-130 gunship. Political protest.

"Can I ask," I begin, "Why are you shooting?"

"Because I hate Front National" Yue speaks to me simply.

"If you commit violence, don’t you come down to that person’s level?" "I do not know," After a moment, Yue answers.

"I don’t care. FN equals violence." And after presenting that axiom, he returns his aim to the enemy and fires another bombardment.

So machine guns, sirens, police cars, "ground cage" (able to trap unsuspecting avatars), explosions, marijuana leaves and flashing holograms of children’s TV characters, etc… One enterprising rebel created a hog grenade, fastened it to a flying saucer, and sent a few whirlwinds into the Front National. It was the headquarters that exploded with pig fragments exploding.

The fact that the Metaverse platform enables the creation of highly immersive, 3D content amplifies the challenge of creating a community free of anti-social behavior among avatars. In most other Internet communities, you only have to confront harmful speech expressed in text and audio/video. In a virtual world, toxicity can literally become part of the world itself.

Organized protesters defending Linden Lab’s own community standards have raised this very point.

As the National Front took root, at least two groups emerged to oppose it: Anti-FN and the SL Left Unity Party. They were putting up placards, t-shirts, and billboards on the lands of their sympathetic neighbors, all of which made it clear that FN was clearly not welcome in Second Life. Front National members, mostly muscular young men wearing white T-shirts with the FN logo, stood inside their headquarters and watched blankly as the fury unfolded outside.

"The land next to the FN headquarters was acquired." I read the SLLU notice. "We will protest there until the FN goes or is kicked out. Wherever the fascists are, we will not let them achieve the peace they corrupt and lie to good people." 

"The whole idea of ​​a ‘race hate’ group is a direct violation of Linden Lab’s own terms of service." The presentation followed, "And if you read the rules and say you didn’t break them, Lindens needs to take another look at the rules." By the way, this is not a TOS, but an explicit reference to Linden’s Community Standards, which prohibits: "Use derogatory or degrading language or images in relation to another resident’s race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.". However, while the Front National may have done things that went against these standards in the real world, it is unclear whether their SL chapters did so.

This question has emerged in recent years with the rise of pro-Trump groups that defy community standards. The key is to understand that these kinds of conflicts are inevitable in a virtual world accessible to people all over the world. They have their own competing and often opposing beliefs. The core goal is to create a virtual world where everyone feels welcome, especially those who are excluded from the real world for various reasons.

Please read the entire original article, "fight on the front line"here.