Jeremy Hargreaves wrote an interesting piece on his great blog (which I have to apologise to him for because it was not on the list of blogs I was sent to judge), which highlights the German Green Party now having some presence on the online Role Playing Game "Second Life".
With Ming Campbell said to be ahead of the game on Facebook and the Lib Dems having a growing presence on YouTube and the web as a whole, is Second Life where we will pick up the few votes needed to win over some of the marginals next time ?
Probably not, but the role that the internet is playing in politics is growing by the month (just see how seriously the Democrats have take the Daily Kos conference in America). A growing number of young people and those disinterested in politics are using computers more and more, and that includes playing games like Second Life.
Perhaps we should have a presence. Some will say it serves no political purpose, but then again I think people said that about the internet 15 years ago.
4 comments:
The problem might be for the Lib Dems that the press will make them out to be computer geeks by having a SL role.
That said, all good publicity and it would hardly lose them votes.
Does anyone even use Second Life in the UK? If the Libdems did it it would be a cheesy gimmick and nothing more.
Such role play games are an irrelevance to the political process, as are proposals for voting in supermarkets or by text. People who don't vote, won't vote whatever the encouragement.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with political debate being conducted in the usual media - including the ever-growing blogosphere and the burgeoning online use of video streaming, although I expect that such information will continue to have a very small audience mainly comprised of party hacks and supporters.
The fundamentals of politics remain the same as they did 10o years ago and they will be the same in 100 years time. The media will continue to have an important role to play but glorified arcade games?
Second Life is rubbish, its effectiveness, influence and number of users is massively overstated by its PR company. It is also massively out done in terms of speed and graphics by all of its contemporaries. It is also prone to attack by hackers or 'griefers' as they are called - in short a waste of time.
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