Dirty Red Commie

Second Life is a virtual on-line world reminiscent of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. In addition to the communication and games afforded by most virtual worlds, citizens can create, buy, and sell property.

The French organization Front National caused a stir when it set up a headquarters in Second Life. The protests held there have quickly escalated to violence. Violence, in this context doesn't mean people are being hurt. The area the organization has settled in doesn't even allow virtual property damage. Some of the weapons used are purely symbolic, such as machine guns and bombs. Others have a stronger effect in the virtual world--attacks designed to overload that area of Second Life so as to make it temporarily unusable. Pig bombs, holographic attacks, push guns, and rez cages are some of the weapons unique to this virtual world.

What a surreal story. I wonder if these sorts of events will start to make wider press in the near future.