Inauguration Day

 

It's Inauguration Day in the United States, when the outgoing President steps down from power and the new one is sworn into office. In London City, I found a display for the incoming President Joe Biden, at London City (75/226/23). Next to it, there was another display poking fun at the soon to be former President Donald Trump, showing him in a missile launcher with his now former lawyer Giuliani hiding in some bushes. But some little touches here and there suggest not all the poking is at Trump and his men.

There will be events that day in the sim for the Inauguration, and earlier in the day for the former President's departure. Someone in the sim told me the first events will be at 8AM, but this is unconfirmed.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/75/226/23

Trump Twitter Ban Raises Questions About Roles and Responsibilities of Social Media

 

It's been about a week since US President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter. Trump has been a controversial figure in American politics, and his takedown from the social media platform was greeted with applause by his opponents and criticism by his supporters. But some, including people whom have been critical of Trump in the past, expressed concerns about him being removed. The head of Twitter himself felt while they did the right thing, the move could have repercussions in the future for free speech online.

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Election Night 2020 in Second Life

 

Last week was the culmination of the efforts of thousands of political volunteers and the two men leading them. On Tuesday November 3, millions of Americans went to the polls to vote in the Presidential Election. As people anxiously waited watching TV and social media, some gathered in certain places here in Second Life. I visited a few of them in an Election Night like no other here.

Read the story in Events.

Some Political Locations In Second Life

The US Presidential election is just nine weeks away. While many Second Life residents would rather have nothing to do with it, there are a few places supporters of Biden or Trump can hang out at, or the curious can visit. The longtime hangout for the politically liberal, Cafe Wellstone, is still around. For Trump supporters, there's the Trump Pub. There's also a newer location for Democratic supporters, the Blue Revolution HQ.

Read more in Places.

Breaking News: Hacker Renames Hundreds of Accounts Trump and Clinton

*Update - April Fool's*

In a shocking move, a hacker was somehow able to gain access to Linden Lab's computers and rename several hundred accounts. It is believed he or she was about to seize control of the renaming process and used it to change the names of the residents. There were a number of males in motorcross clubs given names such as "Kissyfur" and "Cuddlebaby." And there were several professors in science groups given insulting names such as "Dunderhead" and "Flatearther." But the majority of the affected residents were accounts that were created after 2010, given the surnames "Trump" and "Clinton." This includes a few dozen in political groups, given the name of the political figure in the party opposite theirs.

Numerous residents have already spoken out in various forums, demanding Linden Lab fix their accounts. Several have already stated they will not return until their accounts are fixed. Linden Lab in response has stated they are considering activating the ability for residents to change their names early, though has not spoken on whether or not the residents affected by the hacking will have their account names restored for free.

For the official statement by Linden Lab, Click Here.

Crew Meeting

Saturday March 11 was when the crew of the Second Life Newser met for a staff meeting at our office in HV Community to discuss possible events to cover. Those attending were MajikVixen, Gemma Cleanslate, Bixyl Shuftan (myself), Deaflegacy, Mylie Foxclaw, and Grease Coakes

MajikVixen had made another Kittycats pet into an avatar. But what really got everyone's attention was when Gemma got out a large Donald Trump doll and began beating it, "I'm watching the (TV) news."

Guess the President has a way of "Trump-ing" even virtual news.

We have lots of stories planned for you, in addition for the latest news around Second Life. Stay tuned.

Bixyl Shuftan

And It's ... Trump

Last night was certainly a nail-biter of a Presidential election, the winner not being decided until close to Midnight SL time (3AM EST). But with four states yet to be decided at the writing of this brief, the Electoral College total is 278 to 218 in favor of the Republican Party's nomine Donald Trump. This was something as a surprise as while the polls were a statistical dead head, most showed Clinton slightly ahead. But once again, Trump surprised friend and opponent alike and got a slight lead in the popular and Electoral vote.

At certain places in Second Life, such as the Bay City Clinton HQ and the Trump Pub (pictured above), people gathered to discuss the election and await the results. Over group chats, such as that of my home community the Sunweavers, there was quite a bit of chatter, some cheering, some despairing, and some simply watching the whole thing with fascination. Over my Facebook feed, there were a number of cheers from supporters and many seemingly almost in tears or in rage. Not that many had neutral comments about Trump's victory.

I'll have more to say later. But for now, time for a little rest.

Correction: As the votes came in, Clinton eventually got the lead in the popular vote. But winning the popular vote doesn't get a candidate the Presidency.

Bixyl Shuftan

News and Commentary: Update on JP Laszlo of the Trump Organization

It was a few weeks ago in which JP Laszlo and several other members of the Trump Organization, the most well-known of the groups in Second Life promoting US Presidential candidate Donald Trump, were banned from Second Life by Linden Lab. The Lab also closed the group's sim, "The Wall." The group had a short but controversial history in Second Life. Members of the group erected a "Trump Wall" next to the Sanders HQ, towering over it, and they were blamed for a number of griefing incidents there and other places on the Grid.

Since the banning, little has been heard from JP Laszlo that the Newser is aware of. On the group's Facebook page, they mentioned there's been no response to their ban appeal. On his Twitter, JP changed his name there to "JPizzers" and posted a picture showing a girl in a Russian uniform with the words "Make Woodbury Great Again," a reference to an area in Second Life that had a reputation for harboring griefers which was eventually erased by Linden Lab and many of it's group banned.

 As part of the Trump Organization, JP insisted they were not griefers, but called what they truly did pranks which they felt the Sanders group overreacted to, saying the incidents of outright griefing were not his doing. But JP's adoption of the Woodbury name compromises his claim and provides ammunition to those who blamed Trump-themed griefing attacks on him. JP's critics included Hamlet Au of New World Notes, whom felt their sim was taken down due to the huge black eagle design visible on the map resembled a Nazi symbol.

Hamlet Au would go on to call the Trump Organization an example of Second Life imitating real life, comparing them to the Presidential campaign they claimed they supported, "in this case, they're actually less troll-ish than their real life counterparts -- who are literally drawing on images and memes from trolls in the online realm in order to troll the entire world." But unlike trolls in Second Life, which are close to universally disliked by the residents, Donald Trump enjoys the support of much of the US electorate, seen by many working-class Americans as their champion. This week at the Republican Party's convention in Cleveland, he officially became their nominee for the office of President of the United States,giving a long acceptance speech. While this may be the last we hear of JP Laszlo, Trump will dominate the headlines of real life news for the next few months, possibly for the next four to eight years.

 Sources: chronicle.com, New World Notes, BBC News  

Bixyl Shuftan

Update on the Politcal Locations

So with the appearance of a new Hillary Clinton HQ in Second Life, what have the Trump and Sanders supporters been doing, and have the Clinton supporters been doing anything else? As one might expect, the "Trumpers" have not taken the appearance of supporters of another of their candidate's opponents lying down. So just what happened in the latest chapter of the 2016 US Presidential election's reflection in the virtual world?

Read the story in Extra.

Trump Manor, HQ, and Wall Gone, Hillary HQ Up

The US Presidential Election has gone through no shortage of twists and turns in real life, and so it has in Second Life as well. A fan of the Republican candidate Donald Trump set up a "Trump Manor," in Lionheart Ahadi, followed soon by a "Trump HQ." Likewise. fans of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders set up two locations of their own, the "Sanders HQ" in Caspoli and "Feel the Bern" in Young. Some people in the Trump HQ group bought some land next to the Sanders HQ and erected a tall slab of concrete called the "Trump Wall" towering over it, which they called a prank while the Sanders supporters called griefing. Both side claimed to have been harassed by griefers, the Sanders groups accusing the Trump group of being behind some of it.

In the latest twist, the Trump Manor, and Trump HQ in Lionheart and the Trump Wall in Caspoli have disappeared, at least from their former locations. In the place of the former two was a new headquarters for supporters of the leading candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination: Hillary Rodham Clinton. Candace Larganta (candacelarganta) is the owner of the new build in the location.

The location is decorated with red white and blue decorations all around, and has a number of American flags. And there's no shortage of campaign signs for Clinton all around both the building and the fence around it. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by a small radiant fairy with the caption "Let's keep fighting!" over her. Going through the front door, one passes through a room with a white wall with pro-Hillary colored drawings. The interior resembles a school gym area, with seating on the sides for crowds and on the floor a huge "I'm Ready for Hillary" sign. There was a small kitchen room to the side (maybe for baking cookies and brewing tea). When I got there, there were only three avatars there, and one left without saying anything soon after. The remaining two, a robot and a small airship flying in the air, were likely bots.

Not everyone in the neighborhood seemed happy to see the new political HQ. One place called "The Love Shack" had a huge "Bernie 2016" sign over the roof, with a "Hillary: For Prison" sign on the side of the building. Hamlet Au had a few words with it's owner, Psyclonis Draconia, who explained that the Sanders sign up had been put up while the Trump HQ was still around, and they had moved out on their own to another location.

Checking out the Caspoli sim, I found the Trump Wall was gone. What was there was a wall of stone around the Sanders area with a huge "Bernie 2016" sign. The Trump Wall had been replaced by the Bennie Wall.

Both Candace and the owner of the Trump HQ JP Laszlo were unavailable for comment. While JP had the location of a new location on her profile, the sim was blocked from my trying to enter. But I did find an old message from Dirk Klees, the owner of the Lionheart Estates from when I asked earlier about the Trump Manor. He had stated, "I have no point of view about this location. We're a land provider, they are customers like everyone else, and happen to own land here. That's about it. We have/had many different political and religious themed landowner's projects on these sims. Neither do we care, discriminate or get involved with people's political or religious views."

As of the writing of this article, the last state Democratic primaries have taken place. With 2383 delegates needed to win, Clinton has 1926 pledged delegates and the support of 571 unpledged or "superdelagates" whom have stated their intentions to support Clinton, for a total of 2497. Sanders has a total of 1615 pledged delegates with the support of just 48 superdelagates for a total of 1663. While some Berners are insisting the race for the nomination isn't over yet, Hillary Clinton has declared victory, and most mainstream news sources have declared her the winner of the Democratic nomination race.

For those wishing to visit the Clinton HQ, it is at Lionheart Ahadi (151/7/28).

Sources: New World Notes, BBC

Bixyl Shuftan

Trump-eting Our Success

Our recent article on JP Laszo's Trump manor has been attracting attention, both for the Second Life Newser, and it seems for Second Life in general. Hamlet Au brought up the article in New World Notes. Then it was referenced by Kotaku, an online gaming magazine describing itself as "about games and things serious gamers care about." Done by the same writer who wrote about a neighbor of the Newser office founding a group in Steam protesting censorship in games, This inspired another writer for the magazine, whom described himself as giving up Second Life in the past, to log back into the virtual world just to check out the manor.

So it seems the manor has not only attracted attention to itself, but also for the virtual world. It's certainly attracted attention to the Newser, of which this particular article has gotten many times the readership of an average article on a second Life location.

Love him or hate him, or reluctantly tolerating him, this media personality turned Presidential candidate has gotten no shortage of attention, which has certainly been a ratings boost to those offering stories about him. The divisive nature of politics has been a turnoff to some, particularly in the days since the end of the Cold War and the rise of politicians from the "Baby Boom" generation as those of opposing points of view have been seen less often as having just a misinformed opinion and more often being seen as insane, dumb, evil, or some combination of the three. But it takes money to keep media going, and those willing to pay advertising revenue are attracted to ratings. So you may be seeing more Trump soon.

Hopefully in the end, after the newcomers get their fill of Trump, they'll stick around to see what else there is to see and do in the virtual world.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Trump Manor

Late last month, Second Life Newser found out about a location in Second Life, made with the theme of one of the leading candidates for the US Presidential election this fall: Donald Trump. Named the Trump Manor, the location is owned by JP Laszlo, a member of a Second Life group of supporters for the candidate. JP explained a little about herself, her support for her candidate, how the location came to be, and some plans for the future.

Read more in Places.

BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump Buys Linden Lab, Promises to "Make Second Life Great Again"

Update: April Fool's

In a move that was completely unexpected, Linden Lab announced that it had been purchased by the Trump Organization, the primary holding company for the businesses and investments by Donald Trump, the billionaire and media personality whom recently has been making news as a leading candidate in the US Presidential election later this year.

"We at Linden Lab are happy to announce our merger with the Trump Organization," Ebbe Altberg, the CEO of the owner of the virtual world announced, "Our new partnership will allow us to make developments in virtual reality like never before."

In an official statement by Donald Trump, he stated he had been impressed by past accomplish- ments by enterpenurers in the virtual world, such as Anshe Chung. and was looking forward to attracting new ones. It had also gotten his attention that among the users in the Gird were supporters of his, such as those in Second Life's own Trump Organization, and planned on making an appearance inworld soon, "Second Life is full of all kinds of people, smart people, socially upward, socially awkward, I love the socially awkward."

Developments are still coming in on what is clearly a turning point in both Linden Lab and Second Life.

For more information: Click Here.