# Is Second Life a libertarian nightmare or what? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 23, 2012, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-second-life-a-libertarian-nightmare-or-what/629111 "2012-07-23T05:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-second-life-a-libertarian-nightmare-or-what/629111/1 "2012-07-23T05:28:35Z")
A game where money IS everything, unlike real life. Life isn’t fair, but SL is and it is all about money. The only way to personalize your avatar is money, advertisements are everywhere, property rights are paramount. There is really nothing to do but shop, and use your purchases to flaunt your social status. You can be anything you want provided you have the money or kiss up to someone who will buy the item for you. ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-second-life-a-libertarian-nightmare-or-what/629111/2 "2012-07-23T05:39:43Z")
You get a weekly stipend from the admins and there are strict rules against gambling. Doesn’t sound very libertarian to me. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-second-life-a-libertarian-nightmare-or-what/629111/3 "2012-07-23T05:47:24Z")
> [@LeeshaJoy](#): > > You get a weekly stipend from the admins and there are strict rules against gambling. Doesn’t sound very libertarian to me. :dubious: Well the gambling thing is supposedly because of a government ban on internet gambling in the USA where the company is based, they used to allow it and indeed had casinos etc. The weekly stipend is so low as to be useless for anything but getting a feel for the game, it would be like receiving a quarter every week in real life. It is just that the more time I spend on SL the more…disgusted I become with the whole thing! Rather than being a place free of the usual limitations of real life, instead it is full of the worst real life has to offer. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-second-life-a-libertarian-nightmare-or-what/629111/4 "2012-07-23T14:56:59Z")
What does one actually _do_ on Second Life? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-second-life-a-libertarian-nightmare-or-what/629111/5 "2012-07-23T15:05:22Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > What does one actually _do_ on Second Life? Well so far it seems to me it is like: 1.Have sex with other avatars, this is just detailed doll porn basically. You can play around with the gender and appearance of your doll, have gay doll sex if your real life won’t let you or something. 2.Shop, shop, and shop some more. Go play bitchy materialistic high school girls, snark at the badly dressed noobs.:rolleyes: The hardcore group seems to be based on this, it is a way to get status and keep it. LOTS of interpersonal drama too. 3.Get married and divorced, have kids(I shit you not, people take this so far I fear for their sanity. When I saw someone send out a fake ultrasound that fooled some people on facebook I figured I was in on the ground floor of a new DSM classification). LOTS of drama for the harvesting here. 4.Start making things like clothes or animations, sell to other SL peeps. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-second-life-a-libertarian-nightmare-or-what/629111/6 "2012-07-23T17:39:58Z")
> [@grude](#): > > 1.Have sex with other avatars, this is just detailed doll porn basically. You can play around with the gender and appearance of your doll, have gay doll sex if your real life won’t let you or something. I wonder how close to the mark [this Penny Arcade strip](http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/03/28) was (the [making of video](http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/zeppeling-4th-panel) for it is pretty amusing, too, albeit a bit NSFW). ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-second-life-a-libertarian-nightmare-or-what/629111/7 "2012-07-23T18:28:33Z")
Moved MPSIMS --\> the Game Room. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-second-life-a-libertarian-nightmare-or-what/629111/8 "2012-07-23T20:42:56Z")
“Playing that game again?” _“Second Life is not a game. It is a multi-user virtual user environment. It doesn’t have points or scores. It doesn’t have winners or losers.”_ “Oh, it has losers.”