Ever since I heard about Second Life I’ve been waiting for either CSI or Law and Order to run an episode focusing on the online phenomena. When SVU aired on Tuesday October 2nd, with an episode that touched on sex for money, via the internet and avatars, they weren’t far off what is actually happening on Second Life.
From people who play there, screen shots and more, Second Life does indeed provide a system where people are charged for internet sex with avatars, and that Second Life money can be exchanged for real money. So, in all honesty, it is a situation that was begging to be used in a crime related drama.
As I watched the episode unfold, with a woman kidnapped in real life because of events within the game (Called Another Universe in the episode) I had to wonder if the owners of Second Life were cringing.
Now, I’ll be honest. I’ve stepped into Second Life all but twice. My lap top can’t handle the graphics and it didn’t hold any real interest for me. I’m an old time rpg player, and if I’m going to do online rpg’s it will be text based html chat ones, or message board based because, quite frankly, to me they’re more interesting. But what little I did see in Second Life made it very clear that Another Universe was based, heavily, on that system. Right down to being able to custom build your own avatar, land and the virtual sex involved. Another article I wrote for AC also mentioned a woman, running in the Belgium elections this year, offered sex for votes, or rather oral sex for votes, and one of the options of getting that service had been via Second Life.
Before anyone jumps me for this, I’m well aware that Second Life has attempted to put in controls to prevent minors from entering the areas of the game/system where adult interaction takes place by using credit cards, passports and other means of checking age. But this doesn’t stop the very situation that was portrayed in SVU. No, I don’t mean the real life kidnapping. I mean an avatar made up to be a 14 year old girl, selling herself for sex in an online sex club.
Am I the only one who cringed as the kidnapped girl’s friend explained what they were doing and brushed it off as not doing anything wrong? Before someone says ‘hey what about age play’ the big difference with age play in real life is you can see, first hand, that the person pretending to be 14, or 16, or whatever, is really a lot older. You know, without a shadow of a doubt they are really an adult. In the virtual world there is no such assurance. Perhaps it’s just the Mum in me that is cringing at the problems this could present. And no, I’m not calling out for more rules about the net.
The storyline is a warning, as many of SVU’s and Law and Orders in general have been in the past. And, as a whole, it was a compelling story as it was written in order to horrify and shock watchers as to just what can happen on the net. It worked well, for me, and that’s with a woman who has chatted on the net since 1998 and does own a html chat site that is currently being worked on to go back online.
Will it make people stop and think about some of the characters they portray online in games such as Second Life? Sad to say, I doubt it. The very people this story might have been aimed at were unlikely to have been watching the episode to begin with. So although it was an entertaining and well thought out episode, if the creators of SVU were looking for more of a social impact (which they have been known to do before) I’m sad to say this will have missed the mark. At best it will have a few people up in arms. Some people, like myself, sat cringing and shaking our heads, and others who will go “So what, it’s just a game.”
