Political action and civic authority have traditionally been fairly nebulous concepts in Second Life. FIRE, a recently-launched SL political party aims to change this tradition in a collaborative and progressive way.

FIRE ricocheted into the SL news channels in the past week or so with some recent press statements that left some bloggers and SL watchers perplexed. Between the publication of results to a survey conducted by FIRE, and the momentum developing out of its Chaos Gathering for Creativity forum, FIRE has once again ignited the debate on the role of civic authority in SL.

At its core, however, FIRE (Freedom, Improvement, Respect & Enjoyment) is an attempt by a group of about 100 SL citizens to stimulate debate and move the SL community to a point where democracy and civic organization can start to take place.

When SLNN interviewed Datus Clary, one of the key board members of FIRE, he frequently emphasized the need to not try to move too fast. Clary founded FIRE in May of this year, partly out of frustration with inactive groups in SL. “I started out in SL joining all the political groups I could find,” he says. To his dismay, very little was happening with most of the groups. It was at this point that Clary decided to try to create his own forum. Thus, while FIRE is a political party in as many senses as possible, it is also fundamentally a forum for the exchange of political ideas.

What does FIRE represent as a political party in SL? Per its acronym, FIRE wants to promote the enjoyment and improvement of SL. Clary and his board aim to have a complete platform in time for the next Burning Life. In the meantime, they are trying to get the pulse of the SL community, via surveys and discussion forums. FIRE also targets the release of two newsletters monthly entitled FIRE Flash. Thus far, they have also issued policy statements on certain SL hot topics, like gambling and the VAT tax.

Clary is supportive of the work of other political initiatives in SL, “Some extreme left groups are doing good things and the Metaverse Republic is building steadily,” he concludes. Nevertheless, Clary isn’t sure these other institutions will provoke the establishment of enduring political and civic authorities

While Clary is optimistic about his plans for FIRE, he is also realistic, frequently citing the cliche about Rome not being built in a day. Political parties are not an entirely new idea in SL, nor are attempts to establish broad governing authorities. Many SL pundits also believe that SL lacks some of the key drivers which necessitate the establishment of governance in RL (e.g. limited geographical space.) Others point out that regardless of in-world institutions, Linden Labs will always exercise a largely arbitrary power over the possible policy and institutional outcomes.

Clary is unfazed however. “We believe in building slowly and steadily,” he says. Clary contends that FIRE is preparing and helping to prepare for the day when SL is ready for in-world governmental institutions, and the political processes which usher them in. FIRE intends to work with other initiatives as much as possible, tracking the work of the Metaverse Republic and other political institutions as they evolve.