Protests over Italian newspaper article proclaiming SL dead by Ula Muircastle
September 03, 2008
A protest was carried recently by Italian SL users in the Torino Vera sim, over an article published in the daily newspaper La Stampa.
A journalist for the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, has caused protests after the publication of his article '"Il deserto degli Avatar (The avatar's Desert)". Bruno Ruffilli's September 1st article highlights his sceptical position about second life, using the argument that second life is condemned to die
"It was first a curiosity, then an economic opportunity and a way to get visibility. Finally, after some scandals which were more or less amplified, the world invented in Linden Labs fell silent" Ruffilli wrote.
"Second Life is not growing more, and must also deal with the abandonment of President Philip Rosedale and Cory Ondrejka, one of the program's designers." Ruffilli states.
The article is also critical about the political strategies used in Second Life giving as an example the French election's candidates' - Ségolène Royale and Jean Marie Le Pen - use of the second world in their campaign strategies. “Ségolène Royale had opened her electoral committee in Second Life, where supporters real and virtual could meet and have discussions. Second Life has not helped her in the race to the Champs Elysee, and it has not done much good to Le Pen either as he was attacked by 'pig bombs', and he had to give up a rally.”
“There are millions of subscribers who have just spent a few minutes in Second Life and then abandoned it forever, discouraged by the difficulty in controlling movements, painful slowness and the growing need for powerful computers and programs always up-to-date. Thus Second Life today is an endless avatar cemetery. ” Ruffilli concludes
Italian Second Life Users protest
The article has caused widespread protests and Fredric Haystack, Italia Vera spokesman said “it says second life is a zombie world… well I feel rather uneasy being compared with a zombie”
“They talk about Second Life as something with no content, no value, lots of noise for nothing, big investments which are totally useless. This hurts the feelings of the people who believe Second Life can have value and who still invest in it” Haystack said.
“I know of important work being done with disabled people. Now this touches the humanitarian sphere” Haystack added, “Until one looks at SL as a utopic revolution and something which is not part of rl, one can have false expectations which are bound to die. SL has got to be part of RL just as web2 has been, for instance. The only issue here is that what it offers is different. This difference is what in my opinion will allow it to grow”
The Italia Vera staff organized the protest in front of the SL headquarters of the daily newspaper and official sponsor of Italia Vera project, La Stampa.
So what metaverse is an italian company building? These stories are always in conjunction with up starts that want to compete with Secondlife. There is always something unethical associated with these "news media" reports about Secondlife. Fortunately people that are not stupid don't pay any attention to the news media.
Posted By:
Ann Otoole | Wednesday, September 10, 2008 01:35 PM
@Ula Muircastle: I am here, and I would like you to explain me and all your readers how you tried to contact me. Are you sure you wrote me an e-mail? Do you remember calling me at the phone? Or sending me an Sms? An Im? A letter? A fax? A message in SL? A carrier pigeon?
Posted By:
Bruno Ruffilli | Wednesday, September 10, 2008 03:48 PM
Bruno, have you considered the likelihood that the writer contacted the newspaper rather than you personally? You come across as something of a berk with your stupid list of communication methods, so I'm hardly surprised if the writer decided to avoid you and go for your employer instead. How would they know your mobile number to send an SMS? Do you really think they'd know your personal SL account name to send a message in SL? Equally, do you give out your IM account details to just anyone? If you're going to try to be clever and talk down to a writer because their article isn't favourable to you, at least try to think about what you say first.
Posted By:
April Kohl | Thursday, September 11, 2008 03:48 AM
If you google a bit you will able to find me on Facebook, Pipl, Linkedin and my e-mail, both at work and private, so it wouldn't have been a problem.
Posted By:
Bruno Ruffilli | Thursday, September 11, 2008 03:53 AM
Plus, if you call La Stampa and ask, people at reception will forward your call and even give you my cellphone, if you explain who you are. If you send an e-mail to the newspaper citing my name, it will be forwarded as well.
Posted By:
Bruno Ruffilli | Thursday, September 11, 2008 04:02 AM
bella figura di merda, complimenti, continuate pure così giornalai
Posted By:
chiudete i giornali | Thursday, September 11, 2008 04:06 PM
"bella figura di merda, complimenti, continuate pure così giornalai" Posted By: chiudete i giornali | Thursday, September 11, 2008 04:06 PM
Translates to:
"beautiful figure of (feces), congratulations, continue well as newsagents" Posted By: chiudete i giornali | Thursday, September 11, 2008 04:06 PM
Looks like the highly intellectual readers of the Italian "media" are coming out to meme replete with expletives.
Posted By:
Ann Otoole | Thursday, September 11, 2008 08:44 PM
The author was right... SL is dead as dead can be... I can open the map any day and see how few dots there are... tp to where the dots are gethered, and you find zombies... usually campers... and all the builds look the same, with the same ol textures, same ol unimaginitave shapes, same ol architecture, nothing new under the sun...
Posted By:
Dude | Thursday, September 11, 2008 10:09 PM
First of all i would like to send a word to all the readers but in particular to those who kindly posted their comments. A public debate about important issues is always worthy but be sure that with your words you made it all a lot more interesting and worthwhile. So thank you and keep doing it ļ
Posted By:
Ula Muircastle | Friday, September 12, 2008 10:02 AM
@Bruno Ruffilli: you are wrong about this one thing, I have not to explain anything to you, and when I mean anything I really mean it. I do my work under ethical and deontological grounds, I write it down and it goes public, period. However I do feel I have to explain the readers, and that’s what I did when I stated that until the moment I submitted my article to SLNN, which has been on September 3rd 4:12 am GMT, no one from La Stampa was available to comment the situation. And as you might well have seen on all the comments so far, everyone seems to fully accept that explanation, without any reserve. Anyway, for the record, and for you to know for the first time my opinion on this subject, as I do not consider myself a zombie, in fact I consider myself very, but very far from it, I gathered all the facts in world, I interviewed everyone inworld, so naturally I tried to contact any La Stampa editor in chief inworld, and no one responsible on the 14 people of La Stampa press group has been online at least on any of the moments I have tried to search for them. So no one could answer my 4 questions on this issue or state any comment on the subject.
Posted By:
Ula Muircastle | Friday, September 12, 2008 10:05 AM
Now… i suppose you have comments on this matter, other then the ones you stated on your article of course, so this is the time, this your chance to make them public. So go on and use any of the next available comment spots and make yourself heard loud and clear. I can assure you , Bruno Ruffilli, that I and most certainly all the readers are curious about what your words would be. So please be my guest. To finish if you got time and if you find anyone from La Stampa press group, I would like them to answer this one particular question: do any of them feel like zombies?
Posted By:
Ula Muircastle | Friday, September 12, 2008 10:06 AM
@Ula Muircastle: everyone can understand the value of what you say about contacting people at La Stampa. For the record, the word "zombie" does not appear in my article, where I also wrote:"Second Life is not going to die", a sentence I cannot find anywhere in your post. I tried to write about the promises Second Life couldn't (yet) keep. I tried to explain how pointless was the presence of politicians an (some) major names in fashion or real estate, and why. I tried to understand if a successful business model in SL really exist. And it's true, there has been a protest infront of the virtual headquarter of La Stampa, which was filmned and is now available on YouTube. Everyone can see that less than 20 people were there. But the point is: do you really believe that the Italia Vera staff would organize a protest against its "official sponsor", as you call it? Wake up!
Posted By:
Bruno Ruffilli | Friday, September 12, 2008 10:35 AM
@Dude Try going to an event, a fundraiser, a store opening. You will find hundreds of people dancing, singing, talking...where the hell have you been?
Posted By:
Elsbeth | Friday, September 12, 2008 12:03 PM
@Dude wow!!! where do you read all that on your article?? as far as we can see what's in there is your "opinion" on some of this points... so Bruno it's you who should wake up and start writing better news dude!! And by the way "for the record" when you ironically say about this writer last comment "everyone can understand the value of what you say about contacting people at La Stampa" as a matter of fact I completely understand that value.. Can't say the same though about what you have written...
Posted By:
mcp | Friday, September 12, 2008 01:19 PM
by mistake i sent last comment to Dude (@Dude) as i thought that was what people were calling Bruno R. So "for the record" on my comments Dude meant B.R. No doubts about that please!!
Posted By:
mcp | Friday, September 12, 2008 01:31 PM
@mcp: You deliberately miss the point, in my opinion. I was talking about politics, business models, culture. I was talking about ideas and expectations. If you read the whole article and take a look at the newspaper, you will find more informations on how the population growsand I never denied it, I just pointed at the huge difference between registered users (15 millions) and people who log in weekly( less than 500.000, 3%). Dancing, singin, talking never happened in Di Pietro's island and never will. And besides, pretending to dance in a virtual disco is not exactly what I would call a role-breaking cultural model, nor the next big thing happening in politics. Plus, I would ask you and all the readers to spend a second and think about the likelyhood of the situation described here: Italia Vera basically protesting against itself, or - even worse - against it "sponsor" (which is not true, as long as I know).
Posted By:
Bruno Ruffilli | Friday, September 12, 2008 01:47 PM
@mcp: You deliberately miss the point, in my opinion. I was talking about politics, business models, culture. I was talking about ideas and expectations. If you read the whole article and take a look at the newspaper, you will find more informations on how the population growsand I never denied it, I just pointed at the huge difference between registered users (15 millions) and people who log in weekly( less than 500.000, 3%). Dancing, singin, talking never happened in Di Pietro's island and never will. And besides, pretending to dance in a virtual disco is not exactly what I would call a role-breaking cultural model, nor the next big thing happening in politics. Plus, I would ask you and all the readers to spend a second and think about the likelyhood of the situation described here: Italia Vera basically protesting against itself, or - even worse - against it "sponsor" (which is not true, as long as I know).
Posted By:
Bruno Ruffilli | Friday, September 12, 2008 01:49 PM
sorry for the double comment...
Posted By:
Bruno Ruffilli | Friday, September 12, 2008 02:04 PM
@dude B.R.: as you might imagine i have read all the article otherwise i couldn’t state a comment... the question is that you don’t "point out" as you say, the facts… you express your negative opinion on those facts… so what is this if not what you think of the situation: “Così la seconda vita, oggi, è uno sterminato cimitero. Di avatar.” ...
Posted By:
mcp | Friday, September 12, 2008 02:58 PM
@Bruno Ruffilli: As I have no intention to lower down this public discussion level, I won’t do any comment on your working style… Same way I won’t comment your last post on my working methods and procedures, and most certainly I will not say out loud any of my sources names if they are not feeling at easy with it, so that you could cross information. I won’t do it. Not even if it can cost my reputation. Nevertheless if you want any lessons on gathering information, source contacts, news writing and particularly on work ethics please feel free to contact me I’ll gladly help you on that… Anyway, for now I think its better to let the readers speak and express their opinions on this subject as I wont comment you on this matter anymore.
@Ula Muircastle: It would have been easier if just said you do not want to confont, accept critics and try to open a discussion. As for me, this thing ends here. And please note, I put my name in everything I say and write, since I am not used to hide myself behind an avatar. I call this the first rule of ethics in journalism. And thank you for your unvaluable lessons.
Posted By:
Bruno Ruffilli | Friday, September 12, 2008 03:23 PM
"same ol architecture, nothing new under the sun..."
Alright dude, come on by my house in the Costa Rica Estate (I'll send you a landmark inworld if you like, IM me). As far as I'm concerened there is no other house in Second Life in a Monterey style like mine. I also don't think anyone took the same wall texture as I did from our historic mission church either. Sorry, nice try.
Mr. Rufilli can call it dead, but I'll be happily enjoying the several fashion related events that routinely pack sims that are upcoming. But that doesn't count I am sure.
;)
