Former Governor Speaks in Second Life

joystiq ^

[Xth Legion]

Former Virginia Governor and potential 2008 presidential candidate Mark Warner became the first politician to make a public appearance in an MMO yesterday, speaking to a small crowd of avatars in Second Life on issues ranging from the Iraq war to abortion. Warner, who is also founder of cell phone company Nextel, literally flew onto the stage at the start of the event, leading interviewer Hamlet Au to comment that he is "not a noob."

[Xth Legion]

Just to wierd to believe. Here's a picture from the Online world conference

[Egon]

This doesn't surprise me at all.

SecondLife is a fun place to meet a wide variety of people from all over the world.

Whatever your interest, you can likely find a group of people that are interested in it: building, developing, commerce, advertising, religion, social programs, politics, talking, etc.

Educators are using it to teach, and there's even been some real-world stores working on SL presence.

[Egon]

Ping for your lists, as you deem appropriate.

[ShadowAce]

[M. Dodge Thomas]

I wonder how many people would be willing to vote, a decade hence, for a canidate who campaigned only via their Avatar?

[Egon]

I wonder how many people would be willing to vote, a decade hence, for a canidate who campaigned only via their Avatar?

Depends. Is his AV "hot"?? Does he sport the newest in flex-prim hairstyles? Does he speak passible L337?

Heh.

[Xth Legion]

I've been on second life, but politicians going on??? That is a whole new dimension. It can't be him, it's one of his hip 20-something aides doing all the work, I bet.

[Egon]

It can't be him, it's one of his hip 20-something aides doing all the work, I bet.

That's a good point. Talking to anyone in SL is like dialing a 900 number: You could be talking to the real-thing, but like as not it's some 30-something nerd who has to stop typing periodically to call to his mom from the basement to move his underwear to the dryer.

[mysterio]

I wonder how many people would be willing to vote, a decade hence, for a canidate who campaigned only via their Avatar?

Probably a lot. Never overestimate the depth of the voting public. At the end of the day, the swing voters are going for the guy they would rather "have a beer with."