A brilliant post by Ethan Zuckerman on a tasteless “virtual refugee camp” in the online game “Second Life.”
Via Elijah.
Also read up on Sudan’s forgotten third (or is it fourth? I lose count) conflict zone in and other Sudan news at the Head Heeb.
Virtual Darfur
A brilliant post by Ethan Zuckerman on a tasteless “virtual refugee camp” in the online game “Second Life.”
I read the article and the comments – It does not seem that it is supposed to be a game, so much as a sort of artist’s conception that you are supposed to just browse through. The comments are educational if only for the “don’t criticize us” tone that too many of them take (though there was also a lot of good dialogue going). I have conversations with a lot of people from wealthy countries who want to help istuations in the developing world and give money to causes, sign petitions, etc. but may have very little idea what is really wrong and whether their efforts do good, or actually have a counterproductive side to them. When you try to educate them, as gently as you can, the righteous outrage always sort of shocks me. Surely, we are all ignorant about stuff and we should get really knowledgeable about it before plunging in trying to solve it? Why does this anger people so?