When I started this writing gig, I promised myself and my mother that I would never write about the furry haven that is Second Life. I am about to break that promise.
BoingBoing (Who totally hearts virtual worlds! I told you about Cory’s locker, right?) brings us word of something that might be kinda heartwarming if it wasn’t so bizarre and stupid. Starting December 4th, a Spanish NGO, Mensajeros de la Paz, will be operating an avatar in Second Life. You might be thinking that this isn’t all that strange as companies like Wired and Starwood Hotels have already set up offices in this virtual mecca of poorly rendered people dressed as foxes, but Mensajeros plans to operate an avatar that is completely homeless.
Yeah, they’re going to be roleplaying a kid, sitting on a corner with a cardboard box and a sign that says something sad (probably in Spanish). Apparently this is supposed to raise awareness of all the poor, disenfranchised kids all over the real world, but I have no idea how that’s supposed to happen when everyone in Second Life is too busy trying to sex up the equine boy-girl next door.
I urge any of my readers who play Second Life to seek out this boy and offer him an e-sandwich. When he refuses, tell him you aren’t giving him money for heroin, because you’ve heard how these hobos LOVE the heroin. Oh, and maybe spit on him too. That way you can tell your virtual senator in the next e-election that you think there is a problem with all the robo-vagrants running around the streets panhandling for interdrugs. It would be just like Portland, only with less bondage!
