What a bizarre tale on Wired News. Apparently the Belgian police are investiagting an allegation of "virtual rape" in Second Life. I'm finding this one hard to get y head around. Online sexual activity is a truly bizarre thing it has to be said. That people get off on engaging in text based sex (which I guess is a bit like phone sex) has always fascinated me from a purely philosophical level. Is it real? Can the imagined actually be real? All very deep I know, but the question arise, can an experience in a pixelated online game like Second Life, where you can just exit the client at any time, really be called "rape"?If you get raped in the real world it is defined in terms of it being enforced sexual activity where the victim doesn't want it to happen and, crucially, is unable to stop it happening because of the power relationship the perpetrator holds over them. That power may be a physical one, or it may be an emotional one as a result of fear in the victim, but the fundamental is that the victim cannot prevent it happening.
However, in a multi-user dungeon (MUD), be it text-based or graphical, the "victim" (and I use that word very loosely) is able to stop it happening by simply switching off, unplugging, and disconnecting. The "victim" has power over the perpetrator. The same case is true in this nonsense that is peddled about "online bullying". If we put aside the acute irony of the use of bullying techniques to combat bullying, the key distinction online is that a "victim" can simply ignore someone, delete comments, ban people, or not view a site that is attacking them.
I've no doubt that finding oneself in the situation where they are notionally "raped" in Second Life might be disturbing if they genuinely did not want the thing to happen. However, by not executing the power to switch off when it happens suggest, in fact, that the "victim" is not quite so opposed to the experience as the alleged criminal investigation suggests.
People do weird things online because the Net allows them to explore, at least at a psychological level, experiences that they could otherwise not have in the real world for all sort of reasons. It opens windows into the psyche that often remain dormant, the idea of being raped is I imagine, just one experience that some people may want (bizarrely) to experience, and MUDs like Second Life allow those sort of experiences to occur.
The real question is whether it is a crime? Even if the "victim" is not someone that is exploring experiences online that they have neither had, or cannot have, in the real world, can the action of being "raped" be a crime when, and we come back to this again, they have the power to unplug?
10 comments:
Dizzy I am going to sit on the side ,this one is too deep for me ,are you on pills or something.
PS I see that Regina refers to Dibble (sic) in her article. D's piece is CHI/Sociology classic.
What's next? Murder charges for someone who kills another player in an MMORPG? This is very silly.
This one is fucking easy: the victim need to complain to the 2nd life police (is there such a thing?). If you can buy virtual clothes and virtual land, then there should be virtual laws, courts and ...police.
Mind you, aren't some of these players paying REAL money for fashion and land...?
I guess we'll have to see how this one pans out...
Did the comment before the PS go missing? Probably didn't notice the word verification had not worked ...
It was the basis for this post over at mine. With links to the Dibbell.
If we consider various forms of harrassment, nuisance and threat by 'phone and mail as criminal why is it that some consider emails, blogs, blog comments, MSN, ... MUDs and MOOs or indeed Second Life as different?
'Phones can be put down. Numbers can be changed. Calls can be recorded. In other words there are similar remedies. But a 'phone threat or abuse culpable? A W2.0 threat or abuse nothing?
Please explain.
If there's virtual money, clothing, law, who do I need to speak to about my virtual peerage ?
The obvious difference Chris is how and where the harrassment and abuse takes place. If it spills into the REAL world and the harasser confirms they have your address and says they are coming round to you may have a point.
However, if it's just words on a screen, and it's somewhere you choose to go, i.e a mud, then the obvious thing is, don't go there. Not to mention the issue of enforcing such things across borders.
Of course, the question remains is it really a "crime" in the normal sense? Can someone really be "raped" in an online experience? I'd say, from a purely philosophical point the answer is no.
P.s. sociology is bollocks.
Dear anonymous, I may be able to help you out. Do you own a virtual brown paper bag?
Obviously you're right about Sociology Dizzy - so much so that I think they are going to rename the discipline if I remember right.
The thing about the "I know where you live" point is that you don't always know whether someone does know, but that is a fear.
In terms of blogs and egroups and MSN and Facebook etc people often DO know other people's iDs and their real life addresses.
I guess that is also true in Second Life in some cases and it was certainly true in MOOs.
Though not for everyone.
If that is a criterion - a well-founded fear that it could cross over into RL say - then OK.
But random and initially anonymous hate crime is also culpable in other circumstances.
Is W2 and W3 to be lawless?
The claim of 'rape' in Second Life is totally ridiculous for two reasons :
1) It is not possible to have virtual sex with an avatar in Second Life without their explicit permission. For those not familiar with Second Life.....this usually consists of clicking on some icon in the Second Life world. That is to say, you are expressly saying you WANT sex. It is simply not possible to just walk up to an avatar and have sex without the person's permission.
2) If a person started having virtual sex and then changed their mind......they do not even need to log out as some have suggested. There is an icon on the screen....always available.....that ceases any activity immediately. All they have to do is click on the icon
Thus it is simply NOT POSSIBLE to be 'raped' in Second Life.
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