fake crimes by fake people - racking muck in a virtual world - What happens when a virtual newspaper covering virtual events runs afoul of a real corporation? - salon article about the ballardesque happenings in the virtual world of the sims online and the controversy surrounding the censorship of the alphaville herald, a weblog that covered the "shady underside of life" in the sims online city of Alphaville.
related: slashdot thread my tiny life - crime and passion in a virtual world by julian dibbell. dibbell ist quoted in the article: "These virtual worlds are a strange sort of commercial space where communities come to exist, but there's a tension between the communities and the private commercial company ... It's similar to what you have with shopping malls. They're becoming the last refuge of public space for teenagers, but they're run by companies, and they can kick you out on a whim." comment []trackback []
