second life griefers assault real estate millionaire anshe chung.
è incredibile ma quel che accade nel mondo, ed in particolare su internet, è stupefacente. innanzitutto il fatto che esistano persone che hanno una seconda vita sulla rete mi da da pensare. strano ma potenzialmente utile è che ci siano importanti media che addirittura organizzino convegni e conferenze nei mondi virtuali, che girano su piattaforme come second life. rasentiamo l'assurdo poi con gente che riesce a farci dei soldi, vendendo terreni e case virtuali. l'impossibile è toccato dai dei grandissimi che hanno manifestato durante una di queste conferenze con un singolare sit-in fallico.
quel che segue è tutto quel che s'ha da vedere per esaurire l'argomento. l'ho postato in inglese perchè un sito che linka i miei contenuti mi ha chiesto di scrivere qualcosa anche nella lingua universale della rete. alla fine metterò anche le mie idee, perchè altrimenti non avrei scritto nulla. scrivo solo se ho qualcosa da dire, un contributo originale, mica faccio il giornalista.

virtual real estate tycoon anshe chung has been forced to abandon a public forum inside the 3d online world of second life after virtual vandals - known as griefers - launched a phalanx of flying phalluses. anshe, a former language teacher from china whose real name is ailin graef [mi viene da pensare che graef-griefers sia un gioco di parole...], was appearing inside the virtual world at an event hosted by the online technology news publisher cnet [non pensavo fossimo già a questo punto]. anshe announced that she had accumulated virtual assets worth more than $us2 millions in real money, making her - by her own claim - the first virtual world millionaire. "she is very popular, and some people don't like her," said cnet reporter daniel terdiman, whose second life avatar (online persona), greeterdan godel, was interviewing anshe at the time of the attack. "she's made a lot of money, and is one of the most prominent of all second life residents. so to some people, some griefers, that makes her a target". attacks like the one launched against anshe are triggered by a program code that generates self-replicating objects. much like email spam, these "griefspawn" attacks can chew up system resources and slowing down performance. they can sometimes even trigger network crashes. documented griefing attacks involved using images of objects that are design to upset and offend, including huge swastikas and, once, a model of the world trade centre in flames [e fanno bene, conoscerete la mia opinione al riguardo]. in this griefspawn attack, witnessed by about thirty avatars that were in the audience, the stage was bombarded by a barrage of over-sized penises. unable to continue the discussion because of the disruption, anshe left the stage. the meeting was hastily reconvened in another room on property owned by anshe [questa conferenza era davvero una cosa seria allora!]. but there was no escaping the griefers who attacked the new venue, eventually crashing the server which housed the auditorium. after a restart, the forum proceeded without interruption for another three hours. link to the video of the [addirittura!] terroristic attack.

newsmaker: virtual magnate shares secrets of success. an interview transcript by daniel terdiman [staff writer at cnet news.com].
published: december 20, 2006, 4:00 am pst

this is part one of cnet news.com's interview with second life land magnate anshe chung, the in-world identity of chinese businesswoman aillin graef. click here to read part two, in which graef discusses the growth, structure and challenges of her china-based company. since its public launch in 2003, the virtual world second life has become a haven for entrepreneurs. and while the number of people making a considerable profit is still relatively small, it is growing rapidly. the poster child for profitable second life businesses is ailin graef - better known by her avatar's name, anshe chung -and anshe chung studios, the business she runs with her husband, guntram graef. originally, the two ran the company from germany, but at the beginning of this year, they set up shop in wuhan, a large city in china, and are now employing more than 30 people full-time at, she says, better than local average wages. last month, ailin graef issued a press release announcing that the company's total holdings, comprised mainly of virtual land in second life, were worth more than a million real-life dollars. for those who aren't familiar with the complex economies of virtual worlds, such a claim may seem incomprehensible. but for anyone who has spent significant time in second life, the number seems all too possible, given chung's dominance of the land market there. on monday, graef visited cnet's second life bureau for a discussion about her business, how best to set up businesses in second life and the nature of competition there. unfortunately, as the interview was commencing, the event was attacked by a "griefer," someone intent on disrupting the proceedings. the griefer managed to assault the cnet theater for 15 minutes with--well, there's no way to say this delicately--animated flying penises. it's not clear why the griefer attacked, but anshe chung is controversial to some second life residents for reasons such as inflexibility on land pricing, the signs she has placed in many areas of the virtual world that are visible to anyone flying overhead, and her ability to get many residents to sell their land to her. the biggest challenge was the established elite that existed in second life before i joined. chung refused to continue the interview in the cnet theater but agreed to go on in her own space. once restarted, the interview was attacked again, and the protester even managed to crash the entire server on which chung's theater is held. but after restarting and bringing back the audience, chung talked with cnet news.com for nearly three hours. this is the first of two parts of that interview.
q: how did you first get started with second life?
ailin graef: i used to be in another virtual world called shadowbane. then i decided try out this weird new thing that was only for adults and supposed to be "user created." this was in march 2004, i think shortly after second life first allowed registration from outside the united states and the u.k.
q: did you have a business right away?
graef: no. i was mostly exploring the social and emotional side of virtual worlds, not the money side. i was in virtual worlds a long time before having the goal to start a business.
q: so what made you decide to start your business, and what was it like at first?
graef: i've been role-playing in virtual worlds for a long time, and my time always ended up being valuable. in asheron's call, i used to be quite popular, creating magic weapons for people, and i always ended up helping people the whole day and still couldn't help everybody. that's what originally led me to charge (game) money for doing things, long before the idea of actually turning it into real money.
q: how do you describe your business today?
graef: we are, by revenue and customers, the largest virtual-world (land) developer and service provider--if you do not count platform creators like (second life publisher) linden lab, of course. we develop various kinds of content, such as land and landscapes, buildings, objects and whole communities. we also operate on imvu (by ivmu.com), there (by there.com) and entropia universe (by mindark). we also provide services like community management, currency exchange and realtor service. we don't rely on outside investment capital, and business with residents exceeds the amount of our business for corporations. we are also proud that we train new talent for second life and don't just harvest on existing talent in the community.
q: what were some challenges you had to overcome to get your business started?
graef: the biggest challenge was the established elite that existed in second life before i joined. many people were around more than a year before me. but from when i signed up in march 2004 to when i showed up at the top of the leaderboard was only four months. this, not surprisingly, created some funny reactions from the existing power elite. others in similar situations--such as one well-known casino operator--who were also latecomers and successful, ended up being griefed so badly that they gave up and left second life. luckily, i was prepared when it happened.

ora dico la mia. primo: si dovrebbe usare questo sistema per aumentare e garantire affluenza a qualsiasi manifestazione. quindi durante i prossimi anni mi studierò per bene come sia possibile mettere a punto una diretta, con audio e video, un broadcast insomma. secondo: ognuno di voi farà bene a comprarsi per cifre modiche bei pezzi di terreno ogni volta che esco uno di queste sottospecie di videogiochi con gli avatar. farete bei soldi. tre: internet si rivela sempre più una risorsa per piazzare le cose più disparate. praticamente il world wide web è una multinazionale di cui siamo proprietarii tutti. è lo stesso che vendere cd: se ne vendi trecento e vuoi farci dei soldini, li devi mettere a quindici euro, se ne vendi tre milioni puoi piazzarli pure a due euro. e chi è che non comprerebbe un disco per due euro?! quarto: lo scopo del labirinto, e mio personale nel senso che ci penso giorno è notte, è analizzare i gradi di libertà di ogni sistema di cui vengo a conoscenza, anche per sfruttarli nelle loro falle. farò lo stesso con ogni casistica del genere che si presenterà nel resto della mia umile esistenza. che anarco-insurrezionalista sarei altrimenti. l'informazione può esser sabotata. quinto: mi viene in mente un qualcosa sul copia incolla, sul control ctrl+c, son cose che non dovrei dire, che mi tengo strette, idee per campagne volte a resettare la coscienza comune. diciamo che il punto quattro era volto ad introdurre questo discorso, di deriva situazionista, alla luther blisset insomma.

plagiarismo is an exhibition that tried to demonstrate that the appropriation and re-formulation of other artists' ideas is an essential component of culture. vuk cosic - who's having a solo exhibition at the škuc gallery in ljubljana - was putting together a show called ctrl-c on a similar subject. the show has just opened at the galerija simulaker in slovenia. here's the gist: from duchamp and benjamin to beuys the art of the previous century has asked the question of copying and multiplying as a legitimate artistic practice. the advent of the internet has dramatically placed the digital original and digital copy in the very center of artistic but also economic frictions. mere simplicity of making copies is socially not perceived as a liberating tool for artistic creation but is turning out to be the main point of conflict between economic interests and those of societies at large. traditionalists fighting for intellectual property are trying to pull the giants from under our feet. the ctrl-c show is presenting projects exclusively focused on the artistic relevance of the digital copy. exhibited works are using the language of the non-original to express a very concrete critique of the circumstances in the world of art and in the society. all works in the show have provided their authors with a measure of scandal and a bigger measure of fame: in september 1997, vuk ćosić made an almost perfect copy of the website of documenta x before it was taken down by the organisers of the famous contemporary art show. the artist saw his act as an “expression of a rebellion against the art system and the return of art from a gallery into reality”.
epilogue: the copy found its way into relevant “kunst.historisch” literature and is still accessible on the author's internet server. being a legitimate and conceptual work it has been exhibited many times, also at the venice biennale in 2001.

in 1997, 0100101110101101.org made a series of clones of well-known net.art projects (hell.com, art teleportacia, jodi) as a digital monument to the principles upon which the internet runs. "the belief that information must be free," explained at the time renato, 0100101110101101.org spokesman, "is a tribute to the way in which a very good computer or a valid program works: binary numbers move in accordance with the most logic, direct and necessary way to do their complex function. what is a computer if not something that benefits by the free flow of information? copyright is boring."
epilogue: the three copies are still accessible on the authors' server. nowadays they are known for their numerous net.art projects, acknowledged by the public and the media.

in 1999, rtmark – the yes men altered the website of the world trade organization and made it very similar to the original. they received invitations to symposia (no one's going to forget their talk and little demo at the textiles of the future conference in tampere), where they presented the identity of gatt as they understood it.
epilogue: the authors belong to the group of the most recognizable names of the new media scene. a documentary has been made about their work (also available on google video btw.)

during the exhibition of fluxus in 2005, gordan karabogdan and nikica klobučar snatched a few of beuys’ videos, copied them at their home and returned the "originals" without anyone noticing it. they even produced free copies and the media comprehended this deed as a criminal act.
epilogue: the work, called enigma of an object, ended with an act of handing over the copied films and entire documentation to the museum of modern and contemporary art in rijeka.

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