Wagner James Au describes a quality-of-life issue affecting denizens of the popular virtual world Second Life. Part griefing, part political statement, part money-making scheme—some subscribers to virtual world Second Life are purchasing tiny parcels of land next to established residences and shops and putting garish and obtrusive billboards on them like the one pictured here.
Some people are ignoring the ads. Some are petitioning Linden Labs—the company that runs the virtual world—to take them down. Some are buying up the small parcels of land that contain the billboards for about $2 to $4 USD and then removing the billboards themselves.
Sounds like Linden Labs is going to need to set up some zoning laws governing the erection of advertising. And so the virtual world becomes more and more like the one people are trying to escape.
