One of the main intentions that are made clear through the creations such as Second Life is the hope that individuals will have the opportunity to escape reality and engage in activities that could either not be possible in the real world or be regarded with a high degree of skepticism otherwise.
Unfortunately, reality can rear its ugly head in even these alternate universes, a lesson that Michael Marsh, an 18-year-old from Norwalk, CT (USA)., became aware of during his time in Sony’s Home service for the Playstation 3.
While in Home, Marsh wanted to start a gay-straight alliance club. However, he learned that terms used to describe this group of people, such as “gay,” “lesbian” and “bisexual” are not acceptable in Sony’s service. Regrettably, according to the San Francisco Chronicle article, other terms are also negatively regarded including “Christ” and “Jew.”
The fact that Home is having problems regulating speech at this point in its release calls into question just what individuals are populating Sony’s service, and just how far the company is willing to go to regulate what is and is not acceptable for appropriate speech. As mentioned in Joystiq, a Sony Computer Entertainment of America representative made it clear that “user behavior and feedback” will decide what rules will be set in place.
The fact that this is even an issue makes one wonder just how “free” spending time in an alternate universe-based program is. If more problems like this come up, Sony’s goals for Home may fail to materialize.
Read [Joystiq] via [San Francisco Chronicle]
Yeah. Funny. I noticed that. They can sensor those words but they can't boot or sensor the pervs lurking in the Far Cry pub or train station. It's already sad enough that some of these people try to pick up chicks or guys doing suggestive moves right on your avatar talk trash and make pervy comments to people who just want to play one of the games. There's no etiquette there. People hog the pool tables and bowling lanes and if you do find an empty slot to play. You have to listen to a bunch of trash talking during the whole game. So much for cyberbullying. I love HOME … don't get me wrong. But the obnoxiousness I and a few others have to endure just to play one round of bowling is horrible. And I thought the crybabies, spawnkillers and teamkillers were bad.