Second Lifers raise funds for Australian fire victims
by Tateru Nino 
Feb 11th 2009 at 9:00AM
Filed under: Culture, Events, real-world, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds
One of the defining characteristics that is often remarked on about Second Life users is their generosity. Not that they're necessarily a soft-touch, but they're kind in often unexpected ways and tend to be strong supporters and organizers of charity efforts.
Fires are still burning out of control in the state of Victoria, in South-Eastern Australia. Thousands have lost their homes. Some areas are inaccessible for searchers, but a little under 200 people are known to be dead so far, and thousands have lost everything, and are in need of food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.
A number of Second Life users and content-creators are pitching in to raise funds for the relief effort.
Twenty-three content creators (and probably more by the time you read this) are pitching in to raise money for the Australian Red Cross to help survivors. If the purchase of virtual goods is a little awkward for you, our friends at the Metaverse Journal are selling physical tee-shirts to raise money for the same cause.
Because people help people. And we are all connected, regardless of the medium which connects us.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
UltimateQ said on 10:59AM 2-11-2009
Very cool stuff!
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UltimateQ said on 11:00AM 2-11-2009
I mean... Raising money, not the fires. The fires are hot, and suck badly. But raising money to help is cool!
lethality said on 11:26AM 2-11-2009
Finally, a good story that explores the community of Second Life as opposed to the obscure business dealings no one cares about.
This is a great story, and there is doubtlessly dozens of others... if the journalists would actually work on them, as opposed to waiting for "news" to come to them.
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Tateru Nino said on 12:30PM 2-11-2009
We do pay careful attention to what people actually read. Voting with the eyeballs and all that. Strange as it might seem, we get much better response to release-candidates and obscure Linden Lab hirings and activities than we do to amazingly cool people doing amazingly awesome things.
Why? I've no idea, but those are the things that the SL readers *really* pay attention to, whereas pieces about nifty sites in SL or cool activities garner considerably less interest. Go figure.
NekoAli said on 1:20PM 2-11-2009
Why is that surprising Tateru? People who spend time on forums or with the news show that pattern all the time. People read good news, nod and go on with their lives. Throw something controversial in or something people can argue over and it will become a flurry of posts and arguments. This doesn't make controversial postings better or more important, or even that people pay more attention. It just means people like to argue. Something like this post, there's not much to argue about, so there's not as much activity.
NekoAli said on 12:22PM 2-11-2009
It is nice when someone explores the good aspects of virtual worlds and Second Life in particular. As someone who's been a resident for a long time, even I can despair at how often good charitable, education or creative works can get lost behind the sensationalism that you hear about more often. Kudos to both the residents participating in the fund raising effort and the reporter here for bringing their efforts to more attention.
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Yo Brewster said on 2:22PM 2-11-2009
As you know, I'm one (and maybe the only one) of the people that complaint about the fact that I would like to see more stories not related to Linden Lab hires or Release candidates. Don't get me wrong, I think that kind of information is important as well BUT this kind of story really outlines what Second Life is all about. It's a platform full of posibilities and this is just one great example. Thanks for sharing Tateru and keep those stories coming :)
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Kain Cleaver said on 7:10PM 2-11-2009
Where are they donating? whos taking the collections
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torin said on 7:27PM 2-11-2009
Wow, a SL post lethality doesn't bitch about???
Oh wait, he does still bitch, trying to masquerade it as praise for the post. lethality still thinks if it's not interesting to lethality (IE the business side of SL... a game which he doesn't even play) then "no one cares about" it. And therefore should not be on Massively.
So lethality still is bitching. *Sigh. Poor tired old lethality the troll.
Then lethality claims SL reporters here wait for news to come to them??? Will lethality ever get it through his head that HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT WHEN IT COMES TO SL OR SL COVERAGE ON MASSIVELY. But then I guess that is the definition of a troll. All snark and no substance.
Just say 'no' to the 'Add Comment' button, lethality The Troll. Seriously, dude. It's gone from laughable to annoying to pitiable how you have to come throw shade on virtually every SL post. It's like crack to you, and not the good kind.
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Nuala said on 9:43PM 2-12-2009
Hi Tatero, I noticed that you linked to my post about the bushfire fundraiser on your blog entry, and I would like to direct you to the most up-to-date list, which is maintained by the fundraiser organizer, Dakota.
http://kotasknickers.blogspot.com/2009/02/victorian-bushfire-relief-participating.html
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Louisiana said on 9:57PM 2-12-2009
I was so thrilled to hear about the fundraising efforts going on in SL for our Victorian neighbours. As an aussie i too have felt the effects, not personally but through watching the heart breaking stories on the news every day. Good On Ya All!!! Just goes to prove that this is more than just a game....it helps rl too
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