Second Life-moral panics

I read an article about virtual worlds and social networking sites that appeared in the Daily Mail newspaper on Saturday 5th January, called “VIRTUAL NIGHTMARE”. It was from the point of view from the older generation, and how this might affect the internet and how we use it. The article was also stressing the moral values and humanity that was lacking from the virtual realities. Some main concerns about the development of the websites is that more and more illegal activities are popping up all over the virtual worlds; gambling child pornography, some avatars are dressing up as children and offering virtual sex. The problem controlling this is there is not enough restrictions and not enough people to stop this happening; sometimes one person governing 150 million ‘avatars’, an avatar being your appearance in the game, which you choose, customise, and create. Another problem in Second life specifically, is the age boundaries. The rules are that you are not allowed to enter the adult grid if you are under 18, and vice versa for the Teen grid, but there is no feasible way checking everyone’s age reliably.
The way that Second life and social networking sites have changed the way we meet and discuss. More and more young people are getting involved in these sites, meaning that less people are on the streets, and the older people, maybe being left behind, because they might not have as easy access as the internet, or because they actively choose not to participate. Some businesses are having board meetings in Second Life, because the advantages are numerous; people can text chat privately without anyone ‘hearing’, the 3-D giving people more capability, and the increasing ease to connect to the internet.
One of these board meetings was interrupted by a ‘terrorist’, who shot everyone dead, and the teenager who stole virtual furniture from ‘Habbo Hotel’, another virtual world. These panics reflect in the real world in that people are taking themselves off the streets and putting themselves on virtual worlds, where illegal activity comes with it.