A Return to Blogging

This blog has taken a bit of a back seat in recent years. I found the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (then named Neualtenburg), Second Life's oldest democracy and, without really intending to, got thoroughly involved in the politics of the community. Now that I've resigned as Leader of the Representative Assembly (the CDS legislature) after two years serving on one or other of the CDS' organs of government, I have a little more time on my hands to put some of my thoughts into better order and present them here. I think that the CDS experiment tells us a lot about the issues thrown up by virtual democracy and I hope to record my observations, based on two years of participant-observation, here.

One point to note in this short return to blogging is that the CDS is no longer the only democracy in Second Life. In recent months new democratic communities have emerged. The Extropians only opened their first sim in November 2007 but have recently expanded to six. Al-andalus is opening as a democratic community 'based on authentic Islamic principles' this weekend (8 March 2008). The Metaverse Republic project has yet to launch its system for inworld courts backed up by a parliamentary democracy but, when it gets off the ground, may be another one to add to the mix. All of these projects deserve greater description and scrutiny. There are disagreements, for example, over how democratic they really are and their claims need to independently assessed. I'll add my take on these projects and hope to add to the discussion.