Social Advocacy in Virtual Worlds
As a resident of Second Life for almost two years now, I have seen a lot of advocacy groups. Some, like the Relay for Life campaign are very large, in fact, you can hardly visit anyplace in SL without seeing a donation box for the cause.
This is a highly organized group with many teams, competitions and events. It tends to be very public.
It is also a mirror of the Relay for Life events that take place in Real Life. Since the RFL program raised a lot of dollars last year, it has definitely been a successful crossover from the Virtual to the Real world. RL cancer victims and survivors are mentioned at events and in literature in SL. There are celebrations for the survivors, my own sister having a mention in SL as a breast cancer survivor.
As in real life, there seems to be a core of very motivated individuals that carry along a group of less involved people. Personally, I am on a team, but not really a participant. I have a donation box in my store, but I don’t attend meetings etc. My team leader on the other hand, is very enthusiastic. While I believe she is concerned about the real cause, I do believe she is motivated by competition. She really wants our team to win, and was quite disappointed when we started to lag. We have had several events, from musical concerts to fashion shows. These events are widely advertised in the event listings and through group notices. They tend to draw a good crowd, if only for the event. I don’t really know the length of the campaign, but it seems to me that it goes on for a large chunk of the calendar year.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are pockets of memorials for lost loved ones, disaster victims, and those with various disabilities. One of these is Our tears for China. It is a group started by a friend of mine who has a good friend in China. Her concern for her friend caused her to closely follow the events surrounding the recent earthquake there. She not only has attempted to increase awareness, but also has taken donations that are sent to the quake victims. She has donated a piece of her SL land to create a garden in memory of those lost in the quake as well as the survivors who have lost much in their lives. She is an artist and landscaper in SL, so this seemed a natural way to express herself.
She grew her support by soliciting all of her friends and acquaintances to join the new group.
One other place I will mention is somewhere in-between and unique in its scope and intent. I met someone at a friend’s in-world concert named Gentle Heron. We became friends and she told me about her sanctuary. She has MS, and is very immobile in real life. In SL she can move around freely, fly, and dance, a little. It seems that even the virtual motion can still cause her to experience vertigo.
It turns out that in real life she had been looking for support groups and wasn’t having much luck, so she and some friends turned to SL to create a place where people who have real life disabilities can go and live a more full life, albeit virtually. I have always contended that what your mind perceives, you have experienced. That seems to be the pocket of joy she has created at the Heron Sanctuary. Unlike the other two groups, her advocacy doesn’t center on a single cause. On the contrary, it seems that every cause imaginable has found a spot for an exhibit of photos and/or printed information about their cause.
In addition, she they have also produced a web site: Virtual Ability that is a real life connection to their advocacy. It contains a video that is a good presentation of why and how the Heron Sanctuary came into existence.
Whether or not these Second Life campaigns can be considered successful depends on what your definition of success is. Perhaps making monetary donations to the real world causes is a success. But maybe just raising awareness of various causes and disabilities is a success. And maybe, just by finding a voice, a means of expression about their causes and disabilities can lend some palliative effect for those who feel alone, isolated or in pain.
