One of the drivers that draws me towards Second Life and other online communities is the vibrant discourse on ideology and how effectively the utopian ideologies can be explored in the networked world.

It gives me an opportunity to grow intellectually (my day job doesn’t offer such insights,) on various sociological topics.

To that end, I stumbled across an intriguing article by a person who is heavily involved in Second Life from a “customer/citizen/entrepreneur” perspective. Their comments regarding the extreme (and perhaps impractical,) application of ideology over the lessons of the ages (minorities dominated by majorities, etc.) look to counter conversations elsewhere which seem to embrace the liberalizing nature of simulation (and simulacra? ;) ) and abundant resources without observing the recurring theme of human corruption.

Take a look, and hopefully get a taste of what I’m after beyond the facade of multiplayer gaming:
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2006/08/the_legal_nihil.html