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I would like to thank everyone for their contributions to this forum! I think it has generated a really fruitful discussion and I'm thrilled. I am still only in the stages of designing my project. However at a later date (i.e.. June or July 2012) I will start think about finding willing participants for interviewing. Everyone who has posted seems to have a genuine interest in the governance of second life - be that an anti-governance stance! If you would like to be part of this project I'd love to beable to contact you at a later date when I have explored second life further, done more reading and finalised my methods. So let me know if you would be interested :-) Thank you again!

Second Life is too highly policed already - yes I see your point and is something I will consider in my research! Thanks

Ami, Thanks for your response! A lot of food for thought! I think you are right, my inital research ideas will definitely change as I get to know more about second life. I think that the link between real life and second life jurisdictions is one that will play a big part in my research. And yes I agree with you, there is alot of regulation already in place. My research is not aimed at increasing the goverance of second life. It is about questioning the measures that are already there as well? I mean is there already too much regulation? Nicola.

Jeanne A good starting point is Smyth's Paper: Smyth, Sara M. , Back to the Future: In Search of an Understanding of Crime and Punishment in Second Life(June 9, 2009). Rutgers University Computer & Technology Law Journal, 2009 I have read Boellstorff's work and have also done participant observation myself - I would love for my dissertation to be a collaborative piece of work and I think instead of student's thinking they can study a community or people they can actually learn best from working with a community - as after all Second Life residents have been playing the game a lot longer than I have!

Jeanne A good starting point is Smyth's (2009 paper: 'Back to the Future: In Search of an Understanding of Crime and Punishment in Second Life'. (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1416840) I have read Boellstorff's work and have also done participant observation myself - I would love for my dissertation to be a collaborative piece of work and I think instead of student's thinking they can study a community or people they can actually learn best from working with a community - as after all Second Life residents have been playing the game a lot longer than I have!

Thanks for your response! Yeah I've read the terms and conditions and had a go on second life the other day. In the reading I have been doing there is such mixed opinions on the policing of second life - it seems to be a very complex topic. Some acamdemics think that many of the crimes that can happen on second life - copy righting, violence, money laundering etc need to be stopped by Linden Labs by altering the codes of the game space - so people are unable to commit these activities, however feedback I have got from a lot of residents is that they don't want second life to be policed - it is a game, and as people can make things on Second Life and have the rights to what they make they are in fact co-creaters of Second Life - which suggests self-policing - leaving people to themselves is the best option for second life - as you say there is an abuse report in place already. However, as real money is put into second life, copy righting becomes a more serious issue - one which could involve real life jurisdiction. The whole governing question becomes more serious! Thank you for your feedback!

Hi, I am an undergraduate student at the University of Exeter studying Human Geography. I am currently designing a research project for my dissertation. I want to look at second life in terms of crime and whether it should be policed or governed. I am planning to use a research approach by which I get to know residents in second life and get their opinions. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of what research questions they think would be interesting? Nicola :-)