DissertationAnarchy

A few questions to discuss: 1) In the absence of a state in SL, do you feel more free compared to RL to act out your own desires, liberties? 2) Do you feel more watched, your desires are steered in RL as compared to SL? 3) If people are left by the state do you think they are naturally peaceful or brutish? 4) Do you think there should be more punishment for breaking the TofS in SL or do you feel the TofS are too strict?

I am currently doing my undergraduate dissertation in Human Geography. My dissertation is looking at SL as a space that does not have a state. I am aiming to challenge existing state theory through my dissertation. I am specifically investigating whether SL is better than RL in that residents have greater liberty and individual freedom in SL. I want to see whether this is a positive thing, whether in RL the state is overbearing in writing citizen's desires, or whether SL needs a greater state influence, and without a state in Second Life there is more crime. Another aspect I am researching is the SL border being relatively open and whether harsher border controls are needed as criminals can create new avatars and regain entry back into SL relatively unproblematically. I have created this thread as a discussion, I am also conducting my research in SL using a participatory research method as I am interested primarily what the residents of SL have to say.