Stalking in the Virtual World

Second Life (SL) is a virtual world where you can experience people and things you've only imagined or never imagined.  It can be a magical adventure.  It can expose you to others you may never have had a chance to meet in real life (RL).  You can experience everything! You can fly, you can ride, you can dance, you can hear and perform music, you can surf and sail and skate and so much more.  But there is a downside.  Some of that exposure may allow access to people you may NOT want to have exposure to you.  The griefers, the stalkers, the people that hide behind their avatars and their anonymity while harassing others, sometimes on a continuous basis.

If you've spent any time in a virtual world, you likely have a story about someone who maybe took an unusually strong liking to you and wouldn't stop contacting you, or followed you around wreaking havoc, or joined all the same groups in order to keep tabs on you or sent you ugly messages or more.  Almost everyone has a story about being stalked.  Different people choose to handle it different ways.  Some people just ignore it.  Some people do as I did and as I recommend others do, and block and report.  This kind of stalking is usually done to get a response and when the stalker loses access to a response, they may lose interest.  They may also escalate the activity by creating alts (alternate avatars) to continue the harassment until you block them, as well.  My advice is still the same:  block and report.

Below is one person's story about virtual stalking.

Avalon (Avalon Bouvier)

BLOCK THE STALK

In Second life your anonymity is crucial to your participation.  Residents enter this virtual world knowing that their identity and location will be protected.  The Terms of Service (TOS) clearly outlines the rules and residents agree when they log in.  But like the outlaws of the wild west there are those that choose not to follow any rules and they maliciously set out to disturb and harass others.  This is “virtually” possible and popular, perhaps a form of entertainment.  The issue with trolling in SL is not new, so what can be said in this article that has not been seen or heard before all over the grid.  Bullying and harassment happen everywhere, from real life to every virtual space where people gather.  Occasionally it is beneficial to put a spotlight on this negative behavior if only to collectively commiserate.  I am sure in any group of people there are would be several that have endured this type of harassment.  The question is how to react or even better how not to react.  

Recently I have had two separate trolls set their sites on me.   They are persistent if nothing else.  They attend my DJ sets, and that information is easily available.  They tend to dance right in front.  That might seem benign, but they have also taken to using other alts to send vile messages to my partner.   Fortunately, we have both resolved to ignore them, swatting them off like pesky mosquitoes.  We systematically block them and move on with our day.  As much as they are driven to invade my second life, I have to remain resolved to ignoring them.  Our power comes from blocking and ignoring, and if they cross the line, reporting them to Lindens.

If you have a story you'd like to share about how you handled virtual stalking, please contact Tauri Tigerpaw in world or Tauri Tpaw in Facebook.

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