C|Net is carrying a Reuters story about Iranians incensed over Kuma Reality Games latest real world events-inspired game simulation, “U.S. attacks Iran“. Keith Halper, CEO of Kuma, spoke inside the virtual world Second Life a few months back. Afterward there seemed to be a fair number of disappointed avatars in the audience; most – apparently including Clickable Culture’s Tony Walsh who covered it on his site – complained that the bulk of his presentation felt like an infomercial (you can listen to an mp3 of the presentation and form your own opinion). I didn’t mind his presentation so much, but thought this part of the Reuters story was pretty funny:

“The controversy does surprise me. I just didn’t expect that there were people from Iran who were going to become aware of it,” he told Reuters.

Does he actually think anyone believes him when he says that? C’mon, dude. It’s the internet. It’s g l o b a l.

Considering so many real world conflicts are rooted in money, it certainly appears as if there really isn’t much difference between meatspace and virtual space. It’s all about the money. And Kuma certainly doesn’t seem concerned if they all bleed together (pun intended). Besides, next thing you know, avatars will be setting up metaverse corporations and using the virtual profits to fund political protests in cyberspace over real world issues. Actually, I suspect it’s already happening.