There is such a thing as overkill, and that could be just it with news of Sweden setting up an embassy in the Second Life game. This is definitely a first in many things, and Sweden hopes that this diplomatic representation in the virtual reality world will be an important information portal for the country itself. Of course, this embassy does not issue visas nor passports, but they do provide instructions to visitors on doing so in the real world. I’m not too sure why the Swedish government is doing so because if I wanted more information on applying a Swedish visa, I would have gone straight to the Swedish embassy site instead of logging into Second Life and fishing for more information there.

Of course, the idea is not necessarily a new one as there are certain individuals within Second Life itself who go by the moniker “Canadian Ambassador” and “The United States Embassy to Second Life”, but this is a formal, official attempt by a real world government to promote their country in a virtual world. There is also an inkling of the Swedish Institute picking up an island in Second Life to create a home just for Swedish companies. Perhaps Ikea could look into expanding its online catalog in there.

What next – virtual terrorist bombings of embassies in Second Life? Transferring real world mechanics into bits and bytes is getting more and more unnerving by the day. Are there any of our readers who are knee-deep in Second Life? What do you think of such an idea, will it take off on a big scale, or is it just another short term gimmick?

Source: The Local

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