Rabbit Assassinated in Virtual New York

By Fresh Catteneo
Second Life Reporter

If you thought Second Life is a paradise of beautiful flowers, magical landscapes and enchanting sunsets then you are..... probably right. But there is a second side to Second Life and it is dark and dangerous. This white rabbit was shot point blank right in the forehead on CSI:NY Orientation West . With a cigar still stuck in his mouth he lay flat on his back while his wound oozed blood all over the sidewalk. A close examination of the footprints leading away from the body reveals they belong to someone wearing high heels.


I was not alone on the crime scene. In fact, the area was surprisingly crowded. But not by typical SL residents wearing L$ 2000 suits and skins, but by dozens of shiny bran newbies with NOT flexy hair. Most of them had CSI FAN tags on them and NY police badges... Here's a picture of a typical CSI:NY fan inspecting the scene:

And what else is typical newbie behaviour at SL? There are two main ones; being in a state of "Away" or in a state of "Editing Appearance". This girl came to the crime scene to help solve the crime (I'll tell you about that in a minute), so why is she dozing off while floating in midair ? And wearing only one shoe ?! What's going on here ? Is this a police badge I am seeing on her right breast ?


The rabbit was shot by a dangerous assassin called Venus who started off in an episode of CSI:NY , later escaping her pursuers into SL.


The CSI detectives followed her tracks, in the form of SL avatars. They are detective Paul Dawson, Medical Examiner Dr Dacota Lenox, CSI Nathalie Evans, and Jared Washington.

Also a major player is detective Zuiker:


This virtual CSI team calls SL residents, CSI:NY fans and literally anyone with a bit of a detective spirit to help locate the whereabouts of Venus and deliver her alive to the hands of the police. This apparently draws many people to participate. At the sim's landing spot (welcome area), I counted new avatars materialize at a rate of about 5 - 10 per minute.

Once you arrive, you are instructed to download an additional piece of software called the OnRez (developed by the Electric Sheep Company), which is a sort of upgraded traditional SL viewer. It's very user friendly and enhances the overall SL experience. The detectives left clues and tracks one must follow in different sims in SL. I am not sure but did I see a reward of 5000$ ? The game will go on until February 2008. I might continue following this story, so stay tuned....