Welp,
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:The organizers of an exclusive camp at Nevada’s Burning Man festival have denounced “hooligans” whom they accuse of raiding their camp, stealing items, gluing trailer doors shut and cutting the power... The response from festival regulars has been split, with sympathy towards the camp tempered by many who say that the “prank” on White Ocean, a closed zone funded by tech entrepreneurs, was “taking burning man back from the parasite class”.
As the last line suggests, this conflict is probably the culmination of simmering resentment over the last few years, as Burning Man's original ideals were infected by the consumerism from many of its wealthiest attendees:
Participants at the three-decade old festival, which is based on an ethos of co-creation and mutual self-reliance, traditionally all pitch in to build the event. It is built around a radical “gifting” culture, where even strangers who wander into a camp are supposed to be served; in turn, they are expected to do the same for others. But as Burning Man has become more popular, it has become seen as an annual fixture for global elites who pay others to build them exclusive camps called “plug and plays”, which allow them to swoop in, turn on and drop out for a few days before returning to corporate life.
All of which is unsurprising, but also twice-cooked irony, a case of real history repeating the virtual recreation:
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Depiction of Burning Life, annual tribute to Burning Man in SL
Second Life was
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and co-founder Philip Rosedale's many visits to the Nevada desert, which (he told me), "reinforced that idea that what we believe in or what we make of things is all that is real. It was unreal because everything was clearly made of found materials and was transitory. But it was real, because when you were there, it was real to you."Which is all great, but doesn't pay the bills. And as Second Life became increasingly commercial (between 2004-2005), and the community felt it was losing its own gifting culture to a marketplace defined by Linden Dollars and virtual real estate deals, resentment started simmering.
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. Second Life land owned by real life companies and their advertising agencies[To see links please register here]
. Protests often escalated into outright griefing, with commercial sims vandalized or even taken offline in[To see links please register here]
.So with Burning Man, this is actually a case where the original inspiration is following after its virtual simulation. And if that keeps on being the case, the future will play out this way: After a few more notable instances of anti-commercial backlash, the well-funded owners of Burning Man will impose some regulations to keep commerce down to a dull roar, there will be some vocal soul-searching, and after that has passed, it will keep on being what it basically always has been: Not an anti-capitalist utopia to any scalable degree, but a fun rave/dance/sex party with cool art and random wackiness for the people who can afford it. You know, like Second Life.
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