In an effort to ensure unique names for each of its inhabitants, the developers of Second Life regularly add a new batch of user-selectable surnames to the open world game. The latest batch however, includes a rather unfortunate piece of slang.
Most prevalent in former British colonies (specifically Australia and South Africa) the term “rock spider” is, as Urban Dictionary puts it:
A term used to refer to a paedophile. In common usage within correctional facilities. Derived from the analogy that a paedophile, like a rock spider, is always getting into little cracks.
While the Second Life version of the word lacks the space between the two words — which also gives it the added ability to explode the heads of any nearby English majors — the phrase’s double meaning is apparently quite evident to those gamers familiar with the slang. It was discovered almost immediately after Second Life’s latest update.
Given the open world game’s reputation as a sexual wild west, it almost seems fitting that something like this would happen eventually, but it makes you wonder if developer Linden Labs actually has anyone checking these names against, say, Google before they hit the live server.
Otherwise I fully expect the next surname update to include equally clever contractions like “Kittenstrangler,” and “Nazisympathizer.”
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Published: Aug 28, 2009 11:17 pm