Virtual Nazis. I Hate Virtual Nazis.

It actually happened a week ago, but I just now learned of the epic battle between the French Front Nationale and anti-fascists that broke out on Second Life. It started as a protest of little virtual people in front of the party's HQ. It escalated into a bloodbath.

And so it raged, a ponderous and dreamlike conflict of machine guns, sirens, police cars, "rez cages" (which can trap an unsuspecting avatar), explosions, and flickering holograms of marijuana leaves and kids' TV characters, and more.  By California time, the battles often culminated at 2am, 3am, and even later into the small hours of the American clock, when Residents in Europe are most active.  So amid the exchange of salvos, the chat log was choked over with pro and anti-Le Pen curses, most in French.  And when the lag was not too overwhelming to stream audio, the whole fracas was accompanied by bursts of European techno.

One enterprising insurrectionist created a pig grenade, fixed it to a flying saucer, and sent several whirling into Front National headquarters, where they'd explode in a starburst of porcine shrapnel.

The FN is beaten, but unbowed. And next time, they'll be ready for the… pig grenades.

(Via Kriston Capps. )