I want this job...
There's a game out there called Second Life. People will argue on and on for days and days on why it's NOT a game, or why it IS a game. But this is me talking, and I consider it a game, so a game it shall be called when I write about it. In this game (yes, I also enjoy saying it to annoy people who take it too seriously), people of all kinds connect to a massive user-operated game world. Basically, there's a big huge empty world, and people buy, with real life money, plots of land with which to build stuff. Anything you can imagine, you can build.
Anyway, there's some group of scientists out there trying to find out if people protect their "virtual privacy", and this is the job I want. I want to play a game, write a robot, and send it out after the people taking the game too seriously, and see how they react to a digital avatar walking up to their digital avatar, record the responses, and present the responses as valid research. That's the job I want. Heck, I'll even PLAY the game manually to see how the people react! You'll get faster results out of me, because I don't need complicated scripts!
Anyone who's actually played Second Life will tell you... Yes, people protect their "virtual privacy". Let me tell you a story... Actually, let me tell you a couple of stories!
Once upon a time, three avatars were exploring with a Stargate device that someone built and scripted. It would even randomly dial another gate, open a wormhole, you could walk through it and BAM! You're on the other side. Awesome way to kill the time. So these three avatars went through the Stargate and found themselves in a very large shop on an industrial coast. Slightly off the shop grounds, there were two other avatars making out in a little gazebo. I am being generous with the terms here... Such as, this "gazebo" was pretty much a blue sphere carved out in the middle. Not very creative. One of the Stargate travelers promptly put on a Goomba suit and sat on top of the two avatars making out. The two avatars got incredibly upset, verbally raked the Goomba suited avatar over the coals, and left.
There are a few points to make here. One is that land can be isolated. You can block people from visiting if you REALLY wanted your privacy. This land was public. The making out avatars had no control over this. Two is that Stargates have to be on publicly accessible properties. Check and check. The two avatars failed to take into consideration these things, and the fact that since it is a game, people will be silly and do what they can't bring themselves to do in real life. If you REALLY wanted your privacy, you'd go somewhere that didn't have a Stargate on it.
Let me tell you another story! Once upon a time, three avatars were exploring the Stargate network! They came across an island out in the middle of an ocean, with no signs of civilization besides the island itself. The island was densely populated by empty houses, so the avatars decided to explore. They examined the house from the outside and, deciding that it was empty, proceeded to explore the inside, because, after all, it was a game that you could explore places and things built by other people! The fact that the land was publicly accessible and had a Stargate means that you are free to come and go by the rules of the game. Inside this house, however, was a man. A very angry man. Without any words, he proceeded to shoot the three avatars with a weapon none had seen before! It would, simply, encase the avatar in a bubble and rocket them skyward, many, many, many kilometers into the air. Hey! That was kind of fun! So the avatars kept returning to get shot, and they got flung into the air, and returned, and got flung into the air, until suddenly... The three explorers were slapped with a rejection and were booted from the island and back to their home location. The person with the gun was the owner of the island, and he didn't want the avatars there at all.
There are a few points to make here. One is that the island in question was publicly accessible. Two is that the island in question had a Stargate on it. The builder and creator of the Second Life Stargate made a rule that all Stargates must be on publicly accessible land. The owner of the island failed to take into consideration these two things. It also brings up the question... Why have publicly accessible property and not want anyone looking at your handiwork? Are you building it to impress your online girlfriend? (Who could also just as easily be a man on the other end.) If so, lock the property! If not, expect people to explore. The avatars were able to return by setting foot on just a sliver of the island in question. The rest was blocked. From their vantage point, they could see that the Stargate had been removed from its resting place.
Yes, mister scientist robot building man, people protect their "virtual privacy", and I could have told you that for free, provided you mentioned me in that fancy article written about you. I could have told you that people who play Second Life take the game far too seriously and get uproariously upset when people invade their "virtual privacy". The very term "virtual privacy", in the sense of a populated game world, is like saying "I'm going to drink some evaporated water" or "I think I'll wear this invisible shirt today". It just ain't gonna make any difference with that many people who are rightly treating the virtual reality as virtual, and are there to have some fun. Of course they wouldn't do those types of things in real life, but this isn't real life, is it? It's a game!