For quite some time now we've been awaiting the opening of the Swedish embassy in Second Life. The folks behind the Maldivian Embassy which just opened today, one week before Sweden, have to have been aware that the launch date was set for the 30th of this month. The coming opening of the "Second House of Sweden" has been in the news for some months now, so one can only assume that the Maldivians, together with their advisors at Diplomacy Island [SLUrl] run by Diplo Foundation are happy to give Sweden the virtual, and diplomatic finger in order to gain a little cheap publicity in pipping them to the post.
Needless to say, the Maldivian Embassy, who's announcement was made on Minivan news, a Maldivian news site, is just an empty building with nobody in it.
Thank you for the article.
In fact the Mission is not an "empty building"; there are information panels, web links, a virtual holiday tour of a Maldives resort, and a Maldivian virtual diplomat.
Regards,
Maldives Mission in Geneva
Well, I was actually talking about people not links :)
Your comment is complete non-sense. DiploFoundaiton has been doing research on virtual diplomacy for almost 15 years. You can consult their website www.diplomacy.edu and realise wide variety of courses, research project and software development. Maldivian misison is the result or well-thought and carefully developed project - not rush for publicity which may be subscribed to others. Please make careful reearch before you pass this type of comments. We would be happy to provide you with necessary links and materials that will improve your understanding of virtual diplomacy.
Im just calling it the way i see it. And to me, it looks like a cheap stunt.