Self-government has always been a slightly hot topic in SL, but it really flared when a large group of residents wished for Linden Lab to create a sanctioned government. This in turn caused more residents to speak out against it, creating groups that opposed any type of global user government. Linden Lab eventually spoke out, saying that no user government would be in charge of the grid. However, users are encouraged to create their own rules for private sims and/or groups. Thus, many residential areas and groups were created that did follow a set of laws and some of these projects still exist in some forms.