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I've been spending some time away from [w:Second Life] due to traveling, meetings and research, and in doing so it has allowed me to distance myself from some of the issues written of about Second Life so much.

Finance In Second Life: The Wild Wild West

When we look at the financial sector and the past fraud - as well as the potential for present and future fraud - the community has spoken quite loudly.

When Ginko Financial closed its doors, there was an uproar - and at about the same time, Philip Linden was quoted as saying:

[14:19] Jay S.: lol, is there any new policy concerning the Ginko scandle, Ie it looks more like a ponzi scam
[14:19] Philip Linden: jay we haven't created any policy thusfar on bank, etc.
[14:19] Philip Linden: we try very hard not to make rules we do not need to.
[14:20] Philip Linden: We haven't made any about banks
[14:20] Jay S.: ok
[14:20] Philip Linden: I would note that there is a lot of transparency around projects like Ginko
[14:20] Philip Linden: moreso that in the real world

Since then, there have been other scandals - and there have been rumors that Linden Lab may actually do something about these sorts of problems. Rumors. If there is anything consistent about Linden Lab, it is rumors.

In the interim, most stock exchanges based in Second Life have tried to mitigate risk for potential investors and businesses by trying to enforce some transparency. A niche for insuring deposits to various banks has been filled by The Rock Insurance Co, and even that is imperfect. Indeed, it is all as imperfect as the framework which permits someone to create an alternate avatar and continue fleecing the people relegated to sheep by the governance of Linden Lab - or lack of it.

Meanwhile, Linden Lab continues to market Second Life as a place where one can make real money (screenshot). As a published author on the topic, it is good for me to quickly jump on that bandwagon - as so many others have - but I also feel a responsibility for my own reputation that is reflected in my writing. Not all authors feel that same compulsion, and in not writing about the risks they propagate the illusion which the marketing department seems intent on maintaining.

Piercing that veil is not profitable for anyone involved, including me. However, ignoring the truth does not make it go away - and the only way for the truth to be properly addressed remains in the hands of Linden Lab. Unfortunately, their track record isn't very promising.

Land

Landbots run by unscrupulous owners and 16m² ad extortion continue to be issues on the Second Life mainland - an area which is under the distinct control of Linden Lab. Estates, 'owned' by residents (as long as they pay Linden Lab), do not have these issues.

Why?

When you can answer that question, you have the solution to landbots and 16m² ads on mainland.

When Sarah Nerd recently criticized Bragg's creation of 16m plots to trap landbots, the community became divided on the issue - at least in the comments. That quite a few people who have been dealing with mainland issues for some time hold both unscrupulous landbot owners and 16 m² ad extortionists in low esteem, it stands to reason that the criticism should be expected.

We know how landbots actually work, and we know that they can be trapped by cutting bad plots and charging exorbitant amounts for parts that make the pieces whole - as far back as I can remember, Reverend Herzog and others have been using such tactics... but the cost is the destruction of what many people seem to want protected. In the short term, you can catch landbots in the monkey handcuffs. In the long term, the landbots at least break even and what is left is an area where ad extortion is prevalent. One could argue that ad spam extortion is the lesser evil, but that is all one can do: argue. There is no resolution in that discussion.

The sad truth that is apparent to anyone who has been paying attention for any period of time: Linden Lab has to address the problem. There have been complaints via email - I made my own, and know others that have. I've even documented the issues in a published work after being blown off by Linden Lab's PR department while I was writing it.

Linden Lab, as an entity, isn't interested or if it is, has not demonstrated a level of interest other than invoking the [w:magic circle]. That is the bottom line. Unscrupulous landbot owners and 16 m² ad extortion will continue until Linden Lab comes to the level of its own residents who own estates and do not have the problems.

Software Licensing And Landbots

Landbots are simply modified Second Life clients that allow people to automate the purchase and sale of parcels of land that are found above and below certain prices per meter. That is all that they are, and anyone who actually wants to make 'real money' with 'land' in Second Life stands to be advantage if they customize their own browser to do this. After all, Linden Lab does not reward open source developers fiscally. If a software developer actually wants to make money for their time and effort, Landbots are the obvious choice.

Commercial Licensing of GPL'd code

Since only the Electric Sheep Company seem allowed to commercially license the open source licensed code for proprietary use, the business model for making one's own software client is as trustworthy as a Linden Lab ignored Ponzi Scheme. When I submitted a request for commercial licensing information on November 7th, 2007, I had a real application I was looking into for a client: a week later I met with the client in Orlando, Florida and was surprised that they understood Linden Lab wasn't responsive. To date, I have not received an email from Linden Lab on this.

It is difficult to find opposition to the statement, "Linden Lab only does business with a select few". This does not bode well for anyone who seriously wants to develop a Second Life presence for their business or organization - unless, of course, you find the empty islands for companies attractive. And these presences were largely built by Second Life's select few, unsurprisingly some of whom are authors supported by Linden Lab. Once again, the illusion is propagated - and a lack of the ability to analyze statistically within a reasonable margin of error casts further doubt.

Who can fix that? Linden Lab.

Griefing

We all know about griefing - and we also know that the system for reporting abuse has been updated. The new method works fairly well, it seems, except in some cases where alternate avatars continue to run rampant. Still, the abuse report system is inconsistent - a read of the Police Blotter doesn't reveal a method to the madness - if anything, it reveals an inconsistency which may require strong pharmaceuticals to address.

There is also the issue of whether fraud and other uses shouldn't be considered by Linden Lab to be griefing. I know I consider it to be griefing when I see someone lose a few thousand dollars through being human or software/network latency issues. If someone doesn't get mad about that, or somehow finds acts which reward people who bend morality to fit the (lack of) legal framework, it demonstrates the future of the virtual world of Second Life. A world low on ethics but high on backyard lawyers, supported by a lack of support from Linden Lab.

Linden Lab & Responsibility

It is my opinion, and the opinion of a few others who I have spoken with, that Linden Lab needs to at least give the community tools to deal with some of these issues. Holding 'voice only meetings' at hours which coincide with PST workdays does not work well - especially when writing something requires a level of commitment and Second Life statistics demonstrate that most people who use Second Life aren't even in the United States.

If there is a future for Second Life - and I would like to see a future - it requires Linden Lab to grow up as an organization and collectively address issues which they have let slide for far too long. The hype is gone, the novelty passed, and what is left is a recurring theme of unresolved community issues.

Frankly, 'just enough' just isn't good enough. Stop talking to lawyers to find out what you have to do. Start listening to the community about what they want and need - not the select few who fit your schedule, but the majority of people who do not. No matter how much the media ignores the problems, no matter how many people in the Linden Lab Benevolence Association publish books - the truth cannot be hidden.

If you're going to market it - support it. The truth is not virtual.