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Yes, I know - and if I didn't, all the instant messages I got in world would have let me know: the Linden Lab blog entry, 'New Policy Regarding In World Banks' has finally arrived - almost 5 months after Ginko Financial closed its doors.

Well, they're on the ball.

I've been working on a contract inworld, and I'm glad to see that Ciaran Laval and Jezebel Bailey have chimed in already. This is a big deal.

I took my time in collecting information and not being reactionary (as so many others are right now). Let's take stock. Sure, Linden Lab is late - but they are finally doing something that they should have done at least a year ago. That they didn't has cost a lot of people a lot of money, but that is water under the bridge - nothing to do about that, really. And there are people who will say that there are no legitimate banks in Second Life - a generalization which can't be proven accurate. This is what Linden Lab is attempting to do, apparently.

I got a lot of information, particularly from Wenden Xeno who had some transcripts and images he sent - but I'm not going to use them because we already know that people are going crazy at the ATMs inworld. I fully expect that the last 2 weeks of banking in world will be plagued with servers not being able to handle the load from Second Life banks who are trying to do the right thing.

Oddly, the WSE seems to have closed its doors before all of this happened - something that does look suspicious, especially in light of how Linden Lab has assisted WSE in the past when they won't help most other residents. Do I think that WSE knew about this? Better, do I put it past WSE and Linden Lab? No, I do not put it past them- but it also does not mean it is so. I will say that WSE has had a rather strange run of luck as it is.

The short term issues are affected by the lack of long view of many people - so let us start with the long view.

The Horizon

The horizon of Second Life isn't particularly clear. I've had mud on my boots which was more transparent in many ways. Still, we have an idea of what is going on based on what they actually do. In this case, they say that they are going to crack down on Second Life banking.

But what does that mean?

According to the entry by Linden Lab:

...We will not apply this policy to companies who submit a registration statement, charter, or other applicable license from a governing regulatory authority, or who are merely conducting marketing or education, but not accepting payments...

In other words, there has to be a governing body involved. That has been the crux of many issues of transparency within Second Life banking and exchanges. In this, I have to agree with Benjamin Duranske's comments on this new policy - it is good, but it is late. Linden Lab is, as usual, as reactive as a [w:noble gas]. There. Brush up on your chemistry.

The Short View

People are, for lack of a better phrase, freaking out. And this freaking out causes the servers and sims that house the banks/atms/exchanges to be laggy and even fail. So this snowballs. Obviously, Linden Lab didn't think about this when they posted their announcement (5 months late), but it is what it is.

So what do you do if you have money in a bank in Second Life? Simple. Go do something else for a while. Stop freaking out and trying to get your money out every 5 seconds. Try less often. In the meantime, do what you would normally do - unless you normally freak out, in which case you may want to consider consulting a medical professional.

Nobody Notes

If you didn't see this coming, you need to start paying more attention. Let's face it: The tax people are coming, some are already here. Banks have been closing, some under suspicious circumstances - others because of misplaced investments under the control of unpredictable and unconscionable business practices of others.

It has been time to pull the plug for some time. Linden Lab could not provide the tools for the community to manage itself for a variety of reasons. First, it may not be technically feasible. Second, it makes them a platform for something which permits poor business ethics and which has, in the past, rewarded negative behavior.

With all that said, it does seem as though Linden Lab woke up around New Year's Eve, scratched itself and said, "Hey. What the heck is going on?" Is this a new Linden Lab? Will they be more reactive in the future? One can hope. The next stop will be landbots and 16m ads - but with those, they can't remove ATMs. It isn't that clearcut. But it is more of a problem than they have been letting on - and since they seem to be awake, maybe they'll do some more before they go back to sleep.

And if I were a betting man (upcoming pun unintended), I would say that this will all be in the Terms of Service right next to 'gambling'.