Your2ndPlace

BusinessWeek, which had been interviewing people within Second Life last week, has their article up: Virtual Exchanges Get Real. And while they did quote Prokofy Neva, the article does have some redeeming merits¹. Our own Mystick Boucher was mentioned, and inadvertently outed as a real human being:

There is potential for serious loss in real money that is being converted to licensed game currency," writes Shania Stewart, a proponent of increased regulation who doubles on Second Life as Mystik Boucher, the CEO of Mystik Designs, the virtual design company that employed the robbery suspect as its chairman. This person, she says, "was released immediately upon my knowledge" of his potential involvement.

Stewart, whose avatar was the first to report the alleged fraud on the WSE, says via e-mail that her virtual company is no longer listed on the WSE because she believed the exchange had no intention of disclosing what happened. WSE CEO Connell rejects that allegation.

LukeConnell of WSE is also quoted:

"It's a game," says Connell, who in the physical world is the managing director of an investment firm called Hope Capital. "You don't regulate something that's not real." He says that what happened to his exchange in recent weeks was an "ethical fraud," but not a criminal act, because this is all fictional. Others disagree, as participants make real money, even if it's not much, through these virtual businesses and exchanges.

"Fictional'. This is the stance of the person who runs WSE, and who is now seems partly responsible for what might be considered to be the laundering of gains from a ponzi scheme: Ginko Perpetual Bonds.

Update: Nikki Claymore spotted an error into the article, where they equate $3.2 million Lindens to $40 USD. Oops:

Earlier, they reported it properly at close to $10,000. They divided by 277 one time too many.

¹ Prok's point about the UN falls into the abyss of internet governance issues, which I have been involved in for some time.

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