Your2ndPlace

Benjamin Duranske points to the very interesting Virtual Property Rights Case. Some of this should sound familiar:

...Soon, wealthy avatars were taking the form of "metaverse speculators" buying in bulk, driving up the cost of virtual land and, in some cases, developing it for a tidy profit. The stakes were high and, to some, there seemed to be a bubble forming, mirroring the frothy bull market for real property investment that had taken place offline. Meanwhile, the real world owners of Third Life were becoming more wealthy than they had ever dreamed. The incremental cost of strategically creating and introducing additional parcels of virtual land to Third Life was essentially zero, and there were always eager buyers...

If that doesn't sound familiar, then you haven't been in Second Life - or if you have, you've been spending your time in those brain-numbing camping chairs. It provides a platform to discuss the issues without having to write of Linden Lab and Second Life directly - but it is all very tongue in cheek. This is a reality in Second Life today - enough so that Linden Lab posted Rates of Mainland Supply. How real is that?

Virtual, Artificial or Real?

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