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Virtual World, Real Money

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the pony-up-the-lindenbucks dept.

BusinessWeek's cover story for May 1st has to do with a little place called Second Life. BusinessWeek Online has several stories related to their exploration on online living. My Virtual Life is a first-time exploration of Second Life, with some examination of the property and financial aspects of the gameworld. It's Not All Fun and Games explores the serious side of virtual businesses, as they interview Ashne Chung (notable real estate baron) in a piece called Virtual Land, Real Money. Ed Castronova has his say in a more general article on virtual economies. Finally, for an outside perspective, the obligatory Terra Nova discussion is always useful.

6 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. Snowcrash by ecklesweb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Man, I need to go back and re-read Snowcrash. Apparently the metaverse is upon us. (I guess that's a blinding flash of the obvious).

  2. This is downright scary. by XorNand · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This says something pretty significant and deeply disturbing about society yet the article seems to have glazed over it. Second Life has no point, it's not just a game. It's a reality that simply exists, it's the participants that determine everything--just like real life. People are escaping their own lives, why? Because they feel trapped? Trapped by what? The mindless and meaningless jobs that they hold down working for a multinational corporation. The incessant reminder that they need more material goods to be happy. That they aren't as beautiful as the people on TV. Aldous Huxley seems to have been a visionary. Now corporations are looking to tap into this phenomemon? Holy shit! In my opinion, this trend is more scary than DRM ever could be.

    --
    Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
    1. Re:This is downright scary. by Lordfly · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What's so wrong about wanting to live/play/pretend that you're somebody else? Don't you daydream?

      --
      hookers and grits.
    2. Re:This is downright scary. by Lordfly · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I guess I'm still missing the point. The economy works in SL just like the real world. There exists demand from consumers. You go in and fill that need, and make money.

      Assuming you're doing it for the hell of it, it's fun, and thus doesn't feel like work. Your hobby soon sustains itself, and maybe gets you a few extra bucks on the side. If you really get into your hobby, it can make a sizable contribution to your income.

      That's what most "businesses" in SL are; hobbyists who are passionate about their playtime making a few extra bucks on the side (that's me currently) The real big-money businesses are content teams doing contract work for real world firms (Wells-Fargo is one, for instance) to build prototypes and locations inworld for more RL business things. They're analogous to consultants in the real world. The economic benefits of consultants are best discussed another time. :)

      --
      hookers and grits.
    3. Re:This is downright scary. by NineNine · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Instead of pretending, you should just do it. It's that simple. No, you can't be a dwarf with an axe, but life doesn't have to consist of a job in a cubicle and a shitty, generic apartment in the suburbs, with dinner at a Subway. The only problem is that it takes balls to live life the way you want it, and the VAST majority of people have no balls to speak of.

  3. Re:And yet, oddly enough by jfruhlinger · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Like youtube, they don't make any money yet, but since investors are keen on putting money in, they must know what they're doing.

    Where exactly were you between 1997 and 2000?

    jf