Virtual World, Real Money

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.

Comments

Re:This is downright scary.

[flyingsquid]

But 2L satisfies neither the "escape" nor "fantasy" part of that. Just trading one mundane dog-eat-dog existance for another, without even the perk of entertainment. And you can't even call it an even trade, because while trudging along in "real life" might get you fed, sheltered, and offspring, no amount of success in Second Life will keep you alive and viable.

Yes, but if Second Life sucks you could easily solve that by creating a network of virtual computers inside Second Life where the avatars could go to get away from their mundane online existence!

at the end of the day

[wintersheart]

Who cares I mean if someone wants to have fun for a while in a virtual world how is it effecting you. I was an online gamar with everquest and it was the most fun I have ever had. I even shudder sold online items. I stop playing because I didnt have the free time to play. I'm not a fat ugly no life whater everyone is stero typing as either! I played for fun wake up its the modern world and nerdo kids dont play monolopy or scrabble anymore. This is the internet. ------------------- Science Fiction Fan girl Lynne's SCI FI news VIDEO podcast WEB: http://lynne.libsyn.com/ Latest show: http://media.libsyn.com/media/lynne/episode13.m4v