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Second Life Business Now Worth $1 Million
Unlike the unfortunate Mr. Wang, discussed this past weekend, the million dollars Anshe Chung has minted selling data in Second Life is unlikely to get her in trouble with the law. Terra Nova has an interview with the tag-teamed Avatar, discussing what being the first online world Millionaire means. There's also some fierce debate in the comments about whether it's an accurate count, and what this could mean for other online traders. You may recall Anshe from 'her' BusinessWeek article in May of this year. From the Terra Nova interview: "TN (RR): How long do you think the SL economy can sustain the level of growth that it has achieved thus far? Anshe: I believe the real growth of SL economy will be sustained for very long time. At least until one strong competitor arrives, which I think is not likely soon. However, the 'explosive growth' with 1.5 million accounts is a little bit of a misleading figure. Our own internal estimate of number of active paying users in SL agrees with Raph [Koster]'s estimate of about 100K. It seems the real growth of SL is about 100% every 6 months, which is still amazing. One must understand that people, once they are really immersed in Second Life and join those who are regular users, don't tend to get bored or to drop out, even not after years of use. This is fundamentally different from MMORPGs."
To the chagrin of some, let's get to the point of taxing it. I'm sure there's a condition that would meet that person specifically that could be made generic enough to pass as well.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Second Life, just like LambdaMOO, is all about netsex.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I feel like the only person in the world who has looked at Second Life and had absolutely zero interest in it.
If anyone has a right to tax Second Life it's its creators. Nobody else has such a right. I don't see what the purpose would be other than to be annoying though. If they're smart they take the real money they collect and put it into a money fund or some similar safe place where it can collect interest for the company. As it is the number one thing that keeps me from developing more stuff in SL is that they charge a monthly fee which I am not going to pay. They're turning away exprienced programmers that would contribute for free if allowed to - a bad choice IMO. They need a special type of account for developers willing to make stuff and not use it for commercial gain - that grants a certain amount of free land and rights to upload textures and stuff without paying. If anything taxes would make people even more likely not to participate. It's just one more hassle. If I want taxes I'll stick to real life.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
I don't see why this is a big deal. The fact that a person is making money providing a service using a MMORPG (or MMORLS if you prefer) is really no different from someone making money with any other kind of internet business. I don't see how this is much different from someone selling custom-made clothes for your Sims. Besides we already have in-game advertising, and the SL Reuters "branch office" .. does it surprise anyone that somebody's found a viable business angle? And will it surprise anyone when the new Democratic Congress starts pushing legislation through to tax it?
It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
so can you nerd.
Problem I have with SL and other "social" games is that I am just not a social person. The stereotype of the "geek" is that he (or she) woudl like to be social but is just too shy in person to pull it off.. therefore online games provide an outlet. But at least in my case, it isn't true. I am not shy. I just don't have much to say to people in real life and I don't have much to say to them online (Slashdot and other written forums excluded).
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
Look here and you'll find them.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
And will it surprise anyone when the new Democratic Congress starts pushing legislation through to tax it?
Outside some small percentage of the population, is that really a problem? It sure brings out all the free-trade lobbyists, thinktanks and all the other demons to the table in their true form. Right now, they dont care much how they look in terms of PR- they're trying everything just to stuff in as many measures (APEC for more MFN's in Asia, Colombia MFN status) before they no longer have any meaningful pull.
This time, I hope that penalties are made in forms that cannot be passed on to downstream parties so the appropriate signals to Congress and business get sent; the signal being that the government isnt subservient to a "artificially personified entity".
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
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"Anonymous could not immediately be reached for further comment." - International Business Times
A thing is worth what somebody will pay for it, and some people are morons.
Strangely, that's a commentary on the valuation of Second Life businesses, and is also the business model of said businesses.
.evom ton seod gis eht