In the online game Second Life, a shutdown of the make-believe banking system is causing real-life havoc for thousands of people.Yesterday, Linden Lab, the San Francisco company behind the online role-playing game Second Life, pulled the plug on about a dozen pretend financial institutions that were funded with actual money from some of the game's 12 million registered users. Linden Lab said the move was triggered by complaints that some of the virtual banks had reneged on promises to pay high returns on customer deposits.
Currently, none of the ATMs in Second Life will allow players to withdraw any Linden dollars, which means the money can't be exchanged back into real dollars and likely is gone. Linden officials won't say how much money has been lost.
From now on, "proof of an applicable government registration statement or financial institution charter" will be required of anyone collecting deposits in Second Life, according to Linden. The company insists it "isn't, and can't start acting as, a banking regulator."
"If this is real money, there is an argument that you need to follow real law," says Benjamin Duranske, a lawyer who runs the Second Life Bar Association and is writing a book on virtual law.
For more details, see full WSJ article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120104351064608025.html
An LA Times article: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-secondlife22jan22,1,5958139.story?coll=la-headlines-business
1 comment:
An online bank based on online currency bought by real world money that promises real world returns. Sounds like lending money to someone who you don't know. Its a stupid investment but yet so tempting. Game developers need to closely monitor the the virtual currency and how much land/property they distribute to maintain demand. It is almost like real world economy. Maybe one day we all can make a fortune from virtual money. Thanks for the post!!!
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