can sl ever be a country? can we ever be citizens of sl?...

There's an iron curtain between us and ActiveWorlds.

Even if it meant having a job for less money than a citizen would be paid?

Yeah.. I agree with the short answer posted earlier: no and no.

1. SL produces no commodities -- there are no resources to collect and trade. Raw resources are the basic commodities which support a healthy economy. The only thing SL can produce is IP while it takes up physical space and energy resources it leases from an American corporation.

2. SL is a service operated on a computer system. Not unlike any other computer system that exists in the world -- it is not a place, but a thing. We interact with it in accordance with guidelines and service agreements presented to us by the owner before we begin our participation. We disconnect from it when we're done.

Essentially -- I cannot become a citizen of my shell account or my favourite blog. SL is no different than either of this communications mediums. Last I checked, we can't declare ourselves citizens of things... I can't walk outside and declare myself a citizen of my lawnmower... though causing trouble with the border guards could get me out of mowing the lawn...


While the thought of escaping this reality into a fabricated one seems romantic, it doesn't make it possible, likely, or any more real.

Besides, even if SL could trancend traditional components of existing countries (resources, manufactured goods, trade, and diplomacy) -- what would it's value be to other countries to recognize it as one? SL has nothing to offer but intangible IP for trade.

Is a hypothetical country that deals entirely in IP valuable to other countries?