Chickens, Bloodlines, Empires = Pyramids?

Are pyramid schemes allowed in Second Life?

Would you consider any of the following to be pyramid schemes: Chicken sales, Vampire bloodlines, Tiny Empires? Just wondering......

The correct term is "scam". Scams are not necessarily illegal. They are allowed to flourish in SL.

Is that supposed to be a rhetorical question?

None of these are scams. A scam happens when you hand over money and do not get the agreed-upon item or service in return, or if the item or service is misrepresented in order to encourage or coerce the transaction.

Of all the things mentioned here, only Bloodlines comes close to resembling a pyramid or MLM, particularly in its recruitment methods.

Tiny Empires is not a pyramid or MLM, at least in the monetary sense. You buy the HUD, and you need never spend another dime to fully enjoy the game. Like Bloodlines, its recruitment methods could make it appear to be a pyramid; however, there is no monetary benefit to recruiting anyone; it only helps one achieve game goals faster. There is also a symbiotic relationship between liege and subject, which does not exist in traditional pyramids.

sionChickens in no way resemble a pyramid or MLM. It is a money sink, period. There is a chance of recouping some of your expenditure by selling eggs, but otherwise it is simply a money sink.

how is tiny empires a pyramid scheme..
You just buy a hud one time and play when you are board..i think the only money that was spent was on the hud and thats it..

i have it and when i'm board i'll turn it on or play with a few friends that have it..we don't go hunting for more people..most times i just buy another acre when the time comes but the money is given to you in the hud and is only good in the hud..you can't add money to the hud to get more acres..you just get more depending on how many acres you have..
it's really for bored times for me lol

None of them, not even Bloodlines, is a pyramid scheme as I understand the term. Nor, really, is it multi-level marketing -- the nature of Bloodlines encourages players are to bring new players (i.e. customers) into the game but all the new vampires buy their stuff direct from Bloodlines, don't they? Bloodlines players don't, as far as I know, actually sell anything to new vampires.. the enterprising founders of the game attend to all that.

Its recruitment methods might resemble MLM (or a cult, come to that) but it's a completely different business model.

I actually got into tiny empires cause i thought my screen would turn into like a map and i could play and see my empire of like 43 acres grow lol
I've had it for like 3 or 4 months and only have 43 acres..I'm not very good at it

/me pops in and looks around, hoping that this thread is a "Chariots of the Gods" type expose, revealing how SL vampires are really aliens in disguise who once built the pyramids, and have returned to seed the internet with Sion Chickens as part of their diabolical plot to create an evil alien empire online . . .

No, huh?

well it is sl and it could happen
just not today hehehe

Nope! BUT...

The Pyramids did hide an artifact from Cybertron that Megatron & The Nameless tried to use to turn the earth into Energon. They were stopped by Optimus Prime & the other transformers with the help of some kid and Megan Fox's slow motion boobs bouncing as she ran.

The Creators might be able to affort a Pyramid by now, but does that count?