A real problem, sort of, eventually

...appparently.

That well known publication the Toledo Blade is running another of those currently popular and hyped up 'go to Second Life and be dripping in cash instantly' kinda articles under the guise of highlighting the problem of real world law legislating in online worlds. It's a short 'n' weak article (tho most of 'em are) that goes wandering off into nowhere in particular and covers all sorts of things other than SL, but prolly worth a mention anyway.. if only so you know where the latest bunch of starry eyed land and content barons came from

A real problem, sort of, eventually

Interesting... $880 million a year? Are they kidding me?
If so, then this is the list of countries with a nominal GDP below that of Second Life.

158 Antigua and Barbuda 834
159 Maldives 828
160 Burundi 791
161 Guyana 782
162 Bhutan 769
163 Saint Lucia 731
164 Eritrea 730
165 Djibouti 709
166 Seychelles 629
167 Gambia, The 461
168 Grenada 451
169 Saint Kitts and Nevis 421
170 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 418
171 Comoros 402
172 Samoa 334
173 East Timor 332
174 Vanuatu 328
175 Guinea-Bissau 316
176 Solomon Islands 274
177 Dominica 270
178 Tonga 227
179 Kiribati 72
180 São Tomé and Príncipe

Hah! Take that solomon islands! =p

Hell Anshe could buy the Solomons. Lets put it on the auction block.

The $880 million figure is the entire virtual item market, not just SL. Since when is the Toledo Blade a well known publication??

Holy Toledo!

The Toledo Blade is an opinion-maker in the heartland, which is where a lot of the subscriptions come from anyway.



Um...so you're for keeping the game closed and available only to the old bunch of starry-eyed land and content barons?

That widely-quoted figure is globally across *all* games. Apparently the market is *huge* in Asia. For comparison, the North American/European number is estimated (last I read on TN anyway...) at around $150MM/year.

Solomon Island



This is one desirable location! It is calm and peaceful, low lag and beautiful.

Thank you for making me laugh

LOL!!!

Only ONE sign? Shouldn't the beaches be dotted with signs? Spinning signs?

Did anybody else read the next story in that Toledo Blade posting, about the bloggers in Iran and China who are getting jailed for posting opinions contrary to the current political regimes in their respective countries? That is just sad. And to think China is poised to become the next superpower in the world. It's a sad day for human rights.

Hel..we aren't so far away from that is this country these days. Did you read about the teenage blogger that got a visit from the Secret Service for the anit-Bush remarks??

And China has never been about Human Rights unfortunately...

China has improved from the way it used to be. Mao ruled all, with an iron fist, and many, many deaths, hundreds of thousands, of those who didn't go along. Top-down government - it's not a pretty thing. I'm not very good on my history or geography, but it has been a spectularly sad last century for China. Documented.

Iran, Iraq, China - many, many other countries - people die for not going along with the political regime and for saying the wrong thing. They really, actually, die. They die by the hundreds of thousands, at the hands of one person in supreme, mad power, and all those who do his bidding, many out of fear. Documented.

In WWII, our recent history, people in Europe died in ghastly, horrid ways, by the literal hundreds of thousands, at the hands of Hitler and his henchmen. Real people, children, families - all were obliterated for being the wrong kinds of people, and for not saying the right kinds of things. Documented.

Freedom of speech is imo the single most powerful thing we have going in the United States and outher countries for the preservation of human rights and dignity. It is a relatively new thing, and in the U.S. is probably unparalleled in its breadth in all of human history. The things you hear about that we do wrong - rather than cursing us for doing them, be grateful that you were able to hear of them, and without anyone dying in the process. Because that ability to bring things to light without fear is what keeps humans, governments, and nations the best that they can be.

coco

actually - surprisingly - the Toledo Blade is a very well-known and respected publication. think they won the Pulitzer last year. don't think this reporter contributed to that tho.

Either that, or she feels that stories like that get people coming into Second Life with unrealistic expectations, expecting to make money hand over fist, quit their real world jobs, and retire to the Caymans with only some cocoa butter and a laptop as their neccessities in life, then get bitterly disappointed and pissed off when they realize they can't.

But yours is much more dramatic. I'm sure she meant that.

I know I actually said it sarcastically. That has always struck me as funny that the Toledo Blade is so well known, since Toledo is basically a generic midwestern town, and not even that huge of one. Their baseball team is called the Mud Hens, for god's sake! I have been through it once on a road trip from Miami to Detroit (note to anyone who is reading, never take a road trip from Miami to Detroit) - it was a nice enough place, in a sort of mind numbing way.

i thought the point was they get pissed off and start a lawsuit.

"Then, inevitably, people end up squabbling in real life over virtual things, and the law must make a real appearance in the fantasy world."

It's worthless! There's no Telehub!

My boyfriend met the head of IGE.com at E3. According to that guy, he makes more off of SL than the entire company makes off its customers.

I have the guy's card and everything. Boy, was I surprised when my boyfriend came home and told me...