Gaming issue in SL- a solution?

I can use my USD payment to LL to get a credit balance in my account.

once i have that credit balance I can go to the Lindex to buy $L.

I have sold $L, and I have bought $L... since i have done both,, (simultaneously), I am quite sure that it is not LL buying and selling to me, it is another user OF SL.

as far as the third party exchanges go,,, and there are plenty of them, I am quite convinced I am not buying FROM LL, or selling TO LL.

we could infact effect a transaction in which I would use paypal to pay you for the license, i.e. $L.

But no one is saying, that I have to have a credit in my LL account to do so.

You click the blue $L, you tell Linden Labs (not another player, not a third party, but Linden Labs) how many $L you wish to buy, then click okay. They process your credit card (Linden Labs that is, not another player, not a third party), Linden Labs then charges your credit card, Linden Labs then delivers $L to you.

I'm... amazed this is even a discussion. *boggles*

Pointless and kids not allow to gamble. I will tell you why...

Online gambling is illegal, because even if they are forced to ask a pointless question "Are you 18 or over?" there still going to be kids bypassing to play casino. In my US states, before walking into the casino boat, you have to show ID that you are 21 years old and older. Online it is hard to verify regardless the simple question check point. How do you think that kids are expose to porngraphy? 3 out of 4 kids has claimed that they saw porngraphy. Sooner or later, it will be illegal to sell porngraphy online but not unless they bring the fact and figure to the politician.

The US controls the Second Life. Anything that they do has to be according to the law.

Ban this and ban that? By reading your post, you already starting a bad habit of gambling. I am sure that your parent taught you better on how to spend your money. If you are an adult then excuse me because I don't know you.

so as to pay the selling party. just like they give your $L to the buying party, if you are the seller of $L

they are acting as "AGENT", NOT as "PRINCIPAL"

There are good AND bad occurences (scams, ripoffs, etc) in EVERY market/category on SecondLife, not JUST casinos/gaming so all of the bashing arguments fall flat on their faces as far as I'm concerned.

As has been stated so many times already, if you don't like [something] don't participate in it but I'm tired of the "I don't like it, glad it's gone" mentality. To me, that's like a childish power struggle into making SL into what YOU (and only you) want it to be and that is NOT how SL should be.

I don't go around forcing my views and my opinions of what is wrong/right on everyone and neither should anyone else. It's childish.

SL is what LL wants it to be, and yes they do go around forcing their views on what is right/wrong on you and everyone else in their product. Deal with it.

July 26, 2007
US$ Spent Last 24h: $2,083,621
LindeX Activity Last 24h: $ 261,886

July 30, 2007
US$ Spent Last 24h: $781,403
LindeX Activity Last 24h: $169,124

Yeah its a small sampling, but the standard measure for internet sampling is 30 days. At this rate of decline, do we have 30 days?

Looks like quite an impact to me. Apparently we aren't selling enough of our products to keep these numbers stable and just maybe the gaming industry in SL was a bit more important to its economy than LL realized. Oh wait, I don't have any products, SL banned my job category and after this might ban my account. So we are just talkin about YOUR products aren't we? OOO my bad.

But what do I know? I am just an unskilled, now unemployed slingo/tringo hostess who was only good at helpin people have fun in a game. I have no money and no way to buy anything in SL now. Wonder how many more are in my similar situation? The numbers are telling me there must be more than a few.

My boss is one I know: LL took away his income with one post without even a cursory two week notice. The value of every single thing he owned suddenly dropped to zero with no hope of compensation. Could you afford a loss of thousand's of USD investment like that? LL expects him to pay tier on his four sims now, with no source of income whatsoever. I can't imagine how they would expect him to do that. Gee, hope that doesn't happen to you. It would really suck.

Noobs are another: No freeplays or chances to win games so they can buy your cool products. And no sploders or lucky chairs, since those seem to fall under the ban too. But with absolute silence from LL, no one knows what is excluded from the gaming ban. Just what are they waiting for anyway? Ah maybe they underestimated the impact of the ban on gaming, and maybe they don't know what to do now and don't have any answers to give cause they don't know what they are either. Maybe they just got bad advice. Who knows, cause they arent' talkin.

You might be one: Oh wait, I forgot you exclude yourself based on your pious principles of what is right or wrong or should or should not be allowed in SL. And after all, LL wouldn't do that to YOU! How silly of me.

Everyone else: hmmm guess we will find out how affected everyone else is if the numbers reach $0. I wonder what number it will need to slide past to get your attention? Some of you will only notice when the game is dead and ya can't log in, I guess. And some of you will still be perplexed when LL doesn't answer the phone. Yep a few others will still not notice cause ya already used to LL not answerin the phone. And a few days later when google indexes the news about it, a few will still be like duh how did that happen.


All I want is my job back. It was fun. It was harmless activity. And I never knew anyone that didn't have a good time while there. Only problem is I can't have my job back unless my boss gets his back.

My boss, Chilly Charlton, was the kindest and most generous person in SL. I am deeply hurt that LL paid him back for his goodness, honesty, and effort by treating him this way. His casino was covered with pictures of people who won huge 500k jackpots there. I witnessed many of those wins. He was proud to post their pictures and never hesitated to pay the winners, even if it meant he had to shut down events for a week or two to recover. Furthermore, he had freeplays with 100 slot machines 7 or more times a day, seven days a week. Every freeplay event included 100L raffles every ten minutes for a full hour and the raffle paid out 40L every ten minutes the rest of the time. 24/7 ! His sims were full daily (100 AV capacity) Plus he gave slingo and tringo events at least six times a day with starter pots for NO rake and were always free for anyone to play. His slingo events often maxed out the game (50 AVs). He represented the best of the gaming industry in SL and provided opportunities in SL that I dare say not a one of you is capable of doing.

Everyone I know, loved Chilly immensely, not only for his kindness and generosity, but for the community and family love he gave us. We all still love him. This is evidenced by the fact that his more than 4,000 members are making donations to pay the rent on the Extreme sim atm. Every single one of us are enraged and deeply pained to see what has happened to the place and people we love so much.

It wouldn't surprise me that more than half of you anti-gaming people took free money from him and then have the audacity to say good riddance to the industry.

Yah I know there's bad people in the gaming business, but its the same in everything else. It sucks to get scammed, but ya live and learn here just like in the real world. SL is an extension of the internet. If you are stupid here, you won't last long. The thing about scammers in the business is that they don't last long because we do live and learn.

I've been scammed here by scriptors, builders, and sob stories from beggers and borrowers and just about every male AV that's ever tried to chat me up. I'll never get to the ease with which people have relationships with different people on different alts. But we all have to live and learn. I think it sucks but ya certainly have the right to do that if its your thing.

Just because I'm not involved in the dark stuff that goes on in SL and I despise the degrading nature of it, doesn't mean I don't think you have a right to have it or be perverse enough to enjoy it. And yes most of ya are involved in it, because the sex brothels and strip joints are the ONLY other places that are jam packed with avatars in SL.

I don't want SL to die, but not just because of my wants and needs, I don't want it to die for you either. I love SL, even with all its problems and I'm just a baby here (8 months.)

Most of you that are involved in the forums have been a part of SL lots longer than me. What happened to your dream and why aren't ya willing to fight for it? I'd break my cartoon neck to have SL back the way it was before July 25, 2007.

LL can make that happen. Reread Ramo's original post and instead of pickin it apart on one tiny little thing, try to see the reasoning behind it along with its intent. I wrote that analysis and I apologize for the errors it contains and the hard knocks Ramo has taken for posting it. Every fact in it is documented, so that you can go analyze what it's about. But don't be a moron and judge it without getting the facts yourself.

Nack, you are wrong about the L trading and several have tried to point that out to you. It doesn't really matter though, because you are missing the larger point which is why the thing was written in the first place. The only point I am trying to make about the LindeX is if it didn't exist (and it didn't prior to Oct 2005), LL would have no liability, under the law which the ban on gaming in SL is a response to. That is clear and factual. There is no argument whatsoever that can be made on that point.

Any third party can make a currency that will serve the same purpose. The person who will have the liability for SL's currency having USD value will have all the liability. But, they have to operate how and where the US law cannot effect them if they wanna stay in business. That is a whole nother analysis. This one is just trying to find a solution for preventing the economic collapse of SL.

I'm really looking for a solution here and your arguments are of no value if you can't offer one. If you come to a different conclusion or see a more workable solution, then I'd like to hear what you have to say. I do NOT want to hear from anyone who can't back up what they have to say with documented sources.

LL can make SL a better place for all of us, but not if we don't fight for everyone's rights instead of just our own.

The solution isn't perfect, but it is one. And it will solve the immediate crisis. Then we can start working on the rest. If SL dies, there won't be anything to work on at all.

I don't believe LL has their heart in SL anymore. Maybe its because they got too big and they just want to sell it now and be the developers only. If that's the case, If I were a buyer, I don't think I'd let them develop a fever blister, much less SL. Their callous treatment, on so many fronts (not just the gaming ban), of good, honest, and hard working people who worked hard to help make SL, makes them as untrustworthy as any government. At any rate whatever vision or dream they had disappeared with the customer service. There are some who say it never existed. I don't believe that. You can't build a dream without vision, so it had to be here to begin with.

Maybe they just need our help. I'm willing. How about you?

Chilly is one of the most generous people on SecondLife and I can personally account for more very generous gaming owners in the times I've played in their establishments. I hosted Slingo games for awhile as well and I tried to be generous to the players so THEY could have a fun time playing. Hell, there were nights hosting when I barely made any money at all (and even lost money some nights) but I didn't really care because FOR ME, it was about HAVING FUN and interacting with some really great people out there.

It's so unfortunate that this crap has happened to Chilly (and other gaming owners) Gisela, to give and give to so many people and get treated like shit by so many uncaring "get over it" people just makes me sick.

If I come up or think of any ideas, I'll be sure to post them.

Thank You Gisela, I don't think any of us could have said that any better

I'm standing in the same puddle of water as you, only difference is my feet are a little wetter. I have close to 3 years invested in game (paid player and land owner) and over 2 years invested in my involvement with Extreme (probably one of the best things that has happened to Second Life).

At this point the only thing that keeps me logging in in the mornings is 'habit', during the evenings is to support Chilly in trying to pick up the pieces of all that was stripped from him in a matter of a moment with no compensation.

I believe there can be a solution to all of this but the disturbing 'SILENCE' from Linden Lab is telling me that they don't really want to find one but isn't that really typical of their behaviors?

1) Nack's a moron. Obviously. Get back to us when you grow a brain and learn to read. Nuff said. I detest flamewars and the flamers that fuel them.

2) Ramo, good points. I agree with pretty much everything you have to say as far as the effects of the Ban on SL's economy. I believe that if one can't see what's going on, one didn't have scope of the 800-pound gorilla that was the Casino industry in SL up till this last week. I was standing there when the tables came down. It was like watching the fall of a nation in slow motion. Or at least its precursor. Not many people pay attention to SL's history on a global scale, but for all of us this is certainly hugely historic. And not in a good way. If you own a bar or a club or a teacup shop and somehow believe that the Casinos didn't have a huge indirect effect on your ability to sell digital panties or 3D crotchetizers... Good Luck!! Ignorance sure is blissful.

3) As a US citizen I'd just like to say that we don't all suck. Change is a comin in our political system. Alberto Gonzalez and Karl Rove are already having their feet put to the fire for the dirty dirty things they did. However unfortunately as Ramo mentioned, I don't see any imminent change to our online gambling laws. Life's a bitch. What can ya do? I don't have a multi-million-dollar personal industry lobby at my disposal. Do you?

4) I can't see any way around the situation, and I have read the legislation and understand it. I've read the Policy change, and as a programmer in RL I can tell you with 100% certainty that if the Policy remains as-is: No more Sploders; No more Lucky Chairs. No more Slyngo or Tryngo or whatever else you got. If a script has to generate a random number to make it happen and it pays out Lindens ( or anything else of value, as clearly stated ): it's out. Might not be this week or next week, but hoping that LL will ignore you won't last forever. Also, I don't believe there is a "Solution". It is what it is. I had to get over the fact that my government doesn't want me gambling online last year, so maybe I'm just jaded. If the gov is going to hop across the Pond to slap the crap out of Neteller, they're surely not going to have a problem dealing a death blow to LL in their backyard if they get around to paying enough attention to all us little cartoon creations. And moving a couple of server racks does zero good. Linden Labs is an American company, now and until they go belly up. They are screwed if they piss off Uncle Sam.

5) To all the owners and staff of Casinos in SL, some of whom have become great friends of mine - Isabella, Amsterdam, Gxeremio, Auntie Loni, Graciella ( the greatest gurl EVER ), Darkstar, FFS, Garmon, Mo, Cynth, Lissa, of course my very good frenchy bastard friend Stefan, and so many more .... - may my post here be a tiny little preserved piece of the Google Index archive to say THX for all the good times. I wish there was more I could do, that any of use could do. *hates being helpless*. If I could walk my little stormtrooper butt up to GW Bush & Karl Rove and kick em square in the nuttz, I would. *wipes a tiny stormtrooper tear* I may be small of digital stature, but I have big big love for you all and will miss many of you far too much. May we meet in the next Metaverse.

6) Speaking of nuts. And bolts. I personally predict that LL and SL at large will lose a minimum 2 years of growth during the coming month. I expect job postings on secondlife.com to dissapear by October, and for layoffs to quietly occur by next Spring. If the company isn't bankrupt by the end of the next year at the latest I would be shocked. While I don't blame LL as I believe they are as much a victim of US legislation as a lowly citizen poker player like myself, I still see nothing but bad news as a result of all of this on top of the bad mojo that was already in the works. Have you been around the world outside of casinos lately? It's a ghost world. The hum and buzz of commerce is lacking almost entirely. Just like the owners and operators of SL Casinos, LL has invested quite a bit of time, people, and resources during the last year to keep pace with the growth. If the current trends don't miraculuosly reverse, the devaluation of those investments due to the sudden drops in revenue will put them into the ground.

7) I personally will probably leave SL relatively soon, perhaps for good. As far as personal stories go, I was just starting to decently supplement my family's income with SL poker winnings and was hoping to build enough of a bankroll to get started in RL casinos where I live. That's all gone, and now I have to find something else to do to help keep the fridge stocked around here. If nothing else, there's nothing really else to do in here for me. For the past four months it's been: get up; go to work; come home; play poker; go to bed; rinse, repeat. It was my Second Job, not just my Second Life. It's not a sob story. Just an anecdote. The ban has real consequences on real bank accounts, big and small. And they are already becoming hugely apparent on the macro level of this virtualized experiment we partake of.

All of history provides lessons for the future. The most I hope for is that we ALL learn something from the events of this summer. For my part I know more now than I did a few months ago, and I'm a few dollars richer to boot.

Hasta Lasagna, don't get any on ya. Pass me some Aces and lets get it on.

- DD

Hi..I don't post much or often in this forum. But i will say this.

As a now out of a job/out of income/ Casino owner. As soon as this LAW was put out. i rightly did what a respectable owner would, and comply, and complain, removing all my hard work, the fruit of my labor all disapeared, Adult gaming gear. I did the tearfully.

My only bitch is, how come othes have not yet till even this day? I'm not naming name, spilling beans. but if i have to bow out of this scene, why has not everyone else? Though i disagree with having to do so, closing shop,store ect...just curious why has not quite a few out there yet..and i'm not talking small potato's here. Maybe they are ignoring all this and hoping it goe's away? I doubt this very much.

I'm so fearful to open another business now, because hell, who know's next week, my world, my imagination will be disrupted again.

I have a business decission to make myself. Well gonna go round and round on that..but i keep that personal between me and billing.

There appears to me, to be a great opportunity for "Third Life" to be set up somewhere else.

I appeals to my sense of humour that the government of a country that was created after a bloody revolution against the tyranny of a foreign dictator controlling the freedom of the people goes and does this.

The Dali Lama is right, what comes around, goes around.........

The more and more millions of people joining sl and the more and more that are logged in at the same time, seems to be making sl stuggle more and more. Surley sooner or later the grid will need a complete overhaul? So why not sooner rather than later and at the same time move to somewhere less restrictive? I'm in England and here gambling is perfectly legal, and also they should check out for any further legal complications. If they do all their research into a new country or something fully first this sort of thing has no need to ever come up again.

I have spent the last 6 months with Myth Gaming. It has been one of the most enriching and rewarding experiences for me. The people I worked with both past and present were all good people , all friendly and engaging. None of them that I was ever aware of ever did anything to harm another persons enjoyment of SL , they all sought only to provide a fun place to hang out and play poker which people love doing.

I will never in my life understand why those who see people make some money use morality to justify cramming their self appointed parenting on the world. I expect its simply flat raw jealousy.

That said this ban has destroyed the enjoyment of hundreds of people that played at our casino. It has wiped out yes the staff who some of which like myself were able to make enough to live off in RL. I could go on making a large amount of money out of SL most likely by pimping out my scripting skills , however my motivation to is script is just .. well it's not there. I no longer have the freedom to conduct my leisure time like I enjoyed by playing some poker , slingo , and tringo. If I cannot have fun in SL I'm sure as heck not going to be motivated to make anything.

I find it very sad not so much that LL's did this , as they very well might not have had a choice. But I find truly sad is those that hop up and down shouting for glee. I know there are many that have a house , buy some stuff and chat who won't know anything has changed for the worse till LL's closes the grid. They won't care , I'm sure they will just go back to Myspace or whatever other internet hovel socialites congregate. I just inwardly sigh sadly when I think how "your world your imagination" has been thrown out the window.

I wish everyone I've known in the gaming industry past and present all the best. You are all , from tringo hostess' to competing poker houses good people providing a fun time to so many people. Most of the gaming business owners I knew were good honest hard working people trying to provide a desired and appreciated service. Mithik I know personally bent over backwards to help , did whatever he could to make sure the guests had a great time. He also spent large sums of on charities , and supporting them. All that is now gone too , but I'm sure according to the morality police it's all for the better , though I doubt such people ever give to charity since selfishness dictates their lives.

Why should I try and do anything in a game world that has decided to adopt right wing fanatical church views ? The idea of standing around in a 3d house talking is not my idea of a fun way to spend my time. I don't get giggles and glee from seeing some pretty build on a sim with no function. I don't spend 5 hours per day trying to figure out what cyber shoe goes best with my cyber shirt. What is there left in SL for me now? I'm not into cyber sex , even if I was I'm sure thats ont he chopping block next.

I just don't understand why living the "land of the free" means I can't do anything I enjoy.

My only inward joy now will be watching the SL economy crumble. People keeping saying gambling is a drop in the "robust retail land economy" that really makes up SL. Well I guess they dont' bother looking at the eco stats. Course the full impact won't be felt for a good month or so. All the people that will in the next week or two without the ability to do what they enjoy like tringo/slingo/poker will decide to leave bored out of their tree. They will slowly keep dumping land onto the market. The price will slowly fall. Retail business owners will see a steady decline in sales as people leave. I expect 1-2 months from now the land brokers holding onto a bunch of land no one is buying will start to bail. Land prices will crash (while some morons shout for glee again at how cheap cyber land is again). Businesses will slowly start to dwindle as retailers see to few sales to support the land they have.

Thats just my opinion of whats likely to happen. SL will still be here of course even then , though at that stage LL's will likely see to be bought out. There will always be people who think SL is nothing but for chatting , who think that some tiny fraction of money from a few barbii doll house players will support LL's. They completely forget that before the mass influx of unverifieds came in LL's was losing money and the world was not growing. They sit believing the strange notion that that time was somehow the better time.

SL used to be fun , I cannot figure out how it can be anymore for me. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Not everyone is Barbi.

I came here to comment on what an amazing thing a friend of mine put together. Gisela i am truly impressed. I am honored to even be your friend. You have showed us all on many occasions how awesome you are, but this is da bomb. I am just blown away by it. I was out there with you and twistid and boog and everyone protesting what we believed in and seeing it all go to hell. i have been shouting about lindex also and people making me think i am crazy. But not you . You took things we all were saying all of us "old TImers" and instead of just shoooing it off, you took the time to research it all. Put it here in black and white and made it all clear as day, with all the links for people to look at themselves with no way for anyone to argue any of it and yet there will always be someone to pick it apart. You are fairly new to sL but in my opionion you are our superhero come to save the day. I believe one person can save the world (virtual world in this case) And i believe you are that one. i have thought about it a lot this past week and ditching LindeX is the only way to save sl as we know it.
Im not the chicken little kind of person to say the sky is falling the sky is falling, but damn it it is lol
You would have to be blind to not see how this is affecting everyone in sL . The economy is going down hill like a snowball headed for hell. Just losing CHilly and extreme casino was enough to kill sL. For those that have never been there, Chilly gave out thousands and thousands of lindens everyday. He must be a saint. Im convinced he is
i have been here almost 2 years now. I have seen things most of the people reading this forum could not imagine and i dont really wanna go into all of them because what is happening right now is the first time i really feel that something so drastic has happened that we may lose sl over it. This forum alone brought up one memory. We used to have several resident forums in sl where we could openly discuss issues between ourselves and lindens too. IT used to turn itno a catfight much like this one has become tonight. So they ditched it. Now our opinions dont really get out there. which is a shame.

MY PLEA TO LINDEN LABS
You promised us that this was our world, our imagination. You made this decision a major decision and barely even told us. ONe little line on a sign in screen and now you wont even talk to us about it. PLease talk to us and listen to us. We have offered a viable alternative here please hear us out.
PLEASE DONT LET SL DIE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

didint wanna ruin the good post but i have to say this.....
NACK !!!!!!!!!!
Seems you have a fairly short attention span. Becasue all you can focus on in all that is LindeX . Lets see you were born in sl in January 2007. You were not here when LindeX became a reality. Sl put that little blue button you keep referring to up there for us in October 2005. They put it there to make it easier on us to buy currency through the EXCHANGE. Exchange is a fairly simply to understand thing. REsidents want to sell Lindens they put them on the exchange. They want to buy lindens they go thru the exchange. the money you get from the blue button is money another resident that they put on the exchange. SOmewhere along the line this was all explained to us. How at any given time when you clicked the button it searchd for the best possbile rate another resident was selling at to give you best rate at that time. you may push that button to get them but that button doesn make NEW lindens. There is also another detailed thing about when the lindens started putting any money in there at all and its not NEW money its money they received for in world things like upload fees and classified fees . It wasnt for a while and there were lots of conditions and omg does it all really matter ? its all out there look for it, i suggest you do this anytime you want to come into a forum and act like you know what you are talking about when ya have no clue. giving you your own advice .. until you understand the basics of how SL's economy works, maybe you should stop with proposing "solutions" to what is not even a problem.
if you feel the sample used for the economic stats was too small, just keep wathcing it fall on your own. the ban was made 5 days ago, not like we could give you a years sample to compare. but i can tell you this the sales in us dollars was always over 2 million and now its barely over one million and only 2 of those 5 days had grid problems.

p.s. before you go passing judgement on me via my profile like you did to Ramo. I am not a casino owner. I did own a small poker house. Just a cool fun little place for friends to play poker at.

All the people involved in SL Gambling have my sympathy. While I had no interst in it, they way LL handled the situation was atrocious. But that is typical Linden Style. They drop these things on us, usually on a weeked, with nebulously worded and often contradictory statements. They refuse to answer questions and clarify their positions. That being said....SL gambling was on it's way out starting in April, when casino advertising was banned, it was only a matter of time. Linden could have given a sufficient notice for business owners to make appropriate moves before pulling the plug.

I don't necessarily fault LL for the action they took. Like it or not they had to take steps to deal with a legal issue, just as they did with the Ageplay situation, where they conceded to European legal pressure, and US residents were told to shut up and deal with it, which I agree with. I think the best course is Open servers, where the owner is responsible for content, and users go at their own risk.

LL is a business. Second Life is their product. They are going to do what they will to protect the product, the business and their bottom line. SL may very well go down the drain in the foreseeable future, but it won't be due to ANY government. It will be due to LL's poor Business Management and Communication practices. In my opinion.

Everyone that knows me knows music is my life .To all the awesome people i have met playing poker in sL !!!!!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX


http://www.musicjesus.com/song_41104_Martina_McBride-Anyway.html

You can spend your whole life buildin'
Somethin' from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so outta reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy
And it's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
And in a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway Yeah
I do it anyway (yeah, yeah)

You can pour your soul out singin'
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway

---------------------------------------------------------------------
From "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006"
SEC. 802. PROHIBITION ON ACCEPTANCE OF ANY PAYMENT INSTRUMENT FOR UNLAWFUL INTERNET GAMBLING.
SUBCHAPTER IV--PROHIBITION ON FUNDING OF UNLAWFUL INTERNET GAMBLING
...
Sec. 5362. Definitions
In this subchapter:
...
(2) Business of betting or wagering.--The term `business
of betting or wagering' does not include the activities of a
financial transaction provider, or any interactive computer
service or telecommunications service.
...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm no lawyer, but I would definitely class Second Life as an "interactive computer service", therefore excluding it from being in the "business of betting or wagering" under the above-quoted act, as I interpret it.
Here's the link again, hopefully without a razzing emoticon
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ347.109

While we're sort of nearly on the subject, it's kind of interesting to read what has been specifically excluded from this act, but I guess that's getting a bit off-topic...

Thanks to Gisela for her research and to Ramo for posting it here. There is no denying that the numbers are still dropping. Anyone who says that this gaming ban has not had a massive impact on SL's economy is either ignorant or in denial. No-one can say for sure whether it will or won't be a lasting impact, but I for one can't think of anything that's likely to fill the void.

I'm amazed you look at only the first step and don't follow the paper trail to when it stabilizes. The moment your US$ hits LL they take 30 cents and pass the rest off to another user who gets "paid" by LL "for" their L$.

Duh.

First of all, I'm not much of a forum poster, while I do read em, I normally keep my mouth shut and play innocent bystander, hell, last time I posted it was quoted in the news! That made me clam up a bit. Gissy, your post absolutely blew me away... I can tell where your heart is, and I am thoroughly impressed. You've always been a sweetheart and it definitely shows here.
But, I figured i would post this to show how it has affected me, not that it really matters, and I'm sure most of you will be bored to tears, but I'm gonna do it anyway cause I'm Boog and i do that sort of thing. I am relatively young in SL, don't remember exactly when I joined, but it was within the year, alot of you have watched me an my avie evolve in SL into something I was actually quite proud of, an accurate representation of myself (in spirit anyway). I was never much of a gambler or poker player, although I enjoyed it a great deal when I did. Hell it's kind of funny, sort of started at Extreme, bein the noob, playin the freeplays, meeting people, and I discovered the rest of the world from there, which I'm sure it happened the same way for many many people. I am absolutely heart-broken to see LL just kill Extreme in such a callous way, and I feel for Chilly n BB.
Now, moving on from there, I discovered The Montecito, Gypsy and Rock's little creation, mostly cause my wife landed a job there, and from then on, that was home base. I began exploring SL and being truly astonished by how much was there, the business opportunities, the great communities, and the groups of truly wonderful folks I met. I started making friends, really good friends that were a blast to hang out with. Then I decided to start a small business and see how I could do. I intended to sell homemade gestures, made from movie clips from which I extracted the audio of the funny bits. Business was GREAT for about a week, and then this gambling bomb dropped. I can honestly say that I have personally seen the decline in sales and in traffic, I had to close all but 2 of my shops because I couldn't afford them now.
I see this as a snapshot of what is happening all over SL, LL isn't just affecting casino owners and the people who frequented them, they are damaging the economy so much and running so many people off, that THERE IS NO ONE TO BUY YOUR GOODS! So therefore the retailers are suffering too, now I'm no economist, but isn't buyer confidence the key to any economy? I'm not sure if my relationship with SL will continue at this point. I logged in today to see that US$ traded in the last 24hrs were only 1,000,000ish! I foresee the end guys and I don't see LL doing anything about it.
Now, I protested my heart out, every chance I had for the last week, even had chat sessions with Robin and Phillip Linden, to no avail. The fight is fading and something must be done, which is what I'm afraid of, LL is going to sit on their hands till the flak blows over but unfortunately for them, it will be too late.
That is my 2 cents, and I thank you for reading it. Don't know if it will change anyones mind or get anyone involved, but I had to put it out there. I Love You Guys, and KEEP UP THE FIGHT!

WHY DONT WE JUST IGNORE THEIR DUMB RULE AND CARRY ON BUSINESS AS USUAL, WHAT, THEY GONNA BAN US ALL? Dont see that happenin.

Give it a try...see what happens.

You forget the nazi turn in your neighbor method of enforcement. Just look threw the gabling threads in the resedent answers forum to see how many people delight in running around turning people to the authorities.

And yes they can would ban everyone.

But at this point i almost dont care to be banned. Been signing in daily for a year , don't feel like signing in anymore.its starting to feel like a ghost town.
Speaking of banning. Does anyone know of anyone getting banned over it yet ?? The only thing i have heard even resemlbling any enforcement is that Me and at least 4 others now are missing some poker tables from our inventory. Unrezzed tables that were not being used. That cost us $25000 each. That is kind of cruddy lol to be missing with no explanation.
But anyway just observing some here. No one we know has been banned and LL dropped a huge announcement like that without much fanfare at all a little note on a sign in screen, no updated TOS to accept and no obvious banning of anyone going on. So what is up ?