3.2 THE SECONd LIfE SCHEME 3.2.1 bASIC fEATURES Second Life is a virtual community created by Linden Lab (Linden Research, Inc.), a privately held company based in San Francisco. The company, whose CEO is Philip Rosedale, has developed a ‘massively multiplayer online role-playing game’, which was launched in June 2003. It is based on a three-dimensional modelling tool that allows users to build virtual objects.
Chart 7 Average number of users logging in each month (thousands) 1,100
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The main idea behind Second Life is to create an opportunity for people to change all the things 800 800 about their life that they dislike. This virtual 2010 2011 world mirrors the real world, and its users – Source: Reports on Second Life Economy. called residents – interact with each other and perform their daily tasks and activities just as they do in real life (e.g. meeting friends, playing, writing or organising a party). They can also engage in a business project or buy a house, a car or a yacht. In this virtual world, users do not have to face any kind of restriction. Users need to install software on their computers and open a free Second Life account to make use of the virtual world. A premium membership option (USD 9.95 per month, USD 22.50 quarterly, or USD 72 per year), which extends access to an increased level of technical support, is also available. Chart 7 shows that the average number of users logging in each month is quite stable at just above one million per month. The number of users registered on 28 November 2011 was more than 26 million. Once they have subscribed, users become residents and they can start using this online world by creating avatars – the residents’ digital representation – which may take any form they choose (human, animal, vegetable, mineral, or a combination thereof) or even their own image in real life. A resident account can only have one avatar at a time. Nevertheless, residents are free to change the form of their avatars at any time. Residents can earn money in different ways. They can sell whatever they are able to create; they can also profi t from their previous investments (e.g. buying a house and then selling it at a higher price), but they can also win prizes in events. In addition, premium accounts receive a weekly automatic grant of 300 Linden Dollars paid into the member’s avatar account. 3.2.2 SECONd LIfE ECONOMY In the Second Life economy, people create items, such as clothes, games or spacecraft, and then sell them within the community. Most of the money earned comes from the virtual equivalent of land speculation, as people lease islands or erect buildings and then rent them out to others at a premium.17 The economy within Second Life works in a similar way to any other economy in the world, but exhibits three specifi c features. Firstly, it is a self-suffi cient economy, i.e. a closed economy where no activity is conducted with the outside; secondly, it is only focused on virtual goods and services; and thirdly, it is generated and takes place entirely within Linden Lab’s infrastructure. Everything else is quite similar to a normal economy. Second Life has its own 17 The Economist (2006).
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ECB Virtual currency schemes October 2012