John Lindal’s Blog

Second Life

I was amused to discover yesterday that Second Life is becoming very much like First Life. Regardless of whether you buy into the theory that Second Life is one big Ponzi Scheme, it is clear that only a few will truly get rich — Linden Labs being the biggest winner, of course — and that unwholesome activities abound. This should not come as a big surprise, since every other form of communication on the Internet, e.g., IRC, Usenet, IM, dating sites, and social networking sites, has succumbed to the same fate.

But it’s still a neat economy. Producers, be they of scripts, objects, or services, do make money, even though most of them surely pay more to Linden Labs in rent than they make, and a lot of the objects and services can safely be categorized as unwholesome. Probably the only way to really make a profit is to (a) be a land broker charging more for rent than Linden Labs does, (b) have a wildly successful store so you can afford the rent, or (c) provide services without a store.