SECOND LIFE PUTS THE BRAKES ON (Update)

13 April 2007

Are the owners of this online phenomenon having second thoughts?

The recent news story that Linden Labs had asked the FBI to check the legality of its "Second Life" virtual world gaming offerings (see previous InfoPowa report) achieved massive mainstream and industry press coverage....but it now appears that the owners of the Second Life phenomenon may be applying the brakes.

According to a report in the reliable Poker News this week, Linden Labs issued a change to its policies on April 5th, stating that they would no longer "accept any classified ads, place listings, or event listings that appear to relate to simulated casino activity." Also on April 5th, Palm Vegas.com Island, one of Second Life's casinos announced that it would start banning US based avatars from play.

Poker News reports that casinos have been a popular featured activity in Second Life and the "simulated" casinos, like their real world online counterparts, have experienced growth. "Residents use the virtual world's currency, the Linden dollar, to play a myriad of casino games from blackjack to poker. Although not explicitly stated, the ease of converting Linden dollars to US dollars may have put Second Life's casinos into a deeper shade of the legal gray zone relative to the last year's passage of the UIGEA," the news site suggests.

As an American company, Second Life's caution in regard to the legality of its gaming related virtual world is understandable, but as Poker News rightly comments, the biggest issue associated with any policy change isn't online gambling related, it's philosophical. Second Life prides itself on being the libertarian and capitalist ideal, in which residents can buy and sell virtual products and services, and B&M companies like IBM and non-profits like the American Cancer Institute can buy virtual islands of consumer influence.

"Part and parcel with its economic model is its synergistic philosophical bent, where residents are entrusted with personal responsibility and are allowed both the openness and opportunity to exercise free will. In its policy announcement, Second Life acknowledged that one if its basic tenets is that "all Residents are legally responsible for their own activities and complying with the laws in the local jurisdiction in which they reside" but that they made this decision based on the "ambiguities of the issues" and would continue to evaluate the situation."

Linden's official blog has over 500 posts in response to its gaming related announcement. Posters have questioned their rights as virtual world residents on the slippery slope of regulated morality to the anathema of Big Brother-esque virtual and real world policies.

If you're one of the 5 million Second Life "residents", you can buy and sell virtual real estate, network with and advertise to real clients, delve into virtual swingers clubs and brothels, and attend Harvard University lectures, Poker News points out. "However if part of your virtual world utopia was participating in online or simulated gambling, your fantasy may soon be relegated from Second Life to the afterlife!"

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

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