Second Life citizens spend $1 billion in first life cash

[reposted from Joystiq]

Industry Gamers reports that Linden Lab, developer of Second Life, has announced that citizens of the virtual world have exchanged over $1 billion in digital goods and services with one another. Furthermore, said citizens have also logged over one billion hours of their first lives in Second Life. The creators elaborated that the game currently has "the largest virtual economy in the industry" generating $50 million per month in user-to-user transactions.

Linden Lab drops some other Second Life statistics, including the fact that over 250,000 virtual goods are created every day, 1,250 text messages are sent every second and that the world now occupies 2 billion square meters of virtual land. According to Linden Lab, that's roughly the size of Rhode Island.

It's not stopping there either, as CEO Mark Kingdon notes that the company is "positioned for reinvigorating [its] growth in 2010 with a range of strategic initiatives that will enhance the experience for existing Residents and propel [its] expansion with new users." We're not sure exactly what's planned for Second Life, though we hear cataclysms are all the rage these days.

Second Life citizens spend $1 billion in first life cash originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see their terms for use of feeds.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/23/second-life-citizens-spend-1-billion-in-first-life-cash/

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Controversial Game Currency Exchange Sparter Going Under

[from TechCrunch]

Looks like you're going to have to earn your phat lootz the hard way. Sparter, an online marketplace for virtual game currencies that launched last year, has effectively shut down. The company has issued a notification stating that no further purchases can be carried out, though transactions currently in progress will be fulfilled.

The site, which is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, allowed gamers to sell gold to other players for real-world money in games including World of Warcraft, Eve, and Everquest. This kind of trading has been commonplace on the internet since the emergence of major massively multiplayer games, but it has always been controversial - eBay banned it in early 2007. Such transactions are against the Terms of Service for nearly every online game, and many players believe that they are dishonest and can ruin a game's economy.

So what led to the shutdown? The site almost certainly folded to pressure from game developers, though it may have also had a hard time gaining traction in a space with countless vendors of virtual gold. The site does still leave some wiggle room for its rebirth in the future, explaining:

"Going forward, we believe the best course for our business is to focus solely on providing marketplaces with the full support of game developers and publishers. "

Blurred Lines, Real Value

As a member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) I was recently reminded via email about their "Each One Reach One" program which awards members with 5 ASQ Bucks for every new member they recruit. Each ASQ Buck has a real workd value of 1 USD which can be used toward membership or merchandise. The reason I mention this on a "game" blog is that I think this many of the elements of a virtual economy. Here are some parallels between this program and what goes on in an MMORPG:

- You must be a member of the world (ASQ "game") to earn the reward
- The reward has both a virtual and a real-world monetary value
- The reward can be exchanged for goods or services in the world (ASQ)
- The game can be described as a "recruit people" game.
- Some people will devote more energy to this than others and will receive more benefits accordingly
- Members may feel a sense of competition as they try to reach more people than their peers, or at least use their recruitment number as a status or prestige symbol

On a larger scale, the ASQ can be described as an "education" game. They provide training and certifications for different quality disciplines. You can get certified (skills) in multiple disciplines if you like. Gold in a video game is not the end, it's means to improve your equipment so you can advance further in level, skills, etc. Likewise, the ASQ Bucks are used towards membership (guild dues), education (skills) and certification (abilities). I guess one nice thing about this system is that since you don't ever receive actual real money, there's nothing to pay taxes on. You only "activate" the virtual bucks when you use them for a purchase. Again, similar to the current treatment of virtual world gold holdings - as long as it stays inside the game world, it's not income.

Going one step further, the ASQ makes a correlation between certification and real-world income. So, in this "game" your virtual bucks go towards activities that ultimately should increase your real-world wealth (plus an added time component to attend the classes, study for exams, etc.). The ultimate value of an ASQ Buck may not be 1-to-1 with the dollar, but a portion of your net income increase that can be attributed to your ASQ Buck purchases, divided by the number of ASQ Bucks you used.

I'll expect you to keep an eye out for other real-world "games" you are invited to play which pay you in a virtual currency.