Interesting, But Maybe I Need A First One First...

A few days ago I came across this news item about a woman who made a million dollars developing land that doesn't exist in a place that exists only on a huge collection of Internet servers called Second Life. Mind you, the million dollars is a real million dollars that does exist, or at least could if she opted to cash out her assets.

I couldn't even conceive how a person would go about "developing" land, because the only, brief, experience I had with one of these virtual worlds way playing Sim City for about an hour several years ago, and as I recall what you did to "develop property" was drag your mouse around to put up a few walls, and dump some furniture inside. So I created a free account to see what in the world Second Life was, and wow. People really get into this stuff.

Essentially everything in the game has been created by users, a lot of them apparently really excellent artists, 3D designers and animators who make money selling virtual artwork, clothing, body parts, animations, vehicles, buildings, etc. There's a real economy. Developers will buy raw "land," which apparently maps to server capacity, create, say, a shopping mall on it. Then they'll sublet space to others, who may use it to sell clothing, furniture, sex toys, prettier eyeballs, etc that they've designed, or just distribute, to customers. Or they'll construct a theme park, or bar or brothel or whatever and charge people for admission or services provided.

The "virtual dollars" function almost as a real currency; you can buy or sell them in a free market with floating exchange rates.

Probably this doesn't come as news to a lot of people out there, but it was to me! What shocked me even more is that I sort of enjoyed playing it, though that may wear off with time.

Then I started thinking about the local fishing pier that they recently tore down to make room for more expensive beach condos. Several just in this area have been demolished in recent years, along with most of the lower-priced motels and campgrounds on Bogue Banks. These places served mostly people of modest income who can't afford a beach condo or a yacht, and it seems like you'll soon need to be rich to enjoy the ocean.

So I wonder if in the future only the wealthy will be able to afford "real" property and "real" experiences, whereas the rest will make do with virtual ones. On the other hand, if the virtual ones are good enough, maybe they'll be better.