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The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life, 2008-2010 and beyond
This week, we cover the final installment of our summarized history of Second Life and Linden Lab (check out the first installment or the second, if you missed them). It's only possible to cover a tiny fraction of the events that took place in the space we have here, but the highlights paint an interesting picture. We'll be working our way from 2008 to June 2010, and looking at what future directions we expect from there.
Will WSE ever reappear in Second Life? If it does, will it survive?
The World Stock Exchange (WSE) closed on 4th January 2008 for one month for "upgrades." As many coders who play the money market or read the news wondered, why the long shut down? Consider Linden Lab: they roll out upgrades across thousands of servers in a few hours of downtime, because they prepare and test the code in the background. Although we all cross our fingers the number of problematic upgrades is actually very small, and their code is millions of times more complicated.Since then, WSE has decided to stop trading in Linden Dollars altogether, and reasserted the statement it is simply a game. This, despite having several people, including Anshe Chung, who are rather regarded as heavy-weight business people rather than merely players. There have been ongoing stories about businesses being delisted for bad-mouthing the WSE, even now it's closed - apparently blogging that you are considering leaving is enough to get you delisted.
WSE abandons Linden Dollars
Luke Connell's 'fictional' stock exchange, the World Stock Exchange (or WSE) has abandoned the use of Linden Dollars for reasons which seem a little confused and unclear other than apparently fear, uncertainty and doubt. The exchange has been closed for some time for a software refit that seems to be taking a lot longer than anyone expected. If you had Linden Dollar balances with the WSE - well, tough. They've been converted to World Internet Currency (WIC) and you can try to cash them out for some value (that is if people want to spend real money on valueless game-tokens) - when the WSE goes live again (a date that is, as yet unclear. Maybe March. Maybe not). But since Connell asserts that all the businesses, money, shares and all that that are involved are just role-playing, that's no loss to anyone at all, right?
Vandeverre says: WSE not real. Not an investment. [updated]
The Metaverse Journal has an unedited interview with LukeConnell Vandeverre, owner of the - as he puts it - fictional World Stock Exchange. In it, Vandeverre asserts repeatedly and firmly that the WSE is a game, and nothing more, and that no real profit is available through the WSE. "[I]t is not real, holds no real value and it is not an investment and does not provide investment opportunities." - Vandeverre. The interview is full of contradictions. Vandeverre appears to claim that the 'fictional' currencies have value in the real world, albeit indirectly, and then reverses course and appears to claim that they don't.
Linden Lab cracks down on Second Life Banks
In an announcement that has snuck on to the official Linden blog, Linden Lab has announced that anyone running a bank in Second Life will have to produce "proof of an applicable government registration statement or financial institution charter" or have their content removed starting in two weeks time. This follows the collapse of Ginko, which we covered in exhaustive detail, and complaints that several other banks have defaulted on their 'promises' and are still advertising unsustainably high interest rates (which is, of course, part of their attraction too).The wording affects anyone offering interest payments, which means, I believe it will also affect WSE's practises - they offer a low rate of interest on saved money, although a normal stock exchange business would still permissible since dividends aren't interest as I understand the law.It will be interesting to see if any of the banks survive this transition, and if they don't, what comes along in their place. It will also be interesting to see if there is a run on the banks now.
How legal are virtual banks and stock exchanges?
A recurring question, amid the forest of what might be legitimate failures and mismanaged enterprises or might just be scams, is just how legal are the banks and stock exchanges that operate alongside and inside various MMOs and Virtual Worlds such as Second Life. As seems to be usual with legal matters, a simple question doesn't yield a simple answer.
LNLBT back in business in Second Life
The story we ran about someone brute-force hacking several Second Life banks has a happy resolution, at least for one of the banks: LNLBT is back in business, and their insurance is back in force with The Rock as well. SL Investor's Bank is still insured, and the other three affected banks were never insured.LNLBT are distributing new ATMs and have new security measures in place - hopefully properly instituted this time. It is nice to see a financial story in Second Life with a happy ending though. Although that article speculated about the possibility of police involvement due to fraud, it appears from an article in the Second Life Herald that WSE may be the first organisation to face legal investigations following the way they handled defaulting on a payment to Midas Bank and then foreclosing on their trading operations, which we reported at the start of the month.
WSE announces Midas Group are bankrupt
Following the calls in Second Life by the Midas Group to boycott Hope Capital and WSE for failure to pay on bonds, WSE today declared the Midas Group bankrupt.The full statement (below the fold) makes interesting reading in one paragraph saying "the reasons are not our concern" and in the next explaining why they think the bank went under. Nothing to do with late payments from their own bonds of course. The value of the various Midas Group bonds have been transfered to the WTF rescue scheme, straining it yet further.[UPDATE: Midas Group have responded. Their response is also below the fold]
WSE issues again
Those of you who are following over from Second Life Insider will know that the Worlds Stock Exchange (WSE) has a long and spotty history. Including being hacked, announcements that criticise the system vanish, there are some odd seeming deals done, and the whole set up is, apparently, questionable at best under Australian Law.The latest part of the saga: Midas Bank has invested a chunk of its money in Hope Capital Bonds and Hope Capital, the owner of WSE has defaulted on payments worth over L$650,000, which is making Midas Bank struggle with a cash flow crisis. Last time we had one of those, Ginko Financial collapsed. Midas Commons, CEO of Midas Bank, proposed a boycott of WSE until such time as their due payments are made - a situation met with some support from other customers in this state. Given the previous history it is little surprise to find there are no announcements about Hope Capital Bonds not paying, but all the Midas Group stocks are suspended with a one line "pending an important announcement" statement. Where will this particular cash flow crisis end up, anyone care to guess?[Via SLReports]
