As of Tuesday, those attempting to offer banking services in virtual world Second Life will be facing new rules from the real world operators of the company.
After a virtual bank collapsed within the world (Ginko Financial), and numerous complaints arose from a mulititude of uses, LInen Lab has issued a ban on members that offer interest or any type of direct return on investments unless they're a financial institution in the real world.
Financial institutions collapsing within the virtual world? It's already like the real world.
"We're implementing this policy after reviewing resident complaints, banking activities, and the law, and we're doing it to protect our residents and the integrity of our economy," Second Life said a website posting.
Some of the residents of the virtual world complained saying these types of policing actions - which have been growing - make the virtual world increasingly like the real world. Of course the people saying that don't see the contradiction in their statement, as if residents weren't bringing in these types of real-world actions, the need to police them wouldn't be there. You can't have one without the other.
As one uninformed user said, "The more regulation enforced upon residents, the more SL becomes like the real world," concerning the in-world banking regulation.
"It is not 'My Imagination' if I am not permitted to create anything that I can imagine, and that motto has outlived its use-by date."
The fact that this person can't distinguish between their imagination and creating things that hurt people, even if it's done in a virtual world, is a little scary. While it's a virtual world, real money is exchanged through the linden ... the currency used in the world. Because the linden can be exchanged for real money or other things, it's no longer virtual, even if used within the virtual economy.
Because we are able to use our imaginations in the real world doesn't mean we can behave and do anything we want to people. Why someone would think they can operate in that way within a virtual world is difficult to understand.
Some complaining about it cite the motto of the world "Your World - Your Imagination." How that's interpreted into being allowed to do whatever they want to someone else is extraordinary.
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