Second Life says all bets are off

July 31, 2007 D. H. McKee

Off

This is probably a good idea. Maybe they’ll ban diaper-wearing furries next.
Second Life says all bets are off – Times Online

In a sign of real-life authorities’ increasing interest in the activities in virtual worlds, all forms of gambling in Second Life have been banned.
Linden Labs, the company that runs Second Life, said that as of this week, its policy on ‘in-world money wagering’ was changing, and that casino games such as black jack, poker, roulette and slot machines would no longer be permitted.
Earlier this year, the company invited the FBI to tour Second Life and ensure that activities within it were complying with US law.

The article touches on several other stupidities that make me shake my head in wonder at the Second Life people — litigation, child abuse, selling brand-name virtual shoes, and artificially inflating subscriber numbers to attract new subscribers:

Police in Germany have said that they are investigating an alleged instance of ‘virtual child abuse’ in the world, and the Vancouver Police Department said this week that it had begun recruiting officers for its technology crimes unit from within Second Life.
David Naylor, a lawyer with the firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, said that with the increasing amount of business being conducted in Second Life will come legal disputes, such as the one earlier this month in which Florida-based businessman sued another Second Life resident for copyright infringement after the rival began selling a virtual bed similar to his own.
Several large companies, including Dell, Nike, Mercedes and Calvin Klein, have established a presence for their brands in Second Life with a view to attracting clients in the real world.
Linden Labs says there are now more than eight million residents in Second Life, although only 1.7 million have logged in the past 60 days.

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