John Edwards' Virtual Headquarters Vandalized

This is a bit stale, but for anyone out there who is not aware, John Edward's space in Second Life was recently vandalized as described on his blog.

They plastered the area with Marxist/Lenninist posters and slogans, a feces spewing obsenity, and a photoshopped picture of John in blackface, all the while harrassing visitors with right-wing nonsense and obsenity-laden abuse of Democrats in general and John in particular.

After the Anshe Chung episode this isn't as entertaining... in fact it lacks creativity. I hope the next griefing picks it up a notch (though the poo flinging beast was a nice touch).

You Too Can Be A Second Life Millionaire

If Anshe can do it why can't you? Why can't you indeed...
Everywhere you go in Second Life someone's selling something... you're not sure if they're making money doing it, but that graph of 24 hour spend on secondlife.reuters.com wouldn't lie.... would it?

This Entrepreneur.com article promises to show you the business opportunities available to you in Second Life. Reality or snake oil?

From that article:

A million dollars of virtual loot. It's a concept that's difficult to wrap your head around, but in November, that's exactly what virtual real-estate developer Anshe Chung accomplished in the 3D virtual world Second Life, in which users live "second" lives as avatars. When her entrepreneurial success story hit the press, it spread like wildfire, leading many to ask: What exactly are the business opportunities available in Second Life?

As you would expect the article quotes a number of people quitting their day jobs for careers in Second Life. Whether or not they'll succeed is another matter entirely.

From the article:

But the bottom line for entrepreneurs is, will Second Life really pan out? Or is it just hype, since the majority of people have never ventured virtually or even heard of it?

Personally, I expect that we're a little early for this to be reality... but that in the relatively near future certain aspects of the world will provide legitimate business opportunities for more than the current handful of successful vendors. The question as always is when will the time be right to dive in head first?

Personalities: Anshe Chung

The stories of individuals making good in Second Life are popping up with surprising frequency these days, and one has to wonder how many are fact and how many fiction. The quintessential case in point appears to be Second Life real estate tycoon Anshe Chung (SL name) who along with her husband has successfully created a business that would be envied by most realtors in the 'real world.'

At the time of writing Wikipedia summarizes Chung's accomplishments as:

she has built an online business that engages in development, brokerage and arbitrage of virtual land, items and currencies

While impressive, it warrants reading further to understand the actual power this conveys in a world like Second Life. Business Week speaks to the restrictions she's able to place on those purchasing her land:

Players also wanted neighborhoods that amounted to more than drab slabs of virtual turf, and they wanted some order. So she began creating the equivalent of gated communities, complete with zoning rules. She doesn't allow malls or clubs in certain regions, for instance, and limits the heights of buildings. "She is the government," Rosedale says.

Enough talk, check out the opportunities for yourself at Anshe Chung Studios.