Is the Second Life economy in a boom or a bust?

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Filed under: Business models, Economy, Opinion, Second Life, Virtual worlds

It seems a simple sort of question doesn't it? Is the Second Life economy in a boom or a bust? Is it stagnating or recessive? What the heck is it doing, exactly?

Well, life is never simple, and the Second Life economy certainly isn't. In the main, the Second Life economy follows the same basic rules as any national economy might, because well ... it is full of people doing what people do with and within economies. The differences are in the axioms. The Second Life economy is to regular economies what geometry would be if pi were (for example) equal to exactly three (circles would have a whole lot more sides, for one thing). The familiar set of rules produces vastly different results if the underlying constants are different.

All economies have some level of striation. There's always more than one kind of economy operating under the hood. The fundamental circumstances of the Second Life economy, however, lead to a greater disparity in the striated economy than is the norm elsewhere.

Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop. Continue reading Is the Second Life economy in a boom or a bust?



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