I wanted to get an idea of what you guys think about the level of regulation within the SL world???
Over the last 5 years I have come to learn that "free markets" seem to be the best way to run a society/country/anything. I would think that the same would be true for SL, especially with so many loyal users in the virtual world who care so much about it. Most recently I saw someone post that the banks are being shut down by the programers/government of SL. I wonder if this is really the best solution? I would think that with enough support from the users, that people would simply stop going to the banks, which would force them to dispear eventually. Is more regulation really the answer? Or should SL just let the world run itself?
There are plenty of questions that could be asked, and I imagine that I will learn much more over the course of this semester. Im not exactly sure what all is regulated, but I will learn more and more and continue to post on the topic as I learn. Comments are always encouraged as I would like to see what others think about the effects of regulation on SL and other virtual worlds including MMORPGs.
Actually not all banks are being shut down - only the ones that don't show any kind of oversight, because history has revealed some shady operators. Linden will allow some banks to go forward if they have the proper documentation, by which I take to mean the same kind of documentation you would use for a bank in SL. (Though I don't know much about that.)
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to the blog post in the Linden Blog about it - in the post they say:
"We will not apply this policy to companies who submit a registration statement, charter, or other applicable license from a governing regulatory authority, or who are merely conducting marketing or education, but not accepting payments."
ehh ... I meant "the same kind of documentation you would use for a bank in RL" ... sorry.
ReplyDeleteJarrod,
ReplyDeleteYou said that, "Over the last 5 years I have come to learn that "free markets" seem to be the best way to run a society/country/anything." Is that really the case? Some would say that it is folly to allow free markets without first laying a framework of natural law. Otherwise, all will degenerate into anarchy. Is this the case in Second Life, or is there already a foundation laid?