Raph links to a great article about Second Life, which comes to the conclusion that Second Life is a Ponzi scheme, or something similar.

No, SecondLife is a classic pyramid scheme. Or, more of an Amway-like pyramid: partially legitimate, partially ponzi. Sure, there are plenty of legitimate SecondLife customers who just like to go there to get their kicks, spend a couple dollars, and be on their way.

How devoted was their research? More devoted than I was willing to be.

Over some months we sunk the better part of $10,000 USD into SecondLife, borrowing from banks, lending to banks, and entering into various types of virtual financial arrangements with virtual businesses.

 It was not mentioned whether or not this spending happened in less than 60 to 80 hours. Raph also links to a critic of the article, although for my own two cents, I’m more prone to take the word of an economist on the topic rather than someone whose blog appears to be first and foremost a Second Life“metaverse” apologist. It closes with this:

Read ValleyWag if you will, but keep in mind that the conversation going on there is not about SL, but is only a conversation about a conversation. To which I say, Yawn . . . .

To which I say, Second Life fanboys sure seem to want to talk excessively about Second Life up to the point where they start hearing bad things about it.

A conversation about a conversation. Seems more like this is a conversation about how researchers invested ten thousand bucks to discover if Second Life is the Utopia some claim, or if it was all smoke and mirrors. It’s fine to disagree with the conclusions or the research. It’s also fine to point out that many online businesses in non-Second Life games also display the Amway-like aspects that are magnified in Second Life. But it’s an important conversation to have nonetheless.