Economist: Trouble in Paradise

An article in the Economist, Trouble in Paradise, seems fairly perfunctory but hits some of the high notes of the Ginko Financial low note - Ginko Financial did close, but the reasons for its closure are attributed to a bank run. In the case of Ginko Financial, all that we had was the word of a few people which don't balance well with the financial investments that Ginko Financial had or the serious questions around the relationships between Ginko Financial and WSE.

What is interesting is that the image that they have in their article, I am told, came from [w:Linden Lab]¹. That is certainly very interesting in light of the fact that Zee Linden's post, The Second Life Economy, which was posted prior to the request I received for the snapshot. And in that post, Linden Lab says that there are no plans for policy regulation of 'banks' - while the Economist article questions whether that will become reality.

So Linden Lab has had at least one eye on the situation - at least enough to take a snapshot and perhaps answer some questions for the author of the Economist article - but they are pointedly staying out of it despite the harm the issue causes As I mentioned before, this sort of reaction works to devalue the Linden dollar in the eyes of at least some community members since Linden Lab does not seem intent on protecting the perceived value of the Linden dollar. In short - if Linden Lab doesn't care how it is used or abused, why should residents? The hands off approach does not balance well with 'convert those creations into real world capital and wealth.' (Corey Ondrejka, 2004).

We've seen the community rally during and after the fall of Ginko Financial through open forums and a lot of serious discussion. What we have not seen is an interest of Linden Lab in protecting how the Linden dollar is perceived, even as that perception grows more distant from the reality which seemed to be in the vision behind Second Life.

How much do you trust the Linden dollar?

¹ I know this because I was offered money to use the image I have shown in this entry, and when I accepted I was told that they were already using one provided by Linden Lab. Color me surprised!