I don't know if anyone's heard about this. It's like Black Tuesday in there.

[URL]http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120104351064608025.html?mod=blog[/URL]
[quote]Cheer Up, Ben: Your Economy Isn't As Bad as This One

Yesterday, the San Francisco company that runs the popular fantasy game pulled the plug on about a dozen pretend financial institutions that were funded with actual money from some of the 12 million registered users of Second Life. Linden Lab said the move was triggered by complaints that some of the virtual banks had reneged on promises to pay high returns on customer deposits.
[...]
The banks of Second Life were operated by other players, who enticed deposits by offering interest rates. While some banks paid interest as promised, others used depositors' money for unsuccessful Second Life land and gambling deals. Under its new banking rules, Second Life says only chartered banks will be allowed -- though it isn't clear any real chartered banks will operate in the virtual play world.[/quote]It's a really interesting article, and yet another academic thing to come out of virtual environments.

I mean, tell your professors to get on the funky bandwagon here. Virtual environments are a wonderful place for social and economic research and experimentation.

Edit: I really wish this damn game would run on this freakin computer.