Location: Beautiful Land Sim

I learned this term in class as we discussed Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, the novel that was a major inspiration for Second Life.  The word describes a no-holds-barred, unregulated form of commerce.  In the novel, everything that can be privatized has been and only laws are in the covenants of property-owners.  Government barely exists.

This was a promise of Second Life:  a wild online frontier.  Sounds great until real people lose hours of work and quite a bit of money at the lands of a land-owner not governed by any restraints that exist in the real world.

My guest-writer Tempest e-mailed me this morning: she went to her shop to find the land empty and a “for sale” sign on it.  Her landlord Sia, who had herself rented the parcel from an owner, sent an apologetic note: all of her rental property had been cleared, without warning, by the owner, an avatar named Lisa Francis. An event at a club that night had to be canceled, because there was only sand where the club had stood an hour before.

Tempest was too angry to write this blog for me, so she sent me to hunt down a few facts. I’m a cloistered academic living on an academic island, so all this is new to me, but I’ve uncovered a nasty side to the business of Second Life.

Ms. Francis sold the land out from under Sia and others without a refund. They took a substantial loss, even when one measures in Linden Dollars. Rental fees, paid in advance, can run hundreds per month on really large parcels.  Despite the losses Sia had incurred at the unscrupulous hands of Ms. Francis, Sia refunded the remaining lease-money to those who had sub-let shops and other spaces from her.

Of course Ms. Francis did not return my request for an interview.  When I teleported to a parcel of land listed in her profile, I was greeted by a for-sale sign and an avatar who came up to say “do not buy! The owner is crazy!”

I was told that, desperate for cash, Ms. Francis sold all her SL land and that meant her tenants were simply kicked out.  No lease that is binding protected them, and though they will file a complaint with Linden Lab, I doubt that the company, working full tilt lately on problems with our inventories and cash-transfers, can intervene to stop one deadbeat land-owner.

So much for the promise of anarchocapitalism. SL might need a few virtual lawyers, or at least some binding leases, if Linden Lab expects real people to invest real money in their purportedly “utopian” place. Their shuttering of unsecured virtual banks provides a precedent for how they might secure other investments.

They’d best hurry.

As I’ve said in this space before, if investors are better protected in a competing metaverse, Second Life may become a footnote in the history of Internet Use.

Be sure to check the “In a Strange Land” Archive for old posts

I agree with all that. What will happen is that people will buy only from owners with a good rep…and help weed out the bad apples.

LAWYERS will only law stuff until their law fleas invest everything…and destroy the SL community.

No Lawyers in SL! (or RL, for that matter)

I agree. This sad situation is typical each and every day. I have seen at least 4 of these situations here in germany alone in the last 3 months.

To counter this several estate owners of german sims have teamed up and are currently writing a codex to which they submit to improve their reputation. I think these efforts are noteworthy since not all landlords or ladies (including myself ) are sharks who kill at first sight. I wish this example makes its way round and gives renters more reliability which is badly needed.

This whole situation sadly is more common to SL than people think.  I have since this happened heard from many others that have lost time, money, inventory in similar cases.  If you want land in SL, beware of the private SIMs.  Research the owner of the SIM, learn all you can before doing business with them.  Also research the land restrictions or your perfect get-a-way might end up with a club right next to it…...

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