Virtual Worlds, Real Profits

Prompted by Clay Shirky’s recent coverage at ValleyWag and Many to Many, many bloggers and virtual economists have been re-examining growth in Second Life, which has received more mainstream press attention than any online world except World of Warcraft. This is due to its innovative approach and focus on real-money trading (RMT) of virtual assets users create in the world, but also boosted by claims of rapid growth and the first “virtual millionaire” (the SL real estate maven Anshe Chung).

To expand the metrics for evaluating Second Life and its importance, Tristan Louis set out to measure economic activity in the game, and has some intriguing findings, notably that power users are spending about $50 to $60 a week in the game. As Wagner James Au notes at GigaGamez , this suggests that Second Life is “people light but cash heavy.” Tristan’s post prompted a back-and-forth with Clay in the comments, which is worth reading.

What’s clear is that they tout it or trash it, journalists will continue to cover Second Life, and it will continue to be an intriguing petri dish for the virtual economy.