Hey, remember how Second Life was going to create a revolution in the political and financial world and create a whole virtual economy that was somehow tied in to real money and would make people rich? Well, it turns out maybe not. Second Life has many of the financial trappings of the real world (no, we are not going to be referring to it as "first life"), such as banks and ATMs and stock exchanges, but none of the regulatory apparatus that makes sure that, say, your bank actually can give you your money back when you request it, or that somebody doesn't just walk off with $12,000 from the stock exchange. It's like Somalia, but with less small-arms fire and clan feuds and more big-breasted furries and forty-foot-long penises!

The current crisis revolves around Ginko Financial, a Second Life bank that was offering ludicrously high interest rates. Ginko, which is actually based in real-life Brazil, somehow, now apparently can't just print more Second Life funny money to pay off the debts, so there's danger of a big panic. Think of the run on the bank scene in It's A Wonderful Life, except instead of heartfelt speeches and ordinary Americans worried about their life savings, there are big-breasted furries and forty-foot-long penises.

As panic spreads throughout the user base of the phony baloney video game/virtual porn dungeon, expect to see the John Edwards Second Life campaign headquarters torn apart by a desperate mob, its constituent pixels used to buy virtual food and huge flying turds for a terrified populace.

Money Trouble In Second Life [Technology Review]