by James
8. May 2010 05:23
I was playing around on Second Life earlier (unbeknown to the IT administrators who delve out our bandwidth in the office) and I came to recall the good old days when Poker and Casinos existed in this ‘DisneyLand’ society.
So I did my research and I’m providing you a brief history of gambling in Second Life.
here was a time quite a few years ago that being a citizen in Second Life could involve the following; you could buy and sell virtual real estate, network and advertise to real clients, go a little deep into the not-so-underground other side of the world of virtual swingers clubs and brothels and even attend lectures by plenty of the world’s major universities. There was even a time that this utopian world had the ability to play online poker and casino, but alas this is no more.
A couple of years ago, there were quite a few news sources reporting that the FBI had been visiting many of Linden Labs virtual casinos and poker rooms. Whilst Linden Labs denied they were under investigation by the FBI they quickly changed their policy stating that they would no longer anything related to casino activity. A sad day indeed for the online gaming world and for Second Life citizens,
Casinos had been a popular and entertaining Second Life activity and like the real life counterpart, had experienced growth. Residents utilized the Second Life currency, the Linden dollar to play various casino games ranging from the ever popular blackjack to our personal favourite, poker. A major reason that Second Life casinos were under a legal grey zone was the ease that was involved in converting Linden Dollars to United States currency.
Shortly after the UIGEA was passed, Second Life issued a statement outlining their understanding of the new law and how they might fit into it. They were neither a designated payment system nor a gambling service; they had limited liability as a service provider. They did try and seek clarification as the UIGEA become well understood – however in the long run, Second Life took a cautionary stance and banned gambling out right…
To date, there are literally thousands of posts scattered through the internet discussing the gaming stance and the UIGEA with reference to Second Life. There are numerous posts about whether their rights as virtual residents in the libertarian and capitalist society have had their morality regulated to that not dissimilar of that of the dictator of Oceania, the ruling totalitarian leader featured in George Orwell’s 1984.