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The Uncertain Legality of Second Life Gambling
by Chris Faylor, Apr 05, 2007 8:08am PDTAccording to a recent Reuters article, neither the FBI nor creator Linden Labs are quite sure how to approach the legality of gambling within the virtual world of Second Life. Focusing entirely on user-supplied content, Second Life allows its members to create and build a variety objects via in-application 3D modeling tools. A scripting language provides advanced users the ability to "control object and avatar behavior, up to and including mini-games and other complex programs," the official site states. Though participating in Second Life does not require a fee, US dollars can be exchanged for the community's virtual currency, known as Linden dollars, used to purchase land, items and services from other members. This exchange has led to some legally grey situations when combined with the ability to put money into the user-scripted programs, such as those emulating slot machines, which some believe may violate US anti-gambling policy. As of this writing, the official site boasts that the virtual community has over 5.2 million registered accounts, with $1.5 million US dollars spent in the last day. "It's not always clear to us [Linden Labs] whether a 3-D simulation of a casino is the same thing as a casino, legally speaking, and it's not clear to the law enforcement authorities we have asked," explained Linden's vice president for business affairs Ginsu Yoon. "We have invited the FBI several times to take a look around in Second Life and raise any concerns they would like, and we know of at least one instance that federal agents did look around in a virtual casino." Yoon also let it slip that Linden has no way to monitor or prevent gambling in the virtual world. Lawyer Sean Kane described the legal issues Linden could theoretically face. "What they [US lawmakers] did was go after the processors, and made it a crime to process payments that relate to online gambling sites. Linden could potentially be held as the same sort of processor." he claimed. "If you're buying money...and utilizing it for gambling purposes, Linden could have a much higher level of responsibility."
Comments
Can I Kill in Second Life? Really want 2 take my virtuele Guns in That Stupid Game 5.1 mill ppl omg i must work overtime:-))))
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Well good to know that there are people who understand that the word "gullible" has been removed from the dictionary.
Since I'm the one re-writing the billing system for Second Life, I feel like I'm in a unique position to basically point out that what you are saying is absolute garbage, and written from a position of *absolute* ignorance (apart from "well, it's written on the Internet, so it *must* be true!).
The billing systems of Second Life are actually almost up to a publically traded companies visibility - ie logging and verification of transactions and so on. We have to be because we know the IRS is going to be knocking on our door any day now, and they need to be sure we can trace and view any given transaction.
So there you go. Straight from the horses mouth:)
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Not to mention this is just a freak zone of people who want to have cyber sex.
Well, a) it's not an MMO - it's not a game at all. And b) if it's hit 5.2 million, then it can't be that "shitty" can it?
[quote]if they become high profile.[/quote]
How many users do they have to have in order to be High Profile??
The thing is, Linden Dollars *aren't* legal currency (any more than poker chips are), so no, it's not really covered by existing laws.
That's not to say new ones won't be appearing, cos they certainly will. We know that the IRS is watching what's going on in SL because of the fact that no one pays tax on what they earn within it.
It's an entirely new paradigm that existing rule sets just don't apply to - I would imagine that right now the IRS is trying to figure out a rule set that *does* apply.
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This could be a mess for them... if they become high profile.