Do you have a Second Life?

I am getting used to CSI NY, and those once dreaded Sunday evenings have proved a steep learning curve. I’m now managing to avoid seeking refuge in a good (and crime-free) book at 9pm – at least during some of the less gruesome bits – and actually getting interested. A few weeks ago, an episode featured Second Life.  I’d been only vaguely aware of Second Life before, but it got me wondering.  I do work for a website, so maybe it would be interesting to find out more. I decided to get googling. 

Second Life is a virtual world where real life is mirrored, mocked, paralleled, and skewed through the looking glass of the computer screen.  And, like real life (known to Second Life’s Residents as First Life), money makes the world go round.  The 1.4 million US dollars exchanged daily, according to Reuters Second Life News Center, equate to 300,000,000 Linden Dollars, Second Life’s currency (according to my calculations, and unaided – at least for now – by the FT’s currency converter).

But it’s hardly surprising that such a huge amount of money is flying around on there.  According to Accountancy Age Jobs, you can go to music festivals, purchase Armani as if you actually were strolling down Milan’s Via Manzoni, or build your own virtual house on a piece of virtual real estate. 

Indeed, the first US dollar millionaire on Second Life was virtual property guru Anshe Chung, or Ailian Graef in real life. She is one of many successful online entrepreneurs and started out with an initial investment of less than ten dollars.  A few parcels of real estate, and some savvy landscaping and subdivision, led to a six figure income within two and a half years – and even a real world spin-off company.

But you don’t have to be a wannabe property mogul to take advantage of the Second Life phenomenon.  What with the financial success of many of the Residents, Accountants could soon be in high demand – especially as rules and regulations tighten, and when it’s time for the tax return.