Second Life: reality bites

Did we learn nothing from the dot-com bust?

Um, no.

It's just five years after everyone woke up to the absurdity of investing in loss-making petfood retailers promoted by sock-puppets and other wonders of the dot-com bubble. Yet the only advance we seem to have made is that our financial naivety has reached new levels of sophistication. Here in the 21st century, investing in companies that retail physical goods and property is old hat. Now we invest in imaginary companies that trade in imaginary goods and services using an imaginary currency — and yet still we complain when the bubble bursts — or at least the denizens of the Second Life virtual community are complaining.

via Software as Services blog - Reality pricks the Second Life property bubble - November 23, 2006