Archive for 'Currency Traders and Gold Farmers'

Anshe Declares War on Ginko: “It”s a Ponzi Scheme!” (Lindens block discussion. Transparency is first casualty.)

SL Power Player and Business Girl, Anshe Chung By Dow Jonas A fierce debate about trust in financial institutions is rocking the business community of SL, pitting SL’s largest land baron, Anshe Chung, said to own SL properties valued at U.S. $200,000,against Nicholas Portocarrero, SL’s largest savings and investment bank owner, reportedly holding more than [...]

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Lindentown Provokes Land Baron Outcry: Stop GOMing us!!!

by Dow Jonas Sim crashes and texture upload failures, “I see grey people” and frozen avatars – all the joys of the new Second Life software update 1.7 and its patchlets have played havoc on SL’s volatile land market in recent weeks as both would-be first-land stakers and land dealers give up when they can’t [...]

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Virtual Market Matters: Cyberland Steady; Is Ginko in Trouble?

By Dow Jonas Since the demise of the well-liked independent Linden currency exchange Gaming Open Market, Second Life’s land and content markets as well as its fledgling financial institutions have taken a beating. With the month-long ramp-up time of the LindEx, Linden Lab’s own currency exchange, which still has a hefty fee and slow manual [...]

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Elves Enter Money Trading Biz

In the wake of the closing of Gaming Open Market, the notorious SL group Elf Clan has started its own currency sales operation. A couple of interesting points are worth noting. One is that the entry of the Lindens into direct money trading has oddly led to the loss of GOM but simultaneously with at [...]

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EXCLUSIVE: Philip Linden Reacts to GOM Announcement

In an exclusive interview with the Herald, Second Life honchissimo Philip Linden gave his reaction to this morning’s announcement that GamingOpenMarket.com would halt trading in L$ as of October 2. Far from stifling competition, Philip sees Linden Lab’s move into the currency-trading arena as one that will enable the entrance of even more resident-created services.

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Going, Going, GOM: L$ Site to Close Doors

In news that is sure to shake up virtual commerce in Second Life for some time,GamingOpenMarket.com, probably the single most popular site for trading L$ and the benchmark by which most smaller traders do their business, this morning announced it would shut down its L$ trading service, effective 7pm game-time on Sunday, October 2. The [...]

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Betrayed! Lindens Phuck Gaming Open Market!

Why do I rob banks? Cuz that’s where the money is.–Willie Sutton There aren’t a lot of online institutions that you can trust, but Gaming Open Market has always been one of them. Readers will recall being introduced to GOM by the Herald two years ago, and how GOM came to the rescue of Urizenus [...]

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Bad Bots! Computer characters mugged in virtual crime spree

There is a really interesting article in New Scientist about a guy in Japan using bots to mug other players on Lineage II and then of course selling the loot for RL currency. The culprit running the bots — a Chinese exchange student — was arrested. By RL Police. Cool.

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Equities Exchange Opens for Business in Second Life

First IPO is successful. Today the Cyberland Equities Exchange opened for business, with an initial public offering of Cyberland — an in game land investment company. It is unclear at this point whether additional SL corporations will be allowed to join the exchange (the FAQ says no, but the discussion with Shaun Altman on the [...]

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Who is that guy?

This guy Mark Wallace is all over the NY Times, these days, most recently giving a story about big time earners and real estate moguls in Second Life. The article is The Game Is Virtual. The Profit Is Real, and our friend Anshe and other big earners in SL figure in a major way. Again, [...]

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