Real Estate

Dekortage sends news of what may be a new development in the attempted mainstreaming of Second Life. We've seen plenty of examples of real-world news media, politicos, and PR campaigns setting up in SL. But so far most of this action has been about first-life organizations trying to gain real-world publicity by their forays into SL. CNN is reporting that the real estate firm Coldwell Banker is moving into SL for the purpose of selling and renting in-world properties. From the article: "Coldwell Banker has bought extensive tracts of property on the central 'mainland' of Second Life. (Most companies own 'islands' scattered all over.) It subdivided this digital land into 520 individual houses and living units, half of which it will sell and half it will rent... 'A small number of land barons mostly control real estate in Second Life, and we thought we could bring real estate to the masses,' [a VP explained]." Slashdot

One of the oldest mantras in the real estate biz is "They ain't making' any more of it." This presents a fundamental flaw in the plan to use online worlds as a basis for a market.
# The company can simply turn off the servers and "poof" there goes your investment.
# The company can simply change a value in a field somewhere and "poof" there is a new continent to sell to the highest bidder.
# The company can invent disasters, or ignore damage to specific structures or areas based solely on a whim, or who pays more to the online company.

There are just too many variables of a human nature to rely on a virtual universe. For a genuine bank to get in the business of this flighty nature where it can all just go away at the flip of a switch.