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SL shuts down gamblingJuly 25th, 2007 |
It was always a matter of time. Here’s the official word.
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Nice to see them cleaning up their act!
Huh - one of the two reasons to visit SL is now gone.
I agree with Ethervole.
I agree that it was always a matter of time, and I’m frankly quite amazed at the number of people that are blasting Linden Labs for finally going forward with it. Though Linden Labs is not engaging in lengthy discussions about the reasoning behind this move, it seems clear to me that there are a lot of outside factors involved, and I don’t think it’s fair for people to say that this is just Linden Lab’s own conservative agenda at work.
Long time reader, first time poster, Raph! Love the blog!!!
I don’t understand why people would ever use a SL slot machine in the first place. It’s not like the player has any way of knowing if/how the machines are rigged, and AFAIK there’s no Second Life Gambling Commission doing independent inspections.
Speaking of “I don’t know why anyone would…”, the last line of the FAQ reads “There will be no reimbursement if Linden Lab removes objects or activities that violate this policy.” If the policy is enforced, there can be no question that it will devalue certain SL property. Right or wrong, that casino someone just paid real US dollars for is now a vacant lot. Won’t this severely undermine people’s confidence in owning SL assets? Might we see someone using the Bragg precedent to try and get this thing into a real-world court? (Perhaps not, if they were operating what US law may or may not consider an illegal casino, but it’s got to happen some day….)
Being an online poker player I think I should point out that their new policy is incorrect…
(1) (a) rely on chance or random number generation to determine a winner, OR (b) rely on the outcome of real-life organized sporting events,
AND
(2) provide a payout in
(a) Linden Dollars, OR
(b) any real-world currency or thing of value.
This includes (but is not limited to), for example, Casino Games such as:
o Baccarat
o Blackjack
o Craps
o Faro
o Keno
o Pachinko
o Pai Gow
o Poker
o Roulette
o Sic Bo
o Slot machines
There is currently a debate that argues that Poker is not a game of chance, (which I agree with) and should not be included in this list of banned practices.
Seems like a typical, “We’re not sure so we’ll just ban everything” issue.
The question is, what does “rely on” mean?
Poker very clearly IS a game of chance (it’s not like you get to pick the cards that are dealt to you!), but does it “rely on” that chance to determine a winner? I would argue that maybe it does, because luck can triumph over skill in any particular game.
Over the long run, a skilled poker player is likely to win more than he loses—but in any individual game he might win, or he might lose. Perhaps in any individual game, all he can do is try to maximize his *chances* of winning.
Problem here is that inevitably all the sex stuff will be shut down as well. Once that happens the seecond major money maker for second life residents will be gone. Unfortunately, unlike the web, a viable advertising model hasn’t become prevalent so when gambling and porn are removed from the world, SL should begin to lose significant numbers of subscriptions. I’d love to see the numbers on the subscriptions before and after this event, know if any of the policy was motivated by the number of political outfits that setup shop and just couldn’t be associated with online gambling, and lastly, the value of the Linden Dollar after the ruling devalues large sections of land in the world.
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"The world the way they thought it was..."
case, and the indecency and Fairness Doctrine bills currently making their way through Congress. 1.) Gambling in Second Life. Word has officially been released that Second Life has shut down gambling inside the virtual world. I found out about it from Raph Koster’s blog, as the new policy was released through the Second Life blog. The blog’s Robin Linden writes that, even though there is no official gambling service in Second Life, they are still required to operate under governmental laws that regulate online
[...] caught news of the ban on Second Life casinos yesterday via Lum and Raph’s blogs, but then our power went out and, well, it was really dark. Apparently Linden Lab has [...]