Virtual Islands Pricey, Too

It will now cost you more to purchase your own digital island paradise in the limitless Second Life world, raising questions about how a company should apply real life rules in the virtual realm.

For the uninitiated, Second Life is a massive multiplayer online world, akin to Electronic Arts' (ERTS Quote) The Sims. Players explore an endless, sprawling 3-D virtual world in which their Internet avatars live, interact, purchase land, set up shop and even (possibly) make money.

Property is the one resource that is controlled by San Francisco-based Linden Lab, the creator of SL. While businesses are earning revenue by selling fabricated goods or advertising in the virtual world, Linden's main source of income in SL is from the sale of space on their computer servers. ...