Sweden to open virtual embassy in Second Life

Malmöööööööö! Of course.

I'm beginning to have a hard time deciding whether or not Second Life is a video game. I would still classify it as such, but more and more open ended video games are acting like their own art media rather than finished works. Games like The Sims and even MMO's like WOW have become more about the interface of the user and less about the design of the game. Second Life is like a blank canvas rather than a painting. Or even better, a blank wall in space for graffiti.

This is officially the first story that is OLD'D to me thanks to the Wii News Channel. ^_^

Of course they have to have an embassy.

They can't expect to tax its economy without a representation of the government there. The US is considering it too.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070131/tc_afp/afplifestyleitinternet_070131173518

This other article came from the New York Times, and scarily enough, there are plenty more like it. If the IRS starts taxing "income" in World of Warcraft, I think our government has officially lost its mind. At least one lawmaker has opposed this so far, but the fact it is even being considered is scary.


December 10, 2006
Taxing Virtual Economies
By CLAY RISEN
Economists, along with accountants and government officials, have started to think hard about the phenomenon of “massive multiplayer universes,” or M.M.U.’s. These are online video games in which players work, play and increasingly earn real money — income that some argue should be taxed. “A great deal of assets that have real economic value are being created inside video games,” the economist Edward Castronova says. To that end, the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress recently began an examination of the tax implications of virtual commerce.

An M.M.U. is a virtual world that players access from their computers. Some M.M.U.’s, like World of Warcraft, are specific in their objectives (killing dragons and the like), while others — most notably Second Life — are designed to approximate the ebb and flow of everyday life: players open virtual businesses, publish virtual newspapers, hang around in virtual space and even get virtually drunk. All the games involve economies in which players acquire goods from other players by bartering or paying with virtual money.

Some of these games, including Second Life, provide an exchange system in which players can convert real money into virtual scrip and vice versa. According to some reports, the game generates $5 to $6 million in economic activity per month. Hence the tax question.

Taxing virtual economies actually has a precedent. In the ’70s, the I.R.S. cracked down on so-called barter clubs, an estimated $200 million economy in which club members earned “trade dollars” in a virtual currency, either by selling goods or performing services. In 1980, the I.R.S. ruled that such transactions could be taxed, even though no actual money was involved. The clubs quickly dried up.

Of course, it is one thing to talk about taxing virtual economies and another to develop the regulations and software necessary to do it. And doing so would likely drive players away from what is, after all, just a game. “In a fantasy world, if you go in and start taxing, you would destroy it,” Castronova says. “Fantasy places need to be treated as fantasy places.”

Write your congressman to oppose taxation of the virtual economies. It will kill MMOs.

Interesting note about that building, is that it was designed by Santiago Calatrava basing it on modules and the human skeletal system. I love his work, especially since I am going to college with an architecture major. His works are amazing! You all should check his stuff out.

-Lint