Why anshe chung is a millionaire

Comments Comments Archived Comments. About the Authors Display Name not set. John Bowman. Peter Hadzipetros. Paul Jay. Ian Johnson. Saleem Khan. Tod Maffin. Customers are willing to buy and sell at slightly disadvantageous rates because they can get the currency in 24 hours or much less rather than having to barter or arrange their own deals by hand. You might as well step behind the video game.

Anshe Chung Studios is one of the major partners with a hand in Frenzoo , a social network and online chat program based in Hong Kong. Create an avatar, spend money or time or both dressing them just right, then go and meet other avatars and chat. Frenzoo has a pretty standard formula for success. Catch the demo video for Frenzoo below and judge for yourself whether it has the same potential:. What makes Ailin Graef and Anshe Chung Studios different is that their endeavors highlight the diverse paths one can take to gaining wealth by augmenting the way people play online games.

The appearance of avatars, the design of locations, and the facilitation of trade are three big virtual markets and Anshe is tapping them all. I also marvel at the value of the secondary markets that Anshe represents. The efforts of Anshe Chung Studios exemplifies how these games constitute real economies. Er, virtual economies.

Or real virtual economies — look, you get the idea, these games are real revenue generators. Graef accrued a million dollars worth of online wealth way back in Others have followed and it looks like the future could support a wave of new VR moguls who build their riches on nothing but digital living. Some day the entire affair could come crashing down. Imagine if people suddenly lose interest in a simulated environment because a new and better one arrives.

Your investments could turn out to be worthless. Take a good long look at the multi-tiered empire Anshe Chung has built, and think of all the people it took playing those games to help her build her fortune. Those millions of players represent a growing part of our population. Can you buy and sell based on virtual inside information in this virtual world? Sounds like Second Life is violating anti-trust laws if they have "virtual" control over availability of all virtual assets.

Who would be responsible for breaking them up? My guess is the Eliot Spitzer is virtually all over already. This is the future of the Internet and world wide economy. Everyone wondered why you would by virtual real estate during the birth of the internet. Now the domain name market has made many millionaires.

All businesses who rely on web pages have the same risk if ever the servers were to shut down. There will be many more millionaires made in Second Life and other virtual worlds. Virtual World Real People.

Thanks, Amy from Philly. Thats refreshing! If it make them happy, does it really matter if you approve? Sounds like its time for virtual property insurance companies to spring up.

My biggest fear is that people are giving up their real lives to persue a life online. They are losing the opportunity to better their own lives in the process. However, to each his own. I think, "Tough beans". If some virtual world wheeler-dealer thinks their virtual real-estate is more terra-firma than New Orleans they ARE living in a fantasy world. Hurricanes or computer crashes. Earthquakes or viruses. Attack by theives or by crackers. The world, real and virtual is a dangerous, risky and unfair place.

I think a lot of people here are really missing the point of Second Life. It's not a 'game' where you walk in, pay for land, and instantly the money comes rolling in. You still have to work for the money. The islands that make up Anshe Chung's dreamland cost a pretty penny, yes, that's why she has a million dollars worth of virtual land.

But she can rent this land to people and make several hundred dollars per month per island. For other people, it's not about buying and selling land. It's a social tool, it's really an advanced graphical chat.

Everything in the SL world is made by residents Aka "users" in world. For me, I'm an artist, and SL is just another way for me to express my art, and make a little extra money on the side. For others, such as musicians, they can provide performances and reach out to audiences they never had access to before. I think SL is a wonderful social experiment, and the only people here naysaying it are those that don't truly understand the nature of it.

If you're just looking at the money side of things, you're being ignorant towards the rest of what SL has to offer. How ridiculous. I pity those who live a "virtual life" Do you have to mow your lawn in the virtual world? Or replace shingles or major appliances for that matter? How about taxes??? I've just gone through property reevaluation on my real house and if this virtual world is all it's cut out to be I might be able to my wife and kids that this is a pretty cool place.

If everyone starts with Linden dollars, what prevents you from creating multiple users? Buy and trade with yourself and make yourself a millionaire Sounds like the internet version of Star Trek's Borg.

Well, at least if you lose your virtual millions when the virtual real estate market goes bust and can take a jump off your virtual skyscraper that's now worth virturally nothing and still live to tell the tale. Or talk it over with your real world psychologist I just wonder how much of this "Second Life" money is going to Neal Stephenson, since it sounds exactly like the concept detailed in his book Snow Crash - over 10 years ago!

As a techie, a gamer and a member of the legal industry I'll throw in my 5 cents on the question. Most companies do have offsite and redundant backup and mirror sites to allow partial if not complete recovery of data to a certain point. That is, if a major catastrophy did occur they would be able to rebuild the system as it had existed 24 to 36 hours prior.

All transactions, building, destroying, etc. But yes, let's play devil's advocate and say that such a total devistation did still occur and that there was no way to recover the data.

Then it would, indeed, be, in terms of time, energy and emotion collateral, a loss. The question is whether or not an actual, real world value can be placed on it. This is sounding very much like we're heading towards the question of "Can I have a Real World Insurance policy placed against my Virtual World property and holdings?

Posted By Ruben C. Without experiencing first hand, "Second Life", there is no way to have a valid take on it. Some of the skeptical comments may turn out to be correct, but at this point, it is real money that is being invested and made.

The stock market in real life had its second worst day of the year today Second Life grew by over 10, "residents" and some made thousands of dollars. Strange it may be Good article to keep us informed about a "new world".

I believe Locke's unadulterated, "Life, Liberty, and Property" fits better in this context. Posted By Jon M. Boston, MA : PM. As an avid gamer, I am amazed at the prevailing ignorance of what games truly amount to. They are as much a medium of learning as of entertainment, often combining both in ways that prevent even the player from detecting the learning aspect until they realize, down the line, that they did obtain invaluable experience through fictional circumstances.

To point the most drastic example - one of my friends, who had for several years played on-line first person shooters, became squad leader in basic training within several days due to the leadership skills he developed cooperating with other players on daily basis. He is currently serving in Iraq, using experience gained from games to keep his subordinates alive. It is certainly welcome news to see the legal world waking up to what the digital revolution brought to us in terms of enriching our lives in yet another way.

I do wonder - would recognition of digital property rights also pave way toward recognition of violations of personal rights by other users? Imagining serving a warrant to a notorious "flamer" or one of the many "l33t d00dz" is quite an amusing, and very highly appealing, thought. I am a strong supporter of doing what you feel, as long as others are not hurt in any way, shape or form. With that being said, if Linden Lab were have a disclamer, not holding them Linden Lab liable for disasters such as you name, then I have no objections to it whatsoever.

I also believe that Linden Labs should have to report any and all "escrow" they earn throughout a given year for tax purposes. After all, someone is making money; a lot of it. I'm sorry Are there virtual terrorists in the virtual world? What steps has virtual Homeland Security taken to prevent virtual terrorist attacks?

Can you create virtual war? So, how was everyone's virtual Thanksgiving? Do you have virtual holidays??? What is interesting to me is whether the IRS should step up and start requiring one to report earning made from such enterprise.

One of my instructors in college once said "Something is worth what you can get people to pay for it. In this case off site backups would be preferred. If you can make one million dollars playing a fantasy game, without investing real money in it, that can't be a bad thing, and I'd say you're pretty clever.

People saying how 'pitiful' Ms. Chung is, how 'stupid' Second Life is, etc. This is nothing more than a pyramid scheme. For a few to get rich, many more will have to give up their real money. No real wealth can be created in a virtual world. When you open a real factory you can create real things that help produce real value for you and for the person buying what you create.

When you create a virtual factory you only pretend to help people in exchange for money. In a virtual world there is no way for everyone to gain; for one to gain it is because others lost money when they paid for nothing. A hype will develop as people jump on board to get rich and the majority of them will end up very poor as a result. My first impression of this article is it is a "calling all ambulance chasers" siren.

If so, I hope they say you must sue in Virtual Court, which would be another application I wrote There is little difference between this and the situations which preceded the massive devaluations of tech stocks in There was as much real value then as there is with Second Life and its ilk now.

Further, savvy investors will be just as underwhelmed at this dubious accomplishment. One is reminded of a Simpsons episode where they lampoon an internet company that has their stock certificates rolled up to be used as toilet paper. Chung's virtual holdings have as much value. This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Get a life!!! Internet real estate. Come on ppl are u for real? Go outside and do something with yourself.

After reading many blog comments, it is clear that since so many dont even have a clue about what is going really in virtual environments, what are the various applications etc This arguement that no real wealth can be created virtually is hogwash. If I compose an electronic song, distribute it on the net, and make a profit, then I just made wealth with virtual goods. There's no guitar you can hold on to, no drumset to touch, no vinyl to put on your recordplayer.

What makes Second Life any different then a website? Websites make money, so why is 'Virtual Reality' supposedly just a "fad" Wake up and smell the bytes, we're headed towards a civil war between the online and the offline societies.

In order to get around the potential liability, they should offer virtual insurance. This would allow you to be reimbursed in real dollars if your virtual assets are destroyed. However, to have this you would have to pay in real dollars. If you don't buy the insurance, too bad, you lose, no liability for the company - just like in real life.

I'm still shocked that people would page any "real world dollars" for a virtual reality let alone "property". I have all expansions of each programs and enjoy them very much. The moment I see someone trying to sell me thier creation, will be a breaking point for me.

I've already "wasted" time with these games I'm hooked on now. That's my 2 cents on this blog. My estranged spouse spent many long days in Second Life. No, he did not have a "real" job but managed to become somewhat successful in Second Life. He was in this virtual world hours a day. He did not spend time with his daughter or his wife. He developed relationships with women who also didn't have "real" jobs or were housewives.

And he angrily quit the world when it became more important to get a "virtual" lap dance than celebrate our anniversary. He and I are split now and I'd love to say that it was Second Life that caused it.

But in fact, it was his antics in the Virtual World that were more than I could handle. Second Life, itself, offers an environment where there are practically no boundaries The majority of residents are some of the most creative people I have ever met. Congrats to Anshe. She figured out how to make it work for her. Very good read! Thank you. And yes, the trend is just starting!! Couldn't Second Life be used as a way to transfer large sums of cash from one player to another without having to worry about taxes?

What about laundering? I took a final on this very subject in my Cyberlaw Internet Law Class in law school 2 semesters ago. Indeed, I actually do think the time is coming when "virtual" property is given a legal value and therefore, a true physical presence. Remember, our technological laws are based mostly on telephone and telegraphs, radios and TV's. The time is now to re-write the law of the virtual world as it becomes more a part of our daily world, as the virtual world is rather new only about 15 years old as we currently know it.

If someone steals someone else's "SWORD" in World of Warcraft, or finds a glitch to steal someone's property in Second Life, should they have a way to be made whole in our legal system? I argue that they should, no matter what people think personally about online worlds, etc.

What matters is that someone has invested time and resources into creating something that exists. Whether it's a sewn sweater existing in the physical world, or a real-estate empire in Second-life, if the real world assigns monetary value to both, then we should protect someone's right to own both in a legal sense.

What happens then? All very interesting questions. I have been in SL for a little over a year, and I am not surprised to hear Anshe has hit a million. Her presence in the world is very pervasive.

I do own land in SL, although I realize that owning is really renting from Linden Labs, and if they go under or I am banned for some reason I am out of luck. One thing to consider -- I have known several disabled people who spent most of their time in Second Life, and I think it does add considerably to their overall quality of life.

It also gives them a chance to earn some extra income, if they have skills that can generate in-world pay. I know people who build houses and design clothing, and some of them are very talented.

Those people do not necessarily have the resources to pursue those dreams in the "real" world. If participating in a virtual world doesn't interest you, then by all means don't. But that's not a reason to denigrate those who do enjoy it. The big issues facing Linden Labs right now are not legal, they are technical.

There have been huge growing pains in SL recently, including attacks, bugs, network problems, and database slowdowns, which have resulted in either downtime or degraded performance on a very frequent basis.

The Lindens started giving away free accounts a few months ago to people without even asking for any kind of vertification of age, in what I believe was a push to boots their user numbers for PR purposes one of their spokepeople made the ridiculous claim that they will have more users than WoW eventually.

Unfortunately, this has also had a big, very negative impact on those of us who pay to use the service. From what I have seen, Linden Labs is still caught up in the mentality of a startup company, and needs to make the leap to being a "real" company that provides a stable platform for the buisiness they have courted to SL.

Geez, what a bunch of sour grapes whiners here. I think it's cool. Not my thing, but cool none the less. Posted By wil miami florida : PM. The legal question of virtual property also brings to mind the American's With Disabilities Act.

If I'm not mistaken, the software for the game is not compatable with speech reading software, limiting access of the blind to "property" that conducts commerce, therefore establishing the requisite requirements for the act to apply. Should we hold this virtual marketplace accountable for this? Southwest, Amazon and others have. The nexus between the web and the real world has been held pretty tight in district courts regarding the ADA and a "physical" place, this isn't much of a stretch to hold that the nexus includes "virtual property" where commerce is conducted.

Just like the dot. These people who escape reality through drugs and VR escapades, etc. What a collosal waste of talent! But what about the economic crashes that have happened repeatedly in the real world? What about , and , and ? People will hopefully continue to learn from these mistakes. That is why we have the SEC right? When you buy a DVD of your favorite movie what the heck are you buying?

It is a recorded artistic performance. Second Life is an ongoing unrepeatable mulitidimentional artistic expression and or performance. And I think virtual lawyers and virtual insurance agents with virtual cases and contracts are at least just around the corner, if not already in operation.

Understand that Second Life is a virtual community, and that it was established as a kind of reflection of reality. Second Life is in my mind the leading edge of a change in our view of social interactions, in that the folks we talk with online may be separated by thousands of miles.

Science fiction has written about the upcoming virutalization of life some time now, and SL is simply a manifestation of that existence. It's apparently important enough now that Reuters has opened up a news bureau IN Second Life, and that the governments of Australia, Britain and the US are viewing the earnings made in Second Life as real, taxable income.

Is SL a game any more? Or a virtual economy that may drive the real economy soon? Posted By Raymond Lang, Ft. I think that people in the US are more likely to be lonely than in many other countries Because of that, some enjoy "playing" that they have a life At some point, the game stops being a hobby and turns into addiction.

But I am not here to judge. I may prefer to interact with other people; love, touch and feel real lovers and hold and help real people. For some, these routine activities can be very painful. They are somewhat safer in the virtual reality, and turn it into their life.

I'm a real architect and very intrigued by all this virtual real estate. What would keep me from creating my own SL "avitect" and selling virtual design services heck, virtual design and construction services! If I set my virtual fees correctly, then I earn virtual dollars, convertable into real US dollars. I utilize my real education and experience in a the virtual world. And I probably don't need to carry virtual professional liability insurance, either!

If she was real smart, she'd put up virtual billboards on her virtual real estate and sell virtual advertising space to real world businesses?

If this game has that many players than maybe she could turn a buck or two doing that. The more interesting issue is whether income taxes are being collected and paid on the income earned.

Should Second Life not serve the purpose to explore, innovate, refine and intrigue while gathering information about everything that is out 'there'? Should Life itself not serve the same purpose. I imagine, that if we all were not intrigued in some way, we would not be commenting. Maybe we should all give Life a second chance.

All value is virtual. What does matter is if people want it, and what they will pay for it. Where there is any demand and finite supply, there is value. Spending ones assets on a real house is just as ridiculous or wasteful as spending ones assets on a virtual one. Both have value and risks, both had to be constructed over time, both provide something desirable, both will be bought and sold.

There mere physical tangibility has no bearing on this. Insurance, liability, property rights, theft, and taxation will all be expanded into the virtual realm over time. Posted By John, St. Paul, Minnesota : PM. Jason said, "What is interesting to me is whether the IRS should step up and start requiring one to report earning made from such enterprise. That should be considered a good indicator of how lucrative this virtual "waste of time" as some have deemed it can be.

As someone who develops elearning for government agencies and commercial companies, I started to explore Second Life and have found that it can be a very effective training environment if utilized properly. Unfortunately, digital as a second language types those raised prior to the introduction of home computers and cellphones just can't seem to move beyond their ignorance to see some of its potential uses.

Real world musicians play concerts introducing new people to their music. Groups do fundraisers for a variety of real world causes exchanging Lindens for real world donations. Courses on using the in-game modeling tools and scripting language are offered. Companies introduce products -- a hotel chain is building virtual versions of future hotels to get feedback. The hostility shown here toward virtual environments and gamers. Now who's the fool?

For anyone trying to understand what this is all about or why anyone would spend time on Second Life, etc, keep in mind that players are usually substituting for other entertainment and social activities.

The best games can combine the social element of chatting on the phone with friends including live voice , the long-unfolding story lines of a TV series, the great visuals of an action movie, the self-controlled pace of reading a book, and the interactivity of browsing the Internet. The social nature of these "games" is what is most often overlooked. They are not like normal video gamespeople play to "win".

They are more like going down to the pub to shoot pool with friends. They lack in physical presence, but allow people who are scattered far apart to spend time together. People who make real US dollars in these games are just entertainers and those who facilitate the entertainment.

And it is no more or less obscene to spend enormous time and money on movies and sports and music than on this entertainment. I agree with comments above regarding value.

The only value in this "real estate" is created artificially by limiting space. Also, why would someone want to invest in real estate in a "world" in which a single company has control of literally every aspect of the "world".

Douglas said, " I'm a real architect and very intrigued by all this virtual real estate. You could even demo real-world ideas and floorplans by building them in SL and showing them to customers, either in world or at your office. Though, in order to do this, you'll most likely have to buy your own land which is one of the primary reasons people want land in SL in order to show off your work.

This reminds me of the value placed on Beany Babies, Pet Rocks and other assorted junk. The only reason "virtual" has any value is because millions of people are in agreement that it has value. You folks have have way too much time on your hands and have watched Kenau Reeves movies way too often. This "virtual" reality isn't.

People who really need help would not be amused with the amount of money spent on "virtual reality" while they watch their children starve. How about "virtual pathetic"? Go marry a virtual person, eat a virtual meal and live in a virtual house. If the amount of time and money spent on "virtual" were actually put to a good use, maybe this "real" world would actually be a better place to live.

Posted By V. I've been a resident of Second Life for about two years and must repeat what someone said up thread about it being an entertainment replacement.

As TV has gotten duller, SL has gotten more interesting. Most of us, however, funnel our business profits back into SL - which Anshe has done by buying more islands. Of course it's a risk. We know that. We also know that, for the most part, we are playing with money that would go towards other entertainment concerns. It is the same exact thing. Capitalism is only one of the myriad ways in which to use Second Life and anyone who expects to walk in the door and start earning cash is greatly mistaken.

Buying and selling virtual real estate? Insuring the same? Converting non-real currency to dollars? As Slavoj Zizek would say, it doesn't get any more post-industrial. This is merely the fulfillment of the move towards quaternary occupations, a service based economy where no raw materials are produced or crafted into consumer goods. The middle-man is everything and the potential for economic growth i virtually unlimited as more players will introduce more money into the system.

My final question: how long before the poor of Second Life begin solidarity movements and demand distribution of wealth? Land is wealth everywhere.

Fake money, real money, what is the difference? Is not all money fake, is not life game? By server or God via crash or cataclysm we are at the mercy of the World and not it's master. Games of wealth are such--virtual or real. Can someone explain to me why this is legal, yet I as an American can no longer play the game of poker online for money? I think it's funny how the majority of comments here can look down on the people that choose to play this game with their free time.

If the worst thing someone does with their life is toss away some money in a virtual world, so be it. It's a heck of a lot healthier than many of the other hobbies we as Americans and people in general like to have. I think that I am going to invest in real estate in earthquake proof data storage centers. Perhaps they should start teaching virtual law in schools now to deal with the inevitable tide of virtual slum lords--maybe start with virtual tenant rights and rent control, good grief.

I can't wait to securitize the mortgages into bonds on these babies! All we have to do is get our lawyers to put together a nice prospectus and believe me, they will make it happen and project the future cashflow and prepayment speed and we are set Ok, maybe we need to take care some of those virtual dollar related risks too, but there's nothing a few SWAP or derivitives can't handle.

You think nobody will buy these bonds? If you think this is real world vs virtual world, then you are certainly missing the whole picture and what is coming at ya. I ran a similar business in a competing online world. These people who keep cashing out and laundering the money to avoid taxes will soon wake up to the harsh reality of life or behind bars.

It is the ultimate in sad. I've been a resident for years in SL. In fact, the first major donation from community fundraising was given to the Red Cross and they refused the donation because they had no idea who or what Second Life was.