eBay: Second Life Loot OK Because We’re Co-Owners
As announced on several different sites eBay is removing all sales that have to do with virtual reality worlds. How big is the digital loot business? Apparently several hundred million dollars, according to Daniel Terdiman’s CNet story. eBay is willing to shun all the fanboys selling imaginary leather braziers because “we want people to have good user experiences on the site.”
Oddly missing from eBay’s ban is the virtual world of Second Life. There are vast differences in the Second Life license agreement and those found in other online games (of which World of Warcraft is the largest). In Second Life the ‘players’ own their creations while all World of Warcraft time sinks remain the sole possession of Blizzard, the parent company. However, terms of use agreements were not cited as the reason eBay made its decision; protecting itself from having to deal with online fraud was. Nothing in or out of Second Life would protect users more than its banned virtual game world counterparts.
Kotaku posits that eBay may not believe Second Life to be a game. That statement, however, does not address how Second Life auctions ‘protect users’.
Perhaps its more about ‘protecting investments’ than ‘protecting users’. As Clickable Culture’s Tony Walsh points out it could very well be because eBay has a financial stake in Second Life’s success. From Tony:
…two eBay board members are also indirect investors in Linden Lab, the virtual world’s maker and maintainer. Benchmark Capital lead $8M in financing of Linden Lab in 2004, with the participation of Omidyar Network and others. eBay board member Robert Kagle is a member of Benchmark Capital. Pierre Omidyar is eBay’s founder, a current eBay board member, and leads Omidyar Network.
