Second Life Pyramid Scheme

Vallywag seems to have it in for Second Life. Today's post quotes a financial markets analyst who tried to do some currency trading.

From the post:

"So given that:

• One cannot profit at greater than the risk-free rate of return for investments into Second Life;
• "Virtual labor" performed by the denizens of the game on their various Second Life business projects is always compensated far below the real-world USD equivalent;
• SLL are effectively illiquid beyond small volume trades --

What you're left with is lots of people putting USD in, and a small group taking those USD out, leaving the rest with no financial claims on anything - just an imaginatively sexy avatar.