Comments on: Now in Second Life https://blog.speculist.com/second_life/now-in-second-l.html Live to see it. Thu, 16 Dec 2021 08:21:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 By: Phil Bowermaster https://blog.speculist.com/second_life/now-in-second-l.html#comment-1969 Phil Bowermaster Tue, 17 Oct 2006 06:32:20 +0000 http://localhost/specblog/?p=949#comment-1969 Actually, the FTC is going to shut down Monopoly for anti-trust violations.

I only wish that sounded as absurd as it should!

]]> By: Stephen Gordon https://blog.speculist.com/second_life/now-in-second-l.html#comment-1968 Stephen Gordon Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:47:51 +0000 http://localhost/specblog/?p=949#comment-1968 triticale:

lol

]]> By: triticale https://blog.speculist.com/second_life/now-in-second-l.html#comment-1967 triticale Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:30:44 +0000 http://localhost/specblog/?p=949#comment-1967 Actually, the FTC is going to shut down Monopoly for anti-trust violations.

]]> By: Stephen Gordon https://blog.speculist.com/second_life/now-in-second-l.html#comment-1966 Stephen Gordon Mon, 16 Oct 2006 12:13:28 +0000 http://localhost/specblog/?p=949#comment-1966 “The rule should be that it’s play money while it’s in Second Life, and its taxable and subject to regulation when you cash out.”

Exactly. This is just an extension of the “no taxation without representation” principle. Since the U.S. government is not the governing authority within this virtual realm, taxing within the realm would just be King George all over again.

Unless the U.S. Government starts providing services within this virtual world, they shouldn’t tax the virtual world.

They would argue that they do provide a service to the virtual world by, say, hunting for predatory pedaphiles within Second Life. But that is just policing the Second Life world to keep crimes from occuring in this world. The U.S. government would have no interest in tracking down someone who robbed a bank within the Second Life world. Unless the government wants to start doing that (including battling werewolves and vampires), they should stay out of Second Life.

The U.S. government does subsidizing the Internet infrastructure that the “Second Life” world runs on, but we can’t start down that road. That would eventually mean that all Internet traffic would be taxed, including this blog. There are more compelling reasons not to tax than to to tax. Small things like like the rights to free speech and assembly.

A big part of the attraction for Second Life (both from an intellectual and entertainment standpoint) is that it’s not like this life. It would be a shame if this form of escapism were remade into Real World 2.0.

Where would this end? When you get taxed in Monopoly, would you have to send it to the IRS?

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