It has been five months since we last updated you on Second Life (the interactive virtual reality world that has taken the internet by storm and created several virtual-estate millionaires over night). We told you that the FBI had started to occupy the virtual world and was conducting investigations concerning gambling.

Those investigations have come to an end, and Second Life now makes virtual gambling against the law, which law - the virtual law of course, one that now seems to exactly mimic the laws of the country who created this world, which makes it a copy of their world, does it not…?

TechCrunch made the announcement in July:

Casinos and gambling have been a prominent part of the Second Life metaverse over the last 2-3 years. Linden Lab will take a financial hit from the decision as casino owners cancel virtual land ownership agreements; top tier casinos contribute large sums in monthly fees to Linden Lab.

A month after this report, it was Duncan Riley who reported that the residents of Second Life had now turned their addictions to gamble on the Second Life virtual stock-exchange, and once again, the similarities between this virtual world and it’s American counterpart seem overwhelming obvious and less like a stint in the virtual world.

The World Stock Exchange (WSE) sits on its own Second Life island in a shiny multi-story edifice that just says money.

The trading floor on the third floor presents an initial lobby that includes an ATM machine (players must deposit money to trade stocks), rule boards and advertising for a bank that offers 15.75% PA. Walking through the lobby players are presented with a lounge area and customer service desks. There is usually a WSE representative on hand to assist with inquiries.

The trading floor itself is a misnomer as players are unable to trade via the Second Life interface. Company listing boards and IPO information all lead through to the WSE website. A video viewing area is surrounded by price quote boards, although the space sorely lacks a traditional style transaction ticker.

The WSE website is simple enough.. The trading room page allows players to buy or sell shares, with Limit Ordering also available. General information is provided about companies, as well as stock price history and recent trades.

Mashable jumps to the rescue with a serious subject using interesting subject matter that seems to threaten all internet based commerce, not just that of Second Life:

Kevin Alderman is a successful entrepreneur that manages to rake in a good amount of money from his business dealings in Second Life. Aside from the Amsterdam sims, which has been acquired by a Dutch media firm for $50,000, Alderman has created the SexGen bed, offering a rather entertaining piece of furniture for the playable web game users. As Second Life resident Volkov Catteneo has allegedly copied the bed and sold it for a third of its retail cost ($45.11), Catteneo is severely cutting into Alderman’s profits.

The copyright infringement lawsuit has one major obstacle though–no one knows the true identity of Catteneo. Alderman is looking to subpoena Second Life in order to obtain Catteneo’s personal identification information, but the creators of the virtual game have been largely unresponsive so far. In a move similar to that which is required by other media websites, Alderman reported Catteneo’s copyright violation by the direction outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but was subsequently instructed to use the in-world “abuse reporting” system.

It is to the Download Squad’s short but precise article entitle "Second Life is Burning: Economic Crisis Looms Online" that we turn for a conclusion to this long awaited update on the virtual world you love to hate:

The popularity of Second Life, once thought by many to be a booming new center of commerce, is fading and new regulations, scandal and outright theft are taking their toll on the virtual world. The recent gambling ban caused a US$2 million dollar drop in spending within Second life the day it went into effect. To make matters worse, shady stock deals going on among the upstart in-world stock exchanges. So, virtual resident beware. A lawless land isn’t a panacea, and adding new laws and regulation is sure to upset the apple cart a bit.