Reality Hits A Virtual World

"[Second Life is] a virtual world in which Internet users act out parallel fantasy lives. They date. They build houses. They work. Some players support themselves in real life by selling goods or services in the game. Some see the space as a utopia free of real-world constraints, where they can build their vision of a perfect realm from scratch. The website is facing the problem that many would-be utopias faced before it..."

"It's not unusual for original members to feel a loss of control when their community grows, said Michael Macy, a sociology professor at Cornell University who studies online worlds. It's like a poky mining town that suddenly finds itself in the middle of a gold rush...Land sharks try to drive users off certain properties, and mafias have been known to harass users."

"Some early users in particular point to corporations as the culprits...Big companies such as Toyota and Adidas have opened stores in the game, where players can buy virtual products for their make-believe characters."