Second Life is a Third World Country

Note: Not necessarily satire

A recent presentation on economic and usage statistics by T Linden has shed more insight into the economics and demographics on Second Life.

Given these numbers, it's fair to say that the shared online space has now achieved in many respects the political and economic situation of a Third World nation.


Geography

For starters, virtual real estate in Second Life now equals 1743 km². That's not a lot of space to be calling yourself a "world", as the smallest planet in the Solar System is Mercury, with a surface area of 74,800,000 km² (about 43,000 Second Lifes).

Even the recently-demoted Pluto, which astronomers no longer consider a planet is 16,650,000 km², significantly more than Second Life.

However, that 1743 km² of virtual real estate is now larger than such countries as Bahrain, Singapore, and Tonga. And since it is located entirely on Earth, albeit in an electronic space, not a physical one, it seems a better classification of this "virtual world" is a country, not a planet.

So enough with, "Your world, your imagination."


Demography

Second Life's regular population is estimated at 752,035 residents, a number based on unique residents with more than one monthly log-in. That would rank the nation #161 in the world, just ahead of Bhutan and behind Guyana, a fairly impressive achievement.

Using square kilometers and the figure for the total active population, and ignoring concurrency, we can derive a population density of nearly 416 residents per square kilometer, which is fairly crowded, and just above Lebanon and below Puerto Rico.

Taking concurrency into account (reducing total population to a roughly estimated 30,000 residents online at any given time), population density drops to 17.2 residents per km², which drops it down into the ranks of Finland and Equatorial Guinea, much more sparsely inhabited countries but still within terrestrial norms.

More granular statistics, such as the number of residents that identified themselves as furries, podcasters, catgirls, or Goreans, were apparently not collected.


Economics

Total economic transactions between residents are given at 144 million US dollars in the most recent quarter. Taking that as equivalent to a Gross Domestic Product (in other words, ignoring remittances -- money sent into or out of the country by residents), that gives Second Life a 576 million dollar nominal GDP.

That puts the virtual country in the bottom 5% of world economies, but surprisingly, still ahead of such impoverished Third World states as East Timor, Samoa, and Guinea-Bissau.

On an individual basis, individual Second Life residents fare just as poorly, with a nominal GDP per capita of about $765 dollars US per resident. Still, that's in line with Haiti and Tajikistan and may explain the persistence of such unsightly relics as the 1L hour camping chair.

No statistics were given on the distribution of wealth amongst avatars, along the lines of a Gini coefficient index. However given the success of such avatars as Anshe Chung in accumulating over a million dollars worth of in-world assets, it's safe to say Second Life is not following a socialist or communitarian model in terms of wealth distribution.


Diplomacy

When it comes to diplomacy, Second Life has achieved little. Most obviously, it lacks United Nation membership or widespread diplomatic recognition.

So far, diplomatic recognition has been limited to Sweden and the Maldives, and they have not actually offered full recognition with reciprocal diplomatic ties. Arguably, this isn't enough to qualify Second Life as a "Non-UN member recognized by at least one UN member," which is the case with such breakaway states as Northern Cyprus, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia.

While the efforts of Sweden and the Maldives are interesting first steps, they lack true legal standing under international law, as these countries would not recognize a Second Life passport, would not host a Second Life ambassador, and have failed to provide any sort of realistic political or economic aid to Second Life's impoverished masses.

However it is far more than any other virtual state has achieved.


Politics

When speaking about Second Life's political freedom, we have no hard numbers to rely upon, but the definitions are clear. Second Life is incontrovertibly ruled by an authoritarian government. Tellingly, citizens are called "residents", not citizens, and have no basic guaranteed freedoms.

All political power is tightly controlled by a single, privately held company called Linden Lab, which wields supreme executive power over the land and ultimate authority over all residents. Failure to adhere to any of the statutes can result in permanent exile at any time for any resident.

Day-to-day governance is handled by a Chief Executive Officer named M Linden; he serves at the pleasure of a Board of Directors consisting of Philip Linden, Mitch Kapor, and other owners.

There is no legislative or judicial branch of government. There are not even token elections, and no political parties that oppose the authoritarian government. Political parties are permitted, but they are solely geared towards events and elections in other countries.

Second Life's equivalent of a constitution -- known as the "Terms of Service" -- is an arbitrary document which all citizens must agree to and which may be changed at will by the government, Linden Lab, at any time.

The most relevant, "superdickery clause": "By using Second Life, you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not so agree, you should decline this agreement, in which case you are prohibited from accessing or using Second Life. Linden Lab may amend this Agreement at any time in its sole discretion..."

Most founding documents of government invoke some supreme right of Man, divinity, or natural law, but interestingly Second Life's governing document is a turgid exercise in corporate boilerplate.

Historically it's uncommon to find a single private company exercising supreme executive power over territory and people: the Dutch East India Company, or some of the early colonies in British America might be the best examples.

It's interesting to note these were set up to commercially exploit new territories and the rest of society caught up with them later.

Still, when we talk about authoritarian governments in a virtual world, it should be noted that all residents live there voluntarily, and by definition are citizens of another state elsewhere on the planet.

It should also be noted that the conditions of partial citizenship which "residents" adhere to is typical of fledgling virtual world communities, and in some more generous than other environments.


Conclusion

Second Life has the characteristics of an impoverished, repressed Third World state. That would be a grim judgment, except for the fact that residents live there only voluntarily, and are free to leave at any time.

The society as a whole is probably more typical of a non-governmental, transnational organization, such as the Catholic Church, which have rigid hierarchies, total authority, but whose membership is strictly voluntarily. In other ways, it's like an early North American colony, where citizens of Great Britain were free to come and try their fortunes, provided they lived under the charter's rules.

But as Linden Lab advisor Ray Kurzweil himself noted in a speech in SL this week, it won't be long before software entities that inhabit the world full-time will have autonomy and self-will; whether that will result in greater freedom for all residents, more direct democratic participation, and the replacement of the onerous Terms of Service with something like the Avatar Bill of Rights, remains to be seen.

-k.p.


Feel free to use this information in your next book report, provided you provide a link to the Encyclopedia Kanomica and give appropriate credit to Professor Kanomi Pikajuna, Doctor of Metanomics.