When a virtual world bank fails because of fraud, is it actionable real-world fraud?
Eve-Online players could deposit in-game currency with the Eve Intergalactic Bank, which would pay interest of a few percent a month and would loan the funds to promising investment projects but James Grimmelmann writes that “… it was all a scam. Or rather, if it wasn’t one at first, it became one as its principal proprietor … at some point decided to take the money and run. This being EVE, there wasnt much anyone could do about it once he made that call. He now has enough wealth to be utterly and absolutely pimped out at all times.” What are the virtual and real world legal implications? (James Grimmelmann, LawMeme (Yale Law School), 8/26/06) Read “The freaking wild wild west.” While many long time Second Life residents bemoan the influx of freeloaders, griefers, and large corporations like Toyota and Addidas flooding the world with their products, and the Second Life Liberation Army sets off atomic bombs in front of corporate stores, some residents explore creating their own virt
