So all is good in real estate’s Second Life at least? Not necessarily. In an eerie anticipation of offline troubles, Second Life began 2008 with a bank run. Enterprising individuals had established banks in Second Life, luring players to deposit money in virtual accounts in exchange for promises of rates to beat those in the real world. When many failed to make good, Linden Labs responded to complaints by shutting the entire banking sector down. Virtual queues formed outside virtual banks, virtual 'no-withdrawal' notices were posted on virtual ATMs. Real money – and nobody seems at all sure as yet how much – has really been lost.

Our publishers looks at property in Second Life, in his weekly guest column for Citywire.

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