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Could China Create a Virtual Community?

Recent legislation in the United States has the FBI investigating games like “Second Life” to determine if the companies violate anti-online casino gambling regulations. Now though it looks like China has plans for a similar type of virtual community where commodities are developed and sold. The plans for a game like “Second Life” operating in China has some concerned because parts of China are cracking down on “decadent” internet gaming, and online casinos.

Second Life is not marketed as an online casino, or even as a way to gamble online. Instead, this game was developed by the San Francisco based company, Linden Labs, as a way to create and trade virtual property. Part of the largest selling point of this game is the fact that it offers players the chance to sell their virtual property for real money….plus the idea and basis for the game is markedly different from the majority of other internet games and online casino gambling sites.

Taking the idea of a “Second Life” virtual community, the Chinese company Shanda Interactive Entertainment (known for the Swords and Sorcery online casino game) plans to bring a similar type of virtual experience to Chinese citizens. The Chairman of Shanda, Chen Tianqiao, believes that the success of “Second Life” in the states could mean a successful Chinese game equivalent. “We are moving to diversify our games. The only thing we care about is what users like, so we are also having a try at this Second Life kind of direction.” Chen went on to elaborate that with his company’s already large user-base could be the key to its China launch. He said, “Shanda has a huge user base. We are also among the strongest on the technical side.”

The only downside to Shanda starting the Second Life type game is the fact that a HiPiHi has already begun a Chinese version of the game. And if Shanda, which is a leader in the online casino and internet gaming industry develops the game, the startup HiPiHi will have a much harder time marketing the game and gaining a subscriber base.