Virtual Worlds Forum

Georgetown University student Donald Jones has been investigating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender / transsexual (LGBT) culture within Second Life, according to a piece on GayWired. The result is a thesis called 'Queered Virtuality: The Claiming and Making of Queer Spaces and Bodies in the User-Constructed Synthetic World of Second Life'. It combines Jones' own analysis of LGBT areas within the world, with a survey of more than 350 users, and one-on-one interviews with 20.

Due to being away at CES, I didn't report on Linden Lab's decision to ban virtual banks from Second Life last week (the company's blog post announcing the new policy is here). "These 'banks' have brought unique and substantial risks to Second Life, and we feel it�s our duty to step in," said the posting. "Offering unsustainably high interest rates, they are in most cases doomed to collapse � leaving upset �depositors� with nothing to show for their investments. As these activities grow, they become more likely to lead to destabilization of the virtual economy."

Giant Interactive Group has signed a licensing deal to launch the Empire of Sports MMOG in China. The licence lasts until September 2011, and has been signed with original publisher Swiss Empire of Sports - itself a joint venture between sports marketing firm Infront Sports & Media AG, and games developer F4.