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Okay, I know SL. You know Second Life. But a good chunk of Japan has no friggin' clue. That's all about to change. The game's maker Linden Labs is rolling out a version for The Land of the Rising Sun. What do the pundits think? Real money at stake, an active virtual world — the scare factor is just kicking into gear. An IT expert tells tabloid Shukan Shincho:
The Japanese version is on the way, but the American subsidiaries of automakers like Toyota and Nissan have already put cars on the market in the virtual world. They do it for promotional purposes, but performance in the virtual world is said to reflect performance in the real world, too. If a Japanese language version starts running, more Japanese companies are gonna get involved... This is the first large-scale online game where real money is involved. It'll be interesting to see whether the cops will be prepared to deal with disputes that have occurred within the game. I can see all sorts of social problems coming out of this.
Just wait till they find out about the furries.
SL Hitting Japan [Mainichi via Japanator]
