A great deal of the tech community has regarded Second Life with a distant shrug and a smile. The idea of a virtual world has been tossed around since computers were in their infancy, and even more so after the dawn of the Internet. There is, however, a growing movement from within these virtual environments to establish something of a viable social and economic platform from which serious change can occur.

I spent a good deal of this week studying this topic. I watched a forum that took place within Second Life that included industry experts on a virtual TV show called Metanomics. This episode discussed the impact of a ruling made by the environment’s host that banned banks from within Second Life. Guests included:

• Joshua Fairfield, Professor of Law, Indiana University and Washington and Lee University
• David E. Altig, Director of Research, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
• Dan Miller, Senior Economist, Joint Economic Committee of the U. S. Congress
• Benjamin Duranske, blogger from Virtually Blind and founder of the Second Life Bar Association
• Intlibber Brautigan, Ancapistan Financial Exchange
• Travis Ristow, BSC Bank

One point that came forward to myself as being a reasonable example of why a virtual world might be a great way to do business that doesn’t require an actual office visit was given by one of the virtual bank owners. Someone that is incapacitated, or otherwise required to be at home can do so while maintaining their business virtually. Several business in the UK have picked up on this and are including virtual attendees at business meetings that otherwise might require a costly plane trip. Soldiers over seas have used Second Life as a way to communicate and interact with their families and friends back home in a way that a simple phone call or email could not accomplish. Often, virtual environments can also allow two people that may not otherwise meet to find each other and find love, or even lifelong friends.

So I open the floor to comments. Is it time for virtual worlds to be taken seriously?