Ok, this is officially crazy. I am supposed to turn in the final draft of the thesis on Friday, but I keep updating and revising it because the news of real-world businesses entering virtual worlds break every day. You already know about Starwood, but there's more. A public relations firm Text 100 just opened an office in Second Life and offers to help companies to tap into the creative genius of the virtual communities. Duran Duran is planning live shows in SL. The word has leaked out that MTV is about to open a virtual companion to its teen show Laguna Beach. The floodgates are now open.
-- via 3pointd, where you should check an interesting discussion (see the comments section) about the implications of competition between real-world and virtual businesses.
