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For three years, Jonathan Martin and his wife have been selling household goods and decorations. "Tchotchkes, really," he said, "what you keep at home." Not only did their store Sunny Bungalow open every day during the pandemic last year, but sales also doubled. "We are trying to solve this problem ourselves," Martin said.

Of course, Sunny Bungalow is a virtual store that can be found in Second Life, which is a helpful store and market.

Although the real-world economy is in trouble in 2020, the surge in sales is part of Second Life’s greater economic boom. "We have seen a 30-40% increase in the overall GDP within the game," said CEO Ebbe Altberg of Linden Lab, the company that runs Second Life. Once the avatar earns Linden Dollars in the game, through the goods and services they provide, their players can cash it out into U.S. dollars. Last year, the player’s income and cash was $73 million, nearly one-fifth higher than the $65 million in 2019.

Other parts of the virtual economy are also growing, but at a much faster rate, sometimes making "Second Life" seem like a calm stagnant pool for adults. This boom has largely promoted non-fungible tokens (NFTs)-virtual assets such as Somnium Space, plots in another online world, artwork by animated cats, or digital basketball card collections. Each NFT is a single product, which can be one of similar products or part of a limited collection; some NFT creators use blockchain technology to prove the uniqueness of their products.

According to data from NonFungible.com, which tracks NFT sales data, the NFT market has tripled last year to more than $250 million. John Egan, chief executive of L'Atelier, an independent subsidiary of BNP Paribas, said there are many reasons for this, and the company helped compile the data. Spending money online has become easier and smoother, and during the blockade, people used to go online much more last year.

Second Life hasn't been such a feverish year. It has its own NFT version: plots of virtual land or avatar brand-name clothing or unique Sunny Bungalow tchotchkes, each of which is different. But these are not marked by blockchain technology, and they are not as wildly speculative as other tokens. The economic growth of the game is more stable and longer-more like a real economy, rather than a collection of speculative assets.

Part of the reason is because Second Life aims to be an anti-speculation market. Linden Lab has always played the role of some kind of central banker, strictly supervising the economy and trying to control inflation. The Linden dollar exchange rate against the US dollar has not fluctuated; it has remained between US$249 and US$1 for several months. Egan said that for a while, Linden Lab allowed casinos to operate in games, but after the effects of gambling caused a central bank crisis, it quickly closed the casinos. A few years ago, Linden Lab instituted some stimulus measures to lower land prices and make it easier for players to become "homeowners" for the first time. Altberg said this has stimulated the economy. "Second Life" has never seen that kind of fanaticism, for example, in another game in the virtual world "Final Fantasy XIV", the kind of fanaticism often seen when grabbing ground.

The reason for this strict regulation of the gaming economy is more important than any other factor: the recognition that second life is for life, not for profiteering. Among the more than 900,000 monthly active users of the game last year, only about 14,000 received any form of income from it. The rest come for the community, or become different versions of themselves, or seek escape. During the lockdown, the number of new registrations for Second Life surged. Altberg said that a similar thing happened during the 2008 recession: the number of players surged, participation was higher, and the game “relieved social and economic pressure”. But last year, many players who hadn't logged in for many years also came back, unable to pursue a complete life offline. In any case, they spend more and more time online. They happened to spend some money when they came back.

Among them is Aisia Risto—this is the name of her avatar, the name she wants to use. Ristow joined Second Life 14 years ago, withdrew around 2017, and returned in the middle of last year. She has been working online as a consultant, but when she found that she couldn't socialize in real life, she logged in-until she spent 10 or 12 hours in Second Life every day. "It feels less lonely," she said.

Others were there for the same reason. A woman she met bought air tickets to many countries in the real world until the pandemic cancelled all trips. "So she went to a different world in Second Life," Risto said. Risto said that during the year she was in the game, she joined a free co-working space: "It's very tacky and cute. A small coffee machine, a small doughnut, a small table, and a Stargate teleported there. ." Even when she was working offline, she kept her avatar there just to feel together.

The pandemic also makes people feel its existence in other ways. There has been a Covid-19 support community and a coronavirus resource center created by healthcare professionals. When socializing in the game, people debate whether their avatars should wear small virtual masks. "We have also seen political turmoil and activism transformed into virtual spaces," Altberg said.

Last year, not everyone in the game became a big deal. Risto knew that some of the avatars around her were unemployed players in real life. "Some people are just getting started, or they are financially insecure. Therefore, they are looking for budget-friendly activities."

Others try to replace the lack of offline shopping with the experience of online shopping. Susanna, a copywriter from Graz, Austria, asked to quote only her own name. She said: “Shopping on Amazon is different from going into a store to see clothes. You can do this in Second Life. "She bought "a new kind of skeleton" for her avatar-a better frame with graphics hanging on it. From the perspective of Second Life, it is very expensive-nearly 3,600 US dollars, or about 15 US dollars.

Musicians set up virtual concerts where players can attend, buy tickets or tip artists. An unnamed player who runs a store that provides avatars for virtual pets and babies, said her business has grown by 30%. "Unfortunately, we live in a world that shows us these beautiful and expensive things," she said. "This lifestyle is very cheap in virtual life. Maybe just to get a necklace that you can't afford-it's also comforting to wear one on your avatar."

The price gap between Second Life Kitten (approximately US$4.30) and Nyan Cat NFT (approximately US$600,000) raises the question of which temperament in the NFT market will live longer than the other. It is difficult to say whether crazy valuations will continue into the near future—just as hard to say, for example, what the value of Bitcoin will be in a year. The action feels too new, too hot to be inferred.

On the other hand, Second Life has now grown steadily for most of the twenty years. Its economy is unlikely to plummet, just as it refuses to grow at a nuclear speed. But the pandemic is about to end, and the return of everyone's first life will not leave the second life unaffected. Susanna said: "Last year, the situation in Austria improved for a while, and I disappeared from the game." "I received a lot of news from friends on the Internet, and they were worried about me." She shrugged. "But you know. It was summer. It's possible to live a normal life."

Correction: The exchange rate of Linden USD to 1 USD is 249 USD to 1 USD instead of 320 USD to 1 USD reported in the previous version of this story.

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