p2p news / p2pnet: The BBC is spending real money to rent an island that doesn’t exist.

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world which, since opening in 2003, "has grown explosively and today is inhabited by nearly 100,000 people from around the globe," it says on its site.

Now, the BBC has "staked a claim" to a Second Life virtual tropical island, "where it can stage online music festivals and throw exclusive celebrity parties," it says. "The rented island exists in online game Second Life and will hold its first event this weekend with bands including Muse, Razorlight and Gnarls Barkley."

The Beeb has rented the island for 18 months and its Radio 1 will use it to debut new bands over the next year, says the story.

"What we’d like to do is use it as a place for people to put on public music events," says Daniel Heaf, interactive editor at Radio 1. "We’d really like to use it for unsigned musicians. [But] we’re open to invitations as to who wants to use it and how they want to use it."

Meanwhile, Second Life economy works by allowing gamers to exchange real currency for Linden Dollars (L$) and back again, explains the BBC. One US Dollar is approximately equivalent to L$ 250.

The story doesn’t say how much hard cash Britain’s principal broadcaster forked out out for this piece of CyberSpace.

Also See:
BBC – BBC starts to rock online world, May 12, 2006

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