In the SL economy, users (called "residents") buy from and sell to one another directly, using the Linden, which is a closed-loop virtual token for use only within the Second Life platform.
[4] The basis of this economy is that residents (that is, users, as opposed to Linden Lab) can buy and sell services and virtual goods to one another in a free market.
Virtual goods include buildings, vehicles, devices of all kinds, animations, clothing, skin, hair, jewelry, flora and fauna, works of art, and breedable in-game animals and pets such as: foxes, turtles, horses, cats, dogs, fish, dragons, and original in-game pets called Meeroos.
Originally all land comes from Linden Lab (which is part of the pricing and a revenue stream for them), but after that it is bought and sold much like real-life real estate.
[5] In addition to the main economy, some residents receive a small weekly stipend, depending on the kind of account they have, and when they joined Second Life.
[6] There are also the virtual equivalent of minimum wage jobs and charitable organizations that try to introduce new residents to the consumer economy.
In part this is enabled by the fact that there is also no physical damage, and in principle no possible theft of property (excluding virtual content), nor is there war on a large scale, other than between military groups or other role players restricted to "damage-enabled" sims like Eridanus and other similar areas.
For example, they might band together, purchase property in the group's name, and agree to follow in-group rules and regulations, elect officers, support a monarchy, etc.
Linden Lab, as the actual owner of all the software and server-side hardware that makes up Second Life, has the ultimate authority to change all aspects of the world, from the economy to the physics to the terms-of-service.
When the old concept of "telehubs" was removed from the game, Linden Lab replaced them with "InfoHubs", each of which included an InfoNet access point which was hosted for free on system-owned land; it also placed InfoNet access points in the Welcome Areas where new users arrive, where no user is normally permitted to leave business-related objects.
[9] Recent Linden Acts of greater economic import include the banning of wagering on games of random chance or on real-life sporting events with L$.
Ginko's assets were primarily invested in either things of poor to no liquidity, or virtual securities that were then trading at significantly under their purchase price.
[13] Selling such items was viable for Anshe because the majority of her income came from the sale and maintenance of land, used to host houses within which the furniture was placed; but posed a threat to furniture makers as such low prices would make it impossible for stores not supported by an auxiliary business to compete.