Linden Labs' "virtual world" fantasy computer game has no dragons or damsels in distress, and yet is experiencing a near-exponential growth rate in the last two years. Every day, $1.6 million dollars are changing hands, spurring many companies to open the equivalent of a major branch office in-world. Others are playing the game through sponsorships and designing products for the user community, and still others are using Second Life as a virtual conference room. Join IndustryWeek's IT editor Brad Kenney as he does some reconnaissance of this new interpersonal -- and commercial -- frontier.
