[Opensim-users] Money in OpenSim-Worlds [was: Bitcoin]

[Edmund Edgar]

On 6 November 2011 19:40, Klaus-E. Klingner <klingner at silverday.de> wrote:

> while I understand the need for a common currency in the Grid, I would
> much prefer a currency that integrates seamlessly into the system and
> allows me to use the inherent mechanisms of the client and the server to
> initiate transfers (esp. for scripts and landsales). OMC does not solve
> this for me in a satisfying way. I have written a similar system for our
> world (contact me if you are interested). But it requires me to completely
> rewrite of the payment modules of the vending system I wrote for SL.
>

Doing this right requires changes to the viewer, but what we might be able
to do without that using BitCoin + A hacked version of DTL/NSL is something
like:

1) If doing pure peer-to-peer user transfers (ie no money stored on a
central server), start a transaction with the familiar "Pay" or "Buy"
controls in the viewer, but then make the viewer prompt the user to pay
BitCoin to a particular address. The user would go to their BitCoin client
and send the money, and the server could then check when the payment was
completed and do whatever it would normally do on a successful transaction.
(Deliver some inventory or whatever.)

2) For times when pure peer-to-peer is too much of a PITA, have the
DTL/NSL-BitCoin server store _some_ BitCoin on behalf of the user the
traditional Linden way. This money could show up in your balance in the
viewer, and you could deposit and withdraw your BitCoin at any time. This
wouldn't be ideal because you'd have to entrust _some_ of your money to
somebody, and that somebody would have to babysit your money, but at least
the money itself would be portable between grids (and the world beyond
OpenSim) and not tied to a particular company.

Glancing through the DTL/NSL source code I think the above is possible and
not crazy-hard. (But I don't understand this stuff very well - it may turn
out to be harder than it looks.) If we could get some grids with that much
installed, hopefully some kind person would work on fixing up the client to
handle this stuff better, making (2) redundant.

-- 
Edmund Edgar
Founder, KK Social Minds
Educational Technology for the Web and Virtual Worlds

ed at socialminds.jp
+81 090 3912 3380
Skype: edmundedgar
Second Life: Edmund Earp
Linked In: edmundedgar
Twitter: @edmundedgar
http://www.socialminds.jp
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