As I reported at the time, Linden Lab announced at the end of 2016 that they would re-open applications for Skill Gaming creators and operators on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2017, and this went ahead as planned.
For those who may not be familiar with the concept, while gambling is prohibited in Second Life, and games of pure chance that provides a Linden Dollar payout are against the Terms of Service, games of skill are permitted in-world, providing they meet the criteria of being a Skill Game, and are duly authorised by Linden Lab, under the terms of the Second Life Skill Gaming Policy, which defines such a game as being one:
1) whose outcome is determined by skill and is not contingent, in whole or in material part, upon chance; 2) requires or permits the payment of Linden Dollars to play; 3) provides a payout in Linden Dollars; and 4) is legally authorized by applicable United States and international law.
The current Skill Gaming policy was introduced in 2014, and the announcement of the re-opening of applications marked the first time the Lab has offered the opportunity for further Skill Gaming Creators (SGCs) and Skill Gaming Operators (SGOs) to register their desire to create and / or operate skill games in-world since that time.
However, the application period was fairly short – a little over a month, in fact. On Tuesday, February 7th, the Lab issued an update indicating that as of that date, applications were once again closed. It’s not clear how many new applications were received and are being processed, however, prior to applications re-opening. the Second Life Skill Gaming Approved Participants page on the SL wiki listed 45 SGOs. At the time of writing this article, the total had risen to 50, and the number of approved Skill Games had risen from 44 to 45 (neither of these increases account for any applications which the Lab may still be processing, if any).
Those interested in playing Skill Games, or in finding out more about them, can follow the links at the end of this article, or they can visit the Lab’s Gaming Islands. Accessed either directly or via the Portal Parks, they provide information on what Skill Games are, the kinds of games user might encounter, how and where they can be played – and why, in some instances, users may not be allowed to access the regions where they can be played.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 