More news from the virtual world of Second Life. This time, it has real world implications and a lawsuit to boot.

Marc Bragg, a lawyer from West Chester, is suing Linden Lab over confiscating several thousand dollars worth of virtual property. Filing a suit in Chester County Court, Bragg feels that Linden Lab doesn't have the right to confiscate assets he legitimately bought in the game.

The story goes that Bragg entered Second Life to make some real world money, putting in around US$ 10,000 of real capital into buying and developing virtual properties in the game. Some months back, he found a way to buy land for bargain prices, and bought some land through that process, angering some players in doing so. The folks at Second Life then accused him of violating the Terms of Service, even though Bragg mentions that he acquired the information on buying at bargain prices on one of the game's web pages.

Second Life officials shut him down, taking his account, selling his property and keeping US$ 2,000 of actual money, and this prompted his lawsuit. Jason Archinaco, Bragg's attorney, says what happened was "like a consumer shopping at Wal-Mart for a year without any problems, and then on one transaction, they allege that you are a shoplifter or switched a price tag." The exaggerated effect, however, would be Wal-Mart coming into your house to confiscate and resell everything you've bought from them for the past year.

It's hard to tell what's right or wrong in this case. It feels like an attempt to impose order on an occasion of alleged cheating done to the extreme. Personally, it's why I'd prefer to let my real money and virtual money mix as little as possible. What do you think?