RICARDO MALVEIRA has a simple piece of advice for those faced with the grim reality of the slowing global economy: avoid it.
While the Australian dollar and the All Ordinaries shed huge chunks of their value in recent months, Mr Malveira's business has been booming; where other businesses in the retail sector have seen a downturn in demand, he has a long list of clients.
The business Mr Malveira created with his wife, Maria, exists in the virtual world Second Life, though his profits and business prospects are more stable than those of the outside world.
It began when he designed what is known as Australia Island - an area of the virtual world on the internet where businesses sell products and real estate is sold direct to users.
He has since been contacted by companies asking him to design virtual stores - the ABC, adidas and Telstra each have presences on Second Life - and even an Australian university exploring the possibility of an online campus.
They have been attracted by Second Life's booming economy, a factor that Mr Malveira believes has been accelerated by the plunges in the real world.
The currency used in Second Life, the Linden dollar, can be exchanged into American dollars and has remained stable over the past couple of months, despite the 30 per cent fall in the Australian dollar.
The chief financial officer of Second Life's creator, Linden Lab, John Zdanowski, said there were now more than 20,000 users in Australia, spending a total of $2.5 million each month.
"Despite the chaos in the world's economies, economic indicators for Second Life remain strong," he said. "The Second Life economy grew 84 per cent from September 2007 to September 2008 to more than $US37 million ($58 million)."
It has been a boon for Mr Malveira, especially since the Australian dollar buys 404 Linden dollars, up from 278 in June.
Like all economies, security in Second Life is important. "It's a very stable environment," Mr Malveira said. "If you have a transaction and someone can get a copy of that transaction immediately and print it off, that's better for many people than having to pay credit card details over a phone or having to wait for a fax."
David Holloway, the editor of webzine The Metaverse Journal, said Second Life had become much more than just a fad.
Second Life measures the number of users from each country. According to statistics released yesterday, Australia is now the 18th most populous nationality.
"The economy online can match what's happening in the outside world," Mr Holloway said. "So for instance, when Linden Labs releases land, that affects real estate prices just like it would in NSW. The difference is, at the moment, that prices [in Second Life] are going up and in many ways represent a better option for many people."
But Mr Malveira said Second Life would have to compete with open-source virtual worlds where commodities and intellectual property were traded without commercial transactions.
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