Business Week reports on emerging game-based economies –

Second LifeOnline game Second Life is drawing legions of eager players — and big bucks from VCs who see hard profits in a booming fantasy world

Some 165,000 people roam the online virtual world Second Life through their “avatars,” or onscreen graphic characters. But it’s a good bet most of them don’t realize that in their midst is an avatar controlled by the chief executive of Amazon.com. (AMZN). Now, as part of a new $11 million funding of Second Life’s creator, San Francisco-based Linden Lab, Amazon founder and CEO Jeffrey P. Bezos is also an investor in this growing online phenomenon.