POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION, PART I

About this time last year, Jason Foo found himself face to face with a fedayeen and his bayonet-fixed AK-47. The man’s weapon had jammed, but setbacks like that are inconsequential to members of Uday Hussein’s elite cadre of suicidal commandos. (As an initiation blood rite, they were known to shred live dogs to pieces with their teeth and bare hands.) And so this fedayeen pointed the business end of his bayonet at Jason Foo, and came charging at him headlong.

When I first meet Jason in Second Life, however, the setting is a bit more placid. It’s late February, and he’s standing in an open-air disco with flashing lights and pounding techno, the nightclub he’s built with his rapidly accumulating earnings.

“I kinda turned into a realtor in here,” he tells me, proudly. “Made 7,000 [Linden Dollars, or “L$”] today, just selling land. I realized two days ago that the gray areas on the map are unclaimed land. I buy it up, and sell 512 [square meter] plots for L$1,800.” His enthusiasm pours across the screen; judging by his avatar birth date, he's only been a resident for less than three weeks. “I take it you have seen my signs in Green? They are my realty signs," he continues. "I have signs mainly all over Green, but I started branching to other sectors today. I sell property at decent prices, and I want people to know when they see one of my signs, that they are getting a good deal.”

Later on, he tells me how he was able to acquire so much land so quickly. It began with a Linden-sponsored land rush, and the “Land for the Landless” program, in which Linden Lab sells discounted real estate at one Linden Dollar per square meter.

“I got my first plot in Stinson on a land rush,” Jason explains, “248 square meters. Sold it that night for L$1,000. Then I was handed a 512 square meter plot in Green with Land for the Landless, for L$512. Sold it for L$1,800. Then I noticed five plots in Green went public. I bought them for L$1 per square meter, chopped them into 512 square meter plots, and sold each one for L$1,800.” So in a very short time, he’d become a mini-tycoon in the newly burgeoning enterprise of virtual land speculation.

While we talk, I notice that Foo has a picture of himself in full military dress uniform, in his resident profile. I ask him if he’s serving in the Marines.

“I just got out last week,” Foo says. “Trying to find a job [now]. I have massive amounts of computer experience, and no computer jobs [in my area]. I also work with UNIX, and networking, and all sorts of stuff.”

“Were you in Iraq?”

”Yep,” he says. “And Afghanistan. And the Philippines. Last year.”

I’m stunned. “How long were you in the Marines?”

“Four years.”

“And saw three conflicts?!”

“Yeah, in one year… all within eight months, actually. Modern warfare, man.”

His stint ended in Afghanistan. “Unfortunately I lost a quarter of my kneecap, and my leg is permanently damaged. Land mine. I got lucky. My best friend stepped on the mine. Killed him. Injured me.”

I tell him how sorry I am to hear that, but Foo seems unruffled.

“It’s war. People die. We know that. At least we know we die with a purpose. Trust me, this is nothing compared to other wars. We lost more people in one day in Vietnam than we have since this war started. We are lucky.”

In any case, that period of his life is over now. “Well,” he says, “I served my time and my country. Now I serve the Second Life community. There are a lot of interesting people here, a lot of talent.” Because for Foo, the massing of so much land and money isn’t an end in itself.

“It’s all about the community,” he tells me. “I have always been one for helping people. I know how hard it was for me to first get land here in SL. I want to alleviate that problem, and also give alternate options to owning land. We are going to build condos and apartments. And I want to be the largest realty company in Second Life. I want to be the one everyone comes to for help and land and rentals. A place where people can share creativity and sell ideas.”

That first meeting, I got the sense that he could tell me a lot more, about his service overseas, and the ambitions he now has, in this world. So I promise to pick up this conservation, when I can, and he readily agrees.

“I'm collecting unemployment,” says Foo, “so I'm here a lot.”

Continued tomorrow: expanding his empire—and joining the special forces