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World Stock Exchange
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The World Stock Exchange (WSE), is a fictional Securities Exchange and Banking Role-playing game developed, owned and operated by Hope Capital Pty. Ltd., Melbourne, Australia. The WSE has been developed using Ruby on Rails. The WSE enables listed companies to raise capital and gain brand awareness by participating in the game while providing users with an ability to trade securities and earn interest in a simulated gaming environment using the World Internet Currency (WIC) with a license issued by WIC Exchange that has the potential to be purchased and sold for real US Dollars. The value of the WIC license is determined by an exchange rate set by WIC Exchange, the rate is then applied to the total amount of fictional currency assigned to that license at the time of the transaction.

The World Stock Exchange began normal operations on March 7th 2007 and to date has achieved 27,000 user accounts, raised virtual businesses over L$145 million Linden Dollars and total Exchange Turnover exceeded WIC$500 million.

The WSE is well-established in the virtual world of Second Life and initially used the Linden Dollar currency in Second Life. In July 2007, the WSE completed the integration of a new fictional currency independent of Second Life called the World Internet Currency (WIC, WICS, W$).

Halting of operations

The WSE has suspended operations since January 4, 2008 under the premise of required updates and the rollout a new platform called WSE 4.0. The management of WSE has issued video and website announcements expressing their intentions to try and complete the upgrade within certain timeframes however due to continued development they have been unable to meet their goals to launch WSE 4.0, most recent being to try and launch the WSE by late March 2008. The WSE website has been updated and now contains an image announcing that the launch of WSE 4.0 is coming soon. User access to the site has been reduced to only the Portfolio News page and CEO administration pages.


[edit] Regulation of listed companies
Self-regulation

At first, the WSE was only regulated by listing rules and the WSE Constitution. At the start of 2007, the WSE was known for its opinion on regulation, because at the time the WSE heavily believed in market self-regulation.

Because of that, the WSE companies listed on the WSE had a relatively high failure rate and most people were day traders, resulting in very high trading volume and a bubble when virtual stock traders saw their stock decline in value en masse for the first time.

Increased regulation

Because of the failure rate and the desire to operate a more serious market, the WSE's CEO, Luke Connell, decided to tighten the regulation. The WSE introduced guidelines for companies to inform investors and the WSE also heavily edited the - already existing - WSE Constitution, and added a Terms of Service. From June 2007 on, it has also increasingly done at-random and monthly checks on companies to ensure compliance.

The actions taken by the WSE dramatically reduced the failure rate.


[edit] Development of the WSE Platform
Initial platform(WSE 1.0)

The WSE initially used a stock trading system operating within Second Life, but that system was discontinued because of the limits of the Linden Scripting Language(LSL), the scripting language used within Second Life.

Second trading platform: A web-based trading platform(WSE 2.x)

In March 2007, the WSE, in cooperation with an existing stock exchange in SL, the Metaverse Stock Exchange(MSE) - which was merged into the WSE - developed a completely new, primarily web-based trading platform, called WSE 2.0. WSE 2.0 introduced better portfolio management features and more options for listed companies. The developer of WSE 2.0, Second Life Solutions CEO Shaun Altman, a Second Life avatar, has been criticized because of the errors in essential parts of the WSE 2.0 system, which was, like all WSE platforms after WSE 1.0, based on the Ruby on Rails web application framework. Because of WSE 2.0, the WSE decided to hire a real-world software firm to develop the WSE applications instead of a Second Life avatar because of the better quality of development by a real-world firm in general. It took a time to even out the inefficiencies and bugs of WSE 2.0, but, after the fixing of bugs, WSE 2.0 was regarded as the first stable virtual stock exchange platform to be used by the Second Life mass market.

Final 2.x

The final WSE Trading Platform, version 2, included automatic charting by using Adobe Systems technology. It is still being used as of the start of December 2007 as the WSE's charting system.

The 3.x family of trading platforms: More security, a new currency

The WSE 3.x trading platform family introduced features developed by a real-world Australian software firm and included security enhancements, a new currency, new data for investors and better market data management.

WSE 3.0

WSE 3.0, which was implemented after a Second Life avatar had stolen L$ 3.2 million(roughly $ 10,000) from the WSE. Version 3.0 of the WSE trading platform included 256-bit SSL-encryption, bug fixes and an RSS-powered news feed. The WSE 3.0 platform also introduced a new currency: The World Internet Currency, commonly shortened as the "WIC".

WSE 3.1

WSE 3.1 included better data management features to enable better management of the WSE's financial and regulational operations and bug fixes. This version of the World Stock Exchange platform also included the introduction of financial reports.

WSE 3.2: The current version of the WSE's platform

The third 3.x family member, WSE 3.2, included live TV via the WSE website and additional news feeds on the WSE's homepage at it's website. Several bugs were also fixed. The website's layout was also slightly changed.

WSE 4.x trading platform family: The WSE's upcoming trading platform

According to a notecard distributed by the WSE to it's customers within Second Life, the WSE's new platform version, which is to be called WSE 4.0, will be introduced in March 2008. WSE 4.0 will include a completely new platform version, according to the WSE. However, the features of WSE 4.0 are not publicly known.

WSE 4.0: First Phase(Currently implemented into WSE 3.2) The first phase of WSE 4.0 includes extended data, such as P/E and cash-on-hand data. It also includes an integrated application for analysts. Analysts can post their analysis of listings on the WSE website via this system.

WSE 4.0 itself According to the WSE, WSE 4.0 would have been implemented in March 2008, after a delay. There has been no official reports on when the new platform will be operational.


[edit] References
"Hope Capital launches rival to Metaverse Stock Exchange", Reuters, 2007-01-12. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Rival Second Life stock exchanges merge", Reuters, 2007-02-13. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Hope Capital shares plunge amid Altman sell-off", Reuters, 2007-03-19. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Virtual Stock Exchange Opens in Second Life", Wall Street and Technology, 2007-03-16. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Another life", Australian IT, 2007-04-03. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"World Stock Exchange hit by L$3.2 million theft", Reuters, 2007-07-25. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"You Only Live Twice", Four Corners, ABC, July 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Special Feature: Make your money count!", SL Reports, 2007-09-05. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Salt in the Wound: WSE Price Regulation of GPB", Opinions, SL Reports, 2007-09-11. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Interview - LukeConnell Vandeverre, World Stock Exchange", SLOZ, 2007-04-20. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Interview Two - LukeConnell Vandeverre, World Stock Exchange", SLOZ, 2007-08-05. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Betting On Second Life Stock Exchanges", Tech Crunch, 2007-08-20. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Welcome To The World Stock Exchange (virtual)", American Chronicle, 2007-08-27. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Virtual Exchanges Get Real", BusinessWeek, 2007-08-10. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
"Invitation to the opening of WSE version 2.0", SLNewspaper, JamesT Juno, 2007-03-07. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.

[edit] External links
World Stock Exchange. Official website (October 20).
Hope Capital Ltd. financial report. Hope Capital Ltd.'s financial report. Luke Connell (October 2, 2007).
Hope Capital Ltd.'s Prospectus page. Hope Capital Ltd.'s Prospectus page. Luke Connell (December 24, 2007).
WSE announces WSE 4.0 delay (podcast). Luke Connell (January 9, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
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