There's real money to be made selling unreal stuff, such as digital weapons and land, to online gamers. It's a controversial market.

Robert Kiblinger's online shop does brisk business in items fantastic.

For $179.88, there's the Blade of the Righteous, a sword forged specifically to slay demons. The $69.88 Shadow Dancer Leggings allow their wearer to sneak about undetected. And then there's Titan's Hammer, which wreaks $129.88 worth of unmitigated havoc.

All command real money, but none are real.

Like a rapidly growing number of online merchants, Kiblinger traffics in virtual goods that exist only in the realm of Internet-based games such as "Ultima Online," "EverQuest" and "Second Life."

"Welcome to the companion blog of the Second Life Future Salon! The Salon* meets once a month in the 3D digital world of Second Life to discuss advancements that are creating the future of digital worlds and culture (broadly defined to include information technology, simulation, video games, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), 3D creation tools, computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D prototyping, the geospatial Web, augmented reality, and all forms of digital environments plus the technology, social, and business dialogues that can be impacted by them)."