Location, location, location. These words are unimportant to software developer Jeremiah Seah in real life.

But in the virtual world, the words are his mantra as he plays at being an online Donald Trump of sorts.

The Second Life land developer (not yet tycoon) explained: "I try to buy a piece of land next to places like university fraternity houses or clubhouses because they're more likely to expand and buy the land from me."

That is how Mr Seah made his first US$40 (S$60) in Linden dollars, Second Life's virtual currency.

In fact, Mr Seah has been making real-estate deals and has just started building resorts and clubs, through his online character, Limkopi Davis.

Since becoming a resident of the virtual world in 2004, he has made 70,000 Linden dollars, or US$280 (S$430).

Nothing compared to Mr Trump?s billions, but Mr Seah's initial investment was barely US$2.

That is what he paid for his first parcel of virtual land, that scales to a size of 512 sq m in real life.

Mr Seah said he decided to try his hand at real estate trading after being inspired by Ms Ailin Graef, a virtual property tycoon better know by her Second Life name Anshe Chung.

The German citizen, after raking in virtual money worth more than millions of US dollars, set up a real company that hired 25 people who rent and resell property in the virtual world.

Said Mr Seah: "I'm interested in the concept of the virtual world. It is not geographically bounded and you can create a lot of things."

Strangely, when trading land in Second Life, where users can teleport themselves directly to any place, location still counts, just like in the real world.

"If your neighbour is a famous Second Life store, the surrounding areas will get a lot of traffic, so prices of the land will go up. It's like if you buy a condo or HDB flat next to a shopping mall," said the polytechnic lecturer by day.

The 33-year-old has since expanded his business to include developing content in Second Life, putting to good use his programming skills gleaned from his years as a developer of aircraft and military simulation software.

Two weeks ago, he set up a Web development company fronted by his virtual "construction and renovation" company, Tropical.

Mr Seah thinks that is where the money will be eventually.

"It doesn't come from selling Second Life things to Second Life people. Most of the business is from development work for real companies hoping to build a presence in Second Life."

Other virtual habitats

EVE Online

This popular space-based online game sees its denizens in a constant struggle for power across the galaxy.

At any one time, the average number of players logged in to EVE is about 20,000.

Players fly a variety of spacecraft, ranging from tiny frigates to monstrosities like the Titan, a ship that takes literally months and about 60 billion in-game dollars to construct.

What adds to the immersion of EVE, however, are its player-run corporations.

Players can band together to set up their own companies. Naturally, corporations tend to form alliances and take sides, as the current galaxy-wide conflict in EVE would indicate.

Band of Brothers, an alliance consisting of some of the most established corporations in the game world, got embroiled in a war with an alliance of smaller and newer corporations over allegations of developer misconduct and bias.

Both sides lost trillions of in-game credits in the ensuing firefights, and the war continues to this day.

Nicktropolis

The creators of Jimmy Neutron and Spongebob Squarepants run a virtual world meant just for kids.

Fans of the cartoons can interact with their favourite characters and other players directly from within their Internet browser.

And they can play online games and chalk up Nick Points, which can be swapped for items to furnish their private rooms.

Nicktropolis also features many safeguards to help protect its young players and give their parents peace of mind.

Chatting is limited by an in-game dictionary which bars foul language and personal information such as phone numbers and addresses.

Entropia Universe

Denizens of this virtual world can exchange their digital dollars for cold, hard cash. Think Second Life, except more game-like.

Entropia is free to download and play, but buying items in game to give your character better mining equipment, for example, costs virtual dollars.

Players can deposit real cash and convert it into virtual dollars at a rate of 10 virtual dollars to US$1 (S$1.50).

Deposits of US$100 to US$200 a month are not unheard of in this virtual world.

Unlike Second Life, Entropia features familiar video game concepts such as a skills and experience system, allowing player characters to train themselves in a particular field and provide services to other players.

Players have been known to pay exorbitant prices for virtual real estate. In 2005, a virtual asteroid resort in Entropia was sold for one million virtual dollars - US$100,000.

- By Daryl Lim