From October 2010 to the end of 2011, a 3D, open-ended sandbox game with last-generation graphics, no set rules, and a high degree of user-generated content (including collaborative multiplayer content) made $80 million in revenue. No, I'm not talking about Second Life, though I could just as well be, because SL earns about $75 million in revenue a year. I'm talking about Minecraft:

Developer Mojang recently quantified its success, noting that the game brought in pre-tax revenues of $80 million (540 million Swedish krona) in the 15 months following Mojang's official debut in October 2010, reports Swedish tech site NyTeknik.

So an indie game which was basically created by one guy at launch grossed as much revenue as a virtual world/game platform with around 200 employees. Also instructive: Most of Second Life's revenue comes from private landowners, meaning about 5,500 people provide most of this money, while almost all of Minecraft's revenue comes from individual players who paid to register their copy. (In the first 15 months, about 5 million folks, give or take.)

While this point might seem like a slam on Second Life, I'm actually making it to say there's good news for SL: