BBCnews is carrying this article summarizing the progress The Sims On-Line has made since its inception. In a nutshell, they seem to be discovering, or rather re-discovering, the universal principle that when given opportunity, people cheat.

What's really remarkable is we get to watch a sophisticated social matrix evolve on the spot. The developers (not just of TSO, but others like Camelot and Everquest) initially start out with a set of overly simple checks and balances on the assumption that the rest will be taken care of with a sort of "honor system."

Unfortunately they all seem to forget that for a small but significant minority successfully cheating a system, any system, is a reward unto itself. When the developers are quick and responsive, what results is an escalation of increasingly sophisticated checks and balances, closing loopholes as fast as they can be opened.

The lessons in civics and the evolution of laws alone are fascinating.