“Due to an extreme surplus (of) withdrawals since the announcement of the Linden Labs new policy regarding inworld banks, we have temporarily disabled the withdraw feature on ATMs until further notice.”

A sign in the lobby of JT Financial, a Second Life bank. A rule change has led to old-fashioned bank runs across the virtual world, costing depositors real-world money. As reported in a story in the Wall Street Journal which begins: “In the real world, banks are reeling from the subprime-mortgage mess. In the online game Second Life, a shutdown of the make-believe banking system is causing real-life havoc for thousands of people…”

Thanks to Good Morning Silicon Valley.