Anshe Chung (avatar of Ailin Graef) has become the first online personality to achieve a net worth exceeding one million US dollars from profits entirely earned inside a virtual world.

"I started small with nothing," writes Anshe Chung in an e-mail, "and worked my way through five distinct careers."
"I started ... as a private entertainer, somebody people who are bored or lonely could seek out for company. When more familiar with the creation tools in SL, I began to design and sell my own fashion line." After three months Chung had earned enough Linden dollars, to buy land there--i.e., server space.

She would develop the land and then rent it out or resell it. Because of Second Life's rapid population growth, land speculation has been its most lucrative vocation. She owns thousands of servers. Chung neveloped private islands and sets up communities restricted to, for instance, East Asian, Victorian, or Gothic architecture, or to French-speakers. She could prevent malls or clubs in certain regions and limits the heights of buildings.

"She is the government" - Philip Rosedale (founded Linden Lab - developer of Second Life).

Her operations have since grown to include the development and sale of properties for large scale real world corporations, and have led to a real life "spin off" corporation called Anshe Chung Studios, which develops immersive 3D environments for applications ranging from education to business conferencing and product prototyping. Anshe Chung's business employs more than 80 people full-time, most of them programmers and artists. She counts several Fortune 100 companies among her clients as well as high-profile organizations such as the government of Baden-Wuerttemberg and LifeChurch.tv