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Anshe Chung is an online business acting as a broker and arbiter of virtual items and currencies. It is also the name of the avatar usually used to represent the business in virtual worlds. Anshe Chung is run by a husband-and-wife team, Ailin Graef and Guntram Graef; the actual registered name of the company is Graef IT Consulting. Used as the name of an individual, "Anshe Chung" - being a woman's name - is usually taken to refer to Ailin, but both members of the company are said to control the avatar on occasion.
Anshe Chung began by making large amount of purely virtual money on MMORPGs such as Asheron's Call, Star Wars Galaxies and Shadowbane that she did not convert to real money however. This changed when she entered Second Life, a virtual world MMORPG in which the in-game currency, "Linden Dollars", can be 'officially' exchanged for real money. Players of Second Life can also buy areas of game land, for either in-game or real money; holding land requires an increased subscription fee. Anshe Chung earned an initial stake by selling custom avatar animations at the time while these were a new feature of Second Life, Using this money she participated successfully in the emerging market for land. Anshe Chung now owns over 100 servers worth of land, most of which are rented or sold to other users.
Anshe also exercises control over what may be placed on these land areas, ensuring that zoning rules are obeyed; this is a contrast from other land in Second Life which is unzoned, creating common difficulties where multiple different types of business or housing are located in adjacent areas. Philip Rosedale, the CEO of Linden Lab - the company that produces Second Life - has referred to Anshe as "the government" when refering to the role she plays on her zoned continent "Dreamland". This has been misunderstood by some as Rosedale refering to her as the government of all of SL.
Anshe also buys and sells Linden Dollars for US$ seperately from Linden Lab's own exchange service, and has recently set up a similar service buying and selling IMVU credits.
Anshe attracted major media attention, which also creates publicity for Second Life since the claim has been offered by Philip Rosedale, that she made over 100,000 US dollars in a year by buying and selling land. Anshe herself has refused to comment on this figure. A number of differing factors in the land market at the current time - including Anshe's presence - are likely to make this feat extremly hard to impossible for any newcomer who is attracted by the publicity however.
Her extreme success in Second Life made Anshe a highly controversial figure within that online world's community. While a majority of SL users have at some stage become customers of her business and actual complaints about her services are rare, she has become a major target of objection by some residents. This, and the lack of accountability created by the anonymity of most SL users make it difficult to obtain unbiased information about her person.
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