Google Earth Virtual Environment?

I received an email today from WebProNews. I must have subscribed to their newsletter at some point along the way. Anyway this one caught my eye "Google To Create Its Own Virtual World?"

Even if the rumor turns out not to be true we all know it is only a matter of time. Why wouldn't someone try to replicate something as amazing as Second Life? I started to wonder what it might look like. I imagined creating my next virtual replica of Glidden Campus in Google Earth on the actual location of our DeKalb campus. Could we create classrooms in the sky in Google Earth or would we be confined to the earth by lifelike gravity? Who would own the land in virtual Google Earth? Could someone build on your real life (RL) property? If not, would big companies go after RL land so they could own it in Google Earth? Oh I know it is not likely that Google will develop their virtual world that way, but what if they did?

Other stories on the topic include: CNN Money, Glimpse Inside a Metaverse: The Virtual World of Second Life

Let me know what you think about Google getting into the virtual world business.
Ali