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Role Playing (Games) Businesses

Virtual Island Sells For $26,500 451

Posted by Zonk from the that-is-a-lot-of-gil-or-simoleans-or-therebucks-or-adena dept.
Aziphirael writes "The MMORPG Project Entropia has just announced that its first treasure island sale via Auction has gone for a grand total of US$26,500. Project Entropia's unique selling point is the ability to convert real money into ingame cash and vice versa. The owner is Zachurm "Deathifier" Emegen who intends to develop the island into a place for the community." From the article: "A large island off a newly discovered continent surrounded by deep creature infested waters. The island boasts beautiful beaches ripe for developing beachfront property, an old volcano with rumors of fierce creatures within, the outback is overrun with mutants, and an area with a high concentration of robotic miners guarded by heavily armed assault robots indicates interesting mining opportunities."
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Virtual Island Sells For $26,500 More

Virtual Island Sells For $26,500

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  • Said under breath while feigning a cough... (Score:5, Funny)

    by daveschroeder ( 516195 ) * on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:06PM (#11084482)
    SUCKER!

  • $26,500? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bob McCown ( 8411 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:06PM (#11084483)
    From the "I have more money than sense department"

  • Talk about "Intellectual" Property (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:06PM (#11084486)
    Jeez, I hope they down shutdown the game's server. Then his island may as well be called Atlantis.

  • and now the seller (Score:4, Funny)

    by hsmith ( 818216 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:06PM (#11084493)
    can move out of their parents basement!

    but who in their right mind would spend $26K on a virtual world

  • Bridge For Sale (Score:5, Funny)

    by Cade144 ( 553696 ) * on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:07PM (#11084500) Homepage

    I've got a virtual bridge that connects Manhattan and Brooklyn.

    It's sure to generate lots of revenue. It's for sale by auction, I expect to get at least $100,000FUD (equal to $100,000USD).

    Seriously though, good luck to all the virtual real-estate agents out there.

    • HOWEVER, if this was in a MMORPG, that allowed for real-life cashing in on money, and you had a bridge that you could charge $.05 a trip on, while also protecting boats from undercutting your business... Wouldn't that be a sound investment? A nickel a person, connecting the two largest cities in the game, and it is the sole connecting link?

  • Retarded. But... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by nordicfrost ( 118437 ) * on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:08PM (#11084513)
    ...to each, his own wishes. On the bright side, this is only a sale of disposition rights to creative property. Much like what we do when we buy music.

    I have to admit, though. The price was VERY steep.
  • ... there is a sucker born every minute.

  • You venture near the old volcano... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ClosedGL ( 661482 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:09PM (#11084538) Homepage
    ...you are eaten by a grue. Game Over.

  • Girl (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    How much for just one island girl?

  • From TFA (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Fnkmaster ( 89084 ) * on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:09PM (#11084546)
    Since nobody bothers to RTFA anymore:

    The first ever virtual Treasure Island is for sale in Project Entropia, a Massive Multi-Player Online Universe with a real cash economy. This extremely desirable piece of real estate promises to make the highest bidder very rich and very influential within the rapidly growing Project Entropia universe.

    So the reason it might be worth paying 26k for this virtual island is that there is a real cash economy in the "game" - in other words, presumably the in-game resources he can extract from his island can presumably be sold or utilized to make items in the game that can be exchanged for real US dollars. So it's a virtual investment, but one that has potential real-world payoff.

    • Re:From TFA (Score:5, Funny)

      by odano ( 735445 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:12PM (#11084586)
      Well when you say it like that, I think this purchase is starting to make sense...

      Wait a second...

      Nope, still makes no sense.
      • Let's see...

        "I can spend ~$27k on a thing, and potentially make my investment money back plus more parcelling this thing out to other people."

        Yeah, makes no sense whatsoever.

        /Karl Marx
    • The operative word here being "presumably". Since we have no matter renderers or holographic projectors yet, I fail to see how he can sell any virtual procurements of his interesting mutant-infested island for real dollars that he can use in his real life. Unless, of course, he already sold that one. "Hi, since I have no real life anyway, I'm selling mine to the highest bidder. I'm off to my Nirvana". Puhlease....
      • RTFA much? Project Entropia is based around the ability to freely exchange real-world and virtual currency. If he makes a profit off the island in the game, it becomes a profit in real life.

      • How really different is it from selling, software, music, books, or house plans?
        Think about house plans. You pay LOTS of money for some paper and graphite. I am not saying that I would do it but then I would not pay big money to belong to a golf club.
        • You can save those house plans forever. Nobody can (legally) take them from you.

          This "Virtual Island" could be shut down at any time.
        • Yes, but you don't pay for house plans so you can sit around looking at them and imagining how great it would be to live in that house.

          Or maybe you do. Most people buy them so they can build an actual house without having to study architecture first.

      • I would like to point out that people sell land and currency from MMORPGs on eBay for REAL MONEY all the time. This is really not that much of a stretch.

        • Re:From TFA (Score:5, Interesting)

          by TGK ( 262438 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:51PM (#11085110) Homepage Journal
          It's worth pointing out here that the phrase "Real Money" hasn't meant dick squat since the US went off the Gold Standard in the 1970s (1972? 71?).

          Today money is backed by the full faith and credit of the US (or whatever country you happen to live in) Government. Without anything of real value behind the money it has value simply because people belive it to have value.

          At least in the MMORPG world the game developers (who define rules for the world they oversee) have more to say about the value of a currency. If you confine your sphere of thinking to the game world, it's like having a currency backed by God (in the God walking around on the earth turning people into pillars of salt sence).

          What's interesting is that this particular RPG has chosen to base its currency off of the US dollar (in that there is a 1:1 exchange between US dollars and this game's currency). It would be somewhat more interesting to allow the currency to float or to base it on the price of gold. This way fluctuations in the world econonmy would affect it more predictably. At present, the US economy is tanking and, if you're playing this game from Europe, life is good for you buying in, but sucks for you buying out.

          Base it on the price of Gold and you only need to worry about the fluctuation of your own economy. Sure, that makes it more complicated for us Yanks, but the rest of you are doing twice as much math and you need to do.

          • Re:From TFA (Score:3, Interesting)

            by servognome ( 738846 )
            It's worth pointing out here that the phrase "Real Money" hasn't meant dick squat since the US went off the Gold Standard in the 1970s
            The gold standard was just a way to convince people to actually trust and use money. How would could I trust that I can use the paper you give me to purchase goods/services of my own? Oh well the goverment "insured" this dollar with something that is more universally recognized, gold. Gold didn't have any inherent value, the reason it was used as a standard was it was ra

    • Re:From TFA (Score:5, Interesting)

      by FortKnox ( 169099 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:13PM (#11084615) Homepage Journal
      I think the problem is that there is far too much risk involved. I think he'd be better off simply buying $26.5k stock from VA Software..... well... maybe not THAT risky... but still... ;-)

      Seriously, though... what happens if he, say, gets caught cheating and is banned from the game? Does he lose his investment? Who takes control?

      There aren't laws for virtual real estate...

      • Re:From TFA (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Reapy ( 688651 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:35PM (#11084878)
        No one here knows about the game and how alive the economy for this game is. I would like to know.

        Obviously the guy bought this island as an investment, with the potential to make more money then he payed. I bet the guy knew the risks invovled, that the game may go down, that the company pretty much decides to make a change that fucks him over, that the owning company is pretty much thier god. He is probably betting on the fact that their game will work and make more money, the more people like him can make money, and are hoping that they'll act in his best intrest.

        Who knows what the potential return on this could be? Maybe the guy took a calculated risk with his "investment" and decided hes going to do whats "stupid" and potententially make buckets of cash. Or he could go down in flames. Maybe the guy's got enough money that it doesnt matter if it all falls through, but can afford to exiriment.

        I mean, we don't know anything about the guy, or the game, to know if hes made an idiotic decision.
        I just think before anybody calls him an idiot they should at liest know the details of the risks hes taking, and maybe they actually will turn out to potentially have a great return at a high risk, and he can afford that type of gambling.

        I mean, couldn't I buy 26000 in a stock like lucent and exect that it would be worth something in the future, right, it couldn't all just dissapear on me... What did I just buy? A bunch of paper. What's the real value of that paper? It's whatever value people put into it. How is buying a stock any different then buying a virtual island? The value of the island is there as long as people are willing to pay for service from it.

        Well with stocks you have more protection from fraud then you would with this investment, but still, the concept is still there, the viritual property has value as long as people are willing to pay for it.

        But in this whole sceme, i'd like to be the game devs who can create 26,000 dollar property at whim. Well, I guess they couldn't as the more they made it would reduce the value, but still, we shouldn't write it off without more details.

        • Re:From TFA (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Wes Janson ( 606363 )
          Ok, you've drawn me out. I'm one of the veterans of PE, so I feel obliged to respond briefly here.

          Yes, you're right, this was partly an investment. Honestly, even though I've been playing PE for close to three years now, I do not know Deathifier very well at all. Most of the vets know each other, but he tends to keep quiet, though he's been around for a while. However, the second highest bidder, Neverdie, is fairly wealthy and responsible for the bidding going as high has it did. I can say with conf

      • I think the problem is that there is far too much risk involved

        Good point. I don't think it's a rip off per se, there is the potential for profit but it's very speculative. Maybe you could consider this to some sort of investment opportunity in the old wild west. There might be huge profits to be made, but there are no laws backing up the system, there are no safeties, and there is no government. So take your chances and you could become very rich, but I wouldn't take a risk that large.

    • So... work out a deal with a developer for say 15K

      ???

      Profit

      Man, I need a shower after that

    • Re:From TFA (Score:5, Insightful)

      by lxs ( 131946 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:39PM (#11084917)
      If this catches on it will become a bigger money-laundering scheme than the Las Vegas casinos:

      1. invest dubiously gotten gains into virtual island
      2. trade virtual island in-game with criminal B
      3. sell new island on open market.
      4. spend all that crazy loot legally(sorry, PROFIT!!!)

      So, who will become the top Entropia players? Al Quaeda, investment bankers or drug cartels?

      My guess is: All of the above.

      • Re:From TFA (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Wes Janson ( 606363 )
        I'm a veteran of PE, and I can answer this: it's been tried.


        About two years ago or so, a couple of guys (LIQUIDENFORCER and someone else, as I recall) had a smart plan. They'd steal a credit card, max it out into PE, and then screw around with all of the money (taking some of it out later, I believe).

        Only catch was, they didn't realize MA tracks all transactions, and keeps logs of damned near everything. Everyone who traded almost anything with those two, had their accounts suspended for a week o
    • I think the point is, your assets in the game are not protected by law. They are actually owned by the company running the game. So to most people, buying something virtual is about the same as creating something virtual.

      I only wish I had this idea with Dungeons & Dragons. If I could have gotten my players to buy a "luxury island" for even as little as $100, I'd be rich by now.

  • perfect (Score:3, Funny)

    by kevinx ( 790831 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:10PM (#11084554)
    sounds like a wonderful place for me to open up my lemonade stand.
  • Get back to me when I can translate the defense robots into the real world.

  • interesting. scary. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I assume the idea is that the new owner can reap real usd profit from subdivision, mining and taxation. what does the irs think about this? foreign income? does the world have an offshore bank? good lord. the devlopers seem to have invented a money printing press...

  • WTF (inital reaction) (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BWJones ( 18351 ) * on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:11PM (#11084578) Homepage Journal
    WTF? My initial reaction: "All I have got to say is that somebody is spending waaaaaay too much time playing games if they are willing to pony up that kind of cash for a virtual island". Then I realized (as I am browsing Slashdot wasting my time) that perhaps his person has plans to be a virtual developer which, while still the type of person associated with developing (build! build! build!) is developing and making money in a virtual world without the real world effects on the environment or populace that "real" developers have. Ah, I say go for it. We all gotta make money somehow, but I feel better telling my grandma I am a scientist as opposed to a make believe developer for a game. He will likely make more money than me anyway.

  • Possibly not a sucker... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by avalys ( 221114 ) * on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:12PM (#11084588)
    For all you guys making fun of this guy, it's possible he expects to make money off it. If he manages to sell resources and land from the island, he could then exchange his profits for US dollars.

    According to the article, he will be allowed to sell plots of land on the island worth around $30,000.

    He may not be as much of a dolt as you think.

    • Re:Possibly not a sucker... (Score:4, Funny)

      by mfender9 ( 725994 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:16PM (#11084659)
      Right, but in order for him to realize a profit, there would have to be at least one person in the world dumb enough to pay thirty grand for a virtual plot of land. Oh, wait...

    • For all you guys making fun of this guy, it's possible he expects to make money off it. If he manages to sell resources and land from the island, he could then exchange his profits for US dollars.
      Ok, BS. Something is only worth what someone else will pay for it. You may think that painting by your grandma is worth everything in the world but if it burns in a fire, you will get market value or a presettled compensation from the Insurance company.


      According to the article, he will be allowed to sell plot
      • You have the same attitude the Indians on Manhattan Island had when they 'sold' their land (according to legend, for a handful of glass beads).

        They felt that noone could 'own' land and therefore it had no value... the white guys who 'bought' it from them were suckers...

        Value does come from Supply and Demand situations, so all the guy has to do is create demand.. austensibly aided by the Company which has a vested interest in showing that their virtual land does indeed have value and that you as a player
    • He should consult with a lawyer. Selling the land seems like a bad idea. Let's structure a nice leasehold instead, like a term of years for short periods. I would also be curious about possible sovereignty issue ramifications.

    • So the only way he comes out not a sucker for springing $26K for a virtual island is if he finds other, bigger suckers to spring for pieces of his virtual island totalling more than $26K.

      It's just like Amway, without the up-passing of future proceeds so it isn't a pyramid scheme but the mentality is similar. If you can find enough suckers yourself, you end up not a sucker and can make some money off of Amway. Most people just end up as suckers, though.
      • That's the worst argument I've ever heard. That argument implies investing in anything is stupid, because it requires other, bigger idiots to buy it from you for it to be worthwhile.

        You should probably explain that to Wall Street, I'm sure they'll all stop buying notional ownership of corporations. I mean, they're of no value unless they can find bigger idiots to buy them.

        You could make an argument about the fact that what he bought is inherently a non-scarce resource, but saying it's stupid just because

        • That's the worst argument I've ever heard. That argument implies investing in anything is stupid, because it requires other, bigger idiots to buy it from you for it to be worthwhile.

          No, because "anything" isn't a non-existant item of no value and dubious future. Extrapolating a comment about one thing to everything else regardless of the similarity to what is being discussed is the worst argument I've ever heard. Too bad ad absurdum is so many's only argument.

          You should probably explain that to Wall S

  • For the nay-sayers... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Akki ( 722261 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:12PM (#11084596)
    According to the first article, the island represents "massive revenue potential". If there was someone insane enough to buy a few bytes for $26.5K, there quite likely are at least a few people who are insane enough to buy property lots from him.

    He could end up making us look like the fools.

  • Question... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TooMuchEspressoGuy ( 763203 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:12PM (#11084600)
    What, exactly, is the point of playing a computer "game" where you evidently have to spend thousands of dollars in real money to get ahead of everyone else? Especially when you have games like World of Warcraft which are actually fun to play and don't require you to give an arm and a leg to succeed?

    It seems to me that this "Project: Entropia" isn't really a game, but instead nothing more than a place for rich pseudo-gamers to show off. In a game, you get ahead through intelligence and talent, both physical and mental, not by how much of your pocketbook you have to spare.

  • Pandora's Box (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hunterx11 ( 778171 ) <hunterx11@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:13PM (#11084602) Homepage Journal
    Doesn't this raise a whole host of legal issues? What if the server crashes, can they be sued for neglect since they destroyed someone's property? IIRC other MMORPGs went out of their way to point out that their ingame items have no value and that buying them IRL is not allowed. Not that it isn't common anyway, but do game companies really want to get into property disputes?
    • Presumably they're protected by their contracts with the players.

    • Re:Pandora's Box (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      This is NOT a big deal.

      I've been in two other virtual worlds where the same thing is commonplace and actually encouraged.

      The world of Second Life (www.secondlife.com) lets you buy and sell land and goods for in-world Linden Dollars that you can turn around and sell at GamingOpenMarket (gamingopenmarket.com). The current L$-US$ conversion rate is about US$4 to L$1000.

      SecondLife even sells private islands to people, for upwards of US$1000 and US$200/month. Dozens of them. And they are profitable to near

  • Real virtual cash? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by AkaXakA ( 695610 )
    We've seen this before, and it usually ends up with quite a lot of people losing not only virtual but real money as well. Heck even with payment systems we've seen that (paypal).

    Also, due to the addictive nature of MMORPG's (think everquest), I feel there should be some limmit as to how much a game can affect you in real life, especially involving finances. In the real world you've got all sorts of financial protection (from, for example, pyramid schemes), but in virtual games you've got pretty much no pro

    • but in virtual games you've got pretty much no protection whatsoever. --

      So I guess common sense and good judgement don't count huh.

      This is the reason I don't play MMORPG's. #1 I buy the lisence to play the game, #2 I see no reason to pay an extra $20 a month to play on their servers., #3 unless you can spend every waking minute in the game you get nowhere in the game, #4 you do the same repetative motions over and over ad nauseum. The main factor is what I refer to as "bitch factor" those whiners who sh

  • Video-Game Economics (Score:5, Funny)

    by pragma_x ( 644215 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:14PM (#11084628) Journal
    Let me see if I have this right:

    (Virtual) Remote Island Location + Monster Infestation + Mutants + Active Volcano + Heavily Fortified Automated Mine = Prime Real-Estate at $26K USD

    Only in a game.

    I'd hate to see what the burned-out inner-cities of Entropia look like.

  • In Stark Contrast.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by BRock97 ( 17460 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:15PM (#11084631) Homepage
    "The island boasts beautiful beaches ripe for developing beachfront property...<snip>"

    Mr. "Deathifier" Emegen went on to describe his computer desk from which he does his online business. It is a large desk with newly discovered space underneath a pile of computer gaming magazines. The upper desk boasts a monitor rest with beautiful stacks of Mountain Dew cans ripe for recycling, an old arm lamp with rumors it once worked, and behind the desk described as an "outback" that is in desperate need of cable tying which is overrun with mutant horse flies, The house he inhabits has an area described as the "kitchen" in desperate need of the girlfriend who left it two years ago that indicates excellent penicillin mining opportunities.

  • I think Dr. Gonzo said it.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jonnystiph ( 192687 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:16PM (#11084657) Homepage
    "It never got weird enough for me...". Well, this is it, it's gotten wierd enough for me. I am cashing in my chips and going home.

    $26,000 for a virtual island? WTF? How much for the virtual bridge?

    Perhaps the better quote would be "there is a sucker born every minute"

  • Just the beginning (Score:2, Interesting)

    by CrazyJim1 ( 809850 )
    In real life, if you create a playground for kids, and someone gets hurt, you get sued and lose everything you own. See the war in skatepark culture.

    The only recourse for people to meet is online games. Things in this new reality is really worth cash. The problem is, people haven't really made stuff *rare* and *desirable* yet in a game with a 20+ year long run. You'll see stuff going for 25 grand *all the time* once game designers get some skills. Its amazing with programmer and artist skills that ga

  • In other news... (Score:3, Funny)

    by JustNiz ( 692889 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:17PM (#11084669)
    The comapny decided not to run the game any more.
  • Okay, so not a real Ponzi, but a similar result. At some point, the game will end, leaving a bunch of folks with nothing in return for their hard earned dollars. In theory, this fool could "develop" his new island, generate a little green, and then sell it to some other loser for even more money. All that does is raise the stakes.

    Then again, buying internet startups wasn't illegal either, but the result was the same.

  • natural disaster? (Score:5, Funny)

    by nizo ( 81281 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:19PM (#11084694) Homepage Journal
    Virtual island, meet hurricane Slashdot.
  • buy a real galaxy. i am selling andromeda for $2500.00. Any takers?

  • Here's what you got for your $26,500: (Score:3, Funny)

    by Weaselmancer ( 533834 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @04:20PM (#11084713)
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.5K Feb 12 2004 stupid_island.dat
  • Someone just had a whole virtual world slashdotted. $26,000 island and all.
  • When they renamed 'Entropia' to Slashdotted.

  • watch him make $75,000 on it. Slashdotters might think he's stupid for spending that but there's a whole bunch of even dumber people who would give him money for a slice of his "property."
  • Well I just RTFA and the island sold for 265,000 PED. Or in other words the island was sold with in game currency that has a 10:1 ratio to real money - meaning that the island sold for about $2,650. You can read more about the currency system here [project-entropia.com]
  • This is a real estate investment. The only reason this is making Slashdot is because it is happening in a virtual world. I personally don't think that he'll make much money since the game would probably need to be REALLY successful, and well, so far I haven't even heard of it.

    But I'm sure this guy knew what he was doing and wasn't just some 13 year old tossing his trust fund at this game.

  • Sounds like a publicity stunt to me. I haven't heard of prices that crazy in Everquest, UO, or any other virtual world. $26,000 will generate stories in major newspapers and other print publications. Hell, and their servers obviously can't even withstand the bandwidth right now.
  • Well, not the buyer's real name, but the name used in the game: Syndrome!

  • SnowCrash (Score:3, Informative)

    by Dalroth ( 85450 ) on Tuesday December 14, 2004 @06:07PM (#11086176) Homepage Journal
    While I think this is a bit premature, some of you nay-sayers really need to read Snowcrash [barnesandnoble.com]. A virtual economy is inevitable, and few stories I've read have captured the awesome potential as well as Snowcrash did.

    Bryan

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