$26,500 paid for virtual island

[SAS]

A 22 year old gamer named only as "Deathifier" has coughed up $26,500 (£13,700) for an island that exists only in the RPG game Project Entropia.

The game allows you to trade real cash for credits and convert earned credits into real cash, making the likely hood of the island owner reclaiming his funds high. Plots of land are being offered and Deathifier is able to tax gamers who arrive on his land.

"This type of investment will definitely become a trend in online gaming," -Deathifier.

Earlier this year economists calculated that these massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have a gross economic impact equivalent to the GDP of the African nation of Namibia.

The full story can be read here on the BBC.

 

[Brynn]

slashdot article

 

[ReActor]

Earlier this year economists calculated that these massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have a gross economic impact equivalent to the GDP of the African nation of Namibia.

Sounds like something from Hitchhiker.

(Specifically that bit where millions of tons of Playbeing magazine were dumped onto Ursa Minor, causing a slight but noticeable shift in its orbital trajectory.)

 

[Legaen]

Ok I'll buy 10 of my own islands and see how it goes.

 

[CurryKnight]

what a sad ****.. but intelligent

 

[clearbrook]

Seems daft to me, unless it costs more than $26K to run the servers (net present value including bandwidth etc etc). If the island is "cheaper" to host then the game developers can just create another "lost island" and sell it too.
Seems to me as though this guy is paying the hosters, so that he will then create the content for the island.

Even better, from a cursorl look at the BBC article he will then have to pay *more* to stop his content decaying!

I guess if he can copyright the layout etc of the stuff he does on the island then he could make some $$$, but I just cannot see any way it will work...