Man pays $100,000 for virtual space station

Wish I would have enough money to invest in something like this.

http://www.mindark.com/docs/pr/October-26-2005.pdf

A US film maker bought a virtual space station in an mmorpg called Project Entropia.

What sets it apart from other mmorpgs is that the game is free to download and free to play BUT you start out with next to nothing and to purchase gear you need to spend real money.

Real currency is used to purchase PED's (Project Entropia Dollars) which can be used on equipment and even lands such as the one this guy bought.

They have the exchange set at a fixed rate $1 USD = 10 PED's. So this guy spent 1,000,000 PED to purchase the space station but another unique aspect to the game is you can take your PED and convert them back into real currency. I'd assume that most or all money within the game economy has been brought into the world by people spending real life money and the currency leaves the economy as people cash out their PED's for USD.

He wants to hire some of the world's biggest DJ's to play music in his station while people are there hunting and such also according to Yahoo he said he plans to still bring in $20,000 a month from hunting tax and other income!

Their biggest purchase before was $26,500. Wish I could be this company and throw a new station out there every once in awhile for bid and rake in a few thousand

I wonder how much money they are making since anyone can exchange their PED's back for USD. - (Nevermind just checked their website and the projected GNP 2005 is 1.5 billion PED ... equivalent to $150 million USD floating around ingame )

a game? im confused

Yea it is a game.

mmorpg = Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game

this is basically what it is about

As Calypso is a recently discovered planet, the colonizers – the players – need to establish their own economy and build their society. This requires a lot of cooperation and specialization – one man cannot make it all. This means that the players need to collaborate when it comes to advancing the level of development; it is better to have a specialized miner searching for minerals and an expert tools manufacturer making tools. This is also true in regards to the land management and estate brokering.

I don't think I need another addiction to the internet!

it's bad enough already

looks interesting though

Sure does, I think I'm gonna see what it's all about.

That man must be one sandwich short of a picnic. Never heard anything like it.

The game itself is a little out of date. It had been in developement since 95 and I think it released around 2003. I heard it caught on more in Europe than it did in America but I just checked it out and you really do start out with nothing. They give you a civilian jumpsuit and that is basically it. No weapon no real armor or anything

Can't say I liked the controls, movement, or much else either. I don't even think I could attack with my fist (or I couldn't find the right key)

Concept was cool but that game would't keep me interested

I heard this on the news, it's quite interesting

There's this other guy who bought a property for $25,000 and had already made that amount back by renting out plots of land on his virtual property, looks like a real money maker if you can afford to play it at the beginning.

Who would have thought it? Making money off a game.

I'm going to try my hand at it