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Entropia Universe: $335,000 for Virtual Property
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
The single largest transaction for virtual property has been completed thanks to a $335,000 dollar sale of Entropia Universe property including seven domes, a stadium, a mall, a club, and more to one John Foma Kalun. The seller, Jon Jacobs, has made a number of big ticket sales and purchased virtual properties up to the $100,000 mark. This sale marks the new record for a single transaction.
Entropia Universe allows users to convert real world finances to a virtual currency, offering a fixed exchange rate for users who choose to cash-out and convert their virtual currency back. Entropia’s in-game properties, therefore, have a real cash value.
Read more here.
Comments
Jesus WoW
Finally - Best site for Chuck Norris
http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/
That is totally insane .
I am SO in the wrong business
Work hard Play Harder
Note: This occurred on Planet Calypso, one of the planet partners within the Entropia Universe.
Before the sale, Jacobs posted some of the details of financial operations as an enticement for potential buyers on the most popular player forum. Interesting stuff.
IIRC, this is the second time that this piece of virtual property has claimed this title, the first being when Jacobs won the initial auction when Mindark (the operator of Planet Calypso at that time) placed the resort on the auction block.
Alpha AG Geek
Founder- Manticore Society
Wow $335,000. Can we say buy a real house for that amount of money.
It makes sense.
Think about an investor in a shopping mall. He says, okay, the roads are good, the population is good. I think I can chanrge x to use the space while I own it. Okay y is a good price.
This is the same idea - the game is creating a virtual location with some passive traffic, and the buyer will use his wits to get people interested in going to his location.
The game company has decided that a certain amount of minerals in ther game generates a certain amount of revenue for them - so they parcel that out ot the buy and he uses it to attact players. As the players interact and pay fees for access, characters, item, there is a formula where the company pays the buyer.
Now, just like phone companies pay you if there is an interruption in service. If the servers go down or the security of the playerbase is compromised and the game company loses a certain number of users, I am sure there is a clause refunding to the buyer.
It makes sense.
Someone please make a good MMO.
Also see here:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/3900601#3900601
Forum, wiki and tools for Entropia Universe
I think it would be a lot of fun to make real money in a game. The only experience I have with something like that is APB, and they closed shop. I think that's one of the risks, if the company goes bankrupt you are screwed, where as a property in the real world will always have value and can provide you some shelter.
I have never even looked at this game so what do they do with this virtual property do they gain income in real life with it. I am curious why would anyone spend so much real money for something that exist in a game . How will they make any profit from it in real life .What is the purpose of the purchase ?
dang i should have play entropia when it was in beta but nooo my computer did not have the grphic card to handle the game
the only thing entropia is really known for is that they have linked their ingame economy to the US $ 1$= 10 ingame$ or what they call the ingame economi again, and let you withdraw money if you want to - tho that is very unlikely to happen, the game take more money than you by normal gameplay can achieve, its more like a self determined monthly sub, and people who dont know how to be careful with their money hate this game since the initial 10$ or whatever you deposit, can be spended VERY fast, if not careful.
dont know about this specific property, but they sold some area before where the highest bidder of the auctioned area could put a tax on the hunting grounds, and create revenue from other peoples kills, or deny access to the area and use it themself, but idea were to let the winner "rent it out" to other players...were their first virtual sales, so yes for sure people only pay this kind of money hoping its a good investment.
either way dont start playing expecting to earn on it, but think of it as an alternative sub model - there is alot of people who play for free as well, tho you need high patience level and alot of time to do that...ofc the way to try to make people to put money into the game.
Someone asked about how the resort could make a profit. Land owners in game can apply a "tax" to all looted animals or mined resources that players reap on their property. Typically this falls between 2 and 4 percent.
Note that there aren't huge numbers of available land areas, and the ones that are for sale in game do command large prices. Another method of gaining land as part of a group would be to win a landgrab battle. This would be nigh unto impossible for entry and mid level players to achieve.
Technically the game is indeed free to play, but becoming the one of the most powerful forces in the universe for free is an unrealistic expectation. No suprise, even McDonalds won't pay you to eat their hamburgers. Depositing the same amount other games have for a subscription fee can smooth your way towards achievement without endless collection of vibrant sweat to sell mindforce users.
That being said, the game is fun, the story is taking a turm towards major excitement with new developments in the robot war, and other destinations are coming online within the Entropia Universe.
Alpha AG Geek
Founder- Manticore Society
If i am not mistaken, I believe there have been far greater money transactions in SecondLife then described here. Secondlife goes thru millions of US$ equivilent transactions daily with the option of turning your earned in game moneys < Lindens > into real US Currency at any time. Seeing this in another game doesnt surprise me, Not seeing it in tons more mmorpg's and virtual worlds does. This is the future of online gaming.
I believe most games will run thru various platforms of virtual worlds all of which will be able to handle most any currancy in the not so distant future. IBM has already developed tech so your Avatar will be able to leave one virtual world and go into another completely different virtual world without loosing the Identity ,look, or inventory of your AV < Avatar > . Just my 2 cents
This is actually interesting. Reminds me of landing on Park Lane and Mayfair in Monopoly and having to pay rent. So that is how they make money and the conversion into real cash okay now I get it.
You know what they say about a fool and his money o_0
These sales are gimmicks to bring attention to the game. I doubt if actual money exchanges hands.
Just wait till he decides to charge back those purchases - lulz
So much for enjoying a game. Sooner or later, you'll see the US government take its stake in it as well. I wonder if the guy who sold his "land" is going to get taxed on his hard earn money (?). If you're dealing with money the IRS will always follow.
Thats only true if they happen to be subjects of the Imperium. The last time I looked the IRS only applies to US subjects. ^^
An how long do they plan on hosting your little virtual property??? and if servers go down I dont think there is insurance for this kind of stuff
These must be the same kinda wankers that would come around to your house and shoot you 'cos you killed them in a game. WTF is up with people?
The Entropia combat system, mining, and even crafting to an extent are like slot machines in a casino. There's a built in house edge or advantage to the owner. In the long run, most people lose money playing this game, maybe a little, maybe alot, but overall all of the systems have a built in money sink. Bullets, armor decay, expendables for mining and crafting. You can't break even unless you hit a jackpot, even playing smart, the average loot will still leave you with less money after a big hunt than you started with. That's how they pay for the servers and bandwidth, the difference between the loot/minerals gathered and the cost of the items required to collect them, overall the players are putting in more money than they take out.
There is only a couple of tasks you can perform in game that don't cost anything. You can collect sweat from wild creatures and you can collect rare items off the ground (plants, rocks, etc). There's some chance of being attacked, but it doesn't require you to purchase any items from the in-game store. Consequently, there are alot of people doing this free task and the price is fairly low for even large quantities of 'sweat'. People make enough money collecting sweat to get weapons and ammo to start hunting, but they usually end up collecting more sweat when they run out of ammo, unless they get lucky and hit a jackpot.
Newt, and what business doesn't have a business model that generates profit for itself?
A person cannot go into McDonalds and come out with a bag full of burgers and more money than they went in with. By the same token, becoming a one man offworld kick squad for free is an unrealistic expectation because all items in EU have a real world value, so there aren't going to be platoons of non-depositing ubers.
In addition to being a shrewd hunter, crafter, miner, colorer, etc, a successful colonist on Planet Calypso must also be a shrewd businessman and pay attention to the market for all items they loot, mine, or produce.
It's not a game for the "I just want to shoot at stuff" crowd. People just need to recognize that going in and plan accordingly, or like you they will meet dissapointment.
Alpha AG Geek
Founder- Manticore Society
Oh, money is changing hands. Forbes even says so.
http://blogs.forbes.com/oliverchiang/2010/11/17/names-you-need-to-know-in-2011-jon-neverdie-jacobs/?boxes=Homepagechannels
Alpha AG Geek
Founder- Manticore Society