Gamer buys virtual Island for real $

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Shogun Gunner
That's not relevant. People profit and lose from ventures all the time. It doesn't matter how the activity is categorized. The only differention is that some economic activities are better bets than others. This particular one is not a very well grounded idea to invest in for many of the reasons stated earlier.

In fact, the owners of the MMORPG could make a LOT of money playing in their own market...

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by General Ludd
If I understand correctly, Project Entropia is free to play but you have to pay real money for items (or bum it off other people who are kind enough) which allow you to actually progress to the point where you can *really *play the game and aquire in-game money on your own, which can then be 'invested' in other in-game items or exchanged for real-world currency.

If you look at the bbc article there is a link to a wikipedia article. In that article it says that you can sell characters. So you can develop characters and sell them. That's creating an asset which can then be traded for other assets. The people who run the game can simply create assets by programing them but the real driving force is how many people play the game and invest their money, because when the assets are just programed in they decrease the value of the assets already in the game. The programers can keep inflation to a minimum by creating more items but they can also create deflation which would not be good for their game, since people are investing their money.

If this game did become very popular it could have a significant impact on the real economy.

[Kuciwalker]

Kid, it's not gonna happen.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Kid, it's not gonna happen.

This game might not, what about the idea itself (shelling out real money for virtual stuff)?

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Kid, it's not gonna happen.

Nice rebuttal.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Kidicious
Nice rebuttal.

Let me put it this way: it stands about as much chance of becoming a significant force in the economy as Apolyton would if it Mark and Dan sold moderatorships. That is, zero.

There'd have to be hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, flowing through the game for it to be significant.

[Kidlicious]

It actually sounds appealing though. Think about it. It's not like just buying a stock and watching to see what happens too it. With this investment you get to play it like gambling but funner. Hell, it's funner than opening a business.

[Urban Ranger]

Use real money at your own risk. Unlike casinos, this is not regulated. The operators can just pull the plugs one day and vanish with your money.

[Kidlicious]

I wouldn't be suprized if they regulated them one day.

[Shogun Gunner]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


In fact, the owners of the MMORPG could make a LOT of money playing in their own market...

Good point. In a traditional market, the rules are clearly stated regarding financial transaction, legal recourse, etc. There are currently no rules or guarantees in this new "market".

sorry, I just have to put quotes around market as this is really just a novelty idea today.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Kidicious
It actually sounds appealing though. Think about it. It's not like just buying a stock and watching to see what happens too it. With this investment you get to play it like gambling but funner. Hell, it's funner than opening a business.

It's like gambling, but much higher risk, and you can lose your money just by sucking at the game.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Kidicious
I wouldn't be suprized if they regulated them one day.

I don't see how they really could.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Azazel
libertarianism

How on earth did that come up?

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Thucydides
Wow, think of the possibilty. A few people who have too much time on their hands and a little capital can make careers out of playing this game. It's a zero sum game of course, so other people who play this game on a more recreational level are going to be giving their money to this guy and a few others like him. But given enough interests in this MMOG, you can make your entire livelihood on virtual real estate in a video game. This is good news for gaming geeks everywhere

Unfortunetly, I don't have the time to invest in game like that anymore despite having the money

Actually a friend of mine wants to set up a company in this popular MMOG (actually he wants it to be a commune or whatever) and make items to sell in the game for real money. I might look into it if he can secure me a free trial or something, but I told him "so you want me to spend hours in the game doing dull repetitive tasks (making armor, or furnature or whatever) for money? Sounds like a fricking job, what's the fun in that?"

Unless its gonna be a big payoff, it sounds fairly dull overall. But still an incredibly facinating idea/concept with a huge amount of potential for the future of gaming and the economy and humanity. Wow, I lvoe it.

[Urban Ranger]

Worse than dotcom.