Gamer Pays $26,500 For Virtual Property (News)

Funky Zealot, GamePro

16/12/2004 11:23:27

Project Entropia, a virtual world that uses a real cash economy, announced today that 22 year old "Deathifier" won an auction for an extensively rendered virtual treasure island for $26,500 - the largest ever spent for an MMO. The auction started in late August and ran through the month of December, taking offers from bidders around the world.

The winner obtains taxation rights for hunting and mining on the island--providing real cash revenue. Potential cash can also be made through selling housing lots and market places - some of which have purportedly been sold.

"This is a historic moment in gaming history, and this sale only goes to prove that Massive Multiplayer Online Gaming has reached a new plateau where the gamers themselves have discovered the true economic potential of an online community," says Marco Behrmann, Mindark Director of Community Relations. "This is an incredible milestone."

Instead of banning and discouraging the selling of virtual property as did Blizzard with World of Warcraft, Mindark readily embraced it, having a cash-driven economy but a free download and subscription.

Along with the advancement of MMORPGs, virtual property has continued to gain recognition as a real world asset - a MMO player in China won a suit for virtual property theft last year, and police raided a house in Japan earlier this year for a player that took over another's Ragnarok Online account.