Treasure Island
Michael Zenke of Slashdot alerted us to the recent auction of "Treasure Island" in Project-Entropia. Winning bid: USD26,500.
Now as anyone who has been to Europe recently will tell you, the US dollar is now worth about the same as the ruble. But still, that's a lot of money.
I don't know Entropia well enough to make any sort of analysis of this outcome. It may be that the available revenue ("Taxation rights on hunting and mining activities on the island"!!) makes this a smart buy. But still, damn, that's a lot of money!
[Other commentary at Slashdot games]
Posted by Dan Hunter on December 14, 2004 | Permalink
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» Project Entropia from Zen of Design
File this in the 'these guys haven't been litigated out of business yet?' Perhaps inspired by bad Capital One giveaways, Project Entropia has sold a virtual island to the highest bidder, for a sale of $26, 500. The winner plans to take that land, ... [Read More]
Tracked on Dec 14, 2004 11:59:00 PM
» http://www.alttext.com/archives/05/02/050208.html from Alt Text
A virtual island has sold for $26,000 Its in the in the virtual world of Project Entropia in which you... [Read More]
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Comments
Gonna see a lot more of that in the future. We had a guy spend $10,000 in one day once, and we don't even have a (legal) way for players to get real money back out of the game.
--matt
Posted Dec 14, 2004 5:28:10 PM | link
I would be really interested in hearing from those that have actual experience with this game.
Can this person actually get a return on investment here?
I was thinking about it from a real estate perspective. Maybe this is true - no taxes on the land itself (maybe on the income), no upkeep costs (the roof does not ever leak). It seems like it would cost little or nothing to maintain comparatively. BUT, I have never played this game and I am intensely interested in the opinions of those that have.
Greg
Posted Dec 14, 2004 7:18:09 PM | link
And we thought land prices in SL were insane.... The max of $US 5000 for a 16-acre Sim doesn't seem so bad now :)
LF
Posted Dec 14, 2004 11:51:28 PM | link
plus, with an sl sim, you can provide a fully customized enviroment and set of activities for your patrons. you can even update it regularly to keep their interest.
adding that it only costs $980 down and $195 a month, that seems a much better deal unless entropia is something i can't even imagine. people swear they have no trouble recouping their monthly fees owning a second life sim. sometimes i find that hard to believe as well.
Posted Dec 15, 2004 10:01:08 AM | link
The island consists of 6000 acres and includes a castle, a mine and fantastic beasts to hunt.
And every month the owner will be able too sell, 5 lots every month for a year.
And every lot is at 600$ estimated market value.
Posted Dec 16, 2004 5:00:08 AM | link
It IS possible to get a return out of this game.
The top of the range healing kit in the game is worth between 7-9k usd depending on availability and if the seller is greedy or not. and at this kind f price, paypal and direct wire bank transfers are the order of the day.
PE's market for the rarer items has inflated 1000% in the last 2 years. the same healing kit used could be picked up for about 200 USD 2 years ago. If only i could have predicted the inflation rate... but who is to know. 2 years ago, we thought that price was way to high and it would never get higher... but, it always did. and it shows no sign of backing off.
as far as official payments from the games developers go if you wish to "cash out" the official way, it can take up to 6 months for the money to be cleared before being added to your credit card's balance.
Deathifier's investment will pay itself off in ~2 years at its current rate. and after that... well you can see the profit there...
Ive been around the game for a while and seen it grow and i believe the publicity around the net that this sale has created will increase PE's population and hence, boost the economy of the the game. It can only be good things. I just wish i had the money available to buy the island myself :p
But i'll settle for someone in my society buying it. Regards,
Rollo
Posted Dec 16, 2004 6:54:38 AM | link
Systems that promise/deliver a fantastic cash-out by drawing the money out of new participants entering the system are commonly classified as pyramid schemes or a Ponzi scheme variant - Which PE is not.
While PE is clearly a source of entertainment and not a Ponzi or a pyramid, if 'gamed' this way the net result for a participant investing instead of just playing a fun game for entertainmen's sake might be very disappointing. My only advice here would be to take it as a trip to the casino - and it is a trip to the casino: Have fun, cash out when you're done if you were lucky.
Posted Dec 16, 2004 12:28:40 PM | link
Fack All Of U and Fuck This Games........!!!!!!
Posted Apr 15, 2005 11:09:38 PM | link
