Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Artificial economy to exceed authentic money

Jon 'NEVERDIE' Jacobs bougth himself a space resort in the game Project Entropia for the nifty sum of $100,000, a investment that can earn him the money back in the long run. Jon gets the right to rent out shops or appartments at the space resort and also hunting and mining taxes. Project Entropia, a MMORPG that let you buy/sell virtual money for real life™ money. His space resort will be completed around christmas and then other players can come and visit it.

Not too long ago a gamer by the nick Deathifier bougth a island in the same game for $26,500. With this much money involved in computer games, it's about to take effect on the real world economics, something that atleast I find intriguing. Edward Castronova, a associate professor of economics at the California state university, made a study two years ago, where he concluded that the MMORPG EverQuest had the same BNP as the worlds 77th richest country, richer than India, Bulgaria and China.

The lines between virtual money and real life™ money is beginning to blur, and in the future we may see games where you earn your living by working in-game, instead of working IRL™. Like someone I know of, sold his World of Warcraft account for 1400SEK...

Space Resort sold for $100,000
Gamer buys his own island for $26,500
EverQuest, 77th richest country in the world
Edward Castranova on virtual economies

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