Entropia Universe

First read the article. I discovered this yesterday while looking for the NYTimes review bashing IE (if you've never used or seen any other browser, then you'll love the new IE). First article in the Tech section was about an MMO, Project Entropia or Entropia Universe.

So I read this article, it's quite nuts. Implications are very fascinating. It's an MMO in the sense, that you log on, you do stuff (kill, mine, etc) and skill up your character in a certain aspect. You can either be a Hunter, a Miner or tackle a specific trade/profession. The game is free (download and to play). Cool. Now here's the kicker, the purpose of the article. You can convert the in-game money to real money. 1 USD is equivalent to 10 of the virtual money. You can deposit money....AND you can withdraw money from an A.T.M. card....Huh? The money I make in this so-called "game" I can use in the real world? There is something very odd about this concept.

The NYTimes' article highlights a single person that invested over 100,000 USD into the virtual world to purchse, then the guiness book holder for largest virtual property purchase, virtual land. He leases out space to stores and charges people to Hunt and Mine on his land. Currently he makes roughly 12,000 USD from this. Okay, now is when I'm taken back.

This has some serious implications. This is the second such article I've read in the past 2 weeks. One detailed a "real-estate" investor that did similar things, in another game. I know people can make money in MMO's, but it's generally been illegal and kinda removes the fun from the game. But now, this is part of the game! People can make this game their job.

This MMO later appeared on Slashdot and that contained a link to another article with more information on BBC. The game itself can be found here.