An aussie gamer has spent $26500 on a "virtual" island as part of the RPG game Project Entropia, where you deal with a real cash economy...

Is it just me, or does it seems incredibly sad that people are spending and making money out of a meaningless virtual world?

[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4104731.stm[/url] :roll:

It's insane yes, but when I read about it I must say it's an awesome concept.

-Psynce-

I thought, at 1st mention, that this person must be a moron. BUT, he has bought this island, virtual or not, it seems to be an investment. people can buy plots, and build, and he can tax people that visit? lol

this bloke is a genius, the people that pay him to be there are the idiots. but then they can most likely rent out the houses they buy or build. i wouldnt be surprised if this investment turns into a multi-million pound a year business for Deathifier. go on my son!

Reminds me of the guy that's selling property on the moon.

<cookoo, cookoo>

my point being tho, who is more cookoo.. the person selling or the people buying? ;)

[quote=unome]who is more cookoo.. the person selling or the people buying? ;)[/quote]

Well said Descartes. :lol:

dude.. what would happen if someone invades his little island? :P

[quote=arielus]dude.. what would happen if someone invades his little island? :P[/quote]

His little green army men would have to kick some ass.

there's no telling what i would do if i had money to burn like that

Personally I think these people are smoking [url=www.virtualcrack.com]virtual crack[/url].

[quote]there's no telling what i would do if i had money to burn like that [/quote]

this kid most likely said the same thing a few years back, lol.

kid.. he is most likely in his 40's or something

[quote=PsynceFiction[MS]]It's insane yes, but when I read about it I must say it's an awesome concept.

-Psynce-[/quote]

I agree. Later on.. this guy is gonna recieve money from taxes from each visitor/owner of any house/etc and prob. retrieve his investment and make more. :wink: [quote]Almost 200,000 people are registered players on Project Entropia. [/quote] :NotMe:

[quote=skahound][quote=arielus]dude.. what would happen if someone invades his little island? :P[/quote]

His little green army men would have to kick some ass.[/quote]

hahaha- that's a funny ass picture to have in my head... I was thinking of little banchee people w/ rags for clothes w/ AK47's standing ready!

[quote=skahound]Reminds me of the guy that's selling property on the moon.

<cookoo, cookoo>[/quote] i heard about that, its actualy ceap,the problem its how you get there :D

I just think this whole thing is quite a bizarre concept - living and making money in a meaningless cyber environment. It kinda makes me think of the concept behind the matrix - but where inhabitants have chosen out of there own freewill to take part.

...but maybe I'm thinking too much into it! :roll:

Using money to buy things in the "real world" is just as arbitrary as using it to buy things in this virtual world.

Money is something that people have decided to agree has value. It's just paper and crappy metal, but we all agree that it has a certain value in order to make things work more efficiently.

When currency first started coming out, I'm sure people were like "Yeah, right, buddy. Last week I did the same amount of work for you, and you gave me two horses. This week I do it, and you're offering me a bunch of seashells? I don't think so. I'll take the horses."

:lol:

Re: has the world gone mad?!

WHATTTT!!!!???

he bought what??? a virtual island?? damn people really dont know what to do with thier money.

Isn't the idea of any currency a virtual concept, to a certain degree? Its just paper (which is real) but the decision to make it valuable is just a universally accepted idea. Money is virtual. Paper is real. These people are deciding to make other things valuable. The fact that its a virtual thing they're making valuable ins't that big a deal. Its kinda fucked, but so is money. The screwy thing that makes your head hurt (or at least it makes my head hurt) is that economy and money in general is just an idea we create. Its not really "real".

Douglas Adams made a funny short example in one of his books. These people in the future crash on a planet, and since they are the first people on the planet they decide to make leaves their currency. So they rake in all these leaves, but to be rich they have to burn down a lot of the forests to make the value of the leaf go up.

oops I didn't see timkell's post. Redundant.

[quote=unome]I thought, at 1st mention, that this person must be a moron. BUT, he has bought this island, virtual or not, it seems to be an investment. people can buy plots, and build, and he can tax people that visit? lol

this bloke is a genius, the people that pay him to be there are the idiots. but then they can most likely rent out the houses they buy or build. i wouldnt be surprised if this investment turns into a multi-million pound a year business for Deathifier. go on my son![/quote] agreed. with 200,000 registered users, he's going to bank off of that shit quiiiiiick.