Tycoons Buy in to New Virtual Banks 10 May 2007

Tycoons Buy In to New Virtual Banks 10 May 2007

Actual banking has hit the virtual world – one of The banking licenses are only good for two years. them, at least. Entropia Universe this week made $400,000 in real cash on the sale of five banking But while goods in the real world might depreciate licenses. The licenses will allow their owners to in value when they are re-sold, used goods in lend cash to the community's participants for the Entropia generally increase in value as they are virtual purchase of anything from game-fighting passed on, Jacobs said. This means participants weapons to real estate. are hesitant to part with their acquisitions, knowing they'll have to pay an inflated price if they ever want In the world of Entropia, status and wealth are built to recover them. Virtual banks, therefore, provide via the accumulation of sought after weapons or funds for players who need money to grow their properties. Users can use these acquisitions to holdings but don't want to sell their belongings to slay dragons, squash monsters or just purchase fund those ventures. real estate. To acquire his banking license, however, Jacobs The market for these virtual goods is so fierce that sold off expensive virtual belongings like electronic sweatshops emerged years ago in spaceships and guns. Jacobs held on to Club developing countries. Workers in Asia or Eastern NeverDie, a nightclub he runs on an asteroid in the Europe would toil away at their computers for 12 world of Entropia. He re-financed his real home in hours a day and sell accumulated goods over the Miami to purchase the asteroid in 2005 for Internet for thousands. Online auction sites like $100,000, and the club alone now brings in about eBay and Yahoo! Auctions announced an initial $200,000 a year, he said. On Monday, for example, crack down on such sales in 2001, though eBay he earned $775. again banned the practice in January and made an exception for a rival game, Second Life , because Club NeverDie earns its money from patrons who it is not technically a game, according to eBay. pay Jacobs a fee to hunt on the club's grounds. Linden Lab's Second Life trades "Linden dollars," Jacobs said he invested a lot of money to create among its residents, which can be exchanged for intriguing characters and monsters that Entropia U.S. currency. denizens would find entertaining to hunt. He also spent $10,000 to purchase an egg that is supposed Now, the virtual world's citizens have turned to to "change the world," he said. No one actually more legitimate money-making pursuits. One of the knows what is inside the egg or when its contents banking licenses was purchased for $90,000 by will emerge, but it sits patiently on display at Club Jon "NeverDie" Jacobs, an Entropia nightclub NeverDie. owner and one of the world's most well known players. Jacobs and his other banking rivals must Just getting to Club NeverDie is an expense, as pony up an additional $100,000 as seed money. users must fork over $2.50 to hitch a ride on a spaceship to Jacobs' asteroid. Jacobs currently The other tycoons include avatars Janus JD owns several spaceship docking stations on his D'Arcwire, representing an undisclosed real life asteroid and will eventually charge a fee for the use bank, who paid $59,060; avatar Yuri iNTellect, of that space, he said. representing Russian Internet payment provider MONETA.ru, by Efremov, who paid $99,900;, Despite his success online, Jacobs is not looking to Second Life celeb Anshe Chung, who paid 60,000; parlay his Entropia success into real-world and an anonymous entrepreneur using the avatar business deals. "I am much more suited for the name "Jolana Kitty Brice," who paid $95,000. virtual world," Jacobs said. "I'm just a gamer."

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In fact he charts his monetary success with the help of two handwritten ledgers and has little patience with software programs. He bought Quicken three times to organize his finances and never used it, he said.

Jacobs was introduced to gaming in 1980 with the game Wizardry , which was played on an Apple IIe. In the 1990's, he turned to games like Everquest, but they were very time consuming and ultimately unprofitable. "People called it Evercrack or Divorce in a Box," Jacobs said.

There needed to be a balance and Entropia Universe "met that balance with cash," Jacobs said. "Real cash and a massive, multi-player community go hand in hand."

What does this mean for the average computer user looking for a little Entropia escapism? Players without any start-up capital can earn 20 cents an hour collecting the sweat off monsters' backs, which they can sell in Entropia for inflated prices, Jacobs said. Collect sweat for 40 hours and that's $8.00 you can use to start your empire, he said. Once players have amassed $100, they have the option of transferring that money to a bank in the real world.

APA citation: Tycoons Buy In to New Virtual Banks (2007, May 10) retrieved 3 October 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2007-05-tycoons-virtual-banks.html

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