Guy Spends $300k on Virtual Property

[nekrosoft13]

I enjoy virtual spaces as much as the next person, but to actually plunk down $330,000 (real money) to purchase one in Entropia Universe... /boggle.
The company behind Entropia Universe announced the auction of a virtual property (the Crystal Palace Space Station) in early December, and someone going by the name of "Buzz Erik Lightyear" made that $330,000 winning bid. This isn't the first time Entropia Universe has auctioned off an expensive virtual property. The previous record was set by Jon "NEVERDIE" Jacobs in 2005 when he purchased a Virtual Space Resort for $100,000.

Entropia uses a real cash economy. For Lightyear's sake, I hope the space station is loaded with virtual hookers.

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/52233/Guy-Spends-300k-on-Virtual-Property

[lduguay]

Entropia uses a real cash economy. For Lightyear's sake, I hope the space station is loaded with virtual hookers.

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/52233/Guy-Spends-300k-on-Virtual-Property

Sounds like a good idea.
Unrelated - What if that lightyear guy dies, can he write up his space station on his will?
:headexplode:

[Roliath]

Must be nice to have that type of disposable income

[Vardant]

I'm not sure, but I think I've read somewhere, that he used the in game cash which is the equivalent to $300k. He could have made all that money in game without spending anything. You can change them for the real thing, but the article said, that he can probably make even more money now with that property.

[Rakeesh]

I'm not sure, but I think I've read somewhere, that he used the in game cash which is the equivalent to $300k. He could have made all that money in game without spending anything. You can change them for the real thing, but the article said, that he can probably make even more money now with that property.

The game cash is the same thing as real cash. It exchanges 10:1 with the US dollar in either direction.

[Sgt_Pitt]

Yeah after reading that article i went and spent 20 bucks in the game.

I put some low level crap on the broker that i looted and i must've mispriced it because the auction window is very complicated.

Anyway turns out someone also must've misbought it and i ended up with 230 bucks lmao.

Needless to say i pulled the money out :)

[CaptnStubing]

That guy is a moron

[Atomizer]

That guy is a moron

Or a genius, if he makes money off it, more then what he originally spent, heck, I would do that too, almost zero effort.

Though, I hate this whole "using real money for virtual goods" thing, its rather bs.

[ST:DS9]

A co-worker of mine has been playing this game since 2003, and has made a profit $15,000 in 7 years. He told me that this guy who just spent 300K could easily make his money back and then a lot more.

[Smee]

A co-worker of mine has been playing this game since 2003, and has made a profit $15,000 in 7 years. He told me that this guy who just spent 300K could easily make his money back and then a lot more.

I made 70k in one year on Everquest, I had to pay taxes on it too.
Jonathan Yantis (of Yantis Enterprises, later sold to IGE for millions) called me and wanted to know where I was getting all my platinum lol.

Most of the money I made was purely by luck, if anyone who was into EQ wants to hear the story, I'll share it.

I would just post it, but it's kind of a long drawn out story, so if no one cares, I'll spare myself the typing :)

[Tygerwoody]

I made 70k in one year on Everquest, I had to pay taxes on it too.
Jonathan Yantis (of Yantis Enterprises, later sold to IGE for millions) called me and wanted to know where I was getting all my platinum lol.

Most of the money I made was purely by luck, if anyone who was into EQ wants to hear the story, I'll share it.

I would just post it, but it's kind of a long drawn out story, so if no one cares, I'll spare myself the typing :)

i definitely want to hear it

[Smee]

i definitely want to hear it

Well, since you asked :p

If you go back to the first year or so, and remember trading at that time was mostly done in the EC tunnel (no AH yet) I was a big time trader, but not the biggest on the server by any stretch.. I was purely doing it as hobby, it was one of the things in MMO's that I really enjoy.. anyway, this guy sends me a tell (in horrible chinglish) asking how much for my Golden Efreeti boots.. "not for sale I tell him" at this point in the game, they bring about 10,000 plat but they were rare as hell (because it was always camped, and every caster wanted them) So he fires back.. "I pay you 40k plat"

Holy crap, ok... sold, he continues inspecting me, How much for necklace of superiority... I answer the same, not for sale.. too hard to replace.. He offers up 50k plat.. ok, now I know whats up, he has a endless supply of plat.. this goes on till my Druid is damn near naked, save for a few no-drop items from the plane of fear.

I remembered my brother in law (who got me into EQ) telling me that people were paying CRAZY amounts for plat and EQ items on Ebay, At this time 10,000 plat was selling for $300+.. I knew I was sitting on a gold mine if I could just deal with this guy exclusively.. He didn't care about RL $$ He just wanted his little guildmates decked out in the best gear possible.

Just from the gear he bought from my Druid, I had more than 250k plat (roughly 6k in real life cash)
I knew this guy was hacking, and I had to corral him because he was completely reckless and I knew he would be banned shortly.. So I asked him if he could speak English on par with his typing.. his answer:
"little" lol.

Short story long, I called the guy, he explained that he was using a hex editor and could create as much as he wanted.. I did my best to explain to him, that his behavior and reckless overspending would draw a ton of unwanted attention, I first asked him if he wanted RL cash, or just items.. "Just item for guild" was his answer.. Ok, get me a list.. I'll get it all together, you won't be banned, your guild will love you and I'll be fricking RICH!!!! Ok, I didn't say the last part, but I was thinking it.


So I went about my happy way collecting his guild's gear in the tunnel, he in turn overpaid me for it by about 1,000%
Just when I hit the $70,000 mark on Ebay platinum sales, the Devs fixed the hack, and My main account, along with His main account and 7-8 of his guidmates were perma-banned.

I had bought like 7 accounts to spread around the plat I had for just such a occasion, I had them in various family members names etc.. But they still banned all but 2 of them.
Had I been able to sell all the plat I had before the ban... I would have made close to 3-400k (Rough estimate.. I had already screwed the servers economy, My last 10k plat sold, was down to just over $200 (it was just over $300 5-6 weeks earlier) This was well before you could move servers.. If I could have server moved several toons around, I would have made a FORTUNE!

Anyways... told you it was a long story. :D