$60,000 on a video game? That is beyond pathetically sad. Unless I misread the article and it relates to receiving back actual real-world cash. Otherwise, that is one sad little man.

And this is why games where you pay REAL money for FAKE money fail.

Really, theres better things you can do than spend a fortune on a junk game.

Those people are sad... and MindArk is quick to take advantage of that.

They are paying 60 thousand dollars, rent on the virtual building (which I am sure they will make the same as in real world), 100 thousand dollars deposit fee (don't know exactly why but it's money they wont be able to take back so I'm counting that as a loss) and 5% of the profits. And all that just so that they can be one of five "lucky" businesswomen/men to be able to have idiots try to get a loan for a large sum of money without planning on (or being able to pay back).

Well, gratz to them then. And can anyone give me their contact information, I would like to sell them a brigde.

@Sakura: "And this is why games where you pay REAL money for FAKE money fail."

PED = $

So, interest in Entropia translates to money in life.

Wait, so are we talking real money or not? Because spending $60,000 on anything other than a down payment on a house or a badass car is f'ing ridiculous.

@atma: Well yes, it's real cash, and it is riddiculous, but then again, the person made a million dollars off of the game in the first place, so I'm sure she knows what she's doing.

Funny, the first online game I made money from.
I was "n00b" and the best (or so) gun dropped from a mob and I sold it for 200€.

Too bad the game itself is not so good that I would have continued to play it after the profit...

I'm kind of thinking that spending 60,000 on a car- no matter how "badass"- is f'ing ridiculous. But maybe I'm crazy.

Is this legal? This has to run afoul of US banking regulations, doesn't it?

I'm interested in the legal side too.

for example, what exactly is the colateral on a virtual loan? if someone runs out on one, what legal rights does the VIRTUAL banker have to regain their money? Pretend dollars are worth an equivalent amount of real life cash, so can they send a real life collection agency? this seems like a horrible legal mess just waiting to happen.

does PED mean pedophile dollars?

seconded on the "badass" car misspending.

Does anybody ever get a return on this stuff?

I mean, we all know that $ -> PED, but what about PED -> $? When and how do people see real money? All this SL millionaire stuff is just based on a seemingly arbitrary valuation of in game assets. Can anyone show me a "Man uses money earned in Second Life to buy real sandwich" story? Because otherwise I am going to have to conclude this is just vapor-banking.

keerist! Even Neocron was better looking than this POS.

10 PED = $1 in case you're wondering.

Anyone else sick of Second Life in the new yet??? I know I am.......

Hmmm..I can see where loan sharking real money in a virtual world could be a problem - how do you enforce terms? If they welch on you, you can't send in the bone collectors, and you have a very confusing (and unexplored) set of legal statutes to navigate depending on your client's country of residence.

Seems like a big win for the makers of this game and a big 'Kick Me' sign on the backs of the 5 'lucky' businesspeople.

Let me correct the largest misconception I hear in the comments. The loans wont be unsecured, the money will be lent out against a deposit of an ingame item the bank owner specifies at a value the bank owner specifies. If the person who received the loan fails to pay up, he will lose ownership of the item and the bank owner will be free to keep it or to auction it off.

Glorified pawnshop I hear you say now. Indeed, but also a great way to get money flowing. Certain items (elite weapons, armors and first aid packs) have inflated from ~$500 up to $25,000 over the past 8 years and most of the ingame population expects their value to keep on rising (oh them pretty tulips ^^). This necessarily results in hoarding of such items by individuals who actually started to play shortly after the game release and managed to loot them or bought them later to speculate. The "banks" should provide an incentive for these players to get a "mortgage" on their expensive items instead of just letting them gather dust in the storage.

I am not trying to be the advocate of Entropia Universe here, it is a small project that can barely compete with the complexity of WoW or other mainstream MMORPGs. However, my opinion is that the big MMO publishers will soon understand how much money there is to be made from the exchange of virtual goods for real cash (Sony already did some research with its Station Exchange).

By the way, could the author replace the 7+ years old Beta screenshot with an actual one? There is plenty of them at the Entropia web.

Michal nvcK Novacek

I play Entropia Universe so here is an explanation for those who have´t.
Entropia Universe has a real cash economy meaning every thing you own i.e items ,equipment,deeds and land are worth real cash 10peds(Project Entropia Dollar)is fixed to the US $1.
You buy your own equipment hunting ,crafting, mining or land with real cash you put in .A lot of these items are unique and are worth up to $40.000 and these prices are steadily rising.Most items you use decay and need repairs ,this is where the game makes it´s money but also you get skills for all these activities you do which you can farm from your avatar and sell in the auction for real cash to.
You can take out cash from the game with an Entropia ATM card which you can use anywhere i,e buy your food or clothes like a visa.
Now this is how banks will work as far as I can gather and that is if you need cash in the real world you can put up a unique item for the loan and have 6 months to pay it back at the rate which the bank has set.A lot of players have a lot of money tied up in their assets so this will give them freedom to play their money.
If you are a bank owner and own a bank in real life you can exercise extra banking services but I´m not sure these services will be until the banks open.
I´m not sure on all the technical stuff but what I do know is that When John Neverdie bought that space station for $90,000 he made his money back after 8 months and is still making money.