Have you guys heard of this?

[Roscar Palidyne]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4953620.stm

This article is basically about a game that has currency which can be exchanged for REAL money. You can put in money to get game currency, and inversely you can withdraw your PED's (the game funds) and get real cash. Exchange rate: 10 PED's = $1 American.


In December 2004, another character called Deathifier, bought a virtual treasure island for $26,500 (£13,700).

The real person behind the character, an Australian gamer called David Storey, recouped his money within a year by selling land to build virtual homes as well as taxing other gamers to hunt or mine on the island.

And in 2005 there was a space station built and sold for $100,000.

Gasp.

I'm actually downloading this game as we speak. What do you guys think of this? A virtual community where you can actually profit on its real estate....which.......i guess that's kinda an oxymoron. "Real". "Virtual estate"? Yeah you work it out.

[Moonscar]

Actual I used to play it alot, its rather hard to do much of anything, and there is also a game like it called secondlife. Fun as it maybe making an actual income or any amount of money takes alot of work.

Play Flyff, its better. :D

[AdventWings]

No. Believe me, Ragnarok is the best.

...OK, maybe not. I admit, it's got me again.

PangYa is the best casual game IMO, but the idea of making real money from virtual asset is nothing new to the Thai. Kids buy and sell zeny (the currency in Ragnarok Online) by the million for as little as 10 baht. Even though the money exchange rate is around 38 baht/ 1 USD, 10 baht can actually buy you a full lunch.

I guess this game is good in a way that you actually have to know what you're doing in order to actually do something worthwhile, but I dread the day kids get hooked on this. Note that I said hooked, not just merely interested in it.

Hmm... I'm rambling. I'll stop now.

[The Emerald Hind]

It looks a lot like SecondLife to me. My brother-in-law plays SL and tries to make a living off of it—he does decently—but the entire concept disturbs me. Well, mainly because I know a bunch of people like my brother-in-law will become absolutely addicted to it. It's easy to do because its a commendable substitute for reality, and I've seen it happen with my own eyes.

Casually played, the game sounds great, but only as long as the player does not let the game play him. Use it to make your extra cash, but just beware the pitfalls.

[Ther]

Sadly, I haven't heard of it, but I know that some people have made money for their World of Warcraft characters.

Hell, I even considered cashing in myself since I don't care to play it that much anymore.

[Ashiakin]

Evidently Second Life had a security breach.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/09/11/secondlife.security.reut/index.html

More reason to be careful about stuff like this, it seems.

[Daggertail]

well those games sound a little dull for my taste and they're better ways to make money, like getting a job. I really don't like MMO games since instead of improving gameplay and trying to make the experience fun they just make new gimmicks. I think the idea's sickening, gaming should be done for fun and not to make money and it's just a dumb gimmick.