Man makes record $335,000 in Entropia Universe virtual real estate deal
| New York
While real estate prices are down across America, there is one place that's booming. Just don't count on the bank giving you a mortgage for these properties. They are completely fictional.
A virtual real estate deal caught the eye of many this week when Jon Jacobs, an Entropia Universe user, made a record US$335,000 in a single sale. Jacobs sold his property on a fictitious asteroid to John Foma Kalun, known as "pesok" in the massively multiplayer online game (MMO).
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Jacobs, known online as Neverdie, sold part of his land this week for $5,000 more than the previous online property sale record of $330,000. Both records were set by Entropia Universe users.
Entropia Universe is an MMO that has an actual working economy based on real money. The game uses its own currency, but pegs it to the dollar. Players must buy into the game using dollars, and then all their purchases and sales are made with the game currency which has a real value.
Jacobs sold most of his virtual asteroid property at the same time. Including other smaller sales, his grand total was a whopping $635,000 according to Entropiaplanets.com.
Jacobs isn't the first to make a small fortune on virtual real estate sales, and he hasn't made the most. In another MMO, Second Life, Ailin Graef has become a real millionaire thanks to her virtual-world business dealings. Graef, known online as Anshe Chung, buys and develops virtual real estate just as developers and investors do in the real world. She reportedly takes home $150,000 every year for this work.
