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Virtual Real Estate Purchased For $100,000
mike1086 wrote to mention a BBC article discussing a $100,000 virtual land purchase in the Project Entropia world. From the article: "The space station is described as a 'monumental project' in the 'treacherous, but mineral rich' Paradise V Asteroid Belt and comes with mining and hunting taxation rights. With the price tag also comes mall shopping booth and market stall owner deeds, a land management system, a billboard marketing system, and space station naming rights. " The official release has further details. You may recall these folks from the expensive island purchase a while back.
Unless this guy doesn't know what to do with his money, this is probably a well-calculated business move. It's just like buying a building and renting the units to tenants, except he does it on a virtual property.
Business must be good, since the game won't go on for ever. He probably expects to get his money back within a year or two, if not sooner - that's a 50% return after 3 years (assuming he's bringing in fifty thousand each year). The only thing that can stop him is if the game experiences a sudden drop in population or if the company that runs it goes under and the server(s) shut down.
There are no provisions in PE for a monthly P2P subscription. You can deposit Real Currency into the game if you choose to, or not deposit if you are so inclined.
Your earnings potential is based upon how actively(and intelligently)you pursue your goals. It's also based on others losses, someone hits it big and while others constantly lose money,mostly due to ineptitude or sheer bad luck.
So, essentially, its a Ponzi scheme with a graphical client slapped on top to distract you from the fact that the only way you can make money is for demand for goods to continue increasing via a constantly expanding playerbase.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.