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Virtual World, Real Banking

Posted by Soulskill on from the just-wait-for-the-virtual-bailout dept.

The Opposable Thumbs blog brings news about MindArk PE AB, a Swedish game developer whose MMO Entropia Universe has an in-game economy based on real money. It seems the company has been "granted preliminary approval for a real banking license by the Swedish Finance Supervisory. ... MindArk's going to be just like a bank in the real world: it will be backed by Sweden's $60,000 deposit insurance, offer interest-bearing accounts for its clients, feature direct deposit options, let players pay bills online, and apparently will offer loans to customers." An Associated Press report adds that "The economic activity in Entropia Universe was worth about $420 million last year, about the same as the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, population 110,000. The game has 850,000 player accounts, though not all of them represent active players."

6 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. A logical and synergistic extension... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    As we've all seen, the financial sector has thousands of man-years of experience playing games with other people's imaginary money. They should find this new line of business a natural fit...

    1. Re:A logical and synergistic extension... by cjfs · · Score: 3, Funny

      Imaginary money is useful stuff. I use it on a somewhat regular basis. The key is to remember that you have to replace it all with real money, eventually, or there's trouble.

      I've always found it interesting that people are so willing to accept my pieces of paper for real, solid goods.

      The difference between USD and monopoly money is just a matter of confidence.

    2. Re:A logical and synergistic extension... by Jurily · · Score: 2, Funny

      The difference between USD and monopoly money is just a matter of confidence.

      Yeah, at least monopoly money is not dependent on China.

    3. Re:A logical and synergistic extension... by quanticle · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't know about that. I looked at my Monopoly board the other day and it said, "Made in China."

      --
      We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
  2. Re:Dangerous by michaelhood · · Score: 3, Funny

    MICHAEL
    May-maybe we launder the money.

    PETER
    That's a great idea. Ok, how do we do that?

    MICHAEL
    I don't know, I don't know. I don't even know what it means. It's
    something I think, I think coke dealers do.

  3. Re:Sounds like Second Life. by Lordfly · · Score: 3, Funny

    The difference is SL is wealth generation is based on the creation of new assets and the flexing of your creativity. Entropia's money-creating scheme is more akin to a casino; the house generally always wins.

    The end result may be the same (perhaps 10-20% of all of the creative people in SL actually see a significant profit, and perhaps 10-20% of Entropia's players are the same way), but I'd rather take my chances with creative output that I own the rights to instead of a grindfest stacked against me.

    Disclaimer: I'm a semi-dormant SL guru and virtual worlds developer since 2003.

    --
    hookers and grits.