Cash Card Taps Into Game Universe Money

Hey, remember that online game which sold a virtual space station for $100K last year? Now they've got a cash card.

Back in October 2005, Mindark’s Project Entropia MMORPG attracted attention for selling a virtual in-game space station for $100,000 in real money to player/entrepreneur Jon Jacobs. Now they’ve got a new idea: real world cash cards which let players access money they’ve earned in the game’s virtual universe.

Project Entropia’s in-game economy is linked to the real-world currency: a Project Entropia Dollar (PED) is equivalent to $.10 USD. With the Project Entropia ATM card, players will be able to access in-game funds as real-life currency using any Versatel ATM machine around the world. Players will be able to transfer, withdraw, and deposit funds back and forth from their Project Entropia Universe account.

Within the Project Entropia universe, players can sell virtual products which have actual cash value: players can put real money into their characters’ development by acquiring goods, land, and other assets in the game universe. During 2005, the Project Entropia economy was estimated at $165 million USD. (Although a typo on their press release implies its economy is quite a bit larger than any nation on Earth