I had missed this previous post but thought I’d try to do some catch-up on Entropia.
Entropia Universe, the leading virtual worlds platform for interactive entertainment, community building and e-commerce using a real cash economy, boasts the Most Valuable Virtual Items and Real Estate of all the virtual worlds. The new 2008 Guinness World Records book features Club NEVERDIE, an asteroid space resort bought for $100,000 USD by famous gamer Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs as “The Most Expensive Virtual Object.” The asteroid space resort which boasts a nightclub, shopping mall, 1000 apartment complexes, commercial space ship docking, mega sports stadium, and hunting and mining biodomes is the highest grossing privately owned virtual event venue online, estimated to be worth in excess of $1 Million USD if ever placed back on the market.
The original press release was posted here.
Meanwhile, back on planet Second Life, I’ve heard anecdotal concerns that the bans on casinos, flooding of the land market, summer slow-down in user time on-line and registrants has had a marked effect on the economy.
And although Burning Life was a showcase of creativity, it was also a political mess that left gaping holes in the playa, and was the target of frequent and, to me, exasperating grief attacks.
This isn’t meant as an editorial comparison of Entropia vs. Second Life. But it does speak again to policy issues, and also perhaps to the concept that perhaps SL is best thought of as a creative commons – if a model for Linden is “Your World, Your Imagination” where do the people go who maybe want a bit more structure – rules, a game system, or a clear guidebook to getting laid?
My growing sense is that there is an increasing gap between the Second Life mainland and private island communities. As time marches on, the mainland will become increasingly littered with failed businesses, grief attacks and sexGen skypads. Private islands will become closed communities in which rule structures (societal, RP or otherwise) help to aggregate small groups with similar interests who would as soon dance on their private docks than visit another mall stuffed with “businesses in a box”.
It feels increasingly like this is where SL is headed primarily because of the lack of engagement of the Lindens in fighting the grief attacks on the creative commons, for failing to provide press support or community relations in a nurturing or celebratory way (rather than on the latest corporation to set up camp – many of whom will end up migrating to OpenSim or private servers in any case with or without the pseudo-open architecture of SL), and for not investing heavily enough in cleaning up the glut of 512m parcels, rotating ads, and erosion of events like Burning Life.
Entropia saw a planet sold for $100k. SL saw Anshe Chung suck up real estate and create micro-continents where people live and play – but when there’s nowhere left that’s safe and fun to go out anymore, why would they continue to invest time and energy in a beach house when they can visit the RedLight district or jet off to a planet far far away?
