I’ve been playing a game called Entropia Universe (previously Project Entropia) recently, and I’m finding it quite addictive. It’s much like other MMORPGs at a first glance, but it boasts a “Real Cash Economy”. This means that there’s a direct exchange rate (fixed to the US dollar) and you can exchange money to and from the game currency just like you can with any other currency in the real world.
Within the game itself you learn skills, take on professions, and if you’re lucky you can even make a real profit. My experience so far, though, suggests that making real money is highly unlikely; but if you get good enough you might just about be able to fund yourself within the game – so no loss of real money either.
It’s worth giving the game a go. It’s a free (but large – approx 1Gb) download and it’s free to get an account. You can also get started in the game at no expense by “sweating” animals, although it gets tedious after a while.
I’m still fairly new, so I’ve only deposited a bit of real money to help progress me along a bit. I’ve just bought my first gun, and I’m now running around killing the animals instead of just sweating them. I have a reasonable amount of confidence in my ability not to get carried away and soak too much money in to this game 🙂
There’s a wealth of information on the game website, on wikipedia, and on the forums. There’s not much point in me repeating it all, so go take a look for yourselves. Maybe I’ll see you in the game? 😉
