Project Entropia adds real world ATM

Ok, this is a MMO I haven’t checked out yet. Adding a real ATM to a virtual world? Why not.

today the makers of Entropia Universe, a popular online science-fiction game, plan to introduce a real-world A.T.M. card that will allow players instantly to withdraw hard cash automatically converted from their virtual game treasury. So a player with, say, 2,000 spare P.E.D.’s (Project Entropia Dollars) left over after purchasing a new laser rifle in the game could withdraw $200 and take a date to a real-life ballgame.

Well past time for me to check this out. At least one of our VTOR group has checked out Project Entropia. I was intrigued by the PE description:

Other MMORPGs normally operate by purchasing the client software in a store and then paying a subscription fee every 30 days, where the internal game economy is just that – a game economy.Project Entropia is the opposite! The client software is free to download over the Internet and there are no subscription fees associated whatsoever. The real cash economy means that the internal Project Entropia economy is linked to the real world economy, by using a currency called the Project Entropia Dollar (PED), which has a fixed exchange rate linked to the US Dollar (10 PED equals 1 USD).

Downloading. Received FTP error. Went to apply for account page and filled out the details. Quite a bit of information required. Filled out email and by the time I clicked over to my email to check my PE account was approved.

Next I needed to create a secure password that was at least 8 characters and contained at least one lowercase and uppercase letter and one number. After choosing my password, it was time again to try downloading the software. This took me to a different set of screens to begin the process. While this happened I decided to search for the past VTOR blog entries from Lestat and see what he had to say about PE:

I started playing Project Entropia in 11/05. It’s another game with it’s own currency level and many facets. Shooting things up(hunting), discover real world objects that are worth money, and mining for different ores are a few of the things you can do there. I don’t find it as robust as Second Life as far as the ability to make money and objects.

So while it’s not described on the own PE website as a “game” it sure looks like WoW or Everquest. It’s still downloading and somewhat slowly I might add, so I will probably have to come back to posting about PE another day.

More Project Entropia VTOR posts
Hunting Foul in PE
Clouds in Project Entropia