Treasure Island

Treasure Island Sale 2004

On August 23rd 2004, MindArk sent out a press release announcing the upcoming sale of Treasure Island, "an extensively rendered virtual treasure island, which includes the potentially profitable “mining and hunting” rights" .

The full press release stated:

PROJECT ENTROPIA ANNOUNCES ONLINE AUCTION OF VIRTUAL TREASURE ISLAND

Lushly Rendered Virtual Real Estate Includes Revenue Potential From Gamers “Playing on Your Land”

(Los Angeles, CA) – Project Entropia, one of the fastest growing virtual world’s utilizing a real cash economy, today announces the first-ever auction for virtual real estate. Project Entropia is offering members a chance to participate in a bidding war to claim an extensively rendered virtual treasure island, which includes the potentially profitable “mining and hunting” rights.

The island is a large piece of land, on the fictional planet of Calypso, off a newly discovered continent surrounded by deep-creature infested waters. The island boasts beautiful beaches ripe for developing beachfront property and an old volcano with rumors of fierce beings within. The outback is overrun with mutants, and there is an area with a high concentration of robotic miners guarded by heavily armed assault robots.

The most extraordinary feature is a gigantic abandoned castle overlooking the island. It is suspected that the island is the infamous "Site A," where the original colonist arrival took place, resulting in discoveries of old equipment, a broken down teleporter, and space ship docks for the lucky bidder. Site A, was according to Imperial records, abandoned after the continent was deemed too wild and dangerous for the first phase of planetary colonization.

The winning bidder of the island will obtain all taxation rights on hunting and mining on the island. “This piece of land is the first of its kind, and will create a definite buzz in the massive multiplayer gaming community,” raves Jon Jacobs, US spokesperson for Project Entropia. “Not only will the owner be able to obtain profits from personal use and the mining and hunting of others, but this island promises additional revenue potential through the selling of land lots and market places.”

Project Entropia is part of the next generation of gaming known as MMORPG (massive multi-player online role playing gaming) which seem to resemble more of a virtual world and society rather than a typical online video game. This new wave of interactive entertainment allows players to interact in a world of three-dimensional virtual environments.

However unlike many other MMORP’s, Project Entropia actively supports sales of virtual products with actual cash value within its real economy system. The economy offers the user a secure and safe way to make purchases, sales and exchange real life currency into PED (Project Entropia Dollars) and back again into real money. PED allows members to invest in personal development and growth through the acquisition of goods, buildings, and land in the Entropia universe.

The heart of Project Entropia lies in a distant planet named Calypso, which includes three continents with large expanding cities that offer a variety of entertainment and social interaction for the citizens. Members of Entropia can create their own persona (avatar), via a character generation system, allowing them to choose a suitable life and virtual existence. Characters enter the evolving world full of unexplored and uncultivated lands where they can join a community or even create a civilization of their own. Project Entropia offers a new way for individuals to pursue dreams and fantasies through an adventurous virtual experience.

About Project Entropia

Project Entropia is a registered trademark of MindArk PE AB. MindArk PE AB supports and monitors the services and maintenance of the Project Entropia site. MindArk PE AB began in April of 2003 in Sweden, and has expanded to have partners throughout the world. Project Entropia was launched in 2003 and has reached over 150,000 registered accounts. MindArk offers the Project Entropia software to users free of charge with no monthly costs or associated subscription fees. For more information or to download the free Project Entropia software please visit http://www.projectentropia.com/.

A day later, MindArk also announced the upcoming sale to their playerbase, along with additional information of exactly what it was the winning bidder would be bidding on:

Rights available to the purchaser of the island:

A unique castle (furniture not included)
Hunting (including native forms of wildlife)
Mining (both minerals and enmatters)
Taxation rights on hunting and mining activities on the island
Income from the sale of land lots. Five lots per month will be available for sale under the duration of one year. These 60 lots alone have an estimated market value of 300 000 PED.
Massive revenue potential

.

As time progressed, additional information was released. Pictures were added to the page on September 17, 2004, and the island was opened to the public on November 25th, 2004.

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 001

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 002

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 003

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 004

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 005

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 006

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 007

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 008

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 009

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 011

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 012

• 

  Treasure Island - Initial picture 013

The winning bid was finally made by David "Deathifier" Storey, whose full in-game name is "Zachurm "Deathifier" Emegen".

• 

  David Storey

• 

  Zachurm "Deathifier" Emegen

After the final sale, MindArk released another press release announcing the sale:

22-YEAR-OLD GAMER PAYS US $26,500 FOR VIRTUAL REAL ESTATE IN LARGEST MMORPG PURCHASE EVER At the End of a Grueling Race to the Finish, Project Entropia Announces Winner of First Virtual Treasure Island Auction

(Los Angeles, CA) – Project Entropia, the fastest growing virtual world utilizing a real cash economy, today announces twenty-two year old Australian, Deathifier from the Dark Knights society, as the savvy winner of this historic auction for virtual real estate. The auction began taking bids in late August and ran through the month of December accepting offers from around the world in a race to claim an extensively rendered virtual treasure island. Bidding ended at an astonishing amount of $26,500 US the largest amount ever spent in the massive multiplayer online gaming space.

The treasure island is a true prize in the MMORPG virtual gaming community as it provides instant Real cash revenue from “mining and hunting” rights to the new owner. The winning bidder of the island will obtain all taxation rights on hunting and mining on the island as hundreds of members flock to the new world in search of new game and gold. The island also provides additional revenue potential through the selling of housing lots and market places, some of which have already been sold and claimed due to the high demand.

“This is a historic moment in gaming history, and this sale only goes to prove that Massive Multiplayer Online Gaming has reached a new plateau where the gamers themselves have discovered the true economic potential of an online community,” raves Marco Behrmann, Mindark Director of Community relations. “This is an incredible milestone.”

“This type of investment will definitely become a trend in online gaming as the standard monthly-fee based online games will struggle to make any sort of cash investment viable,” claims island winner, Deathifier. “It is only the unique, forward-looking games like Project Entropia that establish a real, tangible value to your in-game persona and their activities that allow it.”

Project Entropia is part of the next generation of gaming known as MMORPG (massive multi-player online role playing gaming) which seem to resemble more of a virtual world and society rather than a typical online video game. This new wave of interactive entertainment allows players to interact in a world of three-dimensional virtual environments.

However unlike many other MMORPG’s, Project Entropia actively supports sales of virtual products with actual cash value within its real economy system. The economy offers the user a secure and safe way to make purchases, sales and exchange real life currency into PED (Project Entropia Dollars) and back again into real money. PED allows members to invest in personal development and growth through the acquisition of goods, buildings, and land in the Entropia universe.

The heart of Project Entropia lies in a distant planet named Calypso, which includes two continents with large expanding cities that offer a variety of entertainment and social interaction for the citizens. Members of Entropia can create their own persona (avatar), via a character generation system, allowing them to choose a suitable life and virtual existence. Characters enter the evolving world full of unexplored and uncultivated lands where they can join a community or even create a civilization of their own. Project Entropia offers a new way for individuals to pursue dreams and fantasies through an adventurous virtual experience.

About Project Entropia

Project Entropia is a registered trademark of MindArk PE AB. MindArk PE AB develops, supports, and monitors the services and maintenance of the Project Entropia site. MindArk PE AB began in April of 2003 in Sweden, and has expanded to have partners throughout the world. Project Entropia was launched in 2003 and has reached over 180,000 registered accounts. MindArk offers the Project Entropia software to users free of charge with no monthly costs or associated subscription fees. For more information or to download the free Project Entropia software please visit http://www.projectentropia.com/

.

The most expensive virtual object

The sum of 26,500 USD ensured that Treasure Island was added to Guiness Book of World Records 2004 for the most expensive virtual object.

Treasure Island Official Website

Treasure Island Official Website

Treasure Island media

Treasure Island articles

^{News and magazine articles featuring the Treasure Island sale}
Ordered by date:

• December 13, 2004: Pagan 26.500$ por una isla virtual de Project Entropia on Juega en Red (Spanish)
• December 13, 2004: Entropia Universe News - Land Sold For $26,500USD! on MMORPG.com
• December 14, 2004: $26,500 Paid in MMO Land Grab on IGN.com
• December 14, 2004: Kjøpte virtuell øy on vg.no (Norwegian)
• December 14, 2004: Virtual Island Sells For $26,500 on SlashDot
• December 14, 2004: Treasure Island on Terra Nova
• December 15 ,2004: Gaming News Round-Up: December 15th, 2004 on gamasutra.com
• December 15, 2004: Virtual island sells for $26,500 in cyber assets on New Scientist.com
• December 15, 2004: Digital ö såld för 170000 kronor on Ny Teknik.se (Swedish)
• December 16, 2004: In-game MMORPG sale madness on Ferrago (now play.tm)
• December 16, 2004: Virtuell ö såld för 180 000 kronor on idg.se (Swedish)
• December 16, 2004: Deathifier buys Treasure Island on P2Pnet
• December 17, 2004: Project Entropia property sells for $26K on Gamespot.com
• December 17, 2004: Gamer buys $26,500 virtual land on BBC.co.uk
• December 17, 2004: Property tycoon buys fantasy island on TheRegister.co.uk
• December 19, 2004: Projekt Entropia - Höchste Auktion in der MMOG Geschichte on OnlineWelten (German)
• December 20, 2004: Gamer betaalt voor virtueel eiland 26.500 dollar (video) on nu.nl (Dutch)

^{News and magazine articles featuring Treasure Island or Deathifier}

• June 16, 2005: $26,500 virtual property owner speaks on Guardian.co.uk