Record $330K Paid for Virtual Space Station

The virtual Entropia Universe—Planet Calypso, in particular—might be entering a real estate boom with the recent purchase of the Crystal Palace space station for $330,000, a record for a virtual item. That’s right: A player who goes by Buzz “Erik” Lightyear paid the sum for an orbiting hunk of ones and zeroes. The crazy thing is, the investment might well pay off.

More than $400 million in real money passed through Entropia's virtual economy via to user-to-user transactions in 2008, Venture Beat notes. And the Business Insider points out that Lightyear—he does have a real name—will make commissions on sales made on his new space station, and collect fees from visitors. (Apparently, it's a "popular hunting destination.” See the video for more on that.) Some players say they've earned tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in the game, which is part of the MMORPG—or massively multiplayer online role-playing game—genre. (More MMORPG stories.)