[MUD-Dev] Pay for Item MMOG : Entropia article on Slashdot

[John Robert Arras]

On Thu, 12 Dec 2002, Richard Aihoshi aka Jonric wrote:
> At 08:53 PM 12/12/02 -0500, "Justice Ocker"
> <justice at faithanddisease.com> wrote:
>> From: "John Robert Arras" <johna at wam.umd.edu>
 
>>> It's a viable business model. You convert money into data and
>>> back into money for people. It's called being a bank. Or maybe a
>>> casino, since you get to "play" with the things they give you in
>>> return for your money.

>> Banks also fall under different international regulations than a
>> game.  They are treading a dangerous turf there and opening up a
>> whole new can of worms.  Also they aren't offering poker,
>> blackjack, or any other traditional casino games so they might
>> have a hard time attracting the gambling crowd.  In the end I
>> agree with you, I think it will be a spectacular failure along
>> the same lines of the free ISP model.
 
> As a point of information, to the best of my knowledge, it has yet
> to be definitively stated whether Project Entropia will offer
> casino games or not.  MindArk spokespersons have definitely
> mentioned the possibility on multiple occasions.

I consider the game itself to be the casino. :) Players put money
into the system, and "roll the dice" as they play and maybe come out
with more money, or maybe not. Not only is it a casino, but it's a
casino where they don't have tightly controlled games. They have a
fake copy of the world inside of the casino and you can use your
chips as real money in the fake world, then bring this fake money
back into the real world.  The more detailed and powerful the
simulation of their world is, the less control they have over the
kinds of games that players make up.

Then there are the criminals I expect to see using this game to
launder money. I will not be surprised if someday we find that
terrorists and drug lords use this game to distribute small amounts
of daily cash to operatives around the world. The Mindark people
have already said that they expect people to spend a dollar an hour,
and apparently the accounts are free. 24 bucks a day can go a long
way in most parts of the world.  Couple that with the ability to use
several accounts, and you have a problem. If I were a criminal
enterprise, I would definitely look into this as a way to skirt
international banking laws. This money laundering activity will
probably bring them down. Unless the expected rampant credit card
fraud and bugs don't do it first. ;)

John


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