Real dollars fly in company-created virtual land rush
Those struggling with the harsh realities of the real real estate market, especially here in the valley, may take some satisfaction in having a piece of a virtual pie. At least that’s what the creators of new Internet site Weblo hope.
Weblo combines the pleasant suspension of reality and perhaps not-so-pleasant real-world spending of Second Life (Where people are spending big bucks on their virtual villas) with an eye toward the World of Warcraft-like interactive gaming appeal and a MySpace-type social-networking component.
Weblo claims some 44,000 members, who the company says can make money by building out their virtual geographies and sharing in traffic-related ad revenue and by selling their assets for a profit. For instance, to buy a city, you have to negotiate with the “governor” of that state. Transactions thus far have included Weblo Washington, D.C. “mayor” Mike Jameson’s $95 payout — it’s back on the market for $99,000 — and sale of the city of San Francisco for $52.31. Six states are on the resale market, ranging in real-world price from $2,800 for South Dakota to $1.8 million for Florida.
“Weblo represents a more interesting play that’s part fantasy and partly rooted in the real world,” Geoff Mott, managing director of Montreal-based Weblo investor VantagePoint told the Washington Post. “It gives participants the opportunity to really develop value in what they’re doing online. You don’t have to be a gamer. You can be just a regular person.”
Where is F’d Company when you need it? This is as useless as it gets.
Virtually all of them are losers. I wouldn’t ‘em give 2 doll hairs…
Quote: “You don’t have to be a gamer. You can be just a regular person.”
Or a loonie.
But heh, even loonies need a hobby, and apparently you can buy S.F. for about the same as a round of golf and a club-house lunch.
(I don’t do golf either, but I do take comfort from the fact neither of those groups of people are tromping on my niche in the ecology of hobbies, down at the fishin’ hole.)
See every now and than you come across something that challenges your imagination and you wonder if you could do something similar. This is one of those things where you see the wonder years memories flash by you for a sec, owning the high school I went to or buying the house of the girl who never gave me the time of a day but married me after I made money from the bubble days.
I first heard about it from a friend who referred to it as WeBlo, despite the name the concept was easy to grasp. Bought whole bunch of properties but buying my hometown was the best purchase.
Some people can never find good in anything and others see opportunities all around. Some time the simple things in life are they ones that take off. Lets see where Weblo goes, does it have the wings to fly high and pass secondlife or come and go as one of those ideas that tinkled with your imagination enough to say “it was good while lasted”. For now I’m putting my money where my mouth is, buying New York is the next goal.