I was stumbling around some domain related news stories when I came to this tidbit in the Naples Daily News (Naples, FL). My colleague Rick Schwartz aka DomainKing has diversified into purchasing some virtual real estate in online community Weblo (similar concept to SecondLife). Rick went ahead and bought the entire state of Florida the day Weblo opened.
Quote: "Virtual mayors or governors get fees whenever purchases are made in their cities and states. Mayors collect 5 cents for every $10 spent in their city, while governors get 25 cents for every $100 spent in their state. Earnings are paid out monthly. Though he hasn’t developed his sites yet, Schwartz has earned $500 on all his properties. He estimates he’s invested $50,000. “Florida and California are probably my biggest holdings,” he said. ... To make money, you’ve got to take risks, he said. If you’re scared to lose money, you’ll never make a lot of money,” Schwartz said. “Most people don’t lose enough to win enough.”
Well said sir. I have to say, it's funny when I watch people's reactions to the amount of money folks have made in the domain-name industry. Some are enthralled by the returns, others view the entire affair with disdain. Unlike Weblo, the domain industry is no game. What many folks fail to realize (and what Rick's related quote above illustrates) is that the returns are the reward for taking incredible risks during a time of great uncertainty. Today things look much less uncertain.. hence the diminished returns. Still, the untapped latent value of domain names in 2007 -- the returns remaining to be realized are much greater than traditional investments which themselves carry different degrees of risk.
Good luck with your new investments Rick! Hope they pay off like domains did.
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I've heard about Weblo earlier this year and just don't get it. Who is visiting their pages and sites other than the people buying the properties? What is to stop other sites from selling 'virtual' properties in the same way? I can see the point in Second Life, which has massive players and a community of members to advertise to, but Weblo doesn't seem to be doing anything unique that can't be duplicated. The only time I hear about Weblo is to do with the buying of properties, not anyone actually using the site as a visitor or surfer. Will be interesting to see if anything comes of it.
Posted by: Robb | May 22, 2007 at 12:31 AM
If we live in a Matrix (and you can never prove we don't) than everything is a game.
***FS*** Ha! True Keanu.
Posted by: TMfor | May 21, 2007 at 12:36 AM
btw, now you can buy virtual bl*w j*bs on second life:
http://www.nee-antwerpen.be/index-eng.htm
Posted by: owen frager | May 20, 2007 at 11:53 PM
I think there's a ton of money to be made in the virtual world- not sure that Weblo is it but who knows. I can now see how some of my own domains can be applied to these developments.
To take the matter further, you may be interested in this:
http://gigaom.com/2007/05/20/virtual-world-population-50-million-by-2011/
Posted by: | May 20, 2007 at 11:11 PM