A virtual space station in the online game Project Entropia was recently purchased for a reported $100k USD to a Jon "Neverdie" Jacobs. Much media attention followed as the mainstream boggled over the virtual-world purchase. What nobody seems to have pointed out, at least in the mainstream media stories, is that Jon Jacobs was (or still is) the U.S. Spokesperson for Project Entropia. TinyPirate.com reported this obviously significant detail, noting that "...there were some questions raised on the Project Entropia forum about the whole deal, but very little sensible debate was entered in to, with fanboys shouting down most serious comment. At worst the fans concluded that the circumstances of the sale were a little dodgy."

It's certainly astonishing that someone paid $100k for a virtual property. It's not so astonishing when that someone is a spokesperson for the property vendor. Was the sale itself merely a marketing exercise? One thing is certain: I won't be taking any future Entropia announcements very seriously.