Anshe Chung of the Second Life virtual world claims to be the first online character with a net worth of $1 mln, thanks to a thriving business selling virtual real estate to other gamers.
Anshe Chung of the Second Life virtual world claims to be the first online character with a net worth of $1 mln, thanks to a thriving business selling virtual real estate to other gamers.
Chung's holdings, which belong to Chinese-born German citizen Ailin Graef, include 36 square kilometres of imaginary land, several million Linden Dollars (the Second Life currency), virtual stores, and virtual stock investments in Second Life companies.
Online game companies have traditionally frowned on players selling virtual goods but Second Life does not object to the commercializing of its digital world. Graef has cashed in on this by buying virtual land, subdividing it, and reselling or renting it. Her online business has led to the creation of Anshe Chung Studios corporation in the real world.
This company develops 3D environments for various commercial and educational applications, the InformationWeek website reported. Graef runs the company with her husband, Guntram Graef. The company employs 25 people in Wuhan, China, and is seeking to double its workforce.
'Anshe Chung's achievement is all the more remarkable because the fortune was developed over a period of two-and-a-half years from an initial investment of $9.95,' Ailin Graef wrote on her website.
