Menu
What's New
By:
Filters

"Online game sells pawnshop licenses"

D

DBCooper

Guardian
Joined
Nov 19, 2005
Posts
270
Location
State of Washington
Society
Freelancer
Avatar Name
Dan DB Cooper
Another article (from Yahoo News AP) covering the bank sales, but this time using the term pawnshop in the title...

The opening to the article:

Online games give players roles like warriors, space explorers and wizards. Now, there's an exciting new profession: pawnbroker.

"Entropia Universe," a science-fiction game whose currency is convertible to real-world U.S. dollars at a fixed 10-1 ratio, said this week that five pawnshops will make real loans to people who turn in virtual items like laser rifles and bionic implant chips.
Click to expand...

Read the article here
 
This story from the AP news wires, by AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, has also been picked up by Fox News:

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007May09/0,4670,TechBitOnlinePawnshops,00.html

At least they mention that "holders may be able to extend their services to function like banks" and that one of the winners was a real life "German Internet Bank".

Now let's just sit back and wait for the new wave of Orange Jumpsuits to arrive!!

:D
 
I just wonder how MA likes the wording of Pawnshop -vs- Banks in the media...

As always, the more orange the better...
 
DBCooper said:
I just wonder how MA likes the wording of Pawnshop -vs- Banks in the media...
Click to expand...

I don't think they have any issue with it, as it is the truth.

I'm sure they would have prefered their "forward looking" propaganda term, but it's hard to argue with facts.

the media, or in this case journalists, are not suppose to sensationalise or propagandise. that's for a special class of information generators.
 
ok, gonna show my ignorance here, but do other countries have pawnshops?

the word may be meaningless to some.

just a thought...
 
NetStalker said:
ok, gonna show my ignorance here, but do other countries have pawnshops?
Click to expand...

oh yeah.

pawn shops, or lombard banking, predates what we know of as financial institutions. they're almost 1000 years old and started off in italy. as a general rule, much like today, they are seen as distasteful methods of loaning money.
 
kira-red said:
..as a general rule, much like today, they are seen as distasteful methods of loaning money.
Click to expand...

This is why I was wondering if MA has any issues with them being called pawnshops...
 
DBCooper said:
This is why I was wondering if MA has any issues with them being called pawnshops...
Click to expand...

I don't see how they could be upset by the truth.

if they wanted something else, they should have designed it that way. to call them banks would be highly inaccurate. of course, this may change, in the future.
 
They are calling a spade, a spade after all.

It'll be interesting to see if real banking services will be offered later.


The "banks" will affect me as much as an ant jumping off a pea in China would.

Neither A Borrower, Nor A Lender Be
 
kira-red said:
I don't see how they could be upset by the truth.

if they wanted something else, they should have designed it that way. to call them banks would be highly inaccurate. of course, this may change, in the future.
Click to expand...

Well happy or not, media attention is media attention. Mission accomplished!
 
.... "pawnshops" :computer:

the article makes it seem like 'one day' they will become banks. :rolleyes:
 
LOL i bet the 5 ppl who have just spent $404k on 5 pawnshops are happy as well.....so does this make them a pawnshop wizzard or pawnshop warrior umm.....
 
MindArk's Marketing Director Carl Uggla said:
The other day there was someone that logged in from the Vatican, so I wonder if the Pope sits there behind an avatar and plays, or if it is some cardinal or whoever it could be, hehe.
Click to expand...

NetStalker said:
ok, gonna show my ignorance here, but do other countries have pawnshops?
Click to expand...

Don't worry, your holiness, I can understand why it might seem that way from the vantage point of your ivory tower in the Vatican.

:laugh:

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=800719&postcount=37
 
so when you guarantee with your salary at the bank that you'll pay the loan that doesn't make it a pawnshop? :rolleyes:
 
Kerham said:
so when you guarantee with your salary at the bank that you'll pay the loan that doesn't make it a pawnshop? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

stop rolling your eyes and pay attention. you most certainly are not guaranteeing a loan with your salary at a bank. your salary is is considered by the lender as risk assessment. if you default on you payments, you are subject to having your salary garnished. this is not the same as surrendering an asset to secure the loan.

Jimmy B said:
or your home ;)
Click to expand...

and you can stop winking and also pay attention. when you use your home to secure a loan, you are permitting a lein which will be used if you default. once again, this is not the same as surrendering an asset to secure the loan.

garnishment and leins are very specific legal mechanisms. pawing something is neither of these. in simple terms, when you pawn something, you are surrendering title and possession. it belongs to the broker. you have the option of purchasing it back for the price he paid you plus the brokerage fee (interest). the option for repurchase is limited in time - usually thirty days or so.

this is why a loan issued by a bank is different than a loan issued by a pawn broker. this is why banks are not pawn brokers and pawn brokers are not banks.
 
kira-red said:
and you can stop winking and also pay attention. when you use your home to secure a loan, you are permitting a lein which will be used if you default. once again, this is not the same as surrendering an asset to secure the loan.
Click to expand...

Point accepted...

But, hell, I can ;) as much as I like tyvm
 
It sounds like your surrendering an asset that you do not own and have no legal rights to in a virtual world. I really hope things work out and go smoothly when the banks are implemented- for both lenders and recipients.
Either way, good discussion :)
 
kira-red said:
stop rolling your eyes and pay attention. you most certainly are not guaranteeing a loan with your salary at a bank. your salary is is considered by the lender as risk assessment. if you default on you payments, you are subject to having your salary garnished. this is not the same as surrendering an asset to secure the loan.



and you can stop winking and also pay attention. when you use your home to secure a loan, you are permitting a lein which will be used if you default. once again, this is not the same as surrendering an asset to secure the loan.

garnishment and leins are very specific legal mechanisms. pawing something is neither of these. in simple terms, when you pawn something, you are surrendering title and possession. it belongs to the broker. you have the option of purchasing it back for the price he paid you plus the brokerage fee (interest). the option for repurchase is limited in time - usually thirty days or so.

this is why a loan issued by a bank is different than a loan issued by a pawn broker. this is why banks are not pawn brokers and pawn brokers are not banks.
Click to expand...

Actually, this is as close to real banking as can happen in EU. You do surrender assets to the bank, in the form of legal authority to claim whatever item is used as collateral, (home, business assets, stocks, bonds, etc.). There is no such legal authority here in EU, nor is there really any way to get a government agency to take you seriously about a debt resulting from a video game in the real world, much less multiple international agencies. Your opinion that pawnshops are seen by the general population as "distasteful" is exactly that, your opinion. Please do not be so presumptive as to project your own worldly view as someone elses :rolleyes: . With the miniscule amount of legal options available to a lender here in the online world, up front collateral is a must. Otherwise the lendee would very easily be able to sell the items listed as collateral, withdraw the money, and vanish into the netherworld, only returning again as a different avatar.

This virtual world is not yet advanced enough for credit ratings, and even if it were, there would be virtually no legal grounds (maybe thats misstated.. there would be no ability to get international governments to cooperate over something as trivial as unpaid debts occurring within a video game or "virtual universe/economy, or whatever you want to call it ) to chase the money down in the real world, were it to end up there.
 
Teilk said:
Actually, this is as close to real banking as can happen in EU. You do surrender assets to the bank, in the form of legal authority to claim whatever item is used as collateral, (home, business assets, stocks, bonds, etc.). There is no such legal authority here in EU, nor is there really any way to get a government agency to take you seriously about a debt resulting from a video game in the real world, much less multiple international agencies. Your opinion that pawnshops are seen by the general population as "distasteful" is exactly that, your opinion. Please do not be so presumptive as to project your own worldly view as someone elses :rolleyes: . With the miniscule amount of legal options available to a lender here in the online world, up front collateral is a must. Otherwise the lendee would very easily be able to sell the items listed as collateral, withdraw the money, and vanish into the netherworld, only returning again as a different avatar.

This virtual world is not yet advanced enough for credit ratings, and even if it were, there would be virtually no legal grounds (maybe thats misstated.. there would be no ability to get international governments to cooperate over something as trivial as unpaid debts occurring within a video game or "virtual universe/economy, or whatever you want to call it ) to chase the money down in the real world, were it to end up there.
Click to expand...

I think that Kira, as well as everyone else, realizes the limitations of virtual banking. And I don't think that anyone will argue that, at this point, there is no other alternative to surrendering property to collateralize a loan in this game.

But there's simply no other label for it that defines the type of business that it is except pawn broker. Perhaps if options such as savings and/or mortgages appear, they can be re-defined as banks. But until then, "a rose by any other name...."
 
oooh, one more cliche!

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a ...
 
For the record, I thought Jacobs was off his rocker for paying 100k for CND too :) Boy was I wrong...
There is definitely great potential here, if Mindark is willing to put the development time into seeing it through. Perhaps they need an internet banking security guy (wink wink). Seriously though, think about someone wanting to buy a land area or a hangar- without major out of pocket money, it could be done through a virtual bank in the near future.:wtg:
 
Teilk said:
Actually, this is as close to real banking as can happen in EU.
Click to expand...

I know.

I just have an issue with the marketing "spin". like another said, it's best to call a spade a spade. after all, it's not a shovel.
 
kira-red said:
this is why a loan issued by a bank is different than a loan issued by a pawn broker. this is why banks are not pawn brokers and pawn brokers are not banks.
Click to expand...

Actually.. the reason why a bank is different to a pawnshop is the same for which a Ferrari is different to a cart. The Ferrari evolved from the cart and in the absence of the political and social elements and factors, the Ferrari would have been still a cart.

FYI, I actually guarantee my loan with my salary because I give the bank the right to take its part from it if I fail to pay the loan. The fact that exist intermediary securities and insurance companies which documentary and legally have the right to proceed on this road doesn't eliminate the fact that my salary is under bank's right.

Is like imputating MA that our avatars doesn't have retirement fund options :/
 
kira-red said:
oh yeah.

pawn shops, or lombard banking, predates what we know of as financial institutions. they're almost 1000 years old and started off in italy. as a general rule, much like today, they are seen as distasteful methods of loaning money.
Click to expand...


Yep, this concept came to life as it was very hard to be sure of getting your money back in those times.

No computers or international regulations and stuff, so for then it was a very good system, More frowned upon where often the Jews who would charge a high rent on the money lent which was not entirely true, and because people needed a scapegoat ofcourse..


Anyway i think this is a great system for a game like this, as it is impossible to enforce paying back and MA doesnt want to make such a sytem as they have stated. So this is a very secure and due to competetion probably the most fairest and not just a bank where u wait for your rent but also something u really have to think about, where loopholes will be, and where some people could make alot of money..
 
I just read that article on CNN. Of course I had to come right here and see if someone oicked up on it. Search was my friend today. :)

Now I`m off to play with PED not aquired by pawning my goods.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top