"Jacobs was the only one there wearing a fuzzy suit. It was purple, made of velvet with a matching furry hat. He and his assistant, a statuesque black woman wearing a leopard-print leotard with shoulder pads, were standing in front of an HDTV showing off a virtual dance club complete with speakers pumping out house music. ... The people dancing to the music were doing so to the very same music we were yelling over in person. He fiddled a bit with a laptop behind a podium and zoomed out the camera, showing an avatar of himself, with the same hat and suit.
"'That's me,' he said. 'That's Neverdie.'"

Joe Blancato goes behind the scenes at Club Neverdie.

Club Xanadu

A fascinating article. I love how the article was titled "Club Xanadu" in reference to "Citizen Kain" which in turn was about... ah whatever.... and since when do game monsters have DNA... this whole article sounds so incredibly surreal, it sounds like its straight out of an old Sci-Fi channel film from the 70's or something, or the Twilight Zone. I really wonder how successful this guy will be because of this, though. I personally think it won't grow much beyond where it is now, but I could be wrong, and this could explode in a few years time.

Now, see, one thing this article impressed on me is that there really are better ways to sell things in an online game than just plain anonymous eBay transactions and the like. Here's a system whereby players can pay to access regions more balanced in their favor, and that allows players to create such regions and charge admission. That's creative is what it is. I have to say, if you've decided to open up your game to entrepreneurs, then for god's sake, let them be entrepreneurs.

Darkpen:
this whole article sounds so incredibly surreal, it sounds like its straight out of an old Sci-Fi channel film from the 70's or something, or the Twilight Zone. I really wonder how successful this guy will be because of this, though. I personally think it won't grow much beyond where it is now, but I could be wrong, and this could explode in a few years time.

Yeah, walking around the place just felt surreal. The game itself reminds me a lot of Anarchy Online, but the atmosphere was really different.

I'm with you on not being sure the club will grow much beyond where it is now (not that it has to, given the cash he's pulling in), but I doubt it's the last we'll see of Neverdie. The man and the avatar have merged, so if something does go wrong in Entropia, I don't think it would be long before he found a new place to spread his brand of virtual reality.