First Character with a net worth over $1 million (USD) (1 Viewer)

[Frybread]

http://www.anshechung.com/include/press/press_release251106.html

Anshe Chung has become the first online personality to achieve a net worth exceeding one million US dollars from profits entirely earned inside a virtual world.

Recently featured on the cover of Business Week Magazine, Anshe Chung is a resident in the virtual world Second Life. Inside Second Life, Anshe buys and develops virtual real-estate in an official currency, known as Linden Dollars, which is convertible to US Dollars. There is also a liquid market in virtual real estate, making it possible to assess the value of her total holdings using publicly available statistics.

The fortune Anshe Chung commands in Second Life includes virtual real estate that is equivalent to 36 square kilometers of land - this property is supported by 550 servers or land "simulators". In addition to her virtual real estate holdings, Anshe has "cash" holdings of several million Linden Dollars, several virtual shopping malls, virtual store chains, and she has established several virtual brands in Second Life. She also has significant virtual stock market investments in Second Life companies.

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 for a Second Life account by Anshe's creator, Ailin Graef. Anshe/Ailin achieved her fortune by beginning with small scale purchases of virtual real estate which she then subdivided and developed with landscaping and themed architectural builds for rental and resale. Her operations have since grown to include the development and sale of properties for large scale real world corporations, and have led to a real life "spin off" corporation called Anshe Chung Studios, which develops immersive 3D environments for applications ranging from education to business conferencing and product prototyping.

Ailin Graef was born and raised in Hubei, China, but is currently a citizen of Germany. She runs Anshe Chung Studios with her husband Guntram Graef, who serves as CEO of the company. Anshe Chung Studios has offices in Wuhan, China and is currently seeking to expand its workforce from 25 to 50. (Pictures of the Wuhan offices are available here).

The valuation of the virtual land holdings is based on property value statistics published by Linden Lab and current simulator prices. Based on these statistics a valuation of one million dollars in virtual assets is conservative, and the actual value may be significantly higher.

This estimate only includes the valuation of the avatar Anshe Chung's virtual assets at current market rates. It does not include the real world assets of Anshe Chung Studios. It also does not include any valuation based on expected revenue, expected profits or any other intangible business equity (such as brand value or good will). It does not include assets owned in other virtual worlds such as IMVU, There or Entropia Universe.

Anshe Chung and Anshe Chung Studios are independent and not affiliated with other entities such as virtual world platform operators or marketing firms. Anshe Chung Studios is fully owned by Anshe Chung's creator and her partner and has been wholly financed from virtual world profits.

Above all, Anshe Chung stresses the importance of community in her vision of the virtual worlds and work spaces that she and others are pioneering together. Her goal is not merely to build a corporation, but to foster the development and growth of online communities, and to help make the entry of real world corporations into Second Life and other regions of the metaverse as frictionless as possible. It is her philosophy that Second Life is above all a social space, and that corporate entrants that respect the community will be the most successful.


Anshe Chung will be available to answer questions by the media on a press conference in Mengjing @ Second Life scheduled for Tuesday 2

 

[Runned]

At least she invested her money correctly, I spent all my money on virtual lottery tickets

 

[Lesson25]

Didn't SL also have someone who converted a lot of money into in-game currency--like, tens of thousands--with the intention of becoming a "virtual land baron", only to have their account deactivated without reason?

 

[dermien]

The Lindens love bans without reason. A person from a forum set off a "virtual WMD" so all the members from the forum where banned. It makes no sense but then again if you've ever stepped inside that place you'll realize sanity is not welcome in Second Life.

 

[Saediien]

I love that furries are now referenced on CNN.

 

[Lesson25]

The Lindens love bans without reason.

One would think that attitude & an endeavor to create an open exchange between virtual goods & hard currency would be mutually exclusive--what incentives can you provide if users are at constant risk of easily loosing said virtual goods & not being reimbersed?

It makes no sense but then again if you've ever stepped inside that place you'll realize sanity is not welcome in Second Life.

Perhaps that's it...

 

[Kanara]

SL is a very strange place indeed. I also have a small business in SL in which I generate a miniscule (compared to Ansche) profit in U.S. Dollars. My SL income first pays for my land fee's (which aren't cheep by mmo standards) the rest contributes to computer upgrades for the family and various forms of entertainment without having to tap into our real life income.

The thing about SL though, it isn't really a game. At least not to me. The environment is such that the users create and mold the personality of the world. It seems to be a glorified Sims Online, in my opinion. It is a place for socializing. Socializing takes on all forms and Roleplayers of all kinds are everywhere, including furries (which have been around a whole lot longer than SL:

If you have even the slightest bit of creativity you have the potential to make real money in SL. I made some very silly animated creatures and my US profit is roughly 13 dollars per day. I have not created a new item in several months and I only log in to handle customer issues and clean up the occasional items that get left on my property ( which equates to about 10 minutes of my time each day). The business maintains itself as the SL community grows. I imagine if it was actually fun to play (playing barbie dress up and going to fake weddings and parties isn't really my idea of fun) I could make a much better profit than I do. On the other hand, continuing to receive a few hundred bucks each month for stuff I did 6 months ago is a pretty sweet deal.

As for the guy that spent millions on virtual property and got banned, I believe that happened in Project Entropia, but I could be wrong.

 

[Lesson25]

As for the guy that spent millions on virtual property and got banned, I believe that happened in Project Entropia, but I could be wrong.

It may have also happened in PE, but the case I was referring to happened in SL. Some spammer was kind enough to recently bump Gaston's original article on the subject. The guy's name was Marc Bragg, & there's a pretty good write-up about the whole ordeal at http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,70909-0.html .

 

[Runned]

(playing barbie dress up and going to fake weddings and parties isn't really my idea of fun)

:mad:

 

[Kanara]

Oh, thanks for the good read Lesson. Similar incident in PE I guess.

Runned; I know, I know...being told barbie dress up isn't fun is like being told Santa isn't real. I'm very sorry.

 

[Balthial]

Civilization is doomed

 

[Runned]

being told Santa isn't real.

WHAT??????/