With real money MMO Planet Calypso's most expensive piece of virtual property going for a staggering $330,000 USD, could playing an MMO soon become... an investment?

This recent purchase of the Crystal Palace Space Station for $330,000 USD, however, is incredible news not only because of the staggering cost that Erik Novak, aka Buzz Erik Lightyear, paid for this virtual station, but also the confident words he spoke thereafter of his purchase. In the recent press release, Novak confidently asserted that "this [was] a stunning investment opportunity, and I have complete faith I will recover what I spent relatively quickly . . . With the new game engine, new features and almost ten years of experience Planet Calypso is one of the few safe investments in this economy."

Are these simply big words from a man trying to justify spending a third of a million dollars on something that doesn't exist? It could be as simple as that, but the history of Planet Calypso begs to differ. One user, Jon Jacobs aka NEVERDIE, purchased an Asteroid Space Resort for a whopping $100,000 USD in 2005, and the team notes that in one year, Jacob had already recouped his investment, and they valued his total assets to be around $1.5 million USD.
 
The truth is, Erik Novak's $330,000 USD purchase of the Crystal Palace Station, and his confident belief in its profitable nature may very well be hint of a coming change in the gaming industry. While it's true that Planet Calypso is one of the very first real cash economy's amongst all MMOs, in the past few years, there has also been a surge of business minded MMORPG players who have made thousands of dollars through a variety of power levelling, gold selling and account selling services. In World of Warcraft alone, players have reported making thousands of dollars selling PvP Arena achievements and titles for the end of the season, while others have simply sold their accounts for a few hundred (or a few thousand, if they have rare achievements) dollars in an attempt to recover their monthly subscription fees.

While all of the above real money transactions are not sanctioned by the GMs of their respective MMORPGs, it is important that we see the precedent being set by games like Planet Calypso. Most MMOs want to completely separate real world currency from in-game currency because players may begin to equate the value of their items with their real-world value, and this could severely affect how the game is played. Unfortunately, it is also difficult to deny the fact that real world transactions take place on a daily basis in MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, Aion, EVE Online, and other mainstream MMORPGs.

Some developers may end up looking fondly on the money that these Swedish developers are making from Planet Calypso's real cash economy, and as more of these blockbuster deals go through, we may see some MMOs pursuing some method of tapping the RMT industries. What would you do if you logged in tomorrow and discovered that Blizzard, or NCsoft, or Square Enix had valued your account at $10,000 USD? What if you discovered that you could legitimately make a six-figure income from a video game? While chances are slim that radical changes like these would go through, Planet Calypso's incredible auction price and its unique real cash economy are definitely things to keep an eye on for the future.