Online land rush: So you want to manage Oprah?


by Christina - Date: 2007-04-26 - Word Count: 860 Share This!

Rick Schwartz seems bullish on Florida's economy. After all, he's the virtual governor.
Schwartz, a Boca Raton resident, recently dropped $18,047 to buy the state - and the
accompanying gubernatorial title - on the nascent Weblo.com, a parallel e-world where virtual
ownership of every real city, state and property is up for sale. So far, there are 21,500
registered users, and almost 7,000 cities have been sold.
"Monopoly on steroids," says the Montreal company.

Except this game is played with real money. Here's how it works: The first person to register a property, city or state can pay to be its rightful Weblo owner. If you buy a city or state, you're named the virtual mayor or governor. Any place with an address is up for grabs: the Eiffel Tower, your old high school, your neighbor's house.

A property's initial price is determined by an index that considers its real-life population and
economy, as well as its potential appeal as a Weblo profile. It's a game for the rich and the
poor: Cities sell for as little as $5, but buying a state will cost thousands. "You're thinking, '18,000 U.S. dollars, for real? It's a profile!' " said Sean Morrow, Weblo's director of marketing, referring to the sale of Florida. "But it's a significant return on
investment." Schwartz, who's in his 50s, is also the virtual mayor of St. Petersburg, for which he shelled out $11.72. If property owners adhere to Weblo's game plan, they'll "develop" their sites with relevant information. Mike Jameson, a Connecticut resident who has bought properties throughout Florida, posted maps and photos of Disney World to his profiles for Lake Buena Vista and Celebration. He bought Treasure Island, as well, but hasn't done much for its profile.

There's a commercial incentive to create a good site: Weblo shares its ad revenue with site
owners. The more visitors your site attracts, the more money you'll earn. You can also make money by reselling your site. The Weblo member who bought Seattle for $40 resold it for $2,000, proving that flipping isn't limited to real property. "Global domination has never been more fun," the company enthuses on its Web site.
- - -
Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities who tracks the video game
industry, expressed reservations about the odds of making money off Weblo.
"You can't sell ads without traffic, and if they make some schmo responsible for creating the
content of Florida, he may do a terrible job, lowering overall traffic," Pachter wrote in an email
to the St. Petersburg Times.

"Unless there is some quality control, consumers will tire quickly of visiting the site, and
advertisers will lose interest. Sounds like a pyramid scheme to me."
Still, there's a NASDAQ-esque feeling to Weblo. The latest buys and the sales data can be set
to scroll across the top of your computer screen. Jameson, who is 40, says he watches it
constantly, as if it were the stock market.

Schwartz - or should we call him Florida's governor? - logs on to Weblo far less often. If you
visit his sites expecting photos of the beach and the state flag, you'll be disappointed. He says
he's waiting for Weblo to catch on before he develops his profiles.
Schwartz estimates that he has spent $50,000 to $70,000 on Weblo. But his friends don't
question it, he said, given his success buying domain names.
"When you look at the ways you can throw your money away, if it's going to the stock market
or going to the casino, you don't have any control over it," he said. "It's strictly a gamble. If it
(Weblo) catches on, stranger things have happened."

Weblo's Morrow wouldn't say what percentage of the Web site's profiles are profitable, or
whether the company has turned a profit. But Jameson says he thinks he'll make a 36 percent
return on his investments ($5,000 or $6,000 so far) by the end of the year.
- - -
Even without the financial element, Weblo allures.
Like a massive game of Risk, it plays on people's desire for power. "I love to be known as the
virtual mayor of Lake Buena Vista," said Jameson, "because, as you know, Disney owns that
town."

(Want to buy the main offices of the St. Petersburg Times? Too late. This reporter snapped
them up for $2.38, though she'll entertain offers.)
Like a memory book, Weblo plays on sentimentality. Suzanne Calpas, a stay-at-home mom in
Prince George, British Columbia, bought some cities in Turkey that she visited on her
honeymoon.

And like any other networking site, it plays on the need for social interaction. "Mostly it's for
fun," said Calpas, 39, who bought Pittsburgh for $300 and Lake City for $5. "People send you
messages, you start to develop friendships."

Jameson, a real estate agent in real life as well as in Weblo Land, thinks he has found one
more use for the site: He has registered dozens of cities in his home state of Connecticut, and
plans to use those profiles to provide house hunters with information about different areas.
"When I do listings for houses, I will say, 'I am the virtual mayor of this town,' " he said.
Weblo, like Jameson, has big Web-based plans for the future. Morrow, the marketing director,
said the company is formulating plans for a Weblo presidential election, probably to be held
just before the real election next year.

The Canadian company has no similar plans to replicate the British throne. "Not yet," Morrow
said. "Good idea."


Related Tags: virtual world, virtual reality, virtual realestate

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