Online game Project Entropia is trying to attract actual banks to give extra cred to its own money, the ped. 10 ped is locked to $US1. The idea is to get people used to mixing ped with their real life money, and therefor let them spend money made/earned/borrowed in the game in real life.

In an interview with a Swedish newspaper, Project Entropia developer Mindark’s marketing manager Carl Uggla said that banks from all over the world have contacted the company regarding this opportunity.

There is a page on banking licenses over at the Project Entropia website. Here we learn that Mindark will earn interest, of course, they’re in it for the money after all.

Personally I’d not want to invest money in a virtual world that might disappear in an instant, if Mindark goes bankrupt. That has already happened once, although the company seems to be making profits now.

One thing’s for sure though, virtual worlds are having a huge impact on the new media business, with Second Life leading the wave. PR tricks to get coverage or actual business models? We’ll see where it ends.

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