‘EVE ONLINE’ Players Can Use In-Game Cash To Buy Real-Life Graphics Cards. Rad.

Despite my good friend and occasional commenter Fink trying to explain EVE Online  to me, I’ve never been able to fully grasp it. It isn’t that his explanations are poor, but rather it seems an online world of such complexity that it’s something I’d have to experience for myself. I mean, fuck! It’s the sort of game where you can buy real shit  with money you earn in game.

Joystiq:

Play vidyagames, get real stuff for vidyagames: That’s how the  EVE Online  PLEX-for-graphics-cards thing works. Good night, everyone!

OK, fine, in more detail this time: CCP Games, the developer behind  EVE Online, has struck a deal with Nvidia for players to use in-game currency — PLEX — to purchase GeForce 560 GTX graphics cards, which run almost  $200 at retail. That’s fake money for real items, folks. Nvidia and CCP will start by selling 100 graphics cards (limit one per  EVE  account) to test the demand. After CCP announced its Nvidia deal, the in-game price of PLEX jumped “significantly,” CCP said.

PLEX (Pilot License Extension) is an in-game currency that can be used to pay for 30-dayEVE  subscriptions. PLEX can be purchased with ISK,  EVE‘s main currency that can be earned throughout the game, meaning some dedicated players end up with a free subscription each month. Now they may end up with a “free” graphics card as well.

Multiple currencies. Earned different ways. Shit it’s all over my head. All I know is that I love the idea that gamers can earn tangible items (even as the very meaningfulness of tangibility wanes) from their actions online in this game. I won’t ever pull it off by myself, but I tip my cap to everyone involved.