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First Planet Company, developer and publisher of the freely-available, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Planet Calypso, just announced the results of a public auction resulting in the sale of the "Crystal Palace Space Station," a fictitious videogame complex that, nonetheless, generates real money.

Known for employing a real cash economy in an otherwise fake game realm, Planet Calypso's orbiting space station is now owned and operated by Erik Novak, whose winning bid of $330,000 USD set a new (unconfirmed) world record for most expensive game item purchased. The previous record set in 2005, confirmed in the Guinness World Records back in 2008, was a measly $100,000 for a Virtual Space Resort, also a Planet Calypso item.

Daft as it sounds, the Crystal Palace purchase will net Novak more than just bragging rights among nerds; dues and royalties earned in virtual transactions from other players in need of hunting and mining rights can be exchanged for cold hard greenbacks.

The aforementioned resort owner, for example, earned its proprietor an average of $10,000 per month, and an accumulated fortune by 2006 of some $1.5 million USD.

Think "Hotel on Boardwalk" except with real money and a lot more of it.