Monopoly with Real Money
Posted March 10, 2007 by Shingi 
I remember endless hours of my youth spent playing Monoploy, gleefully bankrupting friends and relatives alike while I had visions of being the next Trump. I always wondered what playing the game would feel like if those colorful pieces of Monoploy money were real instead. Now a new venture out of Montreal called Weblo promises to fulfill my childhood longings.
Weblo is hoping to strike it rich by staking its claim in the cyber gold rush to build and populate virtual worlds and massively multi player online games (MMOG’s). Hoping to cash in on the same trend that has turned Second Life and World of War Craft into the phenomena that they are, Weblo has created a virtual world that is essentially a carbon copy of the real world.
In Weblo, the virtual versions of states, cities, buildings, airports, celebrities and web domains can all be registered and bought. The buyers of states are crowned governors and can then turn around and sell all cities that fall under their territory and the buyers of cities can similarly sell what is in their territory. So for example, the governor of New York State has the right to sell New York City while the Mayor of New York City has he right to sell the Statue of Liberty.
Before you get too excited and start imagining a gorgeously rendered 3D affair, I’ve got to warn you that Weblo is decidedly low tech. It’s basically a series of 2D web pages that represent the various states, cities, etc. sort of like HTML Monopoly property cards. Sound a little bizarre? I thought so too but apparently it’s good enough for $2.5 million in venture capital from Richard Rosenblatt of Myspace fame. So what’s my take on it? Quite frankly the whole thing pretty much seems like a giant pyramid scheme. Basically Weblo virtualizes the whole world and then makes you pay to own it in Weblo. I think I’ll dub this the Al Capone business model, protection money anyone? I mean does it not seem a form of digital extortion to force the real owners of everything on Weblo to register or face their identity being appropriated by some random unknown party?
The Weblo model is also troubling because it is a derivative with no relationship to any of the underlying assets. Derivatives have value because they have some kind of relationship to a real assets. Changes in the value of the underlying asset affect the value of the corresponding derivative. Unlike a user created world such as Second Life where virtual property is created and therefore has intrinsic value as intellectual property, all property in Weblo is simply a poor virtual representation of something real. The only value it has is what the next person thinks it’s worth.
What is the value of owning the Weblonian version of the Empire State Building, of being the mayor of New York? The value is based purely on the speculation that there will always be someone who thinks that the virtual property has value, which is certainly not a forgone conclusion. Basically the whole think strikes me as nothing more than a glorified Wikkipedia with the structure of a pyramid scheme. Only the few who manage to snap up the best virtual properties have any shot at making money. Much a like a gold rush, once all the good claims have been staked, prospectors move elsewhere and with that Weblo implodes as the value of all virtual holdings collapses. Not to say that there is even a gold rush to speak of because as of today, out the last hundred recently closed auctions for Weblo properties, only five went to completion which is hardly indicative of a rush of any sort.
The above scenario of course assumes that Weblo can actually safeguard the franchise of those who register properties and protect their right to exclusivity, which it has thus far failed to do. As of now there are multiple listings for several properties. A cursory search turned up multiple instances of the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and Toronto’s CN Tower. If Weblo can’t even safeguard property rights within its domain contrary to its own promise, then it has a serious problem. The value of owning a virtual copy of a property is already dubious enough, when combined with the fact that one’s ownership in non-exclusive, its value is then zero because why would someone pay for something they can create for free?
One might point to the social aspect of Weblo, but despite its best efforts to bill itself as a social networking site, I’m simply not buying. A social network has to have some dynamic component to it, there must be some vector of change present that makes me want to log in on regular basis. While there would be a kind of euphoria once one acquires a Weblo property, the novelty quickly wears off. Given that the world of Weblo is a series of relatively static pages, it simply does not have the same dynamism that a virtual ecosystem like Facebook has developed. The whole concept very quickly becomes boring. One could liken it to a Monopoly marathon and we all know what happens when a Monopoly game has gone too long, someone gets bored and leaves and before you know it the game is over.
I think the key to success in building virtual worlds will be extensibility as related to what is possible in the non-virtual world. Second Life is highly extensible in that it augments what is possible in the real world. It creates possibilities and a functioning economy predicated on the creation of virtual goods and services, which are also very real in the sense that they are intellectual property. This is the source of Second Life’s competitive advantage and what makes it difficult to replicate. What prevents anyone from creating a competing web property that also mimics the real world? What is Weblo’s competitive advantage?
Eventually there will be a complete blurring between the so-called real and the virtual. To some extent this already taking place as you have product launches, lectures, events, commerce and a whole host of activities occurring in Second Life whose impact extends beyond the virtual world. Virtual worlds are really going to become a part of everyday reality and this is where Weblo completely misses the point. By attempting to be a representation of the real it can only serve as very fuzzy representation at best. Its fundamental strategic error is that aims to represent reality when it should be looking to augment reality. So is it really Monopoly with real money? Hardly, unless you count the $2.5 million in seed capital that Weblo is busy flinging around like Monopoly money.
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Hi Shingi,
A friend forwarded your opinion to me and although I’m not sure I can reply without being a member I’m goint to attempt it. Yours is the most articulate dressing down of WebloWorld I have yet to witness. For the most part your observations are shared by many Weblonians and curious visitors I’m sure. However that opinion does not make or break weblo.com.
I have never heard of this forum, crowdspark, before but this is my story. I heard about weblo.com only a week before launch, late September ‘06, in a local newspaper. The idea intrigued me enough to pull out my visa and set up an account with what I felt I could afford to lose. It is, after all, put out as an investment vehicle with a gaming aspect to it. Caveat emptor is definately anyone’s caution when entering start up stage ventures.
I assured myself full participation in this brave new world by purchasing a minimum of one city, one state and one airport, understanding that this would give me, not only voting rights but, the ability to run for office in this virtual copy of the real world. I’ve managed to not add to my account from my visa more than twice and still under $300 total invested from my own pocket. I do reinvest all earnings buy purchasing more assets and thus growing my portfolio. Nothing to crow about I’m sure but I’m happy with what I have and I keep busy adding content to those assets and attracting new and old members alike to rate my sites. (which is but one of many ways to earn income)
Granted there has been some dissapointment in the amount of seemingly unpreparedness on behalf of the co-generators of this new net enterprise. Lacking a well thought out and finished product it does seem that Rocky Mirza (CEO and Inventor of weblo.com) is counting on the still (albeit slowly) growing membership to determine it’s content and thus it’s fate.
I along with many do hold out hope that, given enough time, it will become a premiere go to site for relevant content on just about any place, person or thing in the real world. And beyond. Ownership has it’s privileges and although the pages seem static there is plenty of room to add a goodly amount of content, including video, text, and picture and in the relatively near future, WebloTV. Imagine having your own live talk show on your favorite subject. Keep imagining and the more you do the closer you get to realising that the sky’s the limit in this virtual reality world too.
In such a world anyone can make themself into a celebrity but, just as in the real world, fame is for those who labour hard and show character before acceptance by the masses brings them true fame. This is where individual imaginativeness can co-exist with already established content supplied by other’s actively filling all the voids of information (good bad or indifferent) on the http://www.
I did say ‘articulate’ didn’t? Yes, yes I did. Articulate however does not translate to factual or unbiased. I took your slight of weblo.com being akin to a protection racket and a pyramid scheme to be at the very least uninformed, and at worse personal intent to injure on your part. Bias has no place in an honest apraisal.
Your analysis is obviously based on quick perusal of the site without much in depth research. There are problems. An intermitant few from webloHQ assure all that issues are being dealt with. This aplication’s data base is expected to carry anything and everything under the sun ad nauseum to those who suffer easily from sensory overload. The sytem it’self should be allowed a few glitches in it’s toddler state. As long as it has no more setbacks than the other virtual worlds on the net weblo.com could be considered a success when it reaches membership in the millions.
There are many ways to make money in WebloWorld besides selling your assets for a higher price. Each owner earns money by add traffic alone as well as internal membership rating. An asset, in the future, may make hundreds a month fromhttp://www.weblo.com/domain/Information Technology/webloinvestmentclub.com/408957/ pure volume of visitors, some who will inevitably click on an adjoining relevant ad placement. Would you sell something you bought for a few hundred dollars if it was generating it’s purchase price on a monthly basis? What if someone thought they could increase that asset’s revenues and offered you a take it or leave it offer that made you sweat?
These early days, and yes maybe even years of weblo.com’s existance my be of little consequence to most people. Yet for the early investor, who took the risk and steadied their hold position, WebloWorld may indeed be a new virtual/reality frontier that will put their kids through college or their tired bones in the sunny tropics for a few weeks a year.
You mention 5 out of 100 auctions completed in a transaction. For a fledgeling claims rush that has yet to be proven, and thus still a silent whisper from the wireless wilderness, five percent does not really depict a stagnant market. Last I heard you could still aquire a major city anywhere in either world for under a thousand US Dollars. Think of the ad revenue potential if you, as a Weblonian, succeed in bringing the traffic inside WebloWorld to numbers that those advertisers outside WebloWorld take notice and begin bidding for space in your space. A space you built yourself. Or simply shrewdly purchased from an impatient or bored and soon to be ex-owner.
You did have one observation I enjoyed particularily. Your anology of weblo.com being a glorified wikipedia may eventually become the glorified yahoo or google and just as personal. Only weblo.com gives you a chance for earning while networking your interests.
Reality bleeds, Shingi, everday more profusely so. Nothing stopping virtuality from bleeding back some. The mind blurs and worlds become one… ^0^
Being unfamiliar with this forum I will hazard the placement here of a free promotional offer. Come see for yourself. Once set, in virtual minutes, all one needs do to maintain a long term holding pattern is to update your asset pages weekly for maximum revenue opportunitys. Before you know it you’ll have a favored asset worthy of your time and effort and the satisfaction you were smart enough to get in while things were relatively cheap. And it doesn’t get cheaper than a FreePromo
p.s. if link is inactive cut and paste the url below into your browser
http://www.weblo.com/domain/Information Technology/webloinvestmentclub.com/408957/
Money from advertising?
At the time of this post, there is no ads on Weblo.
None.
No idea when there will be.
As far as I know, I’ve been scamed…but at least I didn’t put in too much.
Sounded like a great idea at the time.
I too have watched Weblo drive in 1st gear since it’s launch. The thing that is so very clear, they have no marketing plan. I sincerely believe that the people who are at weblo they themselves are truly lost.
With all the various socialnetworking sites out there, weblo is a far cry from becoming one.
Fact: There is no socialnetworking element to weblo
Fact: They have no marketing plan
Fact: They have no strategy to monetize traffic
Fact: They are no longer running google adsense - so now that business model goes down the drain
Fact: No adsense, how do we make money
I can go on and on. Many people are holding on to hope and a pipe dream that weblo will eventually eventually get their act together.
In reality, they will be a day late and more than a dollar short. The concept, good or bad, started off on a bad note, and they have been spinning in their wheels ever since.
In the ever so fast paced world of internet, you get 1 chance, 1 - not 17 chances to make a good impression.
Frankly I think they’ve blown all their chances, mark my words - 3 months from now they will still be at the very same place.
Poor management and weak leadership will kill any company. It’s clearly evident that weblo does 2 things right, poorly manage and poorly lead.
My suggestion, fire everyone, including the CEO, bring in some real internet experts who understand online business models, user interface design, user experience design, and come up with a much better and stronger concept, and oh ya… add a real socialnetworking component to the site.
You’re darn right, darn, [;o)> currently there are no ads at present. My bad. There was until about a month
ago however the income generated for most was negligible, for a couple of reasons. First there really
isn’t enough traffic. Membership levels are still growng but hardly ready for the big leagues. There
were issues about relevancy also.
I don’t think it’s a scam. It’s an investment and, like your first, impression it does sound like a good
idea. That’s what got the money out your pocket and out of the pockets of thousands of other
Weblonians. What’s the matter, you don’t trust your own judgement? Give it time.
Once you’ve built your asset pages there’s no more time involved, other than a weekly or bi-monthly
addition to the content of the page(s) than one would spend on any other investment portfolio.
Weblo.com an investment vehicle that allows any amount of investment without penalty or demands.
In my opinion it’s an investment in yourself as much as an investment in WebloWorld. Anybody can
join either for fun or for profit or both. The best thing about this form of entertainment/business is
people can actually join for free and receive Two celebrity fan sites and five weblo dollars
(again, my opinion)… ^0^
Hi Megloman
Thank you for your input, your opinion is most welcome here.
However I still think Weblo is deeply flawed. What is the value of virtual voting rights if there is no traffic? In order to succeed Weblo would need some unique mechanism by which to create value. As of now everything that Weblo does, someone else does better. If you want information there is Wikkipedia,if you want video there is Youtube, if you want social networking there is Facebook.
So why would I come to Weblo? I realize that I did not address advertising revenue with regard to Weblo, but let’s face it, the majority of web based ventures put forward advertising as some kind of holy grail of revenue. The reality is that a web property needs to be compelling in a way that builds a massive amount of regular traffic for that model to be sustainable. I can understand your hope that Weblo succeeds but that is certainly never any reason to make an investment of any kind.
The whole idea of Weblo more than a little reminiscent of the scams that were widely perpetrated in the early 20th century by con men claiming to be peddling everything from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Statue of Liberty. The only difference is that the ruse has gone digital.
If you really believe that Weblo is going to be the next Google or Yahoo, well then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Hi Darn,
I suspect there are no ads because that would make it painfully clear just how flawed the business model is as people realize there is little to no money to be made.
As a member of Weblo i’ve been watching for improvements for while and am still hanging on hoping. As an online marketer by trade, I also look at the overall growth & taffic numbers of the site to guage how they are doing. On ALL fronts, they seem to be missing the mark. In addition to the failed improvements, their traffic numbers / members, etc.. just dont add up.
Scam has been used here as a reference to the operation. Although I do not think the company is a blatent scam, its clear that the public information available doesnt add up. When this happens it usually means someone / something is over stated in an effort to deceive the public. Is it the traffic? Member count? All one needs to do is check alexa rank, compete snapshot & memeber count on weblo to see it just doesnt make sense. I suspect efforts are being made to make us believe the site is thriving when in fact its dying.
You folks make a good argument for quiting or avoiding weblo.com all together. I believe I’ve made my position clearly enough. Time will tell who is right or wrong about WebloWorld’s future.
In any case I’ll be there. Thanks for the opportunity to express my thoughts…^0^
HI, i’ve been in weblo for about a month now,theres been lots of changes allready,i think someone seen where the assets such as airports were geting away to cheap (right).i have even found property that they did’t have listed and bought it real cheap,that was great. now thats no longer available, but i’m still buying my investment is still less than one thousand so i think i’ll hang in there to see what happens
Weblo is the future…the chairman of myspace went there…do you know how much money company are making on user generated contents ? hey i played monopoly when I was a kid and weblo is definitly a good game and investment…I dont know any bank where u can deposit 5 us and make 5 buck in a year…everyone is saying there is no contents well its because you didnt look at these link…
Monopoly ghetto gold III
http://www.weblo.com/property/city/Mono_Vista/65397/
Weblo commercial user made
http://www.weblo.com/property/city/Coca/387136/
other links
http://www.weblo.com/property/city/Kalashnikovo/379872/
http://www.weblo.com/property/city/La_Carrera/381931/
http://www.weblo.com/property/Regular/Boardwalk/454140/
http://www.weblo.com/property/city/Taksony/368006/
http://www.weblo.com/property/city/Livorno_Ferraris/319080/
http://www.weblo.com/member/industry/