US university tuitions have dramatically increased in the past five years leaving many college graduates thousands of dollars in debt. Other countries around the world are not far behind, with 2006 reports indicating education costs rising 6.5 percent from 2003-4 in the UK and 3.2 percent in Canada. As students struggle to make ends meet by combining income from multiple jobs with scholarships and loans, others are turning to creative alternatives to pay for a higher education.

Meet Mike, aka. Ogulak Da Basher, an 17-year-old from Durango, Colorado who has accumulated enough funds playing inside an online virtual gaming community, Entropia Universe, to pay for his siblings’ college tuitions. “I began playing Entropia as a form of entertainment with my mother; however after 3 years of fostering relationships, building businesses, and developing my hunting and mining skills, I have raked in over $35,000, $12,000 of which will go towards helping my brother and sister attend college.”

Entropia Universe is a rapidly growing virtual world that actively supports sales of virtual products with actual cash value within its real economy system. The economy offers players a secure and safe way to make purchases, sales and exchange real-life currency into PED (Project Entropia Dollars) and back again into real money, at a fixed exchange rate to the US Dollar. PED allows members to invest in personal development and growth through the acquisition of goods, buildings, and land in the virtual universe.

Ogulak Da Basher is a captain in the Entropian hunting society, “ck Coat Killers.” He has cultivated his mining and hunting skills, obtaining precious minerals and materials that are then sold at a premium price. From his virtual profession as a hunter/miner he has also mastered the crafting of weapon/mining attachments resulting in a completely new business model that has the potential for increased revenue growth. “What I like best about Entropia Universe is the ability to pick any profession. I have tried other virtual communities and MMORPG’s that allow members to play only one class, while EU creates unlimited goals and endless room for opportunity with a free economic structure.”

“While many claim that online and console games have a negative impact on a teenager’s mental and physical development, our observations are different,” says Marco Behrmann, CIO of MindArk, game developer of Entropia Universe. “In Entropia we are seeing a positive outcome from our online gaming community. Members not only building social skills through global interaction, but are even learning the business tools to succeed in the real world”