Earth 2.io | What is This? | All Questions Answered

“Earth 2.io”

If you’re searching for this article you’ve probably just heard of this new blockchain-based investment opportunity and are wondering what glorious potential it may hold. I’m here with this blog post to explain what it is, how it works. And to answer every question I’ve had about this new phenomenon over the last 48 hours.

What is this?

Earth 2.io is a website where you can buy tiles of land in a future game created around a real size model of earth. So just like how GTA V is in LA or The Division is in Chicago. The map of the future game they’re developing is set in a 1:1 scale model of earth. All of its landscapes, oceans, mountains and locations.

On this website you can buy ‘tiles’ of virtual land. 10 Metre by 10 Metre squares of land. Each with a ‘market price’ based on which country the tile of land is in. They’re selling these pieces of land now to fund future development of the game.

Since they’re calling this ‘phase 1’ of the game then we’re clearly still very early in the development cycle and there is a lot of work and potential progress still to be made. Which makes this a very risky but potentially very rewarding time to invest in this.

How does it work?

The virtual land on Earth 2.io is tracked using blockchain technology so basically each piece of land has its own ‘serial number’. Which will theoretically always be tied to that land and keep your investment secure.

Is this legit or a scam?

As far as I can tell from what I’ve seen this seems like a pretty legitimate project. I don’t know whether the blockchain tech behind keeping track of the land is real or how much of a chance this game has of really taking off. But considering one of the co-founders of the Oculus Rift, Dillon Seo, is one of the main developers. I’d say their intentions are most likely pure.

The payment system to put money into the website is run through paypal and debit or credit card providers so no sketchy crypto payments. However, the process for withdrawing money is still a bit questionable. You have to email their support with your bank account information. Or use a Transferwise account and email them the details for that.

I’m not too worried by this though. This is probably just because they only started actually selling tiles back in November so they’re likely still working on improving it. And I have seen one YouTube video where someone was paid out $320 in 7 days. So not instant like the payment is but it also doesn’t take worryingly long.

What is the Value in Virtual Land?

If the development of this game succeeds and this game becomes popular. Or if they create a platform which is used by other popular games. Then owning this land may potentially be very useful or valuable in those games.

Think of it like being able to buy and own part of the Fortnite map or part of Runescape or World of Warcraft. Those might be more accurate examples because the land will be valuable for its resources, foot traffic or commercial potential. Where this falls down is this platform or game won’t be the only one to exist in the future. This makes owning this land very risky.

Man-made Buildings Won’t be in the game.

Any man-made buildings or structures currently in ‘Earth 1’, the real world, aren’t going to be included in the game. Currently Earth 2.io is in Phase 1 of development where they’re selling the land. But, in Phase 2, the buildings or structures currently on the land are going to be wiped clean back to its original landscape.

This makes sense because it’d be impossible to design all these buildings into the game. It also becomes a huge copyright issue for monuments, landmarks or company buildings like Disney World for example. So the developers have to remove all buildings from the environment before the game is playable.

These buildings can be rebuilt again and I’m sure many people will do that. But in general land is only valuable for its underlying position, resources or something like the weather in the area. This massively changes the value of the land and the way people are clearly currently viewing it. Any landmark you look at or city you look at. It’s clear to see, people are focusing on trying to pick up famous buildings or structures that aren’t going to exist.

This is a worrying idea because I’m sure there are a huge amount of people who bought land just for its buildings. Then when Phase 2 rolls around and their land gets wiped. They’ll wake up to check Earth 2.io and see their land value has plummeted. Make sure this isn’t you if you are going to buy any Earth 2.io tiles.

If you do buy land, what land should you buy?

Well now we know not to buy land just for its buildings. Let’s speak about what land you should buy if you are still interested in punting some money at this. The developers have spoken about this subject in a livestream and the core thing they highlighted was any land rich in resources. It’s not clear yet which resources will be valuable in the game but it’s probably safe to bet on similar things to what is valuable currently in real life. Oil fields, gold mines or dense forest land are probably all safe bets going forward.

They also mentioned anywhere with high foot traffic. Now this is a little more tricky to predict since the buildings are being reset. But I take this to mean any big holiday destinations like Bora Bora, the Cayman Islands, Miami, etc. People will still want to travel to these sorts of areas for the weather and their popular holiday brand.

Densely populated areas in ‘Earth 1’ are likely to still be valuable and popular in Earth 2.io. Because the developers have spoken about ideas to make buildings in Earth 2.io visible through augmented reality. What this means is, at the real locations in real life. You’ll be able to see structures or buildings from Earth 2.io using your phone, AR glasses or whatever technology exists in the future. This means people are likely going to want to build, use, live near and own land that’s currently densely populated in real life. This makes cities valuable even if not for the buildings inside them.

How do you buy land?

To buy land you go onto their website Earth 2.io. Click “buy land” which brings up the map. Find the area where you want to buy. Find available tiles of land you want to purchase. Hit details and then buy now and put in your PayPal or card details. It takes very little time and there is very little friction involved in the buying process.

How do you sell land?

Selling land is a slightly different process. Effectively you put your land up for auction on the marketplace. To do this you click sell on any land you own. You choose a description for the land. The price to sell it at, you’ll probably want to sell it for less than the current market value so it will sell quickly. Then hit “Advertise in Marketplace’’ and save those options.

How to get money out of Earth 2.io?

Hopefully your land gets bought pretty quickly after you’ve listed it. Then if you want to take your money out, it’s time to go through the withdrawing process. Right now and for the foreseeable future. You have to email them your name, account details and bank information. Or you need to make an account with Transferwise and send them the information for that.

It’s a bit of a sketchy process especially compared to how easy it is to put money into the site. I have seen a YouTube video from someone showing a receipt of being paid out $320 in 7 days. So even though it isn’t a great system I do believe it works. I personally still wouldn’t trust them with lots of money. Especially since I think this investment in general is very risky. But there is at least a system to get money out.

Have I invested?

I have “invested”. Purely for the novelty factor of owning some virtual land. I put $16 into owning some land in the hills of Monaco. My reasoning behind this was that when you search for Monaco. The land is close to that general area and was available. France was at the time one of the cheaper countries to buy land in at $4 per piece. And there are currently villa’s built in that area which means it is likely good real estate going forward.

However, even though it is only $16 I still instantly regretted this decision. Even with these reasons I still am asking myself why I bought this. I personally believe these tiles are all highly overvalued already. And realistically the real answer to why is that I wanted to satisfy the feeling of FOMO so I didn’t miss out if against all odds this does take off. Or maybe I can sell it on in a few weeks for more money to a bigger chump than I am!

Final Thoughts

This might be an interesting novelty idea for something to buy. Buying your house or someone’s house as a gift for them for fun could be cool. But as an investment Earth 2.io is going to be very risky so definitely proceed with caution.

With that said I hope this article has explained a lot of the questions you had about Earth 2.io. If it did I’d appreciate you sticking around and reading more of what I have to say. I also have a YouTube channel where I’m uploading videos about Earth 2.io as well which you can check out here. Follow me on all social media @JohnWMoney to see more clips and videos. Thank you very much for reading this essay. I’ve been John Williamson and I’ll see you in the next one!