Man Funds Hip Surgery With Virtual Sales

Wired.com is reporting that an Entropy Online player funded his hip replacement surgery by making "real world cash" from virtual sales:

42-year-old Brad Welch, an avid fan of Entropia, used the cash he earned playing the game to fund the $10,000 dollar surgery that included replacement of his left hip and 42 stitches.

The game is one of the few that allows players to earn actual cash for in-game exploits. Welch started playing the game five years ago with only $100 in start up cash, and by "hunting creatures and selling weaponry" earned enough to completely pay for the procedure.

""I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't had that money," Welch said. "I didn't foresee that Entropia would be much more than an extracurricular pastime, and clearly, it has been much, much more."

Get out those farming tools for the inevitable surgery to be faced somewhere down the line. *winks*