Gaia Online's virtual gear gets real

I haven't played Gaia Online at all, and we've only mentioned it once or twice here so far on Massively, but I am really impressed by their Gaia Gear online store. They are apparently taking in-game items, and recreating them in real-life form. Now, these items are all "donation items" (now known as Monthly collectibles)– they're designed and sold by Gaia for real money, supposedly to support the server and associated costs of the game. So basically these are RMT items in-game, not special loots available only in certain places.

But it is incredibly cool that they've faithfully recreated this stuff. And I can't help but imagine what it would be like for other games to do this. What if you could buy a Perdition's Blade to commemorate all that time you spent getting one in Molten Core? Or a real-life model of a Hulk, or actual reproductions of player-created items in Second Life? I'm sure this isn't a new idea (we're already willing to pay large amounts of money to make virtual items and people real). But it is an exciting one.

[Via Wonderland]