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Opposable Thumbs / Gaming & Entertainment

Got $38,000 burning a hole in your pocket? Why not buy a Dota 2 courier with it?

It's expensive because it's pink. And on fire.

One of the ways in which the excellent free-to-play online strategy game Dota 2 is monetized is through the sale of in-game cosmetics that change how characters in the game look while not actually altering the gameplay. Chief among these are cosmetics for the courier: the non-hero unit that carries newly purchased items around the map so that you don't have to stop fighting to pick them up.

Some couriers can simply be bought in the Dota 2 store. Others are given as rewards for buying tickets to watch tournaments or for participating in annual (oh, how I jest) special modes such as Diretide.

Enlarge / That pink flame effect around the courier's feet is what makes it so expensive.

But many couriers can't simply be bought. Dota 2 randomly awards treasure chests as you play the game. Each kind of treasure chest has typically 5-10 different items that it can potentially contain. You unlock the treasure chest with a purchased key, and one of the possible treasures is randomly awarded. Couriers can be awarded in this way, but with a twist: treasure chest couriers can include special effects.

There are two kinds of special effects: particle effects (where the courier, for example, leaves a trail of fire as it moves around the map) and colors.

The special effects can be very rare, and a courier with one of these effects can sell for many times the value of the base courier. Like three thousand times more. The Enduring War Dog courier currently costs $11.99 in the Dota 2 store. But PAADA, a trader on Reddit, sold a pink Enduring War Dog with an "Ethereal Flame" particle effect for $38,000.

I thought spending $14.99 on Captain Bamboo was a lot.

Why so much? First, couriers with these effects are straight up rare: only about 1-2 percent of treasure chests yield a courier with an effect. Of these randomly assigned effects, Ethereal Flame is the one in highest demand, because it looks the most awesome. Second, the pink color is no longer given out. For a time, couriers could have a random color assigned. Nowadays, they can only have one of ten preselected colors. The $38,000 courier dates back to the random color era; as such, it can't be replicated today.

This combination of a rare effect and unique color makes the courier very special indeed.

But still: $38,000 special? It's not the most expensive in-game purchase—not by a long shot. The record there is probably held by the game Project Entropia, which over the years has seen all manner of high-value purchases. As far back as 2005, a space station was bought for $100,000, and last year a plot of virtual land was bought for $2.5 million.

Or to put it another way: enough to buy 65 pink Ethereal Flame Enduring War Dog couriers.

The much more reasonably priced Captain Bamboo.

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