Entropian Diary

Long time no post

2006-12-09T10:51:00.000Z

Its been so long since I last posted. I have literally been addicted to PE. My life has changed dramtically. I have spent well over $10,000 on pixels. I have sacrificed my social life to chase virtual creatures and the illusive HOF.

I really need to catch up here. So much has happened. I have moved from a newbie to a skilled mid level player in a decent society.

Its time to back post and chronicle my fortunes in PE (now Entropia Universe) and the downsides of my life. I admit, loving this game has affected me a lot outside of it.

Another bad weekend for loot

2005-08-15T09:13:00.000Z

I thought the last weekend was bad for loot until I saw how bad this weekend was. Usually the Hall of Fame list has entries at 2k PEDs but by Sunday the largest HOFs were only 420 PEDs. Now that is really bad.

I was thinking. (a bit dangerous I know) Maybe Mind Ark have introduced a new looting system where there are many more smaller HOFs and rarer larger HOFs. But after going out and shooting 100 PED ammo and losing 70% I decided that it was time to log off and find something else to do. Many people are complaining about low average loots. The HOFs or Globals are not even helping people to break close to even.

Its really gotten me down. I love Project Entropia. Its the coolest game I have come across. I know the graphics are not like Star Wars or World of Warcraft but the idea behind it is great and there is so much potential. But I am depositing money in PE and then losing it instantly. If I were a millionaire maybe I could afford to deposit loads of not care about losses. But I am not rich.

I am going through withdrawl symptons. I wonder if there is a PE Addicts support group? I want to deposit another $100 USD and get 1000 PEDs and just go off hunting this or that. But I know I will only lose more. So its time to take a little break and maybe do a few things in life.

Bad weekend for loot

2005-08-01T11:36:00.000Z

I love argonauts in Project Entropia. They are great! There are some really good spots to hunt them near the city of Twin Peaks and south of Hadeshiem. But this weekend was not a good time for them.

It seems like a bad weekend for loot all around. By midnight GMT time on Sunday the largest Hall of Fame entry was 870 PED. Usually on a weekend when it is a peak time, the HOF list will climb to nice amounts of 2-3k PED loots. But why so bad this weekend?

I was trying to think why the loot was bad. I notice the usual amount of players at these locations all happily exterminating the local argo population. But just really bad loot the whole weekend. So it definately was not due to a low amount of consumption of ammo in that area. But overall in PE, the loot is bad. Many people are moaning. Ohh well, time to visit my other friends who may give me something nice: Drone Soldiers.

Community without Representation

2005-07-31T19:51:00.000Z

I am disheartened by the current ongoings with the Community Realtions person from Mind Ark. There is a guy who is supposedly the link between us, the Entropian community and Mind Ark, the game developers.

As in other games, there is a representative that regularly communicates with the gaming community. This serves many functions. It informs the player base with valuable information. It can clarify issues that disturb the community. A representative can help the customers see the vision of the developers and build a good future together.

Relations between the community and the developers have been strained this Version Update. So many people feel betrayed and mislead. Some feel its just right but 2 years too late. And others think its great.

The Content Listing was posted late. Many believe this was done because MA were changing the whole skilling experience. If this was posted before the VU, then many may have taken measure to counter the changes such as inserting skills or selling skills. And so the outrage began.

But I have noticed prior to this, that there are many issues that the community struggles with and a simple clarification from MA would solve it. People are forced to file support cases in the client loader and as all of the community knows.... support is not the brightest bulb in the lamp. I am sure they are highly competant and qualified support staff, but they just dont answer anything useful.

There was a heated discussion on a forum about some people trapping spiders and getting globals and HOFs. They claimed it was not an exploit agasint the EULA, but others viewed it differently. Something like this could simply be clarified by Mind Ark and the whole issue put to rest. Instead they chose to ignore it.

Another example is with the skill gain experience. So many people have signed a petition and have refused to play. Others have flat out quit and sold all. If MA would have explained thier intentions and actually spoke to the community about this to reassure them, then they would still have more players. This lack of dialogue has made many people lose interest. My friends list is empty lately. Then MA have the audacity to post a comment about the valuable feedback from the community about the recent changes. So they sit back and read the forums but chose NOT to communicate? Appalling.

There are many other issues such as the recent scams that no one from MA will comment on. It was a bug in the trade window that was being exploited and some firey exchanges on forums about it. Yet MA chose to ignore this.

The all of a sudden a PE newsletter goes out about changes to the EULA. It says that you can not say bad things about MA in forums or IRC or make trades outside of PE. Many people once again had heated discussions about this becasue they felt their Right to Free Speech was being hindered. A little clarification on MA's behalf would have been welcomed.

To PK or not to PK

2005-07-30T16:43:00.000Z

Kill or be killed? Should I shoot first or wait to see if someone shoots at me? That questioned has been answered. There are no friendlies in PVP. If the dot is red or green it is a hostile. So I shoot at all and fap when I cant win.

So many lamers who will shoot you when you are hunting or fighting someone else. Kill em all!

PVP

2005-07-30T13:44:00.000Z

Some people take PVP so serious. You kill them in the ring and their ego is so scarred that they hate you for life. Its so funny. I killed someone in Twin Peaks ring and now this person talks so much shit about me. I rarely even talk to people in game. I mind my own business. But this person makes it seem like its such a big deal becasue I killed him.

I got to thinking about the psychology of these mentally scarred people. Why do they moan so much or go about bragging that they can kill you? Some people may think thats it stems from a inferiority complex in real life and filters through into PE life. I kind of agree. You have these people who will stand and revive kill you for no reason. Ok, I am not an uber with Eon and DOA but they are and will stand there and kill you. I have seen lots of forum posts about people getting revive killed in PVP. Its funny but also lame.

You also get these n00bs who will stand there with an axe and chop people as they revive on Amethera. My Vigi armor doesnt have much protection for an axe and if I dont heal fast enough I die. But they dont do it for a PK streak, they stand there doing it over and over again. MA wont take action over this and its kind of pathetic. If you look into other games, you will see that the makers take an active role in the community about such things.

But the egos of some players is worth scientific study. If they were actually on the same skill level as the people they were terrorizing then they wouldnt do it. Its only because they know that they will win. But that doesnt explain the ones with n00b skills who do it. They are just irritating players.

Its about power. Some people feel the need to be dominant. My natural reaction is to deposit and buy a big gun and just show them who is boss. But that is exactly what they are doing.

I moved Blog hosts

2005-07-30T11:49:00.000Z

I had to move my blogs from another website. The reason for this is that:

I wanted to free up that webspace for something else
MA changed the EULA and can ban me for saying things that they dont like

Basically #2 is my main reason. The website I was hosting on could easily have been tracked back to who my avatar was in PE. I prefer some anominity while posting my life as an Entropian. I believe in Free Speech and will not post lies but there is a strong FEAR in the community that MA will lock our gaming account if they do not like what we say.

Many of my posts here are simply cut and paste jobs from my old blog. Their date may be from the same day but actually its not. I will try to post a date based on the actual posts.

Free Speech

2005-07-30T11:27:00.000Z

I believe that each and every human has the right to free speech. However I do believe there are boundaries to this. Each person is entitled to their own opinion. I have many which I choose to express in my blogs. These are opinions and when a fact is presented, I state it in a matter of fact context with supporting evidence.

I do believe that some boundaries, even though vague, need to be exercised when stating ones opinions. I dont believe in accusing without proof. Sometimes opinions can be misread as an accusation or a slanderous comment. I make every effort in my blog, as well as in my real life, to look at the many sides of an issue. I also try to convey that approach in my posts here.

I could not transfer the comments from my old blog, but welcome any critisism. But remember, you are a guest into my life as an Entropian. Please respect my opinions and attempt to see where I am coming from. Please dont cast stones.

Would I buy stock in MA?

2005-07-22T10:40:00.000Z

A document recently surfaced about the intention of Mind Ark to float on the Swedish Stock Exchange. Reference to it was posted on a popular community forum and users were discussing. I think its a great idea for a successful games developer to go public. But after reading the document I was concerned becasue some of it is misleading.

As an addicted Entropian within the virtual world of Project Entropia, I have met many players and noticed when peak times are. Its not hard to see who the regulars are in the cities and who is hunting what. You can easily get a grasp on activity based on these factors. I also notice names in the auction of who is selling what as I once aspired to be a successful trader.

The weekend has the highest amount of players at any one time. Naturally this is due to people free from work, school and other commitments. The peak hours are in the evenings GMT time between 1700 and 2300 hours (or 5 pm - 11 pm). Monday is a popular day for good loot on small to medium creatures. There are those that play almost around the clock it seems but are mostly European players. The cities tend to be empty in early GMT hours such as 6-9 am based on the small amount of US and Canada players. The Asian and Australian players tend to be on early GMT as they are +12 hours. (I dont know many Australians to be honest)

With that said, I estimate that during weekdays at peak times there is maybe 50 people in the 2 most popular cities - Port Atlantis and Twiin Peaks. Sometimes rising to 80 on weekends. I guess the others players are scattered around doing various things. But I struggle to see how there are 80,000 or so players in PE. I can see maybe 1500 players on during the weekend but not much more. I also notice that many people talk about old timers or vets that just dont play or login every once in a while to keep the account active. So many people complain that its all newbies and the ubers have quit. I hear stories of great players who lost interest but keep their account active. I also notice that many of the names I seen when I first started just dont play much anymore.

In the auction I notice who is selling what at times. I also notice, which I have commented on in my Multiple Avatars post, that there are many names which I have never seen. I have come to the conclusion that many of these avatars are simply second avatars and not actual players. I did a test. Someone who is always buying things (that I want usually) was bidding on an items. I always seen this name buying but never selling. So I ran around all of the auctions until I found him. He was in Port Atlantis where all the new players start. I used my scanner and took a look at his stats. He was a newbie. Not just low skilled, but had stats like a new comer to PE. A one off occurance? No, I noticed others at times just like him.

So when I look at the number of accounts, which may be 100k+ and think of how many are actually 'active' in the sense that they login more than 2 times a week and spend money on hunting/mining/crafting, I estimate that there are maybe 1500 total active players contributing to profitability of MA in the form of decay and ammo usage. There is a significant amount of trading avatars that simply do nothing but buy low and sell high. There are also many who use PE as one massive virtual chat room. They hang out and maybe hunt occasionally. I myself am a chat whore also.

Then there are those who just come to taste the game and lose interest. They maybe spend 2 weeks at max and leave. Many who I have seen leaving have stated that they thought PE was free and sweating is boring and will not get them anywhere. One problem here which I posted about was the bad mentors who can really mess up a newbie's experience.

Mind Ark have NO dialogue with the player base. Its quite appalling to be honest. No one knows where the game is heading and sudden changes are implemented and not much told to the community. There are rare appearances of MA staff in the forums and IRC. There are no community consultations as to what needs to be fixed or what will keep players interested. There is the feeling that we are only depositing lab rats in a game developers experiment to make a successful game. In a sense we are but we are also paying customers.

I tried to calculate the turnover of MA. Profit comes from decay on items and TT items (ammo, bombs etc). Is there actually millions of USD$ in such sales? Or is turnover based on the amount of money deposited and their company bank account? Lets face it, we are all putting money in MA's bank account and then given a virtual PED card with numbers on it.

With recent changes and sales, I have come to the conclusion that they are in need of money for future development. The changes being the new skill gain experience. The slowdown will force players to take longer to reach the Master levels thus increasing their game play over years. Also the introduction of new items. All of which have high decay and damage absorbtion. These items are becoming more plentiful than the economical items. With skill changes you now build weapon skills faster but support skills like Aim and inflicting damage are slower, making you spend more ammo.

And of course the sales of Sheds. There are about 20 which sell from 10k to 18k in price. 20 sheds at 10k equals $20,000 USD in MAs bank account. The sales of apartments also generated a nice sum.

The flotation of MA will bring more money for development. I think its great and much needed but there are many things that need to happen first to keep this game alive. Content is stale, too many have reached high levels from explotations, scamming is rife and losses on hunting are reaching levels where it is not financially possible to play PE and put food on my table.

I would buy stock in MA if I, as a player, knew what was going on and felt that it would bring new players or the old players back. But as a player, I would lose interest if I knew that the company would continue their secretness about the future, continue their lack of dialogue with the community, I would continue to lose my money and not have hope of some return and knew that the changes were still not going to stop the scams, increase content and bring new frineds for me. If I am not a player, then I would not be an investor.

I believe you must speculate to accumulate, but with the recent exodus of veteran players and my Friends List being empty, speculation leads me to skip this investment opportunity.

New Rank: Professional Scammer

2005-07-20T09:59:00.000Z

Scamming is rife within the World of Entropia. So many people love this game, myself included, but others love Project Entropia for another reason. Its so easy to scam other players and make money. Real money. A scammer would have a rough time withdrawing his spoils but they keep the money ingame and get to play for free.

There is a mentoring program within PE. A newbie can become a disciple of another player who will help show them the game. The mentor is encouraged to help them skill to a certain level and then the mentor is rewarded with a gift once the disciple graduates. There are 2 reason why man people choose NOT to take on a disciple.

Its time consuming. Many disciples play for such a short time and then quit. A mentor usually wastes time and never sees the disciple graduate.
Professional Scammers create new avatars which seek out players with nice equipment and build trust. Then they borrow items of high value. They then disappear.

I have read about so many instances where a disciple has built trust over months and months of game play only to borrow a high value item and then leave. But they dont leave. They actually trade that item to their main avatar and never play the disciple avatar again.

In other instances, players simply work to build the trust of well known players. Many times they use cover stories. Some such as they are female. Many males play PE and I guess there is some attraction to female players. Not female avatars but the real person behind the avatar. Using this cover story, some scammers easily play into a man's genetic testosterone flaw.

In other scenarios a scammer will offer to sell skills. They say that the purchaser provides a skill chip and they will remove skills and sell it. If the purcahser does not ask for collateral for the skill chip (usually 100 PEDs), then the scammer will take the chip and run off. They then drop it on the ground to be picked up by anyone.

When someone chooses to put an item on the ground there is a message that flashes up. It makes the person aware that any item placed on teh ground can be picked up by anyone. This message is how Mind Ark indemnify themselves from the scam. No one can recover an item dropped and picked up by anyone else.

Scammers work hard to build the trust of others. Once they get this item in their possession they have ownership. There is no lending system in PE. If it is in your possession, then you own it. The scammers borrow items and then drop them on the ground. Once it is picked up then it has a new owner.

In the forums there are numerous stories of how someone has scammed another players trust. Some even claim that their avatar was hacked into. MA have created a Gold Card authentication system. A player has a credit card type card that is placed into a reader and displays a code. This code is then entered after a player begins the login process. This stops any hack attempts. It is quite secure.

But account hacking is a crime in almost every country. Electronic Freud. Logins are no doubtedly tracked using IP addresses. MA will know if an account was hacked so to speak. IP address, hostname, country location etc will be clear indication from an IP.

But there is no protection for trust. Mind Ark want more and more new players to join PE. I agree, lets get millions of players. It would be great for the game. But new players need help. They need mentoring. Plus mentors can show newbies the fun aspects of PE. But so many are professional scammers that experienced players will not take on a newbie. There are professional mentors that do nothing but take on disciples. But in all instances they are low skilled and can not take a newbie to the oil rig or hunt tough creatures. Thats where the fun is. So newbies get a bad experience and MA loses yet another potential source of income.

Each item in Entropia has a unique ID code attached to it. Players can not see it, but MA have confirmed it exists. Once an item has been taken based on trust and is then passed to another player or dropped MA admins can track this item. They know who the scammers are and DO NOTHING to stop them. The message that pops up about dropped items is their indemnifier. The trade window when you pass an item to someone is a binding trade. How is MA to know the item wasnt sold for a service or payment outside of PE?

What beneifts are there to MA if scammers are allowed to continue? Well, that is simple. First of all, when someone withdraws money their account is manually looked at to make sure the money being withdrawn is not suspicious. This means that scammers will have a hard time getting money out of PE. Espicially with the newest EULA where players can not sell PEDs via external means. So a scammer is forced to keep the money ingame. No loss to MA who still have that money ingame, aka, in their bank account.

But also the scammed player may deposit more to buy that type of item again. There are higher chances that a player will put more money in after a scam. Almost every person I have seen scammed for items from 5,000 PEDS ($500) to 30,000 PEDs ($3,000) has deposited afterwards. MA know their game is addictive and they make rules which turn the situation around and make the player to blame becasue he/she passed an item to someone knowing that a trade is passing ownership of that item.

So who is profiting from the scam here? Well, the scammer gets the item and profits from extended gaming experience but can not profit outside of PE. In the end, Mind Ark is profiting because the money is still in their bank account and not being withdrawn.

I see a few clear lessons to be learned here.

Inplement a lending system between a mentor and the disciple. This will encourage more mentors of a higher caliber becasue the risk of losing high end items is lower or protected.
Identify the players using multiple avatars to build trust and scam items from players. Ban them. MA must be aware of these players but for some reason chooses not to do anything to them.
Follow in the footsteps of other games and name and shame. I have seen a game where it clearly lists the players name and reason they were banned.

This is more profitable in the long run to MA because more players will come into PE and have a good time with higher skilled mentors and the scammers will know for a fact that they have a high risk or losing.

Why do I love PE?

2005-07-19T12:20:00.000Z

After reviewing my deposit history and my bank account I asked myself: Why do I love Project Entropia and continue to play? I could play any other online game and pay a subscription of $15 USD per month and not be spending real money on a virtual life.

Do I play for the thrill of the hunt? I do enjoy hearing those bells and seeing the stars around me when I get a global loot or Hall of Fame loot. But with recent changes to the dynamics of PE, I am forced to hunt larger creatures to gain skills. This in itself creates a problem becasue larger creatures are not known for looting enough to break even. When they do loot, they loot nicely. But chasing the good loot is becoming an art.

Do I play to be the best I can? In a way I do. I enjoy seeing my professional standing increase and seeing new skills unlocked. It takes alot of time to reach new skill levels which is costly at times. I see these 'ubers' or highly skilled players that can battle the largest creatures and get the larger HOFs. I want to be them. I want to be at that level and be able to do that. With the changes introduced in Version 7.4, my goals of being an uber one day have been shattered. I can understand why MA made these changes. If every player could reach these high levels and hunt efficiently then there is no profit margin. So it was time to slow the game down a bit.

But with recent changes and my goals unattainable, Why do I love PE? Is it the strong and diverse community? I see many people who have left PE but still visit the forum and IRC because they love the community and people. I visit the forums and IRC now and then but my ingame Friends List is empty. Not many of the people I have come to know play much. Maybe its time to make new friends. So its not the community that fuels my love.

Is it the game play and graphics? Well, many other games such as Star Wars and World of Warcraft have some of the coolest visuals in recent games. The game play of PE is becoming mundane and boring. The content is not as fresh and appealing as I would expect.

Is love the right word for my affliction towards Project Entropia? It is a game I love to hate at times. Its an unusual realtionship between me and Project Entropia. So love is the wrong word. The only word to describe it, would be an addiction. But that begs the question: Why am I addicted to PE? For the same answers above I still have trouble describing my addiction.

But then it dawned on me. What is PE? Its a virtual world. Whats wrong with this world? Why do you seek to escape it? Is my addiction or psedu-love actually my need to escape reality and live a new life? Whats wrong with my life? Well, a catholic school upbringing can evoke such questions. I immerse myself into this virtual world and tune out all of reality. I have had phone calls and my friend ask why I sound so disconnected. He would not understand that I was killing a drone soldier with my sword. There are many things I would love to tune out in the real world. I see the news of the terrorists in London, bombings in Egypt, Monsoon in India, famine in Niger and shady agreements on global warming. (sign Kyoto dammit)

Maybe its time for change. My lifestyle has had an impact from playing PE. Maybe its time to sell out. But would this create a void in my life and the sudden rush of reality be overwhelming since I worked so hard to tune it out? Change is scary. Can I just push PE aside and focus on life? That will take deep contemplation as I will need to decide on new goals and paths for myself.

So, my love is actually an addiction to escaping reality. This realization will take much diagnosis and contemplation in order to re-immerse myself into reality and overcome any withdrawal symptons of my addiction.

I still believe that once I lose interest in PE I can cash out or sell all my items and skills and then withdraw that money into my bank account. Albeit there are many issues with MA's timely fashion of actually getting the money into someone's bank account, I still believe that I can leave at any time and take a nice proportion of my investment with me. Maybe its time to test this.

The Beacon Adventure

2005-07-13T23:07:00.000Z

A society mate had a 25 ped robot beacon. These are new in Version 7.5. Each beacon value has a difficulty rating. A 23 ped beacon being the easiest and 43 ped beacon being the hardest. A miner can locate a robot signal and then kill a few robot drones and loot a beacon. A team can then travel to a certain location and use the beacon to signal a robot spaceship. You enter it and go on an adventure. Its similar to dungeon quests in other games.

Mind Ark have done something that can fit all levels of players as mini adventures. No more of these silly tough quests where only the highest skilled players get the fun. Now everyone can have a turn. I think its great! Maybe one of them have read my blog? I hope not.

We went on this adventure and it was awesome. Lots of drones to kill and a warrior at the end. 5 floors of lootable storage containers. The loot wasnt great but the whole experience was cool. The graphics were astounding. I guess MA are making full use of the gaming engine. Hopefully they soon upgrade the rest of PE with graphics like this.

All I can say is well done MA. I am very happy with both the idea and visuals. Finally you have done something that is meeting the adventurous aspirations of all player levels. Its only 1 step in the right direction, but a good start.

I saw the price for beacons in the auction. People are asking 350 ped for 35 ped beacons. And 200 for small ones. I definately DO NOT think the small beacons are worth that much. We didnt even break even on loot. And just the experience is not worth 200 PEDs everytime. Its cheaper to go mining and loot one. At least you can sell your ores after and get some money back.

Team Choppers

2005-07-13T11:45:00.000Z

I love my little axe 1x0. But with the recent changes in the skilling experience, I am forced to use larger swords. I prefer a Valor. It looks just like a Samurai sword. They are supposed to have very good decay (if decay can be called godd). I love argonauts. But I can no longer chop the little ones and gain skills.

So time for some upgrades. My friend and I both have valor swords and went to chop the bigger arogs. It was great! We would run up and hack them to death. We then moved to other larger creatures like cornucadas. We were slicing and dicing all evening long. The loot was decent. I dont do enough consisten high damage with my sword to be efficient but a small global helped alot.

In a few months, I will be able to chop atrox and then onto spiders. Yeah, right! Keep dreaming.

Ouch! Decay

2005-07-07T18:19:00.000Z

I decided to don my fine Vigi armor and try out the redesigned drones and warrior robots. They look great. I was quite impressed. Then a warrior decided to come and test his luck against me and my trusty Maddox4 pistol. When the warrior hit me I noticed that it did less damage than before. I was pleased. It died faster and I stayed a little longer to hunt. When I went to repair my armor my decay cost was terrible. Any other time I hunted robots, my decay was never this bad. What was going on?

I decided to do a bit of math. The warriors do the same amount of damage as before when I wore no armor. But now they do less of one damage type and more of others. Its hard to explain but it seems that the damage is spread across more damage types such a burn, penetration, shrapnel, acid and impact. Now that means that my armor will absord more of the damage, thus decaying faster. Thats a sly little change which increases decay on armor.

Virtual Real Estate Profitability

2005-07-06T10:02:00.000Z

Mind Ark allow Entropians to purchase homes in the form of Houses and Hangars on Eudorian Continent and Apartments on the Amethera Continent. With recent Land Grab results, societies can own a area of land and tax the hunters and miners up to 10% of thier spoils. They also have the ability to control the creature population and maturity using a Fertilization Station. This allows Societies to have a high concentration of low maturity creature or vise versa.

The latest addition to Virtual Property in Project Entropia are called Sheds. These are very similar to the Land Areas owned by societies but are purchased rather than fought for. The largest example is Treasue Island. But sheds are smaller and bid on via the ingame auction. Owners can set taxation and control population. Each shed is placed on the auction at 1 PED value and left for players to bid upon. Some popular areas have sold for 15-18k PEDs.

With the intial investment of 15,000 PEDs, the new owner must have a business plan in order to maximise the ROI (Return over Investment). The fertilizer station consumes fertilizer to maintain the creature population. Any land owner also has the ability to add and remove creature types using DNA looted from a creature. DNA is a rare find in loots and sells for a nice value depending on type.

I traveled to some of these Sheds to gauge the profitability of them. There was one area that caught my attention. This area seems to yeild a good loot and many hunters gettting Globals and HOFs. I have noticed trends. If the area is looting nicely at a peak time and many globals are seen, many other hunters will move to that area. With so many creatures being hunted, the loot turn over is much better. It seems that only 2 specific shed areas are looting nicely: Longus and Formidons. Recently there has been many globals and HOFs there. I myself die very quickly because these creatures are not easy.

Some shed owners and also land owning societies have chosen to promote their land. I have seen adverts for Atrax Park and a video for another area. I have also seen competitions for the first HOF over a certain amount with rewards such as an iPod or ingame items. Shed owners also have the ability to use shopkeepers to sell ammunition to hunters and other items. This keeps them close and not returning to a Service Center far away to resupply.

Some Entropians choose to be great hunters, others miners, but recently some have chosen to be Property Developers. If someone paid 15k PEDs for a shed, then it will take 300, 000 PEDs in loot to hunters and miners at 5% taxation to pay for the intial purchase of land. Take into account the maintenance such as fertilizer, then add 2%. So it is possible to profit but 300k in loot is alot.

With Treasure Island, the owner has stated in the forum that it will not be until mid next year that he starts to see some profitability on his investment. He does have an advantage. He can sell a set number of houses each month and has a larger and more diverse creature population in multiple habitats. He also has a unique spawn of 2 creature types. Eomon have been seen at times on his land and also a small spawn on Second Entity robots. No where else in PE do these creatures exist.

It will take time to see if there is profitability in owning virtual real estate. I have noticed at least one shed placed back on the market by its owner. New shed areas are still to be released. There is another popular area with Scaboreas. I expect this to sell in the range of 15-20k PEDs.

Good luck to all land owners.

No more sweat

2005-06-27T23:13:00.000Z

Its a sad day for me. I can no longer gather sweat. In a sense its good because it means I am no longer a newbie.

In Project Entropia, all players start equal. It us up to each Entropian to choose thier path. Some choose to deposit and get money instantly. Others however choose to gather vibrant sweat from creatures and sell that for a profit. Each player has a limit at which they can no longer gather sweat. This is so that no one can sweat forever and make money indefinately.

With the recent changes in Version Update 7.4, skill gains at low levels are fast. This means that newbie players reach that sweating limit quickly. And so the price of sweat has risen to a sickly amount. Sweat is used to create Mind Essence (ME). ME is used for Mind Force such as Teleporting, firestorm chips, heal chips, nerve blast and a few other cool things. Lately however, ME has become so expensive that people only buy it to use TP chips when needed. I myself have a TP chip but due to ME prices, I prefer to run.

In the old days (before VU 7.4) when players were skilling with FAPs, sweaters would be able to sweat the creatures while someone was skilling. This helped to keep the price down. Now since no one can skill like before, prices are rocketed. Espicially since Mind Ark didnt realise that the fast skill gains would stop people sweating quite soon.

So I asked a friend if it was easier to simply create a new avatar and use that to gather sweat. He says that its the main reason that there are over 100k players in PE. Everyone has multiple avatars used for sweating. So maybe I make a new avatar so I can get sweat. It seems to be the only viable option when prices are out of control. I guess I will join the 100k other sweaters and be able to use my TP chip again.

Economical Hunting

2005-06-25T17:58:00.000Z

Its the goal of almost every hunter within Project Entropia to profit from each hunt. There are many factors that make up this equation. First you must know how much each weapon decays and the amount of ammo used if its a gun. Then you factor in the amount of damage the creature does and the decay of your armor. Using the right combination can yeild profitable results. Or should I say, 'did' yeild profitable results.

For example, wearing Rascal or Pixie armor and chop cornucada young with an axe 1x0 would be profitable in both loot return and skill gain. Your decay costs were so low on armor and FAP that 2 loots would cover it. You axe decay would be covered by loot return.

This type of hunting brought a new generation of hunter into PE. The economical hunter was becoming too popular. With so many people profiting, where was the profit for the developing company? Now so many new players were gaining HP fast and higher skilled then some of the more long term players. Of course, a few complaints from the heavy depositors that some players were profiting whilst they were losing soon ended the axe 1x0 trend.

The idea behind PE is to build your skills to such a level that hunting becomes economical. Once you reach those high levels you can do max or higher damage using your weapon. A newbie would take 12 shots to kill an atrox young with the same gun that a skilled player would take only 5-6. This means less ammo usage and longer hunts.

But with the recent changes in skill gains, this is not acheivable. You get fast gains in your weapon skill such as rifle but little to no gain in the supporting skills. What exactly is the point of having 10k rifle with less than 5k support skills such as Aim and Inflict Ranged Damage. Someone actually calculated it out that you can reach 10k levels from 1 but you may only reach 5k in the supporting skills.

So the utopia of economical hunting was shattered by version update 7.4 when the skill gain was changed. The community has a way of finding new ways and tricks. It is yet to be seen how hunters will adapt.

Does a Virtual world reflect our world?

2005-06-21T11:07:00.000Z

Its an interesting question. I guess this is the objective of any MMO game. To create a virtual world where participants can live out an alternative life. Add in a few other ingredients and you get a popular game. You need a background story that sets the scene to players. You need to give players goals to reach. You need diverse player interaction that reflects societies today.

The background in Project Entropia is that we are all Entropian colonists on a new planet. We must make our own way to explore and survive. Just as in real life we all come from a family or background involving money. Each colonist who lands on Calypso may bring with them their wealth in the form of depositing $USD for local PEDs. We then go about our own paths as hunters, crafters, tailors, miners and traders. Its up to us to decide our path.

Just as in real life, we are cast into the world at 18-25 with the ability to earn a living. Some of us have some cash that we can invest early on with an education or a means to earn a living. Many do not have the luxury of starting life with a fat wallet and need to start from scratch. In PE we can either deposit to begin or gather sweat to build our virtual lives.

Content is a big issue. A MMO needs a diverse range of content that will appeal to players. This will keep them interested and build the much needed player base. Just as in life, we choose where to work and live based on the content of that environment. Some choose large cities where opportunities and abundant, others choose small places where they are more comfortable. Some enjoy the ever changing surroundings of a city and some want order and routine.

PE has some content but lacks in fresh ideas. I have seen videos and read stories of robot attacks on cities. Wow, that is so cool. But I have yet to see anything like that. Content needs to be challenging to players. It needs to bring them together to overcome an obstacle. It needs to forge new friendships and at times create conflict. There is a Land Grab which is just that. Each player Society can fight for a piece fo land and then tax it for an income source. But many weeks go by and its the same old theme: hunt this to HOF, mine that to sell, craft this to wear. A pinch of fresh content is needed here.

Each Entropian has her or his own expectations. They choose thier profession or professions and build their skills to reach new levels and achieve new heights. Some people have the single goal of being the most skilled. Some live for the thrill of the hunt. Others are more business focused and enjoy trading. But what happens when they reach these goals too fast? What happens when they can kill the largest creature? Do the developers simply create larger creatures? How does a game developer continuiously meet the growing goal and expectations of a evolving player base when challenged by new MMO releases to the gaming market?

We move from one job position to another in order to progress and achieve new skills and goals. What happens when one job has the same routine everyday and lacks potential? What happens when you reach the board room chair? Do you stay and be reveared as the veteran or demi-god of your department or do you search for new experiences? What keeps an employee dedicated to their job and a long-termer? Can a game developer learn from businesses? A long term employee is more valuable than a new recruit. Same is said of a veteran gamer. Why has so many of the vets left PE?

In any environment, diverse social interaction can be more influencial and beneficial as any salary or reward for keeping customers/players/employees loyal. A local community rich in culture can forge friendships and create controversy. All parts of a healthy community. How many people would be willing to work at a job where it was just them? Or where they had rare interaction with others there? Social interaction is one of the most important factors in creating a good work environment or online game. Employees that build friendships outside the office are shown to be more productive in the office (and disruptive at times).

PE has one of the strongest online gaming communities that I have ever seen. In one way this is a direct result of MA's failings as a game developer. But some may think that it was the intention of MA. Project Entropia has no forums or discussion boards like other games. They have no IRC chat rooms and no in-game admins. This has forced the players to build their community together. Civilization has a way of coming together in groups of interest. Being a source of water, good hunting grounds or a crossroads for vibrant trading. The PE community has worked together to build their forums, get on player run IRC and communicate. MA's failing in creating a community has in essence built a community.

This model can be replicated in present day society. For example the controversial rebuilding of Iraq. The US government has built the community structure and said 'here, this is how we want it to be'. Other game developers such as Star Wars Galaxies and Eve Online have provided a forum for the community. But has that built a strong community or just a central point for debate. A community gets things done. If in Iraq they took the approach of bottom up and let the community build itself then maybe things would ahve been different? For example Basra which is run by the UK military. They can walk the streets without helmets becasue they took a different approach that the US military in Baghdad.

In PE players come together in the form of Societies, also known in other games as Guilds, Clans or Factions. The diversity is that players are from around the world and not localised to a specific country. A office in a large city will have staff from various ethnicities whereas a small country town office may be just locals. Some societies in PE are localised in that country town style and some are the large city office style with members from around the world.

And with diversity of people come personalities and egos. These driven by cultural upbringings and lifestyle are the definition of diverse communities. Naturally you get the trouble makers as well.

There are many aspects of a virtual world that reflect present day society. There are many models that can be replicated in both the virtual world development and business development. Sometimes it feels as if these industries, either being gaming, businesses, or governments, lack the cross pollenating bee that is needed to build effective communities that make up society. Maybe Mind Ark is clued up to community development and it was their intention for no forums.

Being that a virtual world can reflect our own social environments, it is possible that some choose to do away with reality and live in this virtual world. This can lead to many negative paths both in virtual reality and reality. This is something that is of great concern to me becasue I see many who are living on the wrong side of the keyboard and I fear I may be heading that way.

What shall I do today?

2005-06-18T11:44:00.000Z

I login and ask this to myself. My goal is to build my skills but I am forced to hunt larger creatures that are a challenge to get skills gains. I used to be able to go out hunting with 100 ped ammo and be happy with loot and skill gains. Now I am forced to buy bigger guns and go out with 300 PED ammo. My returns are low. I am losing badly hunting Atrox which yeild nice skill gains. I am scared to lose all my money. I dont have alot to spend on each hunt.

I have been told that you need to camp and area and work it to get that HOF. Well, if I had all day to play and the money to lose in hope of getting that large HOF, I would do it. But lets face it, not all of us can play all day and lose 500 PED in the hopes of getting a 1k HOF. 500 PED is $50 USD. So I need to get lucky and HOF on the area someone else has been working.

I have hunted almost everything in my skill range. I need to team hunt larger creatures but my friends list is empty again. This VU has made me a lonely.

Shall I craft items? Well, there is not much return and standing in one place just clicking the craft button doesnt not appeal to me.

Mining seems interesting. I will give this a go and shoot the creatures in my path.

I am getting bored of just hunting. Bored of losing. There was a message in the Client Loader, it looked fun but when I arrived at the invasion, I got PK'd by some guy and not able to actually participate in the hunt. Also these creatures do 145 damage and I am far from that Health level. maybe they will add something more to my level?

Back to argos I think. At least they loot iron ore that I can sell. However they are getting boring. I want something new to explore and do. Not just another event for highly skilled players.

A long term shot in the foot

2005-06-07T09:23:00.000Z

Version Update 7.4 in Project Entropia has frustrated so many Entropians to the point of quitting or just not playing. Many play for the sole purpose to build skills and hunt larger creatures. With the change to the skill gain experience, I try to understand why Mind Ark would make such a drastic change.

Many people were profiting. They had modified FAPs and were using auto-clickers to build skills whilst away. Then they would sell these skills for a profit. MA has stopped the players ability to skill with FAPs by making creatures walk away if the player doesnt engage them. They also drastically changed the skill gains for general skills that give a player Health Points. Using a FAP for many hours gives a lot of Athletics skills which in turn increase HP. But MA have made 2 changes here. 1.) Stop the fast increase of General skill gains (Athletics etc) and 2.) Stop AFK (away from keyboard) skilling.

I can understand the reason to stop people from gaining skills and not actually being there to play the game. I think that was a great change. But I fail to see why they chose to drastically slowdown the General skill gains. Athletics, Serendipity, Dexterity etc are good HP modifiers. If they were worried about so many people getting high HP, then it would seem wiser to make a change to the direction the game was heading in, rather to slow down players. Many felt betrayed and really angry with these changes. The players who are yet to reach these high HP levels feel as if they never will reach them. It has almost made the ubers into Gods with a skill level that will take years to reach. (Some were reaching this medium HP level in months with afk skilling.)

I believe Mind Ark made a bad decision. It seems that they wanted to slow the game down by slowing down the skills gained by players and increasing their game play over years. I agree that they need to take a long term view of the skills gained and player abilities, but I disagree with their mindset that the players should be the target of the slowdown.

Why not think in terms of making the games environment harder rather than slowing down a player from conquering the environment? If players are reaching Master levels and high HP so fast, why not create an environment that is growing? There is 1 fully explorable continent called Eudoria. The second continent of Amethera is barely 1/6 explorable. ie the servers dont allow a player to go past a certain boundary. It is belived that there are 3 continents on the planet of Calypso. The creatures on Amethera are much harder than Eudoria. With so much left to grow and explore why not increase the environment difficulties?

Many players see the 300 HP level as the highest. It takes alot of skills to reach that level. I fail to see why the game must end there. Simply allow players to continue to increase at a slower level once they reach such high levels rather than slow down the increase at low levels. It would now take 3-5 years of hardcore gameplay to reach the levels that many have reached using exploits or afk skilling.

10k skill level is the last Professional Standing reached by a player which is Great Master. If the goal was to slowdown players reaching high levels so the game will last a couple more years, then a lazy decision would be to actually slow players down in their skill gains. Whereas a well thought out strategy would be to evolve the game as players develop. With so much to develop and explore in Project Entropia, it should seem logical to create tougher creatures and address the 10k skill limit. You can get skills over 10k but the Professional Standing or rank stops there.

A simple revamp of the skill levels would allow for much longer game play to reach new ranks. It would also NOT frustrate the lower skilled players with such ridiculous slowdowns. If a player reaches Master at 8.1k skill levels then from this point on the ranks need a rethink. A master can now be called an Trained Master, Able Master... thus using the ranks from low levels as a pre-fix to Master. Its basically making use of these ranks again. The Military uses exactly that. Once a soldier reaches a rank, they basically climb in that rank again. You see many Lt. Colonels who are not just plain Colonel, but they are climbing the ranks within Colonel.

Such a change to the environment and skill ranks would increase the longevity of PE and allow new hieghts to be reached. Now that people have reached them, there is now new heights that no one else has reached. I can envision players with 200 HP fighting creatures that are much tougher than what is already ingame.

The conclusion I come to is that the developers decided they wanted to think long term but instead of thinking of what is yet to come (which they keep promising with ingame adverts), they lazily decide to slow players down reaching levels that have already been reached. This says alot for thier ability to think long term and the future limits that will be placed on Entropians. I now know the boundaries and limitations of what I can be within PE. I would have preferred the unknown and excitement of achieving new hieghts.

Will I ever be a Master?

2005-06-04T11:40:00.000Z

My goal was once to be the best I could and build my skills to the highest levels. With recent changes I am rather depressed. I hear other speak about playing for 8 months and reaching Medium Health (150 HP). Now I estimate that I will not reach such a level until 1+ year of playing.

Others had the chance to reach these levels but these changes slow me down so much that I am considering packing it all in. I will give it a go but things look bleak. I can live with the stale content and limitations on things exciting to actually do. But after a couple of weeks in this new system I really feel down.

This creature is trapped and can not be damaged...

2005-05-28T18:40:00.000Z

Various bugs in the virtual world of Entropia allowed a creature to become stuck or trapped. Whilst in this state you could do damage and avoid taking any damage yourself. This allowed for hunters to avoid the costs of decay on armor and FAPs. You could hunt and possibly profit. It allowed people to kill large creatures such as spiders, atrox and kreltins.

On the other hand you could use a small weapon and simply keep shooting a trapped creature for hours gaining skills. Many of the highly skilled players today have spent numerous hours skilling on trapped creatures.

The debate is should trapping to hunt be allowed? Should trapping to skill be allowed? Or should all trapping be stopped?

Trapping creatures to hunt is pathetic in my opinion. If you do not have the skills to fight it and take damage, then do not fight it. So many players trap creatures in order to hunt and avoid the costs of decay. They trap so much that they finally global or HOF thus making it profitable. A majority of the All Time High HOFs are from trapping.

Trapping an atrox stalker on a bridge and shooting it for 8 hours with a couple of Jester D1s will increase your skill level over time, faster than hunting alone. It is how some of the most skilled players built their skills. The problem is that some players would use a clicker and skill all day and night.

MA has decided to stop trapping for any reason. I agree with this decision but my only problem is that its too late. In the beginning when PE was building its player base trapping was needed. It increased the amount of ammo sold and weapons decayed. But then some players began to fight over popular traps. They would complain to MA that other players have pushed them out of their trap.

Was the decision to stop trapping right? It stopped the huge amont of ammo being used and the weapon decays. That is an income source for MA. It also shrunk the number of trapped loots. But in the long run it will prove to be more profitable for MA. There will be less highly skilled players who can hunt economically. This change is great, but puts significant distance between the older players who had this opportunity and the new players who must shoot every creature in sight.

Land Grab

2005-05-22T12:57:00.000Z

In Project Entropia, societies have the opportunity to own land and charge a tax for hunting and mining. In the past LGs, or Land Grabs, it has been dominated by the same top societies. This time it is open to all. My society has decided that we do not have the capabilities to fight these tough societies and hold land. instead i decide to venture out and witness this grand PK spectacle.

With barely enough sleep to be classified as a nap, I login and meet up with a friend. We decide its best to avoid the conflicts if we are not wearing any armor and hold our FAPs all the time to appear less threatening. Regardless of our threatening demeanor, we still got shot at.

We ventured to 2 of the main battles and encountered small fights on the way. The main problem is that the ubers with big guns felt the need to shoot at us while reviving. One lamer just stood there killing everyone. His society wasnt even battling for land at this area but yet he felt the need to come and cause trouble. Once we made our way to the land marker it was hectic. You didnt know who was helping who. But alot of lag and killing. It was great.

We made our way to another Land Area and of course the same lamer was there killing people as people revived. I dont understand why he felt the need to do it except he was being an ass. The battle wasnt as fierce at this area but was sporadic.

All in all it was fun and a great experience. The amount of ammo shot and decay must have been quite profitable for MA. There were some great pictures on the community forums and some good video footage also. All I need is Full Eon armor, mod FAP and a DOA Foeripper and I would participate. All I need is to deposit $20k and that would be possible.

Its mine, all mine

2005-05-10T09:38:00.000Z

I been camping a spawn all day. I had a theory that if I was there long enough the loot would fall in my favor. So I login and begin hunting Allophyl to extinction taking along my trusty mk2 Justifier and m2875. The hunt is on!

I was looting good. A few 10 PED loots and tons of tailoring items, also a few EWE 21 pistols. I was like a killing machine. There was no mercy for these creatures. When I was a newbie (well more newbie than I still am) these long legged, electricuting mice zapped me too many times. Its payback time. I was going to hunt these things until the PE server broke becasue it didnt have any more electrons left to spawn them. I was death incarnate.

Wohoo a nice 60 PED global from that one. I am gonna hof! I am gonna hof! I was psyched up to the max. There was no stopping me. I was in the zone. I didnt even need to focus. My hands were performing the ballet of death with my pistol. Only a matter of time until that HOF comes.

Green dot. Green dot? Green Dot!! Noo, they are mine. Go away! I been here longer. Dont you understand! THEY ARE MINE!!

Nervous, tense, angered that someone was hunting my patch. If this was PVP and I had Shadow armor and one of those DOA things I would exterminate you just like these mobs.... Bells, Lights, OMG?!? A Global? A HOF? Oh My God! She just hoffed next to me on my Allo. OMG! 400+ PED HOF. I can feel the blood rushing to my face. I cant believe this fool just came on MY patch and killed MY mobs and looted MY hof. The injustice. The outrage. The horror.

So I do as any good Entropian would do and say grats to her(MY) HOF. She says thanks and leaves my radar. Frustratingly I hunted the last of my 50 ped ammo and left the area. Now that I think about it, I didnt even see her again. Maybe she just got there and HOF'd on her first kill? Maybe we both been farming that area for hours and missed each other everytime? Maybe I will have better luck next time.

Multiple Avatars

2005-05-04T17:30:00.000Z

I was watching an item being sold in the auction and I noticed a well known avatar who recently quit the game, was bidding on an item. It was odd that this person who regularly spoke out that PE lacked content and vision, to be bidding on such an item.

I then heard rumors that the avatar was sold to someone wo they could remove the skills. But it seems that they were also using that avatar to place bogus bids on their auction items thus increasing the items sale price.

I was browsing other items and noticed that someone was selling ores for 10% more than the going rate. But it wasnt just 1 auction entry. It was almost 12 entries by this one person. But there is nothing wrong with that. Until I looked at another type of ore. Once again, the same trend: 10% above market rate with 10+ entries. Ok, a coincidence. I took a look at another ore type and the same trend, and then another type of ore. It seems that this trend is very popular. Or just one reseller using multiple avatars to dominate that section of the market.

I browse around and look at various other items. I notice that most are being sold by players I have never seen in town or globaling. I try to keep an eye out for some of the reoccuring names. I still have never seen most of these avatars.

So I start thinking about how one person could manipulate the PE economy and auction. Using multiple avatars you easily bid up your own items. You use another avatar to buy up ores for very cheap and then resell them for +10% market price. You add numerous entries so that someone who is not familiar with current market prices will see all these entries for this +10% price and purchase thinking it is the going rate. You buy enough of the same type of guns or armor parts and then raise the price. It takes some starting capital to be able to afford to invest in items but that would naturally be built from manipulating the ore markets.

How could this dynamic and real world economy of Project Entropia be opened to all potential sellers and limit the amount of market manipulation?

It would be simple to implement a system that STOPPED any individual from having multiple avatars from a single IP address. Or in the case of home networks or LANs, force each PE installation to be mated to a specific avatar account. This would not be in the form of a cfg text file but a secure system file that could not be manipulated and verified by an MD5 checksum.

On reflection, would the developers want such a limitation on multiple avatars? Is it healthy for such manipulation on such a small economy?It all depends on who you ask. For a company like MA it would be healthy as it forces buyers to deposit more money into PE to afford such items. But for a customer it only makes this great game more expensive.

Cool, a mid level event

2005-05-04T14:26:00.000Z

There are rewards for loot from robots. Its a nice little event for mid level players or so I thought. Once again the top prize was a valuable gun. The problem is that after the fact, the guns went to members from the top societies. The next prize could only be obtained by killing a Second Entity. Well, they do 170 damage, so out of my league. The only reward that was obtainable in my caliber was 450 iron ignots.

Right, I want to hunt highly decaying robots in order to get 5 items that will reward me with 450 iron ignots? So, is that what a mid level player is worth? A customer with potential to deposit nice sums is not worth more than that?

I am getting the impression that in PE you must deposit alot to buy the top gear OR be a long term verteran OR trap creatures in order to loot the best items.

And that there is what shatters all the newbie dreams.

Space, the final frontier

2005-04-30T14:37:00.000Z

I went to space. Its really interesting and made me realise that without a team, this place is one large death pit. There is no way I can last 10 minutes in Dome 1 alone. I see all these people getting really large HOFs in space but I dont have the Shadow Armor or Mod FAP to be able to hunt here.

In a team its great. If there are 4 of you, its easy to ping pong the aliens back and forth. We got 1 global with a light in it. We barely broke even. Its not a place I plan to visit alone but recomend it to anyone who wants to hunt in a team. Its great fun! So space will be the final frontier for me once I reach the skill level to actually hunt here.

Grrr! Resellers

2005-04-26T17:19:00.000Z

All I wanted was some Vigilante Armor parts. But it seems that some trader has decided to corner the market by buying up all of one part and then selling them for a silly price.

I must remind myself that PE has a dynamic and real economy. As each Entropian makes his or her own life in this virtual universe we are free to do as we wish. But is it ethical? In the real economy any company of sole trader is limited in their business abilities to maintain a monopoly. Market regulators are in place to limit such activity.

Would it not be wise, in a game that aims to deliver a real economy, to implement a trading regulator? Or to limit the other players ability to posses a certain number of 1 specific items such as armor parts. This would create a free market that is open to all and minimizes the 'market manipulation' by such shady traders.

Public fights

2005-04-26T14:34:00.000Z

I find it funny to watch players fight it out in words in the cities. Its so pointless. You dont actually achieve anything and the majority of the people there have no interest what so ever. But yet, people spit and argue over funny things. Its just as bad as a playground.

Things like this make the virtual world of PE so realistic. Too bad the cities are not all PVP. It would be great to see them slug it out.

These bells can be addictive

2005-04-24T16:53:00.000Z

My first Global. Wow! This noise you hear when you get a global loot from killing a creature is quite euphoric. It lasted only a few seconds and there were stars and lights all around me. I was shocked and confused until I realised what happened. My name was in the chat window as a Global announcement for everyone to see.

As I went to bed I kept hearing that noise. It was so persistant that I had to locate the sound file in the PE directory and listen to it again. This sound can be addictive. Its so odd. Could someone create a sound that is addictive? Is it possible that visual lights and these bells be addictive on a subconscious level? Some acoustic variations can be hypnotic but I doubt addictive. But then again, PE is cutting edge.

Kill stealers

2005-04-20T14:18:00.000Z

I was out hunting in a popular spot that seems to yeild a significant amount of HOFs. There are so many creatures that you have to wait until one actually spawns near you before you can get a shot at it without someone else getting it first.

So 2 cornu spawn next to me and attack. I am busy killing one and someone comes and kills the other. Ok, fair play, i couldnt fight 2 at once and maybe this person thought I was in trouble. Then one spawns next to me and she shoots it from really long range so it goes to her. Ok, first come first serve. So once again 2 spawn on top of me and this time I quickly shoot both so they are mine. But this fool decided to come and kill it. The loot was still mine becasue I did more damage but then she kept on shooting my mob everytime. Regarless that I was getting the loot, she was just trying to be tough. It irritates me that some people actually waste money to just fight for the loot. I know the area was hot and HOFs plentiful but no respect what so ever.

Lame.

Event crashing moron

2005-04-18T10:08:00.000Z

I am in a bad mood. I went to the Melee Event in Zeus. It was gonna be great. I would get to see some people battle it out with swords for a meager prize and some forum fame. There was about 100 people all standing around. It was my first player run event that I have ever been to. The crowds were gathering, the swords being sharpened (well, repaired) and people ready to place bets on the participants. I must add that there is no betting in Project Entropia and it was only a bit of jest by spectators.

The event organiser announces the first competitors. They take to the ring and begin their dance. Eyeing each other up and down waiting for the other to take the first swing. Then ratt-a-tatt-tatt... WAIT! That isnt a sword. Its a gun. A gun? You can use a gun in a melee event. Yes you can, if you are the MORON who came to crash the event.

How could she do that? Noooo! Its my first event! Nooo!

But she did. And it did not stop there. She kept on for a while. Everyone was screaming and yelling. The chat window was going faster than the traders in Port Atlantis. Then it stopped. About 4-5 people were in the ring trying to kill her. She was using some bug and no one could harm her. I was disappointed. All I wanted was to see my first event. Then she started her carnage again. This time she died. They tried to block her from getting back in the ring but some how she got back in. Then others joined in and you couldnt tell who was fighting for who.

Some guy said that he was going to get her banned. I thought he was someone of high statute until I realised later that he was just another one of those people who talk loads of trash. He even threatened to hold the event on Amethera where its all PVP. And he would revive kill her over and over until she logged off. I dont believe that 2 wrongs make a right or that this type of player justice would be legal in terms of the EULA.

That brings an interesting topic to light. Did the actions of this 'event crasher' violate the EULA and can she get banned? Well, the EULA says that no one can stop another person from enjoying PE by stopping them from playing. The ring was PVP and not owned by any one. So legaly this person was allowed so to speak to enter the ring and shoot everyone in it. But there is the question of how this person entered the ring at times. She got in from the back using some sort of bug. And also was able to stand in the ring and not take damage. Thats bug exploiting and against the EULA. But if someone was to enter the ring normally then its fair.

The thing that shocked me was that this guy saying he would revive kill her until she left the game becasue she was crashing this event and breaking the EULA was actually threatening to break the EULA in a worse way than what she was doing. His intention was to deny her the right to play PE by killing her over and over at the revive terminal on Amethera. Now how would she enjoy the game like that?

Well, the crowds dispersed and I lost interest in their silly slander and word fights. I went back to hunt with my arch enemy - Diakba Old Alpha.

I decided to take a late night stroll on one of the popular community forums. It seems that the fight went from the ring in Zeus to a forum post. And it was ruthless. This whole silliness was getting out of hand. The event crasher was making personal remarks to other members about their real life appearance. That was below the belt. But it was mainly fuelled by this other guy who was talking all that trash at the event. It seemed that he was feeding the fire with the event crasher. I was cringing. If only he would have shut up and let her make a fool of herself this would have ended. But as egos go, someone always wants the last word. Needless to say the topic was locked.

There are a couple of lessons to be learned here.

Its clear that some sort of Player Event system is needed. There is a strong community in Project Entropia and some really good organisers. But on the other hand, there are those players who feel a need to destroy and disrupt. In that sense, PE does reflect society in general.
2 wrongs dont make a right. I was shocked that someone would be so immature as to threaten anohter player by revive killing. I was also disappointed to see that this person was feeding the fire on the forum. Some people want to act as if they are in authority and highly mature or moral, but in reality, they are as immature as the one event crashing. All people had to do was walk away and ignore her.

Well, lots of talk on the forums and the next event should be a little better with some security from the skilled players. I am still looking forward to my first (uncrashed) PE event.

The Unique Item Mission

2005-04-05T14:07:00.000Z

I have found the content lacking in some regards withing PE. MA has posted a story about someone dying and having a unique item. Its great. We are all hunting atrox near Ithaca in order to loot this item.

It turned out to be a 25k PED Sword. It does almost 200 damage. It was looted by one of the top 10 societies, a highly skilled player.

It was lots of fun leading up to this event and the loot in that area was really good. My gripe is that is was too uber focused. By that I mean, I couldnt kill the same creature that he killed. So only players with high end gear and skills are able to get such items. Now fair enough, they have skilled to a top level and deserve to loot high end items. But what does MA do for the little people? I dont have the skills to hunt such creatures. But I would enjoy the opportunity to be able to participate and actually loot a nice item. I have never really looted anything nice. I got a Vigilante harnes once. That sold for tt+60.

But what missions or events are focused for the little people who wish to be uber but not there yet? There is not much. Many say that since they deposit more they deserve such rewards. But wait, I only just started. Why not something low level aimed at us? In a few years I will be at that level and be able to participate in high end events.

I am a little disappointed about the lack of content for players of my caliber. The next big event is Land Grab and that is another event for the ubers. How am I supposed to stay interested when I dont have a chance to take part? Does MA expect me to stay loyal for 2+ years just to take part in such events? A bit of wishful thinking on thier part.

Looting the Shrine

2005-04-01T13:40:00.000Z

One of the top publicisers of Project Entropia in the United States has unfortunately lost his wife to an illness. He is strong and the community has shown thier grief and support for him.

Mind Ark have built a Shrine to her and the other PE players who have passed on. Its a very nice gesture from MA and many people have come to visit the shrine. Some lay flowers and others lay items. Some come to decorate but others come to desocrate.

In a virtual world where items are worth real value in US$, some people feel the need to steal no matter what the circumstances. The Shrine on Memorial Island had been decorated by friends and the general community. A few players who lack morals decided to visit and take these items. Its shocking at the lack of heart some people have. The community pulled together and decided to gaurd the Shrine. Still looters come in the guise of mourners and steal items. Even though these items have little PED value, they take them.

One looter was shot. He was then revive killed repeatedly until he would log off. But the gaurds would stay there at all hours and shoot him again and again. It wasnt just one looter, but many. The whole area turned into a paranoid police state with guns out and anyone looking like a newbie was escorted to the shrine and told where to stand and view. Even non-newbie looking players were ordered to stop or stand. This created quite a conflict.

And of course, any ingame conflict quickly takes to the community forums for wild arguments and rants. It seemed that these gaurds were too quick to bark orders and some people didnt like that. So they killed the gaurds. Now I tried to understand this whole affair from all sides.

A casual visitor comes to Memorial Island (which is PVP on Amethera) and is confronted by a a group of heavy armed people who start barking order to stop and dont come close. Now this person can choose to obey or PK. Naturally some players do not take lightly to orders from lesser skilled players and decided to PK them. Not just the one shouting orders, but the whole island from what I have read. Well, maybe the actions and tone of the gaurds was a little forceful and the visitor didnt have a clue what was going on.

A gaurd is there to stop the looting. They stand vigilant and act as a visual deterrant. When someone approaches they ask in a firm manner for them to stop. If this person doesnt listen and continues on to the Shrine they take action thus resulting in a fight.

It seems that a few visitors were offended and decided to continue to PK. Well that caused lots of controversy and battles. Of which all were posted in the popular community forums.

In time the Shrine's widow decided it was best that one person collects the items and then donates them to newbies to help them start in PE. Sort of like a charity. A good idea and that stopped the fighting on Memorial Island.

But all that fighting actually hindered the looting as any looter was walking into a battle. So maybe it was good. It was interesting to read nonetheless.

eeek, a spider!

2005-03-31T13:29:00.000Z

Note to self: Avoid spiders aka areneatrox.

These things can definately outrun me and do 300 damage. And they make this awful hissing sound when you get close.

Virtual Real Estate

2005-03-26T14:43:00.000Z

I have a home in Calypso, its a 2 room apartment on Amethera. Its a nice little place that overlooks the sea. It had no furnishings, no lights and not much of a view. But its my home. I can decorate it as I wish or use it for a storage facility.

Mind Ark released a massive 3,000 Apartments to the players for a cheap price of 250 PED - 450 PED with a 10 PED monthly rent. Anyone can purchase any number of apartments as they can afford. There are even more apartments planned as Sukara City is yet to be completed.

This is extremely cheap compared to the going rate for houses on Eudoria. There are no houses on Amethera yet. Once an apartment is purchased, it retains no value except Market Value. Other items in the virtual world of PE all have a base value called TT (trade terminal) price. This has created a massive problem. Resellers.

As soon as players were allowed to enter PE after the 7.2 Version Update, some bought up all the large apartments. There were approximately 360 Large G Apartments each selling for 450 PEDs. Being that PE is a MMO game, some players would not be able to login and make their purchase being that they are at work, in bed or out and about. So resellers took it upon themselves to provide a service by purchasing all of these 360 Apartments and then selling them for a new market price.

There was outrage. So many people were denied the purchase of their virtual dream home.

But how could MA not have foreseen such an action? They built the economy and must have models predicting such an outcome. If players were allowed only a set number of apartments then the initial sale would have been significantly lower. But with no limit, resellers would be able to scoop up all apartments and drive their value up. The cascading effect being the increased amount a player needed ingame to purcahse an apartment. And so it happened, the majority of large G apartments purchased instantly. All the potential G buyers then forced to purchase medium apartments, thus again increasing the total amount of apartments sold.

A free market economy or a manipulated profit machine? I hope to believe that it was the intentionof MA to release these apartments for all and it just happened that resellers bought them up.

I do fail to see how there are 3,000 players actually ingame to purchase all of these apartments. MA has promised to Beta players that there will be a token gift of an apartment for their participation. Many are still hoping to receive these.

Ohh an Eomon

2005-03-25T13:13:00.000Z

In the middle of my daily argonaut slaughter, I saw this red message on my screen that a large creature was spotted in Treasure Island. Its rare that Mind Ark actually post red event messages except for a server going down, so I chose to investigate.

Once I arrived at TI, the lag was ridiculous. It was worse than the spammers in Port Atlantis. My screen finally turned to the direction of the gathering and there it was. I could not miss that for anything. It took up the whole screen. It was an Eomon. This thing was bigger than any other creature in PE. It looked dumb and slow with a body like a fat cow and face of a pig.

I went for a closer look. It seemed like everyone was shooting it. So I took out my simple axe 1x0 and tried to chop off its foot. Well, it stood on me and did 320 dmg. Maybe a ranged attack is wiser.

After a few minutes it died and some lucky team got a global. These things were huge. I bet they drop the coolest loot when they do loot. I will keep an eye out for the HOF.

Being Female is cheaper?!?!

2005-03-23T11:21:00.000Z

Just as in life, there are so many things I wish I knew before I began something. However I should have known this beforehand by reading the community forums instead of going off on my adventures around the continent of Calypso.

I was told and have witnessed that being a female avatar in Project Entropia is cheaper than being a male. There are so many male avatars and high demand for male items. Female armor and items are much cheaper due to lower demand. You can easily save a few hundered to several thousand PEDs by being female.

But what about clothes? All females love clothes. There are many more clothing items for female than males and maybe if a player was inclined to be fashionable, they costs would balance out. But I guess it is wiser to avoid fashion and be female. Is there such a concept?

The Oil Rig

2005-03-18T13:12:00.000Z

The desire of every newbie is to get free oil from the Oil Rig and begin your life as an Entropian without having to deposit real money. The Rig is in the center of PVP2 (player-versus-player). In this area you can get shot by other players. The rig drops barrels of oil and the first person to grab it gets it. There were only 2 problems. Firstly there were these massive Atrox Old Alphas that do 160 damage and would kill us instantly. Secondly, all the well equiped players would hang out there and PK (player kill) the newbies as they tried to gather oil.

I heard so many stories of this place. You could make lots of money from the oil but you had to stay alive from the PK'rs. Well, I had a good mentor and his friends. We all met up and they were in Eon. This is the best armor for PK'n. I had n00b armor but was in a team with them so I wasnt worried.

As we made our way into PVP my chat window flashed with a message and a warning noise alerted me to the fact that we entered PVP. My heart started to beat faster. I had never been killed by another player. Well, we make our way past some ruins and kill an atrox. Loot sucked becasue they had bigger guns and it was divided by the damage done.

Once we came to the rig there was all these people in the center running around trying to avoid getting shot by the PK'rs on the sidelines. And an Atrox Old Alpha swallowing n00bs whole. I decided to stand back at the side and observe. This was interesting. And I hear this pfffssshhh noise and a red screen. I was just killed by another players. How could they do that? I was with this group in Eon. They were highly skilled. Its ok, they will avenge my death instantly.

After reviving, and speaking to my team who were still there, I found out that they did not avenge my death in fierce battle. It was their mate who killed me and a n00b like me isnt worth a friendship like that. Bah!!

So I decided to get me one of those single shot PK guns and some PK armor before I ever venture back to the rig. There was however a good outcome from getting PK'd. I had a new entry on my map. Once again death was my taxi but too bad it was so far south of the rig that it would take ages to get back to a city.

I am a great newbie hunter

2005-03-15T12:55:00.000Z

I had a decent gun. It did a whole 20 damage. I was out killing cornucadas near Camp Pheonix when I stumbled across another avatar. She asked what I was doing. I was perplexed as to why someone would ask what I am doing when it was blatantly obvious that I was hunting. After a little discussion she told me that it was a waste of money for me to hunt with such a large gun. And she then began to explain about skills.

It seems that my gun does 20 damage but my low skills in rifle will make me do damage from 8-19 and more low hits than high ones. She advised me to get a Jester D1 and kill snables. I would build my skills and loot Pixie armor which was much better than my TT armor. So now I had a new mission. Kill snables, build skills and loot Pixie. But first I needed a Jester D1.

I asked where to buy one of these Jesters and she tells me she could sell me one. I ask for the price and she says offer. Now, she knows I am a newbie and will try to get as much as she can from me. I had no idea what a Jester D1 was worth. I didnt even know how to find out. To spare you from my stupidity and long comtemplation, I ended up paying 8 PED for a Jester. Now, some people will laugh in hysterics at this but I still to this day believe it was worth it. Why? Well, first of all, she taught me about skilling. Second she told me where to find a skilling mob that drops armor. Third, I wanted that gun.

With my new knowledge I had to travel to Camp Caravan and head north from there to find these Pixie looting creatures. The only problem was that I didnt have that TP on my map. So it was a short travel up the coast from Minopolis. She met me there and we hunted snables.

I loved it!! How pathetic. I camped those snables for days until I got 100 levels in rifle and 2 pixie parts. I know got a better understanding of skilling. The only downfall with hunting snables was after a 10 hour session, I would go to bed hearing their awful death cries. They are grotesque little creatures that spit snot at you. But they looted Pixie and other items.

My first Visit to Treasure Island

2005-03-13T12:40:00.000Z

I finally found out how to get to Treasure Island. I was excited. This is that Island that sold for $26,000. It was time to explore it and see what was worth so much. I could have bought a nice car for that price tag. Lets see what a virtual piece of real estate has that a new car doesn't.

I enter the teleporter and land on TI (Treasure Island). I look around and see nothing but overgrown vegetation. I head north and stumble upon a castle. I was huge. After running around it I was still dumbfounded as to why this was worth $26k.

It was a bit dull here so I decided to go back to civilization. On my way back to the TP I saw a red dot. No problem. I was better armed than before and ready for anything. As I got close I saw it was some Wizard looking creature. At first I wanted to chat to him. But them with one swoosh of his staff he killed me. So maybe he wasnt so friendly after all.

And once again, death was my taxi ride to a new location.

I am a n00b!!

2005-03-08T12:22:00.000Z

In any online game it sucks to be a n00b or newbie. I had spent a few days in my new life as an Entropian and decided it was time to take out my credit card and get some PEDs. I made a small deposit and bought a few essential items such as armor, gun and FAP (Fast Aid Pack).

Now I felt empowered. I had the ability to take a creatures life, heal myself in combat and buy new items with my gold PEDs. After getting my new kit, I left the SC or Service Center and found my first victim. An atrox young. Many a time has this fella killed me on my travels and it was time for some payback. Just as I got in range he smelled me. He came charging and my adrenaline started to pump. My first kill, my first sense of pay back.... and another quick death. With 2 swift bites he swallowed me in no time. Its ok, I will use my FAP next time and stop him from eating me so quickly. Then as I started to heal myself I realised that I am a n00b. My FAP does 10 HP heal every 3 seconds. Due to my low skills I was healing myself for 1-3 points per try. With 90 HP this may take a while. It was great seeing my First Aid skills spamming the window.

Now time to kill that atrox young. And death was quick again. After a few more attempts I realised that I am a n00b and need a little more time before I can take one of those viscious little things.

I met a few other newbies who were still in their Ornage jump suits. I was like a God to them. I had a gun, FAP and armor. They asked for my help to get to the nearest city. Little did they know that I was only a newbie with a credit card. Of course I didnt tell them I was new, I said sure, follow me. I was armed with my online map of the next city and my weak gun. We began our little quest to the next city. It was intense. We encountered some creatures who could smell us from miles away... well 50 meters actually. As one gave chase we all tried to leg it to the city. Since I was the only one with a gun, I felt obligated to protect the group. I fired off a couple of shots and actually killed the creature. i looted it and got my first loot as an Entropian. It felt great. While I was basking in the glory of a great hunter gawking over his fresh trophy the creature's little friend took me from behind. And once again, death was my taxi ride to the closest city.

Beginning my adventure

2005-03-02T12:04:00.000Z

After creating my avatar or character in PE, I was dropped off into a city to begin my life as an Entropian.

Its a bit daunting at first. I was standing there trying to figure our my key controls so I can move around. Maybe I should have read the manual?!? NEVER, I prefer to jump in the deep end and learn to swim.

I was in a massive city. All these people talking, dancing and setting off fireworks. Its my first time playing a MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) game. I could see the chat window and all these people talking in many languages. Traders trading, buyers negotiating and people enjoying a bit of banter. The graphics were 'ok'. They were nothing like Star Wars Galaxies or World of Warcraft.

I didnt have a clue what to do or where to start. I saw a couple of people chatting and they were going to run to another city. I decided to follow along. I still didnt know how to chat and they kept commenting on my following along. We arrived at the new city and I finally found the chat key. They told me I need to gather all of the 'teleporters' in the cities for easier travelling. You can jump instantly to any city via a TP or Teleporter.

I set off once again on my own to find these cities. My map had only 2 entries. The city I started from and this new city we went to. On my travels I died alot. To be honest, dying was the best way to travel. When you die you revive at the nearest revival terminal which reconstructs your DNA to whole again. The best part is that you arrive at a new location it gets added to your map. There was definately an advantage to dying. The only problem is that I didnt have any Health. My new avatar only had 90 HP or health points. You need a Fast Aid pack to heal yourself and those cost money, something which I had zero of.

After 2 days of wondering around and chatting to people about the coordinates of the next city, I managed to meet someone who told me of a Map with all the locations on them. That was a God send. It had all the cities, teleporters and Service Centers on the main continent- Eudoria. I then learned that this 'Treasure Island' I read about was on a newly discovered continent called Amethera.

I then set off with my new map I found online to gather these TPs. As a newbie I had nothing. No skills, no money, no weapons or armor. Because I lacked defensive skills creatures seemed to smell me from a distance and make a meal of me. Well, dying was a great form or travelling to new places.

What is an Entropian?

2005-03-02T10:38:00.000Z

I live inside a video game called Project Entropia or PE for short (www.project-entropia.com). Its a great game and I am addicted to it. I saw an article for the sale of a Virtual Island called Treasure Island which sold for $26,000. I liked the idea of a video game having a real world economy. The ingame currency is $1 USD to 10 PE Dollars. You can either earn money ingame or deposit money using a credit card.

Its a Fantasy role playing game where each person creates a character called an 'avatar'. You have total control over body features. Some game only allow you to choose between pre-set appearances but PE allows full customization. The settings for PE is that Humans have colonized a new planet called Calypso and each avatar makes their own living there. You can choose to be what you want or a combination of professions. Other games force you to choose a profession or background before you even understand the game. In PE you start from flat level and everyone is equal.

You can dabble in all the professions such as Hunter, Crafter, Miner, Trader or PK'er (player killer). You build your skills from just about everything you do. You shoot a creature or 'mob' and gain experience in your rifle skill and other skills such as aim, etc. You start from level 1 and can advance to level 10,000 over time. At various stages you unlock new skills. Basically you can be a Hunter and Miner and then come home with your loot and craft items to trade. You can even PK or kill players and loot select items once they are dead. One of the best parts is that if you die, you dont lose anything unless its in the PVP3 (player-versus-player #3) area.

The economy of PE is unique. Mind Ark or MA who are the developers of PE, have learned the lessons of other games such as Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies and World of Warcraft where items and currency is sold on Ebay or paypal. PE allows such sales and has endorsed this underground black market or sorts. This creates a real economy. Each item has a base value or TT (trade terminal) price. This is the price you can sell the item back to the trade terminal. Each item has a markup price based on its availibility in the world of Entropia. An example being wool. This is readily available and crafters pay 105% based on its TT price. Other items such as weapons and armor may be TT + 100 PEDs (PE Dollars). Some items may sell for TT + 50k becasue of their rarity.

The most appealing part of PE is that you can deposit money into the game and also withdraw straight into your bank account. WOW!! So my interest is to play a game with a real world economy and when I lose interest I can simply sell out and move the money back to my bank account.

Here I will begin the diary of my times as an Entropian in Project Entropia.