Altropia.com

Bacon is bad for you. (stating the obvious)

2008-03-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

5% here or there doesn't matter does it? It constantly amazes me how stupid some Entropians are. What does 5% matter when I loose 50% or more on a hunt? This seems to be the common response when it's put to them that hunting on taxed lands is not economically viable and will eventually loose them all of their peds! Thing is, MA say eventually you will get that 50% back, when your luck changes, but you'll never get the 5% back.

Since EU is a zero sum game, it's this 5% that does matter, taxable land areas are profit makers for the owners, Land Grab is popular, because it is very profitable to be a land owner.

It does seem that the lure of different mobs and higher maturities is enough to encourage regular hunts on taxed lands. When was the last event on Treasure Island that you remember? There aren't any, yet folks hunt Hogglo's there like well.. like it's going out of fashion. There is no incentive to hunt there, but people do it anyway. Players are giving away their peds hand over fist, and for what? no service as far as I can see.

Wake up Entropians, taxes are there for a reason, they are a transfer mechanism for peds from your pocket to land owners, the least land owners could do is provide some service for the peds you are handing them.

Secondtropia

2008-03-07T03:38:00.000-08:00

Why does Mindark want to make EU more like Second Life? With the avatar update, our avatars do look better but they also look more cartoony like SL ones. The load screen is also distinctly less science fiction and more science SL. The new updating of the textures, the adding of make up, it's all small steps to make EU more similar to one of it's closest competitors.

This is completely the wrong approach, MA should make EU stand out from the crowd not meld in. If it copies SL it will fail, SL is bigger, better known, and cheaper to play than EU.

Mindark need to innovate, make a game worth talking about.

(bringing back a really engaging science fiction plot line, now that would be worth talking about)

Friendly-fire.

2008-02-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

Land Grab 2008 stage 1 results are in.

Big Grats to AoW and cK for grabbing two LAs each. I think most folks may underestimate how difficult this feat is.

We've been waiting for a long time in anticipation of LG. Players have had plenty of time to organise and get hold of the PK gear, there has also been an introduction of high protection limited armor, high heal limited faps, and extremely high damage weaponry which have levelled the playing field somewhat. I don't think anyone can now argue that LG is fairer than it has ever been.

The current structure of LG also means that as time goes on it gets much much more difficult to hold a claim. At the beginning the offense and defense are spread over all 7 claims but as time wears on and socs win their claims, they are then free to challenge other remaining claims culminating in a huge firefight at the very last contested land area.

So it shows a certain level of class to be able to defend against all comers.

Old school cool cK and neo-uber soc AoW are class acts in my book.

LA1 - cK Coat Killers
LA2 - Chaos Crew
LA3 - Warants
LA8 - Art of War
LA14 - Art of War
LA16 - Menace to Society
LA19 - cK Coat Killers

Read skam's great full report here, and have a chuckle at a particular uber soc eliminating it's own members accidentally. :)

Altropia Animated Signature

2008-02-26T10:37:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to brush up on my PhotoShop skills, I created a nice little animated signature to advertise Altropia. I also decided to update my blog scheme, it's a little darker...

Organic Expansion

2008-02-18T02:59:00.000-08:00

I watched this video by a guy called Seth Godin, he's explaining to the guys at google what he believes are the best marketing strategies. (it's more interesting than it sounds :-) )

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6909078385965257294

His premise is that the best form of marketing, to really get to sell a product is that people get excited about a product and tell others about that product. The theory of the "purple cow", something that's soo remarkable that you just have to tell others about it, then they tell yet more people, and you have organic growth.

That made me think about EU, I hardly ever tell people about EU, if I don't tell people, how many other players do? There is therefore I can assume almost zero organic growth. So Mindark are loosing out on their best marketing tool: the players themselves.

I then thought, how would my attitude change, what would make me want to tell others about EU? I isolated two things, the first stage was to allow average players to earn money more easily, and the second stage was for MA to actively promote a quicker and more efficient withdrawal service.

Let's take a look at these two things, we could use as a thought experiment, instead of on average per player loosing 50 cents an hour, each player gained 50 cents an hour. This was 100% guaranteed, you can never loose in EU. You never loose therefore you are getting paid for doing the thing you enjoy.

This is remarkable, this is a "purple cow" you would tell your friends about it wouldn't you? "Hey don't play SL, check this out I play EU, I have already made X amount of dollars since I started, how cool is that?" But instead of putting the profit straight into your ped account they put it into an external account, with 0 fees, where you gain interest and once you reach a set amount say $100, MA send you a check.

So now you have the evidence that playing EU does make you money, you take this out with you, buy your girlfriend dinner, show your friends, you have proof it's physical, wave it around tell the bank teller about it when you cash it, you're not wasting your time in a game, you're making money, you're a winner and you're getting paid for something you enjoy!

Contrast this with the current system, we complain, we bitch, we whine, we loose money, we are not getting paid to play, infact we are paying MA to play. Except for the select few who have profited greatly, we are loosers. No one wants to be a looser, so we don't tell others about EU, we hide our deposit history, we play and EU is like out dirty little secret.

I personally think it's time for MA to wake up and realise they have been alienating for too long the one group who are essential to their success: the average player.

(Image: Seth Godin)

Uninstall.

2008-02-09T05:56:00.000-08:00

Uninstall EU, switch off your computer and go try something different using the time you would usually spend playing EU.

Come back in a week re-install, and you'll have a different perspective, I promise.

EU Artwork

2008-02-06T03:09:00.000-08:00

Recently I've been really impressed by one truly awesome EU artist called Clam Jamphrie, or J-Boy. Most EU promotional work is pretty bad and unprofessional looking stuff, but his work is in a league of it's own and blows the rest out of the water. (with the exception of Jor ofc.)

He has a sketchbook diary over on Entropia Forum, showing the stages of his work, it's not been updated in a while, but really shows off his skill. See it here.

Off-topic, but worth a click. A cool Japanese comic artist who developed his technique in just two years.

How japanese style illustration works

Finally, check out Clam's recent animated gif for WOF 2008, I particularly like the animated blood splatter.

Hyperbole.

2008-02-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, and is not meant to be taken literally.

Source: Wikipedia.

Whilst searching for an image for my blog I came upon this website: blog.mindblizzard.com

Where they mention someone called John Bates, never heard of him myself, but he must be pretty into EU, since he is a self-proclaimed EU Evangelist! My interest heightened, I found out a little more about him, which led me too his blog: www.johnbates.com/blog

and this video: http://eforall.gamepro.com/player.cfm?vid=117260

This video shows him telling us all about how you can pay "your rent" with EU, I did laugh.. and even more so when the idiotic presenter agrees with him. He obviously hasn't played more than a few hours ever, yet he's talking like a 5-year veteran, with a few ATH's under his belt.

The thing is they make it sound "easy" to profit. This is a bad move, I mean why hide the fact that profit in EU is difficult without alot of hardwork, a good understanding of game mechanics and a bucket full of cash. The expectations of new players will be high, "I'll get paid for playing games!", but once they realise EU's not quite how it's described, they'll feel cheated and will leave.

Sure let's show people they can profit, but let it be by those who have dedicated the time and money to winning in EU. Actions do speak louder than words afterall. I'd have liked to have seen a series of video's interviewing actual winners, not some fanboy marketeer who can spout the usual claptrap and hyperbole about EU's no longer quite so unique RCE.

Finally for your amusement, the McCormick response, somethings are definitely not meant to be taken seriously!

McCormick Version

(Image: John Bates, enjoying the fruits of your labour)

Virtual spending: You paid what? for that!

2008-02-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

Just came back from dinner with friends, they are my peer group (late 20s/early 30s professionals), none of them played EU or knew that I played it. The subject of conversation turned to Second Life, WoW and other virtual worlds. What surprised me the most, was out of a group of 9, there was very little knowledge of EU, some knew of SL, but only because of the big companies who had set up their offices within it and only one had tried SL but found it boring. None had ever played or heard of EU.

So I explained the concept of the RCE to them, and virtual items costing thousands of dollars and I was surprised by the reaction. Most didn't believe that people would actually spend real cash (thousands of dollars) to buy these virtual things, and infact couldn't understand why people would want to. Then I thought about my own apparent easiness with the whole concept of the RCE, inparticular that I wouldn't give a second thought to spending a few hundred bucks on a virtual gun or armor.

For my peers even spending $10 on buying something in a game was just plain stupid. I'm sure I used to be like this, but I can't remember when. In that sense, Entropians have a very different attitude to virtual spending, and one I'm not sure is completely healthy.

(just a small note, if you read this blog and find it interesting, please mention it in your soc or forum chat.. it'll be great to get my subscriptions into double figures!)

Rule 17 n.

2008-01-31T18:22:00.000-08:00

Hidden away in the End User License Agreement (EULA) of EU is:

17. n You cannot spread any rumors about MindArk, the Entropia Universe, and MindArk Staff or Partners, that can be considered potentially damaging, using the Entropia Universe, IRC or any other public forums in any media now known or not currently known, including but not limited to a web space.

This made me think of all the other EU sites out there and the type of user that frequents them, and what they represent to the average entropian.

The most popular site by a mile is EntropiaForum, it's the unofficial (official) EU forum site, bought by an relative new comer Jason "Neomaven" Peterson, who introduced a whole set of new rules, effectively kerbing free speech. It's sanitized wholesome stuff where we can post our EU achievements but not our anti-MA rants. The good without the bad, if you will. The ironic thing is, this site was initially set-up as a player outlet to bypass the over-zealous moderation on the original Entropia Pioneers forum site. It is however, a great source of information about EU, and MA make official announcements on it's pages too.

Then there's EntropiaReality, a forum dedicated to the down and dirty side of MA and EU. Conspiracies, rants, full-on flames, it paints a darker picture of EU. I enjoy reading the posts for the most part, but the negativity pervades, and it's just not interesting to read page after page of insults. That said, my favourite article ever to be written upon EU is there, I'll post a link here (WARNING NOT SAFE FOR WORK), but for fear of rule 17n I won't be doing a feature on it.

For a more balanced view of EU and other RCE mmorpgs, RCE Universe is the site to go, informative, but I feel it's usability has suffered somewhat since it's recent revamp.

Finally, A blog by an anonymous Entropian called Iltropia is particularly enjoyable, Iltropia specializes in photoshop edits of the major players and events in EU and MA. My particular favourite and a comedy gem is "Darth Simmonds".

Take a break from the hunt and take take a peek at these sites.

First Wave?

2008-01-30T03:00:00.000-08:00

For those logging in today, you'll get a little surprise, MA have chosen to celebrate 5 years since Project Entropia Gold was launched by giving all current players a "first wave colonist beret"! I had to chuckle as in typical non-sentimental style one entropian put his beret straight on the auction. Setting a current market value of 100 PED.

Auction pioneer we salute you!

Buying 1 million ChED. (Chinese Entropia Dollars)

2008-01-25T05:56:00.000-08:00

I've been mulling over recently what it is these fabled new planets mean to EU. Let's look at what's been said about them:

From CES Article:
-Chinese Company have signed up to make a new planet.
-Other companies in the final stages of signing up to make their own planets too.
-New ships need to be built to travel to these new planets.
-Each new planet will have it's own economy.
-You probably won't be able to take your items with you between planets.
-New items and complete spaceships will probably be available in the "space pirates" event.
-New planets may not have an operating spaceport.
-There is no ETA on any of this.

From Marco (MA's Customer Relations Manager):
-New planets may NOT be accessible from Calypso.

What I think this really means is that Mindark have licenced their technology to several companies to produce their own stand alone versions of EU. These companies will be then free to create their own bespoke versions of EU, drawing in customers from their own geographic area. There will be no travel available to the Chinese EU, "no spaceports" and the inability to take items are indications of this.

Each new planet will have it's own economy, which means it's own money. This means you won't be able to spend PEDs as such, you'll have to buy currency to spend on these planets, which means more transaction charges.

The "Space Pirates" event, is external to the above, we will get a new planet developed inhouse by MA (eventually). We'll only be able to use the items and ships found in the "Space Pirates" event to access this planet. This will make them valuable and hence the $5 million market value banded about.

In conclusion MA have licensed EU, and what that means to average entropian is... not alot, since you won't be able to go there and won't be able to take your items there either.

(Image: Carl Uggla MA's Chief Marketing Officer at a Shanghai Business Fair)

Aurli hunt - NOS.exe

2008-01-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

I've been playing around with some video editing software and made a short movie about EU.

Take a handful of popcorn and enjoy. (literally, it's a very short movie)

Higher quality here:

http://www.stage6.com/user/Altropia/video/2124778/NOS-exe-Strikes-Again!

(not brilliant, but not bad for a first attempt!)

"I feed my monsters"

2008-01-23T05:28:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I've been posting alot about Neverdie and Space Pirates recently, but this seems to be the flavour of the month for Mindark at the moment.

So without further ado, enjoy the following video, and marvel at what it's like to make a living by feeding your stable of virtual monsters.

http://www.tomsgames.com/us/site/flash_videos/neverdie_interview.html

Pieces of eight?

2008-01-20T11:50:00.001-08:00

Mindark recently showcased Entropia Universe at the Consumer Electronics Show 2008. One of the interesting developments from this was the announcement of "Space Pirates", a Neverdie promoted event, with approximately $5 million of prizes to be won. This prompted some raised eyebrows from the community, what exactly is Neverdie's relationship with MA? Where does he get this potentially valuable information about a future event from?

Neverdie addressed these issues recently, and from the his answers it appears he has created his own spin on the planned space expansion of EU into new worlds. It seems MA then followed suit, actively promoting "Space Pirates". It is a good thing that ND is trying to create exciting events, but the question remains, should he be advertising a product, for which he doesn't know the details?

If he does know the details though, isn't this some level of insider knowledge? and doesn't this constitute an unfair advantage?

CES ARTICLE
http://mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm?GAMEID=31&LOADFEATURE=1704&SETVIEW=features&bhcp=1

NEVERDIE Response:
http://www.entropiaforum.com/forums/general-discussion/95545-question-14.html#post1148363

How to party like a Gamer-Star

2008-01-15T14:58:00.000-08:00

EU superstar Neverdie gets his mack down. :D

Goodbye and thanks for all the PEDs.

2008-01-14T06:44:00.000-08:00

When uber players with uber equipment sell out, it's an opportunity for other players to get their hands on some of the rarest and best gear in game, but at what cost?

To be the creme de la creme of EU today, it'll cost you (at least):

Storm Coat: 5,000 PED
Ash Shades: 3,500 PED
Dante Shades: 1,000 PED
Black Nomad Boots: 1,000 PED
Modified FAP: 340,000 PED
Full Shadow Armor: 83,000 PED
Modified Mercenary: 177,000 PED
Foe Ripper: 100,000 PED
ML35 ME: 35,000 PED
Swine Deluxe: 19,000 PED
Medium tp chip: 3,000 PED
106 Amp x 2: 6,000 PED

TOTAL: 773,500 PED

This isn't even including the skills needed to use these items effectively.

That's a total of:

$77,350 USD, not bad for a bunch of pixels. :)

Being a winner, having the edge.

2008-01-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

I recently re-read a short post over on blogtropia which has prompted me to rethink my whole approach to EU. Many Entropians complain of constant losses and the constant need to deposit. I mean let's face it, for there to be winners within EU there has to be losers. I must admit that when I first read the blogtropia post, "I didn't get it", not truly. I didn't get what it takes to be a winner, I didn't get that winners make their own luck.

All you have to do is look at the newly successful Entropians, neo-ubers, those that weren't here since gold but have still made EU a profitable venture. My own soc mate Slither is a case in point, he is a successful profit making crafter, he has dedicated himself to crafting, he always has a handle on prices, efficiency, how to craft, when to craft, what sells, what doesn't sell, which BP's to buy, when to go all out and try and loot them, the list goes on...

Let's take Stryker, or Neo Sharp or Neo/711 all have come to EU late, but all have realised early that to be a winner, they needed to have the best gear and skills, so they bought the gear and/or skills then with this and through the profits made through hunting efficiently, invested more into their avatars, became more efficent. These neo-ubers (excuse the pun) are the winners in EU, they have the edge and they are using it!

The problem is with EU, the price to achieve the edge, the "cost" of the edge if you like, gets more expensive everyday. Shadow Armor, Skills, Mod Fap, Mod Merc, individually these are incredibly expensive, but collectively they consitute a fortune, much above most Entropian's means.

So how do we go about being a winner in EU? Unless you are blessed with the huge first-starter advantage that some players have, the only way to be a winner is to invest in something which gives you the edge. For some neo-ubers like Dub, Deathifier, or Neverdie, this has been an investment in something unique. Dub's "Bessie" his modified finder, Deathifier's Treasure Island, Neverdie's Spacestation, all of these players have taken the opportunity to invest in something at the time when their investment was a huge risk, and in each case the reward has far exceeded this initial investment.

So the next big unique thing that Mindark puts up for sale, will surely have a big investor and ultimately given previous form, a big winner.

Living out your darkest desires?

2008-01-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

It's not often that I come to the defence of EU, but I will defend it against ignorance. I read an article in the Dailymail, a British daily paper, about the evils of virtual worlds where you can live out your darkest desires, including have virtual sex! I had to laugh when I read it, it showed the author's complete ignorance of what is is to play EU. One of the refreshing things about EU, is that there really isn't a sordid side to it, in that respect it differs greatly from Second Life.

Anyway, apparently the author had spent some time in EU, although I find this hard to believe. He lumped it in with SL and Habbo Hotel. He truly showed no understanding of what it is to be an active participant in EU, to forge friendships, to be a part of a great community and a exciting developing dynamic virtual world.

Article available here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=506162&in_page_id=1770

Merry Mayhem Results are in!

2008-01-02T09:33:00.000-08:00

The complete final results for the Merry Mayhem Event are in.

What's most interesting is the techniques employed by some of the winners.. in particular
Stoikow. Seems all the winners, employed the help of other players to bring mobs to them, to hold their loot and bring ammo etc, this meant that they could always be killing. Truly this wasn't a solo event.

What's interesting about Stoikow, is that there was no period when he wasn't killing, he never had to wait for mobs, he maximised the kill time allotted, by co-ordinating with others, he'd only be logged on when there were mobs to kill at his location. As soon as they were all killed, he'd log off, wait for the runners to bring in more mobs to his location, then relog, rinse, repeat.. and you have a recipe for success. Excellent tactics!

Congrats to all winners, and to MA for responding so quickly and producing the complete list for the top 2000 hunters.

Full results here: (pdf)

http://www.entropiauniverse.com/images/pdf/merry_mayhem_event.pdf

Merry Mayhem (Modified Merc) Madness?

2008-01-01T16:02:00.000-08:00

Entropians like their acronyms, from imk2's (Improved Mark II) to MM's (Modified Mercenary) to COS (Chance of Success). This post is dedicated to MM the Merry Mayhem Christmas event. It's one of those things which looks good on paper, but when you analyse it a little, it's far from being what it is billed as being.. It should really have had some small print, unless you own a MM or comparable (and the skills to use them) don't enter. All non-ubers hang-up your Korss, take a well earned break from EU over Christmas and spend some time with your family!

Essentially this was an event for perhaps 10-20 players, the creme de la creme of Entropians, the highest skilled, packing the best armor and fap. For these players a 6 hour per day hunt (this was the MA imposed maximum time each player is allowed to login to EU to participate in the event) is a normal activity, and for many it would be less than they play on a daily basis.

So the stage was set and the outcome inevitable, 3 ubers won all 3 prizes. What was also inevitable was the back-lash from community, an event only accessible to the few, will always be lambasted by the many. They have a right to do this, all community members feel like they belong to EU and should therefore be able to participate in all officially run events. It's like MA throwing a house party, inviting everyone, then playing pass the parcel with only the ubers, whilst the rest sit on the outside in the cold and watch.

We can hope MA learn from this... but honestly will they?

Hope for 2008?

2007-12-30T18:06:00.000-08:00

It's been on my mind recently to log back on to EU, I've spent over a month on one of my periodic hiatuses from EU. They normally occur after some extreme amounts of playing culminating in a silly stint of 8 hours or so.

I then emerge bleary eyed, RSI ridden and stare at my much reduced pedcard. I proceed to swear I'll never deposit again, throw my gold card to the ground in disgust at my culminating losses and think about selling out.

Which of course I never do, there are a couple of sayings about EU:

"you'll be back, they always come back"
"sell your skills then your equipment"
"I regret selling my xxx for xxx now, now it's 2, 3, 10 times as much"

All of which in some way represent the problems and the greatness of EU. Let's not kid ourselves EU is addictive, and is expensive. The golden swirlies of the globals and HOFs, the
chance to hit an All Time High, or loot a great item. The investment in uber equipment with the expectation of continous price increases. These are the reasons we play EU, the
Entropian who logs onto use EU solye as a chat room is a rare breed indeed.

I log on expecting to break (more or less) even but hoping to profit, and gain a few skills along the way. This rarely happened to me, it's a constant loss making venture for myself, punctuating with very occassional periods of profit.

That's the thing though, everyone should reasonably expect to get "lucky" now and then given the investment of time and money required to progress at an acceptable rate within EU. The form of this luck that holds the most excitment for players is the rare item drop for an uber unlimited item. The problem is, this used to be more common, players could hunt and expect to receive this item, eventually.... not any more, good item drops are soo rare they are ridiculus.