Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Eve Online vs Entropia Universe after 1 week

I decided to try different MMOs to see if Entropia Universe is really the best one out there. The most direct opponent of Entropia Universe is the massively multiplayer online role-playing space game Eve Online. Before making the comparison I want to point out that I am “old” Entropia Universe player and I am playing Eve Online from just one week. So my knowledge, experience and fun in Entropia Universe are way more than in Eve Online. I still don’t know what the feeling is when you play the endgame in Eve Online and I don’t understand the trading or skill building aspect of the game. My view of Eve Online is the view of a normal player playing for 1 hour a day for a week. It may change later in the game.
1. Character CreationMindark stated that they will do update of the character system, but for the moment character creation in EVE Online is little better then in Entropia Universe. Lightning is better, you can try different clothes, scars and make up. You can even change your avatar look later anytime you want for free.
In Entropia Universe to change that later you have to pay small amount of money (which is not so bad because there you have professions like beautician, hairstylist, make-up artist and people that make clothes, color them, put textures on them and so on which boost the economy of the game. ) Winner – Eve Online.
2. First Person View and Third Person View – I was so surprised when I realized that there is no First Person View option in Eve Online. One of the best 3D shooting MMO game and no FPV – this is huge mistake from CCP Games. Winner – Entropia Universe.
3. Graphics Engine – In Entropia Universe MindArk are using CryEngine made by Crytek. CryEngine is capable of some stunning video quality and in the same time provide easy to use WYSIWYG editor for the developers which allow MindArk to allow other companies to make their own planets in the same universe/game. Using CryEngine was one of the smartest moves made by MindArk. The Graphics Engine in Eve Online is fast and beautiful in space, but the avatar movement in station is ugly and just stupid.
Walking is the same as in third person view adventure game from 1990. Walking in Entropia Universe is realistic.
Winner – Entropia Universe.
4. Massively Multiplayer – In Entropia Universe from the first hour in the game you see other people playing around you – shooting creatures, mining or just talking. They are giving you advices and help you out with quests and moving around. In short you feel like you are in MMO game. For the last week in Eve Online I barely see other players. And if there are any in the station with me I just see their names in some text list and I am not sure if they are real people or just NPC with human names. May be if I ask for help I will get it but I don't need it for the first missions. I am making the starting missions but so far it feels like I am playing single player game. I am sure later in the game if I join some guild I will get some multiplayer action, but first few days are enough to make people quit the game. Winner – Entropia Universe.
5. Gameplay – And the most important of everything is how much you enjoy the game you play. When I started Entropia Universe on the starting island I had fun killing every creature I can or running for my life from those I can’t. The landscape was better than any game I played so far.
The avatar moving is so realistic on land and in water. And actually it is not hard to just start playing, no need to read endless guides to get some fun. There are much more in the game but I am talking about the first week of playing. With few words you want to get in the game and it is hard to quit playing. In Eve Online I have now code for 2 months play time. But it is hard for me to get into it without thinking of closing the game and logging into Entropia Universe just to drop 50 bombs/probes and kill few creatures. The reason for this is all above and the bad feeling of playing text based online game. Too much text menus in the game.
Not enough MMO feeling. Stupid and boring movement in space – You select from the menu “go to next jump gate” then you select from the menu “jump” and then repeat that few times and voala you are there. And then do the same in reverse order. Very bad avatar movement. No First Person View. And I don't know why but I feel like playing this old MMO game from 1999 called Diaspora.
I will try to play Eve Online for 2 months and see if I feel different about the game.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Travel cheap to Planet Cyrene when it launches

If you want to go to planet Cyrene when it launches here is cheap offer from John Black Knight to do it just for 5 PEDs with Aniara Class Mothership "Normandie":

Presign on the Normandie your relocation or exploration flight towards and from Cyrene !
Everyone who prebooks a cyreneflight posting in this thread and meets me ingame to pay in advance, will be carried over on our regular scheduled flights for just 5 Ped per flight !!!
The Cyrene flights will take place between 20.00ma and 23.30ma and will be added to the current weekly schedules to all other planets - schedules will be posted soon.
This offer is valid for the first week after cyrenes release, afterwards the normal transport fee of 20Ped oneway or 30 Ped with backflight on the same day applies.
For those who signed the 100Ped monthly subscription fee working in crew rank repairing the ship when onboard, or the 200Ped vip passenger subscription Cyreneflights will belong to the freetravel package like all of our flights.
Come and register to the Normandies special cyreneflightlist and travel there cheaper, faster and safer then anywhere else ! If you are on the list with a number of prebooked flights you can fly up to the ship and request access to any of the to be scheduled cyrene flights when it fits you during the first week after cyrenes launch.
For those missing an own shuttle, there will be a gathering point at Athena Spaceport from which shuttles can be rented to fly up for an additional 2 Ped per shuttle (you can share shuttles to lower that price to 1 ped if you trust the person flying).
For those who bought a monthly subscription summoning to the ship is avaiable on all flights.

All further info on the Normandie can be found on www.titans-of-space.com

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Planet Calypso is in European Economic Area

Here is a proof that Planet Calypso is in European Economic Area. The TT refiner MR100 has the CE mark on the back. The CE is abbreviation of French: ConformitĂ© EuropĂ©enne, meaning "European Conformity" and is a mandatory conformity mark for products placed on the market in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Refiner MR100 is portable refining tool. This tool can serve both the young amateur resource collector and the old veteran mining operator. Using new particle separators, this handy tool can be used by anyone to efficiently separate the desired resources from the raw material. This quick and easy process will create refined resources that can be used for constructing. Refining requires several pieces of resources.

Profitable mining in Entropia Universe

I found interesting offer on Planet Calypso Forum for experienced miners that loose a lot of PEDs and want to change that. Too bad you have to be over level 30 in mining professions to take the offer and I am lower than that. There is no garantee that you will make profit following that offer, but at least it shows that someone believe it is possible. Here is what Divinity offer if someone is interested:

Profit Mining : Lesson 101 ( MU+bankroll = profit)
Hello Guys,
Disclaimer : This offer is primarily aimed at those who are in a constant state of ped drain.
I will keep it short and sweet.
Objective : Profit for both yourself and myself. You ask how. Here's how
Lesson 1 : There is no other truth to mining then , yes you guessed it right , MarkUP. If there is anything else one needs to know , is mine based on your bankroll and there is noone that can stop you from coming on top.
So the question is what do i have to offer. Right?
Well, what i have to offer is tell you exactly how to get that MU ( where and what).
A few facts : What if i told you , you can hit 100% energized claims, 95% + pyrite claims , 90%+ solis claims ( % being the exclusivity with which you can get the ore/enmatter) etc etc.
Does it sound like a bluff, well it is not. As i have done it and can show you exactly how.
My Motivation You Ask : There arent any free lunches in this world , are there? Well, being a crafter what would a crafter like? Yes, reduced prices on the high MU stuff  .
You guessed it right. It works both ways. The benefit has to be mutual to work well.
Lets get down to the details , shall we?
Requirement :
1. Level 30 in pros/surv : Maxed tk320 basically is a requirement.
2. Bankroll of 5-10k peds : Yes, you will need to actually show me you have that sort of peds ( I am not looking for un amped miners)
3. Agreement based on predefined % : You will be selling all the stuff to me at a discount of course , but the discounted price will be high enough for you to make good margins as well.
4. No Of People : I will only work with a group of 5 persons whom i will select based on my interaction with the individuals.
5. Experience : If you are already doing well with things the way you are, then i don't think it would make sense and hence i request those who profit already to skip the offer
6. Hof/Global Fetish : If you have one of those, please skip over as we dont have the same line of thought at all. If Foma makes you happy, then we are on opposite horizons and as such i cannot give you what you want.
At the moment that's all i can think of, I will add later if something more pops out of my head.
Best Regards,
Divinity

Sunday, January 8, 2012

History of the Virtual Trade

It all started not so long ago, when one geek sold his MUD account to the other. Today, virtual economies are much larger than those of many countries – in 2010 people worldwide spent $7 billion real dollars buying pixels of various shapes and sizes. That’s more than GDP of Mongolia, Malta or Haiti.  And some of those pixels are really expensive. Anonimous paid $635,000 dollars for the virtual night club on a virtual planet in massively multiplayer Entropia Universe game.
There are professional pixel-investors, shady pixel brokers, there are sweatshops of people farming pixels in various games, there are players who devote their whole lives to having more pixels of certain shape and color than anyone else in the world. We have gone on a pixel feeding frenzy. New economies are popping out left and right, and virtual currencies of several imaginary worlds are easier to exchange for a dollar than those of many African countries.
Selling thin air for a hefty price sounds like a good business plan – no wonder more and more developers embrace it. Even Facebook really wants to get into the virtual goods trade with its own alternative currency. Of course, some pursue “money for nothing” schemes too aggressively. Just recently, Apple was accused of selling bushels of virtual Smurfberries to kids without their parents’ consent, for $100 a pop. Hundreds of companies churn out simple, addictive games, that rely on inducing the in-game purchases. Parenthood is difficult in the digital age – if your kid says he saved you $500, he probably means he just bought $1000 worth of Tap Zoo animals at 50% discount.
No wonder that the virtual goods revenue jumped up 245% in last three years. It shows no sign of slowing, overcoming new real world economies each month. It is speculated that at some point in our lifetime virtual GDP will overcome the real world GDP of our planet.

Pricing the nonexistent
To many of us, an idea of selling items that don’t represent anything in the real world seems strange (635,000 for a space station? Come on!). But every economic revolution caused similar shock and disbelief. When in 1660 Bank of Sweden introduced the first western banknote, people couldn’t comprehend that a piece of paper could have the same value as a shiny golden coin. Banknotes, originated in debt papers, suffered many teething problems like inflation bubbles and panic-driven crashes. In fact, the early Swedish banknotes failed in 1664 because their holders got scared and wanted to exchange all at the same time.
But as we approached the modern age, it became clear that value of most items is completely subjective and that demand, not the actual manufacturing cost, is the main price driver. Gold, art, collectibles – many things are valuable only because others agree they are. Smurfberries and Farmville seeds are not that different. They are just small pieces of code and pixels, but players want them badly enough to give them a tangible monetary value.
The virtual frontier
Ok, enough with the history. When did the pixel trade begin? It is said, that the first sale of a virtual property happened in 1993, when Global Network Navigator sold a spot on its website to a very first clickable internet add.  But what about an in-game trade? The persistent virtual worlds started in 1978, when Roy Trubshaw programmed world’s first Multi-User Dungeon. His game gave birth to a whole genre of D&D style computer adventures that allowed several players to brave a maze filled with ASCII monsters and traps. People were prepared to pay through the nose to do that. The Internet MUD launched on Compuserve in 1987 charged players $12.50 per hour, and it never suffered from a shortage of users.
By mid-90’s there were first records of real world transactions between players who sold experienced in-game avatars. It was a huge precedent but it probably didn’t feel remarkable to the people involved. To most, those crazy geeks paid for the pixels. But in fact, they were just buying time and convenience. They were paying for a service.
Soon, graphical MUDs started to appear, an ugly and clunky cousins of today’s MMO’s. First was the Habitat in 1985, but what really gave this genere a kick was Meridian 59. It gathered 25.000 players in the public beta stage – a huge leap from the early multiplayer games.

Rise of the MMO’s
In 1997, Ultima Online was released, a first big scale MMO game with a huge virtual world and a large population of players and Non Player Characters alike. Almost immediately a black market trade emerged, even though Origin, the game creators, claimed they own all player avatars, gold or possessions – and that selling them was illegal. Amazed eBay users noticed first virtual item auctions. People were selling everything, from weapons and armor, to fully equipped characters. Soon, mainstream media picked up on the topic. Pixel trade came into the spotlights for the very first time.
Another prolific game joined the ranks in 1999 – EverQuest Online. Norrath, the setting of EverQuest, was also the first virtual world to be explored and described by a professional economist. You can find a rare account of those early days here. According to his calculations, people of Norrath were quite rich, on average earning $3.42 per hour in exchangeable virtual currency. Game creators tried to kill the black market, and in 2001 they forced eBay to stop listing EQ items. Vendors simply moved to other platforms.
Media were shocked again when in 2002 Edward Castronova calculated, that Norrath was the 77th richest country in the world, sitting somewhere between Russia and Bulgaria. Then, a second part of the game introduced functionalities that blended real world and virtual economies together. By typing a “/pizza” command in the command line, players were brought to the online checkout of their local Pizza Hut.

The age of microtransactions
Shortly after, some developers understood that in-game trading might be more profitable than the game itself. If people wanted to buy virtual goods, and every MMO gave birth to a thriving black market, why not sell the in-game items directly? Iron Realms Entertainment was the first company to do that, in their Achaea game. They began a microtransaction trend that paved the way for today’s Farmville, Smurf Village and Tap Zoo.
Then, Project Entropia developed by Swedish company Mindark, went even further. Their game’s currency could be exchanged for a real world cash – both ways, on a fixed price. Players were able to “load” their character with money, and then buy or sell in-game items or property. The trade was not only legal, it was fully endorsed by the game’s creators, who also earned by providing paid goods and acting as a bank for player deposits.  Probably that’s why it was also the first game to create a significant real-world wealth. In 2005, John “Neverdie” Jacobs bought a popular space station, the Asteroid Space Resort, for just $100,000 dollars. He later renamed it “Club Neverdie”, and flogged for $635,000 in 2010. That’s a net gain of 535%. A lot by investment standards. You could probably earn the same smuggling cocaine or trading the conflict diamonds, but reselling pixels seems a much safer career.
The virtual economies boomed. New worlds were growing – Second Life came in 2003, and managed to lure many virtual property investors and real world companies that wanted to create a virtual in-game branches. Over the years, Second Life build up a crazy $600 million GDP economy. It’s currency, Linden Dollar, has an official exchange course like any real world currency. Second Life also brought first cases of real people employed to work in the virtual worlds, either as marketers, designers or advisors.
In 2004, virtual worlds kicked into overdrive. World of Warcraft arrived and quickly became a titan of the MMO’s, growing at a stunning rate. Today, 12 million people call Azeroth their home, and WoW’s currency became so desirable that in many third world countries local enterpreneurs created sweatshops full of workers engaging in virtual gold farming. It is estimated that in China alone there are 100.000 professional, full-time gold farmers – slaves of virtual worlds, meant only to provide rich western players with goods of all sorts.

The $400 dollar dung
In the beginning, most items sold in virtual realities were supposed to make player more powerful, or his life – easier. People sold armor, magic trinkets. But then, various Korean games started to sell also the vanity items – things that didn’t increase your capabilities, only made you look cooler (well, to other players at least). In Maple Story, boots of one color might be many times more expensive that differently colored versions, based only on rarity. But here’s the fun fact. Pixels don’t even have to look nice to be expensive. Because, you see, one of the most expensive items in Ultima Online is a piece of horse crap, that does pretty much nothing.
Horse dung is a small item that used to lie around the stables in the game world. The thing is, horses did not produce it, it was a static prop that did not respawn if someone picked it up or moved it. Shortly, dungs became one of the rarest items in a game, a unique set of pixels, that even the most powerful character couldn’t obtain. Unless, of course, he was willing to pay. Not so long ago, they were priced at around 500 million of in-game gold pieces. That amount could be exchanged for roughly $400. Suddenly, Apple’s Smurfberry cart seems like a good deal – at least you can do something with it.

Virtual laws for virtual realms?
As you can imagine, the virtual trade led to a cascade of legal problems. First up are the taxes. After all,  gains from virtual items sold in the virtual world should be subject to taxation, just like any other source of income. So far it’s not a big issue – companies that sell in-game items pay the tax anyway, while exchange between two players remains mostly illegal and thus untaxed. But tax-related issues will increase if more developers follow the path of Entropia Universe or Second Life and legalize the in-game trade. Just imagine: if a guy from Finland buys a magic sword from a Scott, and a game is hosted in the US, then who, where and how pays the tax?
Also, if we acknowledge that virtual items are our legal possession, then every act against them becomes a real crime. Right now, hacking someone’s account is simply a breach of the game policy. But in the future it might become a criminal act, with exactly the same penalties as a real-world burglary. But what legal system would have jurisdiction in case where the thief, the victim, and the crime scene are all in different parts of the world?
Then, a server downtime can actually become a loss of income. Game developers and ISP’s would be prone to lawsuits from players who lost real money due to technical difficulties of the service. And what happens if a developer discontinues a game in which people legally obtained goods and properties? We might soon learn, as many first generation MMO’s slowly become obsolete. If Second Life creators pull the plug, will virtual property holders fight for compensation?
One thing is certain, during our lives virtual economy will become one of the most important topics in both politics and business. It is very probable, than in just a couple of decades most of things produced and sold by humans will be located in various virtual realities. A virtual legal systems and virtual countries might follow soon after…

Thursday, January 5, 2012

The starting area for beginners on Cyrene

When Planet Cyrene launches there will be a designated starting area for beginners and a major city located near by where the beginner quests will lead them too. You would be able to get there very quickly if needed, but everyone coming from outside the Planet will start in the City of Janus. From Janus the veteran players can quickly head over to the major ARC base where the new players will end up.

Our main goal is to make sure we attract plenty of new players and design enough content to get them familiar with the game and catch them up to speed. From there they can decide to continue on multiple quest chains, activities (free, low cost, ect) or head on over to one of the other Planets to explore if they wish. We feel we have done this and are confident the new players will adjust quickly to the game.