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Entropia Universe: From Gamer Chick to ROCKtropia
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
Carolyn Koh brings us more new information from the worlds of Entropia Universe, covering the story behind the latest musical crossover into the game: ROCKtropia.
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Six years ago, Jon "Neverdie" Jacobs got his girlfriend to play Project Entropia with him and got her totally hooked. He wrote a song for her entitled "Gamer Chick" and asked MindArk if they would put it on the juke boxes found in game for other players to listen to.
"What I was hoping for was to make some money out of it," said Jon. "They didn't have the structure to do that at the time, but put it in the game anyway. That sort of made my avatar Neverdie rather famous as the song went viral and everyone was playing it in game and I eventually made a music video out of it and put it on Youtube."
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
The future begins tomorrow.
Why does MMORPG continue to cover this horrible game? Of all the games out there this is probably one of the worst and you will find that opinion to be rather common among your readers.
Just one big scam. Can't believe you continue to promote it.
What is so horrible about it? Seems like a lot of people enjoy playing it, so I'd be interested in knowing exactly what it is about this game that grinds your gears.
I find the concept somewhat intreguing actually.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Game has a decent concept. Though my view of it is tainted from my dabble into in 2003-2004, where I saw little to no way in acutally get ahead without sinking a good amount of money into the game. I actually dropped 15 dollars and it seemed to have gotten me very little. Then later on that week my character got stuck. The process for getting my self unstuck was to log out, email support and then wait for their reply. It took three hours for my character to get free. Between all this and the lack of anything interesting in the way of content made me decide to quit.
Looks like the Entropia has gotten better over the long haul. But that earlier experince and my dislike of F2P games tells me not to try this again.
its virtually the ultimate RMT game, only its the company itself thats doing the RMT... tbh, it does seem dodgy, i'd be very interested to know if a lot of people really are playing it though, and on what basis, not that i'd ever consider playing it again, i tried it once and that was enough to cure me of any curiosity about the game itself, personally i am with Ozmodan on this one, i think its highly likely that the whole thing is some kind of scam, the claims made about buying and selling to make money in the game seem too unrealistic to treat seriously, and there seems little if any evidence to back up their assertions.
Well since it only uses the engine it mustn't be as bad as Entropia i assume.
Regarding Entropia being a terrible game there are people who enjoy it and i have also played it in the past, but since mindark is too greedy and managed to totally screw up the ingame economy it is much too expensive for the regular player.
For example if you want to get anywhere as a hunter/pker in Entropia you should be able to at least invest somewhere between 20000-30000 USD for equipment somewhere down the line or you'll be stuck at mid-level forever. And you should be ready to pay an additional 100-200 USD on top of that every month to keep going unless you are very lucky of course,
So basically just never being able to get to the "engame content" or play with the big guns makes it very unattractive for the average joe. You can get uber in any game if you invest enough time, in Entropia you also need to have tons of money.
OK now, that's some serious money, which I'd have to say disqualifies me from playing if true.
But if there are people wealthy enough to pay this sort of fee without protest, then perhaps this is just the game for them, doesn't make it necessarily a bad game, just designed for a wealthier class of gamer.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Oh shut up would you? Posting a news article about it once every few weeks is hardly what I call "promoting it."
I further suggest you look up the definition for the word scam, because the last time I checked players played the game out of their own free will, and it's certainly no secret that you have to pay for items with real-world cash.
I know a good few people who enjoy it, and considering there's no lack of players in-game, and that the developers make a nice profit every year, I think it's doing just fine and it's well worth a mention. Under-rated, in fact.
It was my first MMO and I immensely enjoyed my time in it. I'd still probably be playing if I had a credit card. You may not like it, but hell do you learn how to play efficiently and intelligently when your actual money is at stake.
I think the reason, probably the main reason, why it seems like a scam, is because of the amounts of money involved, real money that is, no matter how much its glossed over, the amounts involved are dispreportionate to the gameplay involved, particularly when compared to other games on the market, even AAA subscription based games. The figures involved just can't be ignored though, which is what makes it look so dodgy.
Let me guess your credit card got cancelled for non payment due to the fact you maxed it out in Entropia Universe? This game is not a game it is a casino.
Let me give you an example of how far $10.00 will go. You can buy a basic gun and ammo. lets say the ammo required to kill 1 mob is about .25c. Now you need to kill about 20 mobs to get 1 loot drop. So thats $5 to get 1 loot drop. The loot valuse is around hrmm $0.10c. So your spending $10.00 to get $0.20c back and have perhaps a chance of something realy nice dropping being worth maybe a few dollars or exceptionally rare stuff with $100's and $100's only drop in specific hunting ground of course which cost a ton of real world money to get into.
Personally - get a groupd of friends and go to a real coasino in the real world and play roulette, at least your odds are better there of getting a return.
Shame on you MMORPG for covering a casino, but hey whatever pays the bills right?
Perhaps the players of this game enjoy the casino like aspect of it, risk vs reward right? Just because its designed around this mechanic doesn't mean the game is bad, or the developers are evil, just means it has a different design than traditional MMO's.
If the people who play it are happy with the game, who are you to say they're wrong or the game is bad?
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
its really about the payment option, and while the people who do play the game might be happy (they might prefer things to be a bit cheaper too after all) that doesnt take into account how many players actually stick with the game. the success of any MMO is based on its retention rate, how many players have tried and left compared to those who have tried and stayed? how many are actually paying to play, this isnt after all about how the game looks, but about how its funded, or perhaps more accurately, whether the amounts involved represent value for money, or an unscrupulous cash grab.
lol, i just listend to this so called "song" called gamer chick, what a horrible piece of garbage that was..
Currently Playing Path of Exile
its not about any of those things its about covering up a casino that should have a gambling licience
its their way of earning money.....dont expect to make money and sure it will be an expensive game if you aint careful, that said sure I did hate to be farming sweet for hours n then blow the money made in a few min.
the fact you know its real money you sit fight for, sure make you feel the gambler in the stomach tho heh, dont think anyone made money on it, unless cheated other players...and the subscribtion is very expensive if you dont plan your investment, like you set in 30 $and buy some hot gear and go try kill some big one´s....except your char aint got the skills for it yet.....the skills meaning everything and taking ages to get up.
Even autotune couldn't fix that garbage.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
I am going to have to agree with you. After hearing the auto-tune and seeing the graphics in the You Tube video I can see why it went "viral." Oh wow, I guess the girl he wrote it about died. That sucks. All jokes aside, that is a game over!
Have a winner and don't go on a game over! Does your avatar make you powerful in real life? Check out the Mystical Enders gaming community. www.mysticalenders.com
I have to agree with Regnevanz on this one. Let me add, I followed this game when it was in developement. and played from launch for about 2+ years. The issue for me is the game was billed as a the next generation of MMO with a real cash economy. There is no real, viable, self sustaining economy here, and there never was. What made it more annoying is you had to play very infrequently to stretch the typical dollars that most MMOs charge monthly. For $15 I could play my arse off in every other MMO, but in EU that wouldn't last a week. The final problem is at least in a casino i know my odds, in this game you have no clue to what the odds are and what mindark is actually taking the community for. I know they say they just make money of equipment decay but who knows. I felt a bit misled initially and then determined for me the game was a big money vacuum. I don't care for it and would not recommend. However to each his own, if you got a money tree in your backyard and a need for the adenaline rush of risking cash for great rewards...... by all means, enjoy.
On a side note the girl the song was written about was " Island Girl" in game. I had the pleasure of playing with her on a number of occasions, she was really nice and it was very sad to hear of her passing.
It's very easy to have a strong opinion about EU in general or Planet Calypso/Rocktropia specific and every thread here tends to turn into a scam/casino discussion. Because real money is involved emotions tend to run high and in a RCE that's the last thing you need as it will make you loose that money even faster. For many people who tried it and lost alot of money in the game it is much easier to claim it's a scam, casino or anything else instead of admitting they failed where others made it work. They will try to support their claims by posting rediculous examples like getting 20c return on $10 or write how long they have played. In turn the players who love the game will climb on their soapbox and do the exact opposite. As cliche as it might sound, and it has as been said several times already, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Yes you can loose money real fast if you play your arse off like in every other MMO but you can also stretch it out quite a while if you play it smart, do research and can stick to your goals.
To try and bring this thread back on topic of the article a bit again, do you think a MMO might be a viable option for the music industry as a new medium. Would you go to virtual concerts while gaming or browse music from artists in a virtual music store? And if you're an artist or play in a band, would you try performing in such a virtual world? I admire Neverdie for following his dream and taking the risks that come with trying new things like these, i wish him the best of luck.
The game is a gamblers MMO, combining some of the worst aspects RMT's. It has too many aspects of the real world that I really don't want in my virtual world. For me a MMO is a break from the fiscal grind, not an extension of it.
I happen to like the song. OK, it's not Grammy award winning material or anything, but it's enjoyable and I've heard much worse. It's not everyone that likes a game so much, they go to the trouble to make a song and video about it.
As for Entropia itself, it costs exactly what you're willing to pay. Some play for $50/month, others for $500/month. Some play for free, though they have to work very hard at to do it. And yes, the amount of money you have changes what you can and can't do. However, there's plenty to do even on a very tight budget.
Yes, you spend money hunting, mining, crafting, whatever, and Mindark takes a portion. They need to get paid, y'know. The rest is given back as "loot". Hides, wools, ores, armor parts, etc. What you do with your loot can vastly change your personal results.
However, yes, if you spend big money and buy weapons and armor that's too big for your avatar's skill range, and go hunting big, dangerous mobs, you will be quite disappointed in your results.
Entropia's a game that's meant to be progressed in slowly. I repeat, s-l-o-w-l-y. As in years to reach a high level. And therein may be one of the big problems. Many who are used to games that can be "maxxed" in months may find the slow pace of Entropia annoying and in their haste to go too fast, make bad mistakes.
Also the fact that if you have poor money-management skills, that fact bleeds into the game. And if you suck with money, it's unfair to blame a game.
Neverdie's working hard to make ROCKtropia (his planet within the Entropia Universe) better and better. He'll do the same with Next Island. He believes strongly in this game and wants to share. Yes he makes money off of it. Oh the horror. Get over it.
Happy hoffing
Oh I love that Entropia exists. I, of course, don’t play it because the game is garbage, but it does serve a valuable social purpose:
It removes the burden of money from those who can’t handle it.
(I had a second purpose, but it’s probably too hurtful to the unstable Entropia players it was aimed at. Lord knows we don’t want to set them off and get them re-engauged[sic] in the real world of school and social events.)
its very good at relieving the players of that very troublesome burden, and yes.. i have a pretty good idea what that other purpose was
Some very good arguments in defence of the game though, or rather, in defence of the monetary system in the game, stretching credulity though they are, the profit margin per player is, somewhat exceptional, as the more time spent playing the game means a proportionately larger cash flow, whereas with other subbed games the amount of time spent in game doesnt affect how much it costs, though for EU i guess it means that those prepared to spend less, arent cluttering up the servers with their valueless time... really have to wonder how it can be passed off as just another one of those things, by saying some players pay 500 dollars a month.. as if it was an inconsequential amount of money.
I really enjoyed Entropia when I tried it out and still log in occassionally, though rarely these days with so many other new games to play. For years before the graphical upgrade, I thought the game looked like garbage and so wouldn't touch it. It's the same reason I never tried Everquest. It looked hideous.
The upgrade to the new engine changed all that and got my attention though. I can't really comment on the game mechanics of hunting and any of the higher level stuff because I never did them much or advanced far enough to experience the content, but the game world itself is beautiful now and fun to explore.
I only made a single payment of ten dollars to buy some cheap gear because I wanted to try out hunting and didn't even do that enough to use all of the initial pistol and rifle ammo I bought. I've never had to pay to repair any of my gear after the initial repair of my newbie jumpsuit (you start with your newbie jumpsuit in low repair, or at least did when I started).
Since I didn't invest in lots of ammo and do a lot of hunting I never advanced very far either, of course, but I really enjoyed just running around the absolutely massive world (parts of two huge continents are what I was able to explore with the skills I had) and trying things out.
Exploring was kind of a mini game of its own since the wilderness is extremely dangerous to newbie characters. So the game as I jogged about sightseeing was keeping an eye on my radar, noting where the often enormous dinosaur like creatures and such actually where in the distance, and trying to avoid them as I snuck passed or around them on my way.
Anyway, I'm just saying that I think this game gets a bad rap to some degree as people focus on the real money trading aspect of it too much. I agree it is unlikely and maybe impossible for someone hell bent on 'leveling' quickly like one might be used to with other MMOs to do so without putting a lot of money they are extremely unlikely to get a return on into the game.
That said, I've put about 100 hours into it over the months since the graphics engine upgrade and spent only 10 bucks that I paid right after I started. That seems like a pretty good deal for me given that it'd have been spending $15 a month if it'd have been some mainstream subscription MMO I was spreading those gameplay hours over instead.
So based on my own experience treating this one as essentially a free to play game (minus my small initial payment I guess), someone with a love of exploring could easily have a great time just spending about what they already spend on existing MMOs (15ish bucks a month) and keeping the mindset that it is like a subscription fee just like they do with WoW or similar. Then if they kill something or discover some mining deposit and get a big prize it is just a nice surprise and not something they were counting on for their fun.
My recommendation would be to do what I do and keep your pay to play MMOs that eat up the lionshare of your hobby time, then keep games like Entropia installed for when you want a little change of pace. Then enjoy it as you like whenever you like without any pressure.
Am I the only one that some how sees this game as a joke? I mean there is RMT and then there's RMT. When I buy Lindens in Second Life I know it's not money, it's tokens for bling in a virtual world. What does the equivalent get me in EU? Maybe a few hours of play. Seriously, I use to be a proponent for some kind of RMT, but pure RMT like this is a literal sham as it monetized the player's time and experience to such a level that you might as well just pay 15USD up front for a regular game or possibly save up another 15USD to get yourself a good triple A game with some sort of multiplayer you don't have to pay for to play with your friends.
Again, I'm all for different business models, but if the developers aren't even up for different gameplay models too then I'm not up for paying a single penny to play theirs as the competitors are selling for cheaper and in more quantity by contrast.