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Entropia Universe: Player Paying for Sister's College
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
In a world where it seems like we're constantly reporting about cheaters being banned and players scamming other players, it was a nice surprise to see this story gracing my inbox.
One of Entroipa Universe's players is using money that he has earned by playing the game to help fund his sister's college education. Check it out!
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US university tuitions have dramatically increased in the past five years leaving many college graduates thousands of dollars in debt. Other countries around the world are not far behind, with 2006 reports indicating education costs rising 6.5 percent from 2003-4 in the UK and 3.2 percent in Canada. As students struggle to make ends meet by combining income from multiple jobs with scholarships and loans, others are turning to creative alternatives to pay for a higher education.
Meet Mike, aka. Ogulak Da Basher, an 17-year-old from Durango, Colorado who has accumulated enough funds playing inside an online virtual gaming community, Entropia Universe, to pay for his siblings college tuitions. I began playing Entropia as a form of entertainment with my mother; however after 3 years of fostering relationships, building businesses, and developing my hunting and mining skills, I have raked in over $35,000, $12,000 of which will go towards helping my brother and sister attend college.
Entropia Universe is a rapidly growing virtual world that actively supports sales of virtual products with actual cash value within its real economy system. The economy offers players a secure and safe way to make purchases, sales and exchange real-life currency into PED (Project Entropia Dollars) and back again into real money, at a fixed exchange rate to the US Dollar. PED allows members to invest in personal development and growth through the acquisition of goods, buildings, and land in the virtual universe.
Ogulak Da Basher is a captain in the Entropian hunting society, ck Coat Killers. He has cultivated his mining and hunting skills, obtaining precious minerals and materials that are then sold at a premium price. From his virtual profession as a hunter/miner he has also mastered the crafting of weapon/mining attachments resulting in a completely new business model that has the potential for increased revenue growth. What I like best about Entropia Universe is the ability to pick any profession. I have tried other virtual communities and MMORPGs that allow members to play only one class, while EU creates unlimited goals and endless room for opportunity with a free economic structure.
While many claim that online and console games have a negative impact on a teenagers mental and physical development, our observations are different, says Marco Behrmann, CIO of MindArk, game developer of Entropia Universe. In Entropia we are seeing a positive outcome from our online gaming community. Members not only building social skills through global interaction, but are even learning the business tools to succeed in the real world
For more on Entropia Universe click here.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Yay!
Don't forget about the people that get into debt because of this monstrosity!
If this truly is the future of online gaming, then I'm gonna take up golf.
From one Durango resident to another... You GO Mike
For once, someone is thinking of others, instead of Gimmee-Gimmee!
I don't play this certain game but.. I do play and have played quite a few MMO's. It seems most players in these games, are all about 'themselves'.
Which isn't bad.. It is just refreshing to see a player reaching out with their money & goals.. To give to another.
"Huntress"
Entropia Universe is a rapidly growing virtual world ...
Bullshit, prove it.
In Entropia we are seeing a positive outcome from our online gaming community...
Yeah for every person who withdraws cash there are more people spending money because Entropia is making a profit.
Where are the stories about the guys who spent thousands of dollars without anything to show for it?
I guess it wouldn't be good PR to print those.
"We feel gold selling and websites that promote it damage games like Vanguard and will do everything possible to combat it."
Brad McQuaid
Chairman & CEO, Sigil Games Online, Inc.
Executive Producer, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
www.vanguardsoh
Technically, its not a game. Its an online casino. Don’t believe
me, read the EULA. Its a casino... SO.. i have no sympathy for those loosing
money in it.. It is thier fuilt for doing so. Bad decisions, throwaway attitude..
and maybe they just plain wanted to give that dancer 40$.
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
I tried this game a while back but never made a purchase because the company was completly unresponsive and many people were waiting upwards of 6 months to get paid. I have no idea how long it takes now It seemed so bad that the advice that was usally given was to try and resell credits on ebay if one could catch a newbie or something. I wrote them several times concerning payouts but they never replied. I remember reading something like this company would even go so far as to close your account and take all your stuff if you were found to be talking bad about them on any forums, again I asked about this but received no reply. I do not think I ever found one post or reply from this company on any fan forum regarding any issue anyone ever asked. They are very secretive about everything, especially the money, like how long one must wait to get paid after making a withdrawl, what percent of money collected goes back into the game etc. Heck at least online casinos tell you the payout percent is. It didn't even seem like anyone knew the names of the owners or anything. Sure it's Minkark but who ownes mindark? A group of college buddies? I never found out and it ddn't seem like anyone knew.
More recently there have been lots of unhappy players because they changed the loot structure to payoff established players more thus leaving everyone else to pay the bill. The truth about making money in this game is that very very few do and those players may very well be connected, at least that's what some think, I have know idea myself. I liken this game to a rogue online casino with no regulation and no avenue to submit legal complaints even if $10's of thousand of dollars are involved. This company has the "game" set up legaly as a gambling entity,or something like that. so you really don't have much recourse, no matter what happens. Forum information is scarce, at least it used to be and one must keep in mind that fan sites of this game and many people involved with this game will try to protect it tooth and nail because some of these people have paid-in 10's of thousands of dollars and hope to someday get it back. Most people who play seem to agree that it takes thousands upon thousands of dollars to get anywhere in this game and they could pull the plug tomorrow if they wanted and that would be that.
I like the concept of this game but I think they take to much of the money out of the game. There is no monthly fee but I'd MUCH rather pay $25 a month and know that every dollar put into the game beyond that amount stays in the game and is in a bank somehwere with near instant withdrawl capabilities. As it stands now, players easily have millions of dollars worth of credits all told but how much does this company have on hand to pay? They won't tell you and that's a problem in my view.
jagwarr, dude, not many things are correct in your message...
Mindark isn't a gambling outfit and never has been (Sweden has pretty strict laws surrounding that, as is a State monopoly). Claiming Entropia to be a casino is like claimning RL being a casino.
Mindark is a public company, meaning any finacial/business info you need is publicly available on their website, in English. Dude, it's not that hard to check it out, now is it?
Withdrawals are made within SECONDS using the ATM card they have hooked into Entropia. It is really cool that you can withdraw the virtual money into real money in an instant.
If they wanted to pull the plug they would have done so years ago. Now they are just being successful, which probably piss people off somehow. It is a great concept and they are the only ones exploring the real money/MMO mix, which I find is way cool.
"We feel gold selling and websites that promote it damage games like Vanguard and will do everything possible to combat it."
Brad McQuaid
Chairman & CEO, Sigil Games Online, Inc.
Executive Producer, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
www.vanguardsoh
Anyway, that is what I thought
Gazzaden
Lagavulin
Then I apologize for such outdated comments. The atm card that you mention sounds great. As I said I really do like the idea behind the game and hope the idea and game grows further.
I dont even bother to comment other than,PE,EU whatever is nothing but a RIGGED poor payout casino..
someone got "lucky"?
sure,good pr...
besides,hes such an old player hes had the chance to loot and sell stuff that doesnt drop anymore so he hardly
had to build any business or even get "lucky" hahahaha
a bullshit hype again as usual,nothing more