After gather our supplies the five of us set off on our Journey into the great expanse that is the Calypisian Ocean. Our tp chips were powerful and our guns were at the ready, but in the 5 jumps it would take us to get to New Atlantis anything could happen. The first jump we were able to plot out on a map of Calypso, but after that we were jumping into uncharted territory.
Our first jump went as expected, we landed in the ocean recharged our tp chips and made the next jump. Our second and third jump were also fairly unexciting. On the second jump we did see a red dot off to the north on radar, normally I would have gone to investigate the red dot but seeing as how this mission was of the up most importance I decided not to.
Upon our forth jump, the chaos which a bad tp jump can bring occurred. Our party was scattered through out a ten kilometer area. Dr. Ares even managed to land on an island, unfortunately this island was occupied by a mob which none of us had ever seen before. As soon as the jump was over we heard Dr. Ares cry for help over the radio. As we swam toward Dr. Ares's location we could hear his cries for help over the radio. He screamed something about his shots bouncing off the mob before his radio went silent. Using a scope Dr. Hades was able to see the whole thing, he said that some the mythical mob called the manpig had attack Dr. Ares. Within minutes it had destroyed the shadow armor which Dr. Ares worn, merely shrugging off the shots raining in from Dr. Ares's Mod Merc. Taking a brief moment to morn the loss of Dr. Ares and then we made the fifth and final jump to New Atlantis.
The fifth jump was possibly the most fatal for our group. The new tp chips while highly cheap, efficent, and long reaching had one problem, they had a 10% chance of malfunctioning. Upon our fifth jump it finally happened, Dr. Waynes tp chip malfunctioned, spawning him 500 kilometers above the surface of Calypso. After sending us his location his radio too went dead. Still New Atlantis was on the horizon rising up out of the sea, the three of us had made it.
Upon reaching New Atlantis we wasted no time, Shields were raised, pizzas were eaten, and the base was finally ready to stop the robots. Minutes later the War Titan struck and we set to work undoing the time rift.
It took us many days, and much work but we finally managed to undo the time rift and save Calypso. We also found a pizza oven which now sits in our new headquarters.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Saving Calypso (Part 1)
Please note this story has nothing to do with the real in game story line.
As the hours ticked away and the War Titan drew closer, we knew something had to be done. Our laboratory, located in the center of Hades, had just detected a space time rift following closely behind the War Titan. Until now the existence of space time rifts had been simply an unproven and highly controversial theory. Based on that theory when this rift envelopes an object time slows to a crawl, years for those outside the rift seem like seconds inside the rift. Seconds after the War Titan hit Calypso the rift would envelope us, messages from Earth would go unanswered for the next five centuries. Once contact with Earth was lost the Imperial Navy would most likely write Calypso off as a loss and allow robot ships to occupy the space around Calypso. Meaning even if the government of Calypso managed to save a few revive terminals from the War Titian, the robots would have the planet surrounded long before we revived. As long as none of the robot ships entered the rift they would have years to prepare an invasion, and we would only have days to prepare a defense
Upon contacting the Calypisian government we were written off as crazies. They told us that they needed to focus on the incoming War Titan, not some theoretical rift. It was then in our darkest hours that the famed Dr. Ares showed up. It turned out that he had heard of our labs findings, and wanted to help us. He told us of an above top secret government base located 500 kilometers west of Port Atlantis, nicknamed New Atlantis.
New Atlantis had been used to research time space well before Calypso had been colonized. Upon colonization it had been abandon and forgot about. Not only would this base, hidden miles below the ocean, be unaffected by the War Titan smashing into Calypso, time inside of this base would theoretically remain unaffected by the space time rift.
With a new hope, and the only five Omegatron Super Teleportation Chips in existence in hand(the ones which use just sweat) we set out for New Atlantis. It was just me, Dr. Ares, Dr. Hade, Dr. Wayne and an Omegatron representative, but we had to succeed. For if we failed Calypso was doomed.
In the coming weeks I hope to finish this story, and even update this portion of the story a bit. I will also continue blogging about whats goings on in Calypso, but blogging about bug testing isn't all that interesting.
As the hours ticked away and the War Titan drew closer, we knew something had to be done. Our laboratory, located in the center of Hades, had just detected a space time rift following closely behind the War Titan. Until now the existence of space time rifts had been simply an unproven and highly controversial theory. Based on that theory when this rift envelopes an object time slows to a crawl, years for those outside the rift seem like seconds inside the rift. Seconds after the War Titan hit Calypso the rift would envelope us, messages from Earth would go unanswered for the next five centuries. Once contact with Earth was lost the Imperial Navy would most likely write Calypso off as a loss and allow robot ships to occupy the space around Calypso. Meaning even if the government of Calypso managed to save a few revive terminals from the War Titian, the robots would have the planet surrounded long before we revived. As long as none of the robot ships entered the rift they would have years to prepare an invasion, and we would only have days to prepare a defense
Upon contacting the Calypisian government we were written off as crazies. They told us that they needed to focus on the incoming War Titan, not some theoretical rift. It was then in our darkest hours that the famed Dr. Ares showed up. It turned out that he had heard of our labs findings, and wanted to help us. He told us of an above top secret government base located 500 kilometers west of Port Atlantis, nicknamed New Atlantis.
New Atlantis had been used to research time space well before Calypso had been colonized. Upon colonization it had been abandon and forgot about. Not only would this base, hidden miles below the ocean, be unaffected by the War Titan smashing into Calypso, time inside of this base would theoretically remain unaffected by the space time rift.
With a new hope, and the only five Omegatron Super Teleportation Chips in existence in hand(the ones which use just sweat) we set out for New Atlantis. It was just me, Dr. Ares, Dr. Hade, Dr. Wayne and an Omegatron representative, but we had to succeed. For if we failed Calypso was doomed.
In the coming weeks I hope to finish this story, and even update this portion of the story a bit. I will also continue blogging about whats goings on in Calypso, but blogging about bug testing isn't all that interesting.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Name Change
Due to readers feeling I was trying to trick them into reading this blog, the name of the blog has been changed from The Entropian, to Entropian Blogger. I am sorry if any of you felt anything unethical was done here, I assure you this was not my intention.
Monday, August 24, 2009
The Real Cash Economy Aspect
Upon hearing the basic principles of a real cash economy many gamers eyes light up with joy. Already they can see themselves relaxing on a beach sipping on a delicious drink taking in the sun, all because of a game. For those first few days everything is amazing, the fact that it takes 5 hours to make ten cents doesn't matter. But as the months pass and money continues to flow into the game rather then out of it things change.
After those first few months are over, many Entropians start to see the darker side of a rce. Usually this dark side shows its ugly face slowly. At first its just some newbie in Port Atlantis trying to pull sweat out of the trade window right before you click accept, or a trader cutting off a few pecs markup on the ores and enmatter your selling to them. Usually we just write these things off an isolated incidence.
For me the true evil which a rce can bring out in a person became apparent only after many years of play. Money and the chance to take money without any repercussions in real life, that truly brings out the worst in people. I have seen traders start funds only to run off with the cash, I have seen friends go on hunts only to return enemies because of all things they have finally hit it big, I have seen people lose items because someone they trusted borrowed that item only to never return and I have seen MindArk the company which runs this game cheat players just because they can make a little bit more. OK MindArk is a business we can't expect them to always play by the rules, but what about everyone else?
Sadly thes things are not what angers me the most. Sure someone running off with a uber HoF , a loaned out item or some peds sucks, but when it happens everyone is there for the people who got ripped off. The people who stole the item are black listed within Entropia, and in the end everyone comes out of it feeling like justice was at least somewhat served.
What angers me the most is how many trusted members of our community point their fingers at others before owning up to their own deeds (just because I don't post on Entropia Forum doesn't mean I don't read it). I am not talking about how as newbies they stole a chair off the ground, cut a few pecs off of a trade, or even those ubers who currently use two high level avatars. I am talking about certain players who time and time again seem to make a profit off the misfortunes of others.
I am not referring to all those ubers out there who buy peds at half price, oh yea in case you didn't know there are people in Entropia sell peds at half price. I am referring to the ubers who will buy stolen items for up to 50% below market price, so that they can turn around and sell these items for twice what they paid. In some cases when these ubers are told about the situation, instead of trying to work something out with the item's owner, they scramble to sell that item.
The case of Richard Devil's trading fund is a great example of ubers taking advantage of a group of people who has been scammed. I luckily enough didn't invest in Richards fund, but I knew a few people who did so I followed the fund. I watched them profit, and then I watched it all disappear. Now where did this money go you ask, well I can't say where all of it went, but I can say a few people came out of the deal with a nice big bonus.
You see Richard got involved heavily in crafting thinking he could make a profit. Now somewhere he ran into an issue regarding how to fund his activities. So he started using items owned by the fund as collateral. Many of these items were loaned out for much less then what they were worth. When the fund blew up in everyones face I watched many of these items Richard loaned out change hands so fast I could hardly believe it. In one case I watched an uber sell off an item he had as collateral for 1k more then what he had loaned Richard. Upon being contacted this uber refused to give up any more the 500 peds, claiming he had earned the interest (he loaned Richard 3k by the way).
Richard of course received all of the blame for this, none of it however was aimed at the few people who had made over 5k total off of this scam. Along with this many others managed to acquire guns, shop deeds, and even blueprints for up to 50% below under market price. Yet all of the blame fell on good old Richard Devil's shoulders, sure he lost most of the money, but it wasn't all him.
Almost every one of the people who helped cause this money to vanish still play Entropia today, they are members of elite societies, they own thousands of dollars worth of gear, and they always seem to come out on top. I have seen them called out before, yet somehow they usaully manage to turn everything around, and slip away. Every now and then one of them gets caught, but far more manage to slip into the shadows with a nice chunk of change only to appear again when opportunity presents itself.
After saying all this and pointing out the evils of a real cash economy, I can't forget to mention the beauty of it. In any other mmo when I loot some epic item, or someone loans me a rare item it isn't a big deal. Both me and him/her know where to go to loot another one, and sure it might take time, but no item is worth a ton of money. Yet in Entropia when I loan out an item or some peds those are worth real money, sometimes thousands of dollars. Meaning when I get that money back I know where I stand with that person. I know that even though I could never track him/her down in real life, and even though they had the option to leave with thousands of dollars they didn't. Their word means something to me and this means a lot. Some of the greatest players in this game don't own malls, shops or asteroids, they own a gun, some ammo and a bit of gear, and just love hanging out with their society mates. They might not be the people who can take down a hog solo or loan out a Mod Merc, but they are the people who no matter what value friendship over that Mod Merc. Entropia is not about making money, it is not about owning the best gear, it is about trusting someone enough to give them you prized possession. At times you might get burned, but when you're not its the greatest feeling in the world, for me that feeling is worth more then every pec I own in Entropia.
Thanks For Reading
The Entropian
FYI: My next post will be a bit more upbeat, I just thought that a more realistic topic would help to show that this will be a bit more the fluff. If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comments section.
After those first few months are over, many Entropians start to see the darker side of a rce. Usually this dark side shows its ugly face slowly. At first its just some newbie in Port Atlantis trying to pull sweat out of the trade window right before you click accept, or a trader cutting off a few pecs markup on the ores and enmatter your selling to them. Usually we just write these things off an isolated incidence.
For me the true evil which a rce can bring out in a person became apparent only after many years of play. Money and the chance to take money without any repercussions in real life, that truly brings out the worst in people. I have seen traders start funds only to run off with the cash, I have seen friends go on hunts only to return enemies because of all things they have finally hit it big, I have seen people lose items because someone they trusted borrowed that item only to never return and I have seen MindArk the company which runs this game cheat players just because they can make a little bit more. OK MindArk is a business we can't expect them to always play by the rules, but what about everyone else?
Sadly thes things are not what angers me the most. Sure someone running off with a uber HoF , a loaned out item or some peds sucks, but when it happens everyone is there for the people who got ripped off. The people who stole the item are black listed within Entropia, and in the end everyone comes out of it feeling like justice was at least somewhat served.
What angers me the most is how many trusted members of our community point their fingers at others before owning up to their own deeds (just because I don't post on Entropia Forum doesn't mean I don't read it). I am not talking about how as newbies they stole a chair off the ground, cut a few pecs off of a trade, or even those ubers who currently use two high level avatars. I am talking about certain players who time and time again seem to make a profit off the misfortunes of others.
I am not referring to all those ubers out there who buy peds at half price, oh yea in case you didn't know there are people in Entropia sell peds at half price. I am referring to the ubers who will buy stolen items for up to 50% below market price, so that they can turn around and sell these items for twice what they paid. In some cases when these ubers are told about the situation, instead of trying to work something out with the item's owner, they scramble to sell that item.
The case of Richard Devil's trading fund is a great example of ubers taking advantage of a group of people who has been scammed. I luckily enough didn't invest in Richards fund, but I knew a few people who did so I followed the fund. I watched them profit, and then I watched it all disappear. Now where did this money go you ask, well I can't say where all of it went, but I can say a few people came out of the deal with a nice big bonus.
You see Richard got involved heavily in crafting thinking he could make a profit. Now somewhere he ran into an issue regarding how to fund his activities. So he started using items owned by the fund as collateral. Many of these items were loaned out for much less then what they were worth. When the fund blew up in everyones face I watched many of these items Richard loaned out change hands so fast I could hardly believe it. In one case I watched an uber sell off an item he had as collateral for 1k more then what he had loaned Richard. Upon being contacted this uber refused to give up any more the 500 peds, claiming he had earned the interest (he loaned Richard 3k by the way).
Richard of course received all of the blame for this, none of it however was aimed at the few people who had made over 5k total off of this scam. Along with this many others managed to acquire guns, shop deeds, and even blueprints for up to 50% below under market price. Yet all of the blame fell on good old Richard Devil's shoulders, sure he lost most of the money, but it wasn't all him.
Almost every one of the people who helped cause this money to vanish still play Entropia today, they are members of elite societies, they own thousands of dollars worth of gear, and they always seem to come out on top. I have seen them called out before, yet somehow they usaully manage to turn everything around, and slip away. Every now and then one of them gets caught, but far more manage to slip into the shadows with a nice chunk of change only to appear again when opportunity presents itself.
After saying all this and pointing out the evils of a real cash economy, I can't forget to mention the beauty of it. In any other mmo when I loot some epic item, or someone loans me a rare item it isn't a big deal. Both me and him/her know where to go to loot another one, and sure it might take time, but no item is worth a ton of money. Yet in Entropia when I loan out an item or some peds those are worth real money, sometimes thousands of dollars. Meaning when I get that money back I know where I stand with that person. I know that even though I could never track him/her down in real life, and even though they had the option to leave with thousands of dollars they didn't. Their word means something to me and this means a lot. Some of the greatest players in this game don't own malls, shops or asteroids, they own a gun, some ammo and a bit of gear, and just love hanging out with their society mates. They might not be the people who can take down a hog solo or loan out a Mod Merc, but they are the people who no matter what value friendship over that Mod Merc. Entropia is not about making money, it is not about owning the best gear, it is about trusting someone enough to give them you prized possession. At times you might get burned, but when you're not its the greatest feeling in the world, for me that feeling is worth more then every pec I own in Entropia.
Thanks For Reading
The Entropian
FYI: My next post will be a bit more upbeat, I just thought that a more realistic topic would help to show that this will be a bit more the fluff. If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comments section.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
VU 10.0
For a few years now I have played a mmo currently called Entropia Universe. Through my time in Entropia I have had my ups and downs, but overall I must say it has been a most enjoyable game.
What made me first notice project Entropia was the fact that it contained a real cash economy. This meant that I could actually make real money doing what I love. Yet unlike Second Life it was still a rpg type game. Upon hearing this I instantly downloaded Project Entropia, and my journey began. Over this journey I took many loses, but slowly my knowledge grew and my past time actually began to support itself.
After play Entropia for over two years I have seen a lot of changes, and after all of that version update 10.0 takes the cake. It has made Entropia Universe one of the most promising mmos out there, and yet at the same time this very update threatens to end Entropia. This story is about the chaos and beauty called Entropia. Over the years thousands of Entropians have grown to love the game and despite set backs like version updates I have remained faithful...... ok ok back in 2007 I had a brief affair with World of Warcraft, but I came back.
Upon hearing the news that Entropia was up and running Entropians everywhere rushed to be the first to explore Entropia. Upon logging and creating characters each of us was greeted by scenery that we could have only imagined before. For me it was awe inspiring, shadows covering the terrain, clouds in the sky, landscape glowing with light, and it was even better visually when night fell. I have heard many hunters complain about how nightfall makes hunting harder, but watching your mining claims light up the night has to be one of the coolest experiences in Entropia.
Despite all of these visually impressive changes the update still felt a bit sour. While many Entropians had made it into this wonderful new world, others were left behind. Many players I talked to in game were left wondering whether they would ever again see their in game friends. Adding to the sourness of the update was the fact that the game feels as if it were still in alpha testing. If the update had come on time as promised I might expect this, but when a game takes over two years to update, I expect more. Bugs and crashes have not only plagued our world, but have left many feeling their hard earned peds are piratically stolen by MindArk (the games makers). Along with this many of the my favorite parts of the game have been disabled, such as team hunting. Nothing is better then exploring the new Entropia as a team, fighting off huge beasts as they rush at you, screaming in vain as your healing device lags allowing your fellow hunter to die, and staring at your screen in a rage when someone accidental shoots you in the back.
Entropia is a game of great opportunity, a game of legends, a lessen in economics and a game which has helped many of us to obtain life long friendships with people whom we would of never meet otherwise. Entropia is a game about friendship, kindness, and economics which is why we play. No matter what MindArk throws at us we will forever remain Entropians.
Until next time stay safe and have fun!
What made me first notice project Entropia was the fact that it contained a real cash economy. This meant that I could actually make real money doing what I love. Yet unlike Second Life it was still a rpg type game. Upon hearing this I instantly downloaded Project Entropia, and my journey began. Over this journey I took many loses, but slowly my knowledge grew and my past time actually began to support itself.
After play Entropia for over two years I have seen a lot of changes, and after all of that version update 10.0 takes the cake. It has made Entropia Universe one of the most promising mmos out there, and yet at the same time this very update threatens to end Entropia. This story is about the chaos and beauty called Entropia. Over the years thousands of Entropians have grown to love the game and despite set backs like version updates I have remained faithful...... ok ok back in 2007 I had a brief affair with World of Warcraft, but I came back.
Upon hearing the news that Entropia was up and running Entropians everywhere rushed to be the first to explore Entropia. Upon logging and creating characters each of us was greeted by scenery that we could have only imagined before. For me it was awe inspiring, shadows covering the terrain, clouds in the sky, landscape glowing with light, and it was even better visually when night fell. I have heard many hunters complain about how nightfall makes hunting harder, but watching your mining claims light up the night has to be one of the coolest experiences in Entropia.
Despite all of these visually impressive changes the update still felt a bit sour. While many Entropians had made it into this wonderful new world, others were left behind. Many players I talked to in game were left wondering whether they would ever again see their in game friends. Adding to the sourness of the update was the fact that the game feels as if it were still in alpha testing. If the update had come on time as promised I might expect this, but when a game takes over two years to update, I expect more. Bugs and crashes have not only plagued our world, but have left many feeling their hard earned peds are piratically stolen by MindArk (the games makers). Along with this many of the my favorite parts of the game have been disabled, such as team hunting. Nothing is better then exploring the new Entropia as a team, fighting off huge beasts as they rush at you, screaming in vain as your healing device lags allowing your fellow hunter to die, and staring at your screen in a rage when someone accidental shoots you in the back.
Entropia is a game of great opportunity, a game of legends, a lessen in economics and a game which has helped many of us to obtain life long friendships with people whom we would of never meet otherwise. Entropia is a game about friendship, kindness, and economics which is why we play. No matter what MindArk throws at us we will forever remain Entropians.
Until next time stay safe and have fun!
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