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.