Really, who cares. 3 articles written by who knows who. At the end of the day, I could leave EU and get back close to what I've deposited after selling my skills and and in game assets. Couldn't do that with a game with a monthly subscription. And the friends I'v made and the entertainment i've gotten - priceless.
Everything in life you have your supporters and haters. Yesterday, as I was seated next to ND as he did his pitch to some potential investors for an affiliate of MA in the process of developing planets for EU, I found myself in complete agreement with him even though I've read many of the negative threads on this forum. He wonderfully compared EU to WoW and HL, the two leaders of MMORPG at the moment, and showed why he feels that EU will be amongst the leaders some day
For WoW, he explained that many of the individuals have invested so much time and effort in that game that they are trapped. First off, there isn't enough time in the day for those players deeply involved with WoW to branch off to another game. Secondly, while secondary black market exists for their time and effort, there is no REAL return on their investment in WoW except basic entertainment for the monthly fee. Additionally, when they are finally done with the game, most likely they'll be so fed up with MMORPG that they will never pick up another one.
For HL, he explained that creations can be done with photoshop. If you want to make a coat with fabulous patterns, once it is photoshopped you can upload in game and sell a million if you want, since it doesn't require actual fabrication. Therefore, items are not valuable in HL. If you want to make something, with a wave of a magic wand, it is done.
He artfully explained that in EU, everything takes time, effort, and money. Every product crafted requires multiple people putting in multiple hours of their time to create something that may or may not be highly valuable, but it requires time and effort and real money. He even logged on for a brief moment to explain the basics of the game to the investors and basically, left us that have not ever played the game greatly impressed
Bottom line is this: There is a reason many big companies are lined up to partner with MA on this EU venture. If MA was running a scam, this game would not have been in existence for so long. Additionally, it appears that FPC has been relatively on target on their promises ever since the CE2 "soon to be released" debacle. We have yet to see anything solid on the market from MA's affiliates, but rest assured. 2010 will be a big year for EU. Most likely starting with Planet Cyrene from CK, and hopefully a major announcement from another MA partner that I'm associated with regarding blockbuster titles coming in 2010!
