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Huge article in the newspaper METRO about MMORPG's

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e-lite

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Metro, one of the biggest daily newspapers in Sweden wrote today a huge 2 page article about the cultural phenomena called MMO and MMORPG. They mention more or less all known and unknown, new and old MMORPG’s including some role playing based chat services. They Describe them shortly what they are about and how they work. They even touch the area RCE (real cash economy). For two whole large tabloid pages this article was really interesting. But not once, ever, do they mention Entropia Universe. I just a little while ago called Metro and got to speak to one of the co-editors and asked how come they didn’t bring up a Swedish MMORPG product in a Swedish newspaper. He explained that they had done some brief research on Entropia Universe, but couldn’t figure out what it was or how to define it. Further he explains that they where confused about statements like “It’s not a game, it’s a service” and “It’s more then a game”, so they decided to leave it out. That is about how insignificant we are in the jungle of MMORPG’s.

Over and out, e-lite.
 
What do you expect for a Company that not even has a own Forum for the Users of their Service?

Or maybe there are some users of this Service in the Metro Team who thought: Lets give EU and MindArk the same thing back they give to their customers: Ignorance
 
Entropia Universe not mentioned in a Swedish MMORPG newspaper article? That does sound like there's a communication problem somewhere.
 
Seems MA's own fault for wanting to be on the same level as SL. Add the fact that a newspaper that has its facts straight has yet to be created, and you end up with being left out.
 
Read that article too just now...
Thought about contacting them, but good someone else did it before so I don't have too :)

I don't have that much confidence in the journalist that wrote that article though... Have read a lot of stuff of his that have been very... "incomplete" and confused/confusing... Very shallow research usually.
But what do you expect from someone that calls himself a "Youtube correspondent"... :laugh:
 
thats quite astonishing from both sides. Its a bit like them doing a piece on cars and not mentioning Saab because they were confused as they make aircraft. But then Saab dont say "we dont make cars".
 
AJack10600 said:
Maybe, but clearly that dude has not found the information he needed on your webiste so maybe you guys want to clarify a few things on there...

It's deff true that statements like "it's not a game" just confuse people ...
Click to expand...

Yep, something more on the lines of it's a game and so much more...
it's a game with a rce....
It's not only a game, it's a lifestyle....

Whatever... ;)
 
aridash said:
thats quite astonishing from both sides. Its a bit like them doing a piece on cars and not mentioning Saab because they were confused as they make aircraft. But then Saab dont say "we dont make cars".
Click to expand...

 
Hmm...

Havn't Mindark already toned down this "not a game" pretty much now? (since pretty long ago).
Once it was the client loader, but pretty quickly they changed it to "More then a game".
Now it doesn't say it anywhere in the client loader or login screen.

In fact, the only place on Entropia Universe that google can find "not a game" is in the EULA. (where it still is under "Description")

I don't think the journalist read the EULA...

What MA is doing is definitely "More then a game", and a quite fitting description to me.
Their vision is a lot more then just another MMORPG (their vision was a main reason I joined 3 years ago)

I think the main problem is lazy and easily confused "youtube correspondents", more then MA.
 
It reminds me of a beer brand. Their slogan is:

One day you will no longer drink beer, you will drink Grolsch.

It totally confuses me when I buy beer :D
 
Witte said:
It reminds me of a beer brand. Their slogan is:

One day you will no longer drink beer, you will drink Grolsch.

It totally confuses me when I buy beer :D
Click to expand...

thats because grolsch is not beer, but piss! Lol i kid, it's my favourite of the girly, watery euro ales.:yay:
 
alh said:
Hmm...

Havn't Mindark already toned down this "not a game" pretty much now? (since pretty long ago).
Once it was the client loader, but pretty quickly they changed it to "More then a game".
Now it doesn't say it anywhere in the client loader or login screen.

In fact, the only place on Entropia Universe that google can find "not a game" is in the EULA. (where it still is under "Description")

I don't think the journalist read the EULA...

What MA is doing is definitely "More then a game", and a quite fitting description to me.
Their vision is a lot more then just another MMORPG (their vision was a main reason I joined 3 years ago)

I think the main problem is lazy and easily confused "youtube correspondents", more then MA.
Click to expand...

I don't think "It's more then a game" is fitting at all. It's a game no matter what way you look at it. Or even "It's barley a game" would have been better. Almost all quests, events and competitions are player made. Extremley few activities are created by the developer themself. The game content a player can experience is very thin compared to other "games". And with that in mind the statement "It's more then a game" only fits if your life ideology is "Less is more" Don't get me wrong though, I like Entropia. It's just a bit thin on the content and things to do, which sooner or later will bore the average player base. I believe more interactive game content and objectives like quests and so would attract a larger numer of players, and it would also increase the average player life time.
 
Mojoswoptops said:
thats because grolsch is not beer, but piss! Lol i kid, it's my favourite of the girly, watery euro ales.:yay:
Click to expand...

*coughs*
Pepsi
*coughs*

Now thats the stuff....
I actually considered changing my last ingame name to that....;)
Maybe I could contact them for advertising peds as well, :laugh:
 
Sad story. :scratch2:

"It's not a game" is incorrect. MA should really remove that statement.
"It's more than a game" is fitting imo... But maybe needs a little explanation.

The thing is, EU is so many things all at the same time.
But a major one of those things is obviously a game. :wise:
 
Personally I cant see why people are bashing MA for this - to me its just shoddy reporting. David has already highlighted the fact they have done articles previously on Entropia - and even if they couldnt find those in their own records, surly they could have given them a phone call? Thats really crappy reporting.


Many companies use advertising slogans that could be deemed mis-representing their products, but anyone with the IQ of a rubber plant understands what the item is.

Carlsberg - probably the best lager in the world.... is it? does anyone with the rubber plant IQ think it is? no, its an advertising slogan and we all know what they mean.

The Lynx effect - does anyone really think I will drop my panties because a guy uses lynx deoderant? (not even going to mention the fact it doesnt actually turn you into a chocolate man)

and while we are on the subject, men wont give you flowers if you wear a certain brand of body spray, using tampax doesnt make me want to jump out of a plane or go roller skating on the beach, there is no such thing as a laundry detergent that can make clothes "whiter than white" - in fact whiter than white doesnt exist white is as white as it gets!

Come on people - "Entropia - its not a game" its an advertising slogan designed to attract non-traditional game players. Everyone knows its a game. EVERYONE.


Shoddy, shoddy reporting!


Sorry, rant over! (and apologise for spellings, punctuation and sentence structure - am typing dead quick as late back off my lunch at work!:D)
 
PINKY said:
Personally I cant see why people are bashing MA for this - to me its just shoddy reporting. David has already highlighted the fact they have done articles previously on Entropia - and even if they couldnt find those in their own records, surly they could have given them a phone call? Thats really crappy reporting.


Many companies use advertising slogans that could be deemed mis-representing their products, but anyone with the IQ of a rubber plant understands what the item is.

Carlsberg - probably the best lager in the world.... is it? does anyone with the rubber plant IQ think it is? no, its an advertising slogan and we all know what they mean.

The Lynx effect - does anyone really think I will drop my panties because a guy uses lynx deoderant? (not even going to mention the fact it doesnt actually turn you into a chocolate man)

and while we are on the subject, men wont give you flowers if you wear a certain brand of body spray, using tampax doesnt make me want to jump out of a plane or go roller skating on the beach, there is no such thing as a laundry detergent that can make clothes "whiter than white" - in fact whiter than white doesnt exist white is as white as it gets!

Come on people - "Entropia - its not a game" its an advertising slogan designed to attract non-traditional game players. Everyone knows its a game. EVERYONE.


Shoddy, shoddy reporting!


Sorry, rant over! (and apologise for spellings, punctuation and sentence structure - am typing dead quick as late back off my lunch at work!:D)
Click to expand...


Good rant I must say. Got some good points. Though I am sad to hear about the Lynx part :( I had my hopes up.
 
PINKY said:
Personally I cant see why people are bashing MA for this - to me its just shoddy reporting. David has already highlighted the fact they have done articles previously on Entropia - and even if they couldnt find those in their own records, surly they could have given them a phone call? Thats really crappy reporting.


Many companies use advertising slogans that could be deemed mis-representing their products, but anyone with the IQ of a rubber plant understands what the item is.

Carlsberg - probably the best lager in the world.... is it? does anyone with the rubber plant IQ think it is? no, its an advertising slogan and we all know what they mean.

The Lynx effect - does anyone really think I will drop my panties because a guy uses lynx deoderant? (not even going to mention the fact it doesnt actually turn you into a chocolate man)

and while we are on the subject, men wont give you flowers if you wear a certain brand of body spray, using tampax doesnt make me want to jump out of a plane or go roller skating on the beach, there is no such thing as a laundry detergent that can make clothes "whiter than white" - in fact whiter than white doesnt exist white is as white as it gets!

Come on people - "Entropia - its not a game" its an advertising slogan designed to attract non-traditional game players. Everyone knows its a game. EVERYONE.


Shoddy, shoddy reporting!


Sorry, rant over! (and apologise for spellings, punctuation and sentence structure - am typing dead quick as late back off my lunch at work!:D)
Click to expand...


A marketing specialist should also considder the fact that the media is crap at reporting, so the message you bring should be crystal clear. The difference with the examples you give is that Entropia is not a very well known brand, so for the avarage person it will not be clear. Its a risk MA takes with the slogans they use. Blaming others will not change that.
 
PINKY said:
The Lynx effect - does anyone really think I will drop my panties because a guy uses lynx deoderant? (not even going to mention the fact it doesnt actually turn you into a chocolate man)

and while we are on the subject, men wont give you flowers if you wear a certain brand of body spray, using tampax doesnt make me want to jump out of a plane or go roller skating on the beach, there is no such thing as a laundry detergent that can make clothes "whiter than white" - in fact whiter than white doesnt exist white is as white as it gets!

...

Sorry, rant over! (and apologise for spellings, punctuation and sentence structure - am typing dead quick as late back off my lunch at work!:D)
Click to expand...

:laugh:

Great rant :)
 
Witte said:
A marketing specialist should also considder the fact that the media is crap at reporting, so the message you bring should be crystal clear. The difference with the examples you give is that Entropia is not a very well known brand, so for the avarage person it will not be clear. Its a risk MA takes with the slogans they use. Blaming others will not change that.
Click to expand...

I will have to differ in my opinion on this. Whilst I agree 100% if you walked up to a random person on the street and asked "what is Entropia Universe?" you would get a fraction of the people having any idea.

However, these people who alegedly are reporters actual state they did some brief research... You give any person with access to the internet just 5 minutes to research it and then ask them the same question what do you think the reply will be?

Put in that light, do you honestly still stand by the claim that MindArks Marketing is that bad that a national newspaper reporter that claims to have done some form of research, still couldnt work out that it was a game??? I mean come on! The pictures of the killer robots and "download now" button on the Entropia Homepage would have given them that!

i stand by my rubber plant statement. Whilst I agree a clear concise description would be preferable, blaming MA for a reporter being so thick he couldn't work out something that a rubber plant could is not right. There is only two people to blame for EU being left out of the article. The rubber plant and the idiot who employed him. ;)

e-lite said:
Good rant I must say. Got some good points. Though I am sad to hear about the Lynx part :( I had my hopes up.
Click to expand...

Always wanted to be a man made of chocolate then? :D


ZeMag said:
:laugh:

Great rant :)
Click to expand...

Glad you enjoyed it!!
 
Blaming the reporter doesnt change the situation at all. There are other crappy reporters out there. Unless MA just accepts that they are left out in some articles, they will have to change their slogan so that also bad reporters understand it. As MA is the party that is let down, they are the ones that have to take action, whether anyone agrees to that or not ;). In my unprofessional oppinion the slogan "Its not a game" is not good, and should be removed.
 
e-lite said:
But not once, ever, do they mention Entropia Universe. I just a little while ago called Metro and got to speak to one of the co-editors and asked how come they didn’t bring up a Swedish MMORPG product in a Swedish newspaper. He explained that they had done some brief research on Entropia Universe, but couldn’t figure out what it was or how to define it.
Click to expand...
Well, face the reality. Entropia is more of a niche game and most people don't know about it, even many of the older MMO-veterans and the number of accounts speaks the other reason... even 2 or 3 years ago it was close to 500k and now we're barely at 700k. Thats merly 200k more in 2 or 3 years which isn't that much.

There was a time shortly after PE went gold, which quickly increased the number of created accounts and then the grow stoped and Entropia was sunken into darkness with a few people here and there discovering it.

Since there isn't a link to that article and i can't read swedish, i can't see what games were tested/reported there but as for RCE games, there aren't that many out there. So i guess its Kwari, Second Life and maybe There as well as upcoming alpha/beta of this russian RCE.

PE/EU made some news and a entry in the gunies book of records for the highest sale on a virtual item. But this is fast and easily forgotten. For an MMO to survive and stay popular people have to constantly talk about it and in EU this isnt the case. There is also a to small player base in EU to have many people keeping the discusion of EU active. How many active players do we have? 20.000 at best?

If you look at the many MMO sites and forums (which are not soley dedicated to one single MMO but cover many) most of them don't even have an Entropia Universe subforum. So it's not much being talked about EU. The power of the mouth can be more powerfull than any advertisement (that's how WoW became popular even before it was ever released and Warhammer Online is on similar course).
And if Entropia Universe is mentioned in any of MMO forums, it usally has a negative feedback (which MindArk deserves, because there are some misconceptions in this game and it's purely their fault).

Kwari was discussed quite often lately, because it's a 3D Shooter with real cash and this wasn't be there before and the ability to earn/lose the money is directly bound to the skills of that player (instead of random luck/creativity like in EU/SL).

So well, you can't really blame the reporter. Even in german PC/Game magazines i've never seen anything about Entropia. For example, PC Games, one of the big and popular game mags in germany, never mentioned Entropia, but there was a few articles about Second Life (not all positive, but you know: even not so good news are PR).

And one more reason coming through my mind is that MindArk advertisement is pretty bad. At the begining (and still on many pages) EU is advertise with phrases as "Earn money by playing" or that you can earn money and many who tried, had this in mind and most realized that it's next to impossible to make money with this.

Even the biggest german online comunity page (OpenDNS), only had one article and a handfull of less frequently updated news about Entropia and in the only article on that page is says something like

Mindark selbst wirbt mit dem Spruch: „ No Job? On our planet we have lots of well paid jobs!” für Entropia Universe. In einem Flyer werden alle, die noch keinen Job haben, oder keinen in der Real World mögen, aufgefordert einen in Calypso anzunehmen, der Welt von Entropia Universe.

Source: ONLINEWELTEN - Special: Entropia Universe - Geld verdienen mit Entropia Universe (German)
Click to expand...
Which translates to:
MindArk themselve advertise Entropia Universe with the phrase: "No Job? On our planet we have lots of well paid jobs!". In a flyer people who dont have a job yet or doesn't like one [the job?] in the real world were asked to join to accept one in Calypso, in the world of entropia universe.
Click to expand...
Dunno where he got this statement nor do i really care, since i usally don't read this page above (to overloaded with flash shit and other crap).
 
Mojoswoptops said:
thats because grolsch is not beer, but piss! Lol i kid, it's my favourite of the girly, watery euro ales.:yay:
Click to expand...

Unlike Fosters which saves your organs the workload of turning it into pee as it already comes in that state? :laugh:

BBC just jumped on this same bandwagon but in their case it was virtual worlds...which I was pretty sure EU would feature in. It didn't. Would have fitted right in too, especially with the future plans we know about. Click online can be viewed online for those interested or at the iplayer on the main site here

At the CES I remember seeing reports stating that EU was impressive in as much that it's stand was populated mainly by actual players and not paid staff. Maybe that's the way forward regarding attracting media too? Us as players inviting them into Entropia etc. ?

I would bet the new CK guys are good at this. They already made a great start with no planet ready yet :)

t
 
My 2 pec on this:
MA dont want large numbers of players.This would mean that they had to inverst more into servers,so less money for them.They are satisfied with us,who give them regularely what they want....

I would like to know what David,Marco...and so on drive,what house they have and so on,and what they had few years ago. I agree a good idea should be rewarded,but in my opinion,because there is a large sum of players who take advantage of their "service",the game isnt anymore balanced.They have to cover for people who take money regularely out of "game",so there will be even less people here with time.Why? I dont get even 10% of the fun i had few years ago,and if i want to work,i have a job.

If someone want to flame on me because of my opinion,take a gun and kill everybody who doesnt have the same opinion like u .
I just dont trust anyone blindly like MANY here.In history we have many examples of such followers,Hitler,Kim Jing Sung?? i think....none ended well.

The newspaper covers games...PINKY,pls continue then to sweat and have fun in this game.U cant,u have to invest money,ok.PINKY,pls buy a gun with 10 pounds u will deposit and play this game every day for a month...u cant...
"Sirr,u have to buy more chips to continue playing"...
Does this remind u on something....it isnt a game!
 
Mayday said:
...
MA dont want large numbers of players.This would mean that they had to inverst more into servers,so less money for them.They are satisfied with us,who give them regularely what they want....
Click to expand...
Seriously? :eek:


Ehm, more players means more money. Even if they have to invest a bit more in HW.
And I'm pretty sure MA wanna make more money. And when they do that, they wanna make some more again.
(etc, etc, etc...)
 
Vedder said:
Seriously? :eek:


Ehm, more players means more money. Even if they have to invest a bit more in HW.
And I'm pretty sure MA wanna make more money. And when they do that, they wanna make some more again.
(etc, etc, etc...)
Click to expand...

They certainly want more players. They certainly have a huge hardware upgrade coming to cope with it...remember the chinese influx they predicted?
It's been mentioned several times by MA guys that they almost consider this to be a beta period as far as EU is concerned, it's their plan to grow from now on and expand hugely.

I recently proved to myself that not all the evils of EU and lag are their fault or their hardware ...it's amazing how little lag I got on a faster machine with only a slightly better graphics card than my normal one.

At the end of that BBC item they ask for participants in virtual worlds o get in touch and tell them about unusual/wierdest goings on that they have experienced in their virtual world, an open invitation if anyone can think of something particularly interesting I thought? Would an uber HOF do it, or LG, or merry mayhem? Maybe the fact that EU is about to become a virtual UNIVERSE as opposed to a world even?

When things suck or don't work we should say so, when it's partly our own fault we shouldn't moan, maybe it would be best if we actually thought what we can do to help improve EU if it benefits us all in the long term? IF we're here for the long term that is? ;)

t
 
Mayday said:
My 2 pec on this:
MA dont want large numbers of players.This would mean that they had to inverst more into servers,so less money for them.They are satisfied with us,who give them regularely what they want....
Click to expand...

This is one of the most hilarious "theories" I read so far :laugh:. Whats next? "MA doenst want to make any profit, their final goal is to go bankrupt so everyone will be without a job and they can drink beer all day long in their underpants "? :silly2:
 
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