it'sjust a game? Or is it real? Or its it both? The reality of the truth is.. all of the above
Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction.
"A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome." (Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman)
"A game is a form of art in which participants, termed players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal." (Greg Costikyan) According to this definition, some "games" that do not involve choices, such as Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and War are not technically games any more than a slot machine is.
A game’s tools and rules will result in its requiring skill, strategy, luck, or a combination thereof, and are classified accordingly.
Games of chance include gambling games (blackjack, mah-jongg, roulette, etc.), as well as snakes and ladders and rock, paper, scissors;
Entropia Universe Genre(s) - Massively multiplayer online role-playing game, first-person shooter.
Technically it's a game, but
"I do not start wars... I finish them.." --Benjamin Ben Coyote
AxeMurderer, I'm going to finish what you started. Hopeully some people will listen, some won't .. and those who do , might take note here, this isn't about you or what you do in real life.. it's how you take your real life experiences and then take this into a situation taht can and does often spiral out of contrl..
So with that. I'm goint to take a deep breath , count to ten and let it out nice and slow
*Takes Deep Brereath, Counts from one to ten, and lets it out slowly.*
Now first off Entropia Universe was designed to be a game, it was supposed to be fun, but sadly over the last 12 years the game has gone from a nice social atmospehre where players should ahve fun and has spiraaled completely out of control, to the point that if people went into the bathroom, looked themselves square in teh eye, and said, "Gee, did I do that?" it would literally fry their own brains.. and for some people their brains are already fried..(With a side of bacon).
Now
thoeretically a game is supposed to e fun, and not stressful.. it should be enjoyable, wher eyou meet nice people, and even related to them and they could enjoy the game together.. and in fact note the one word..
Together..
But sadly as of late, I've seen a lot of Negative emotions and actions in this game. I mean seriously peple.. get a clue.. You're a reasoning human being here, not some pixels formatted on a screen and you can hide behind jsut so that you can feel powerful.. (and yes some of the people in thie game have ego trips.. and xes to grind.. they tend to not care who they hurt or inflict stress upon (Now then see what I jsut said? Stress? )
A game should never be stressful.. IN fact I've talked to a few players who have asked me some seirous questions about EU, lik ehOw do I play this game? This game has no manual , and even though I have to say that some players do make good tutorials, and some of them quite wlel I might add (and I give kudos to those who actually do this to HELP the player.. Many players don't think of this as a game.. To them it's a way to get quick money or to inflict either spsychological or verbal abuse on another player (Note what I jsut said..)
Players should be kind, players should treat players with respect for one another, and players should make friends, and in some cases find romance if they so choose.. and yes while society has difference around the wold and has a wide diveersity of cultures, what we get are a bunch of Control freaks, bullies, and anti-socials who want to hide behind an avatar just so that they can feel like they are in control when they are really not.. and sometims Real life takes a real front seat to their lives. Illness, bad fortune, and even sadness ofent occur in real life (This is because we live in a technologically advanced word.. yet a lot of times we have control freaks and anti-socials who enter this game jsut so that they can push someone's buttons..
The issue of taht picture a few posts back shows an example of what and how our society acts today.. Oh sure look back a hundred or so years and back then we had our miscreants, and our anti-soicals back then, but they didn't have the one thing we have now.. and that is anonimity.
We like to hide behend our avatars, and we tend to feel powerful. We tend to think we're in control and yet we are not.. Let me relate a story i heard from some good friends a few years back...
There was a plaeyr (And i forget their name) who actually was playing their avatar at one time very nicely, they tend to start off like this.. But then, he started to throw out negative actions that some of our community deem "Anti-social.." He stole lied and cheated.. He was in complete control of his Virtual world..
But in reality.. his real world one day was interrupted when he imself was robbed.. his apartment ramsacked and his life turned upside down.. and suddenly, he realized that even though this is a game, reality game him a nice hard smack to the face.. and he was the one who went from beng the all powerful person in a game to a victim in rel life.. and maybe that's why he quit.. He didn't want ot face the fact and the guilt that he was causing harm..(or maybe he figured outt that what he was doing in a virtual world could come around and happan eot ihim..
I'm going to relate another story right here and now.. I am a teacher and i try to communicate to players and explan how this game works, I try to encourage them to socialize and to actually try to make new friends, to learn about others, and to talke to them.. I do this a lot, and when a conflict arises I ususally tend to talk to at least one of the people who is causing the problems.. and someitimes it's asimple as a simplemisunderstanding..
But then some of th firend sI have in game do have real life issues , and in fact One of them was a disciple I am still teaching.. Sure he hasn't progress far, but then just a few days ago, i found outthat he was now living on the street, totally homeless. and he does have caring friends in game.. (and in fact I'm going to tell them what is going on.. (Sure some people say, "Gee I'm sorry to hear that," but when they are put in the same boat, people don't care what happens to them...or maybe they do..
The point of a game as I stated before is to be fun.. it's supposed to be enjoyable.. but sadly this game has in a way taken the joy and fun in and out of the game and has then caused ti to be in real life.. And I should know.. Last yer at this time,. I was in the hospital suffering from a blood clot to the leg, and in fact it was a seriousl life threating type of one.. the kind that could kill you faster than an injection of rattlesnake venom..
and for hte last year I've sturggled and fought in real life.. I've nearly stopped breting, I suffer from a multitude of actual physical issues, the one beig that I have very low vision.. Just recently I had a fall in the middle of a street, and a guy who was driving ignored a woman's pleas to stop and not run over me.. and yet he was ignorant, he didn't care who he hurt.. (Yet this woman was kind enugh to help me, and evn offered to drive me to my residence even though I lived less than a half a block where i fell..)
Th epoint is.. people in this game get behinc their computers and tend to try and act out and lash out in negative forms.. They tend to be rude, crrass, impatient, insensitive, and jsut down right anti-social.. but many are not.. They're kind, careing patient, and very social in this game.. Sure sometimes it feel slike they don't want to talk to you, but then you get to understand that real life and in game life might be a point wher ehtey can't be interrupted, or that they are too focused on a challenge..
But let's get back to the issue of is this game fun? It could be provided that people tend to frget this one thing.. and that thing is perhaps the ultimate vide of this game.. and that is of coure money..
Granted, we all want to be rich (and i will related antoehr story anotehr time, if people wan to thear it out, or not), but the thing is I'd just be satisified to living comforably...
And now i'm going to relate another story, and here's one that doesn't have a happy ending..
I was daig a nice girl and she was i fact my girst girlfirend, she had a family who at the tgime was completely dysfunciton, except for one of her adopted brothers.. now this guy was a hard worker, he wouldn't hurt a fly.. and then one day, he won a lot of money in a lottery.. something in the order of six digits (and i'm not refeing to the additional two digits at the end of the dheck either..)
The end of this story isn't as happy.. While this person was in fact helpful and kind, he started to run with the wrong croowd, people who were anti-social and down right mean, and they wanted him to do tings tht he didn't or rather wshould hve known (tha tweere wrong..)
The end of this story like i said isn't happy nor pretty.. and this is because of.. yep you guessed it.. money..
Where is this brother right now/ This kind caring person who wouldn't harm a fly? Well .. He's sitting in a maximum security prison, living out the rest of the days of his life, without the possiblity of ever leavng the prsion.. and yet inside he's respected. He's a big bad person, after all he killed 2 people in cold blood, and you know why? All in the name of .. Money..
Tht's the real danger of this game.. the money angle.. and our society both in and out of game thrives on it..
But wait, Ben You say, "We need to lvie with money.."
I have to reply.. Yes , yes we do.. For everythng in thi sworld costs money.. everyting from the clothes we wear, to the food we eat, to the toilet paper we have to use to wipe our bum.. everything in thi sworld costs money..
and tht's where this game has gone.. It's gone form being a game that had all the positive aspects in game and has become a world where it's become somewhat anti-social, somewhat Greedy, and somewhat ignorant..
(At least for those who are focusing on the cash and not the people..)
I wills tate this.. Back in 2008 when I came into the "Old" Game, people wer ea lot more sociale.. they didn't have many beefs or ocmplaints.. everyone was actually queite content..
Then came.. "The bad Apples.." The peeople who are control freaks who focus too much on the cassh and in some cases are anti-social and uncaring.. they don't want ot hunt in teams or socialize..
The end result is that this game is slowly not being fun anymore..and that's the ting.. It could be but it is slowly getting to the point where we hardly go a day without someone complainig how bad the game is.. That their loot is bad, their returns are bad, they don't try to even focus on the un, or the socialization.. they tend to focus on the moey..
Now do me a favor, and this is a simple request form a humble and quiet man who likes to talk a lot..
Be socialable.. enjoy the game, don't worry about the money.. After ll I see this game as a fun way to relax.. to enjoy the fun, and to above all show your true selves.. (Hey if you want to be anti-social Go out to a bar, tet drunk, insult a few men and women, beat up a few bikers, and innocent bystanders.and have the police haul you off in cuggs...
Me? I tend to look at this game as a way to talk to people to socialize and in fact to enjoy the relaxation of hte sounds in the open country side, the bird chirping in the trees, and above all the quiet desert winds you can hear.. I don't looke at this as a way to make money.. Hardly.. I look at this way to do things.. To challenge myself and to have fun.. (Hey can anyone climb a mountain in Real life? Live off the land in real life? Gone up againt dangerous critters like Mountain lions, bears, vicius dogs, in real life? No? Okay then you aren't being real...
Yes this is a game, but it's people inside the game who make it this way, the rude and insensitive ones help desotroy the game, the kind and caring ones built it up.. It's a form of Yin and Yang, a form of being nice to our fellow men and women or to think you are big and bad and ending up bieng alienated..
After al people are the real reason this game is here, they want to have fun, share new experiences and to take up new challenges (and yes i challenge myself each day, inncluding writing this article.) (And if you think it's too long, then I'm sorry, I just had to getthis off my chest.. It's my observations in game that make me who I am.. I observe note things, study people .. their cultuers, their actions their emotions, and yes , this is both positivie and negative in both aspects..
Now look, this is a game right? But society has taken this game way tooo far. It's time to reign in and be a bit more socialable.. Some of you who act the way you are in this forum someitems show us your real colors here.. some ar ejust play acting.. and evenI a real life blind guy can tell you that if you could see what I her, you'd be amazed, shocked sickened, angry and upset, you also will alugh and cry and even do some deep thoght.. and hopefull when all is said and done, myaybe you should go out there and look at yourselves i teh moirror and start to think deeply.. what have i done right in this game.. what have I done worng.. Should I be sociable and friendly Or should I be anti-social and a bit of a recluse..
In closing, it's people who make this game.. each and every one of us., And it's how we act that makes this more like the real world.. and less like a game.. (It's kind of ironic that a person who told me once that this is his real life and the real world is "The Matix kind of made me stop and think.. has he gone into espcapsim too far? And in others I see another person who is so antisocial that he would blast someone out of the skies and call them a pathetic pilot.. It would be intersting to se ehow they would react if a person handed them a flip side to their virutal lives and said, "Put this in the real world" .. watch their reactions, gauge their emotions..
It's ironic that this is just a gmae.. but for some the game as becoe rality and for other sthe reality is just a game.. To me? It's just life.. and in the end, when all is said and done, and you die.. therre is one big difference between this game and real life..
Cause in real life, there is no remvival terminal.. Seirously there isn't..
That's all I have to say, let's see wht people do with this..
(Cpl) Benjamin 'Ben" Coytoe , IFN Military
a.k.a "The (Real life) Blind Sniper." (And) "His_Dog_Spot".
Good night 
