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rockpapershotgun.com review

AJack10600 said:
a) done a decent amount of research on the game, the facts are straight.

b) been trying the game and came up with a conclusion.
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there are, as has been pointed out, several factual errors in the review...

I do not agree with this:
Perhaps I’m giving the impression that Planet Calypso’s entire playerbase has been sucked into a money-vortex. It’s not quite so, because there seems to be an awareness within the community of the game’s resemblance to a casino rather than a functioning economy. The really rare loot drops are called jackpots, and the endgame is popularly considered a lottery.
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and this has been debated over and over on the forums, and found to be not-as-true-as-some-people-want-to-make-it-seem:
Planet Calypso seems to be losing its momentum. A lot of big-money players have been cashing out recently
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and overall, it is not really a good review... actually it is a bit childish :scratch2:
 
Nighthawk said:
and overall, it is not really a good review... actually it is a bit childish :scratch2:
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The guy has an interesting british sort of humour. It can come across as a little childish but it's more just a certain type of quirky sense of humour.

He's not given it a fair chance though that I will agree with.
 
Except to the recherche errors (like $5 deposits, etc.) I can agree to about 80-90% of this at a point I'm still in addicted love with EU. So sad, so true.
 
Well if he is the only one thinking like that then I wonder why we have no bigger influx of players, why EU isn't as popular as WOW yet after being online for 7 years and why Deposits have declined and not increased... :rolleyes:

Again, read what I said, this is how some people "perceive" it and that should make us think really hard... It does not matter what the truth is, what matters is what a "new joiner" "perceives" the game to be.

Eu can be the most genius of game concepts ever ( I think it is ) but if people don't see the potential in it because they are put off from the start, that will be not good at all. It matters S**** whether we like it or not if there is no healthy influx of new money... without new influx this game can not succeed.
 
AJack10600 said:
Well if he is the only one thinking like that then I wonder why we have no bigger influx of players, why EU isn't as popular as WOW yet after being online for 7 years and why Deposits have declined and not increased... :rolleyes:

Again, read what I said, this is how some people "perceive" it and that should make us think really hard... It does not matter what the truth is, what matters is what a "new joiner" "perceives" the game to be.

Eu can be the most genius of game concepts ever ( I think it is ) but if people don't see the potential in it because they are put off from the start, that will be not good at all. It matters S**** whether we like it or not if there is no healthy influx of new money... without new influx this game can not succeed.
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I doubt the target market of MA is the average 10$ spending gamer.
I'm sure the reviewer is looking at that target market.

But I agree we need influx of new money to succeed.

I remember one of the coming planets mentioning that there is not much to do for new players and that they would make a difference there ... maybe that will help.

We can only hope, starting with VU10.2 ;)
 
And once again the the fan boys jump to the defense. Like it or not that will be the typical impression of the game and to be bluntly honest in this day and age the vast majority of newbs will simply move on.

I still mourn the loss of what could have been, I still remember when we were promised pets that did things, vehicles we could use and updates to the ME system. Several years later, still waiting :(
 
I gotta say I don't think he's given it a fair chance, and I'm a bit sad to see it even printed.

He seem to have had a negative mindset from the get-go, and got too caught up in negativity to even try find the positives or recognize it if he sees it.

Another thing Ive noticed is he presents some things said on forum as a factual report, which he has no way of verifying (my editor would have kicked my butt if I ever would do such a thing) which I find a bit strange. If he's an experienced gamer I assume he's been to a forum before -and there's not an active, large gaming forum in the world without "The Sky Is Falling"-threads. :D

AJack10600 said:
Again, read what I said, this is how some people "perceive" it and that should make us think really hard... It does not matter what the truth is, what matters is what a "new joiner" "perceives" the game to be.
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EU is not for everyone, as I'm sure you know - its not a average gamer experience. People see the skill system, the professions and think they can play EU in the same way as regular MMO's, basically meaning that whatever activity you do you come out good. Thats not life in EU, as its not real life either.

But, there's still people coming here and staying who have a different perspective -and Entropia is still going around. Even if a reviewer says something, doesn't mean its necessarily a unchallenged truth. Reviews are subjective.
 
This review in particular might be bad, but if you google "Entropia review" most of the ones you find gives a score of 5-7 out of 10, which isn't all that bad. No need to get caught up by one journalist that didn't get it :)
 
A rather dissapointing review, notso much for the result of the review as for the content.

Written in an entertaining Maddox Style without any tangible facts.

Does Rock Paper Shotgun also review reviews? :laugh:

They would be surprised to how much crap and unreliable info their reviewers use.
 
Skam said:
EU is not for everyone, as I'm sure you know - its not a average gamer experience. People see the skill system, the professions and think they can play EU in the same way as regular MMO's, basically meaning that whatever activity you do you come out good. Thats not life in EU, as its not real life either.

But, there's still people coming here and staying who have a different perspective -and Entropia is still going around. Even if a reviewer says something, doesn't mean its necessarily a unchallenged truth. Reviews are subjective.
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I agree, Reviews are subjective... but Financial Numbers are not Skam ;)

So we should take "subjective" reviews serious, especially the negative ones...

We all live in a little pink bubble cos we got 100s or 1000s of USD invested in this game... It's hard to see the outside world when you're living in your cosy little pink fluffy bubble...

Akoz said:
This review in particular might be bad, but if you google "Entropia review" most of the ones you find gives a score of 5-7 out of 10, which isn't all that bad. No need to get caught up by one journalist that didn't get it :)
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Well, that also is a bit skewed... as soon as a Review pops up which is slightly negative, it's posted on EF and you have tons of EF users beefing up the rating... I know how it works, have done it myself... We know our game, we don't want EU to fail so we are protective and supportive on the outside. That should not hold us back from discussion Reviews internally and making MA/FPC aware of how outsiders perceive our game...

I like to be an optimist but atm all I see is that deposits are in decline and I can very well see why that is the case and that makes me worry and ultimately it has to do with new people coming to this game and feeling just like the author of this review whether we think it's right or wrong does not really matter. Numbers are facts...
 
AJack10600 said:
We all live in a little pink bubble cos we got 100s or 1000s of USD invested in this game... It's hard to see the outside world when you're living in your cosy little pink fluffy bubble...
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not all of us, some like it anyways...
 
ouch. that hurt....
 
AJack10600 said:
I agree, Reviews are subjective... but Financial Numbers are not Skam ;)

So we should take "subjective" reviews serious, especially the negative ones...

We all live in a little pink bubble cos we got 100s or 1000s of USD invested in this game... It's hard to see the outside world when you're living in your cosy little pink fluffy bubble...
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Financial reports posted on the forum are rarely backed up with proof.

Now I am well aware there are people who've lost thousands of $ in this game, but again you rarely see a full transcript of people's investments and how it went wrong, so you can't really call someone saying on forum that they lost alot of ped a "Financial Report". Its a post. On a forum.

It should not be used as a factual report.

If he used one of the many "mining/hunting blogs" as factsheets then Im wondering how come he didnt even bother mentioning such as the 15$ experiment and the trading blogs where people trade themself up.

Saying veterans leave the game (omg the sky is falling!!1) is a bit amusing too. The average time a gamer use on a MMO is ~6 months, and "veterans" have left and made room for new veterans since the beginning of EU, and since the beginning of MMO's. Its a cycle, and to present that in a dark light (again, its nothing he has any numbers on, its just something he pulled out of posts on the forum) speaks a bit to me as if he doesnt have a good grasp on MMOs in general.

Things aren't black and white (or pink :rolleyes: ) and its evident the reviewer did not bother to let the bright sides have any influence on his dark view. No matter if I like Entropia or not, its a bad review on the basis of basic rules of journalism.
 
I really disliked this review.
Its pretty easy to bash any game in some way, but if one does that as professional it should be backed up with facts.

If EU is a money making scheme (in the negative criminal way) then why is it still existing after 7 years of business?

Oh well no use in trying to take this review apart, its quite too unprofessional anyway.
 
Skam said:
Financial reports posted on the forum are rarely backed up with proof.
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I am talking about MAs financial Reports only !!!

I am not talking about subjective posts on EF...

The Q2 Financials are showing very clearly that deposits have reduced considerably... obviously this is only a 6 Month review and I can not comment on the rest of the year but the numbers are worrying to me.
 
Pepto said:
Shows a clear lack of research.
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I don't think that many people believe they need to be a scientist in order to play a game!!
When I started there was only little information about PE on the net. No skillscanners, chippingoptimizers, entropedia (with theoretical and practical dmg/pec or sec to choose from) etc..

Don't be such a hard head. It's not like because one didn't spend 50 hours of research prior to making their first $20,- deposit they didn't try hard enough to play the game correctly.

I think that this article indeed represents how most people will feel after trying out the game, make a small deposit and see their ped vanish within a couple of hours/days.
 
:cowboy:

this guy has never used the cowboy with cigar smiley before. Oh dont get me wrong i just try to bash him at his own level of argumentation.
 
I really enjoyed reading that review, as it happens! I think the review was actually useful in a number of ways, even if, in itself, it wasn't so much of a 'review' as a blog-style commentary.

I too do not agree with everything he says, but there are a lot of truths in it. EU is it's own worst enemy by the way it portays itself. The RCE, I still maintain, is an excellent idea, but it needs to be done a lot better.

What does surprise me, however, is the number of comments on this thread I've read completely disagreeing with everything the guy says. There are a lot of truths in it, and I think on balance, a lot of that stuff really needs to be addressed.

It is a grindfest of the worst kind. There are people in this world who actually like that, and that's maybe the thing he doesn't appreciate... But that's not to say the 'grinders' of the world wouldn't like something better, which actually appeals to all of us.

The design of games like this simply has to change, as it's not a particularly constructive or entertaining use of time. This is fine for the few, but not for the masses. The balance of money has to change, and preferably become more entertaining for fewer bucks, for more people.

Some of the other things were a bit harsh, some inaccurate, but that doesn't make this guy's opinion/first impressions any less valid. It would at least seem that he has no alterior motive - or maybe that's just what he'd have us believe.

Truth sometimes hurts I guess.
 
Kemp said:
I don't think that many people believe they need to be a scientist in order to play a game!!
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But you need to be able to do research to be a competent journalist.
 
Oleg said:
But you need to be able to do research to be a competent journalist.
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And do you suppose had he done his research that the review would have turned out much different?

First impressions count for a lot, and this game obviously rubbed him up the wrong way. I can't fault a lot of the stuff he's said on that predilection.

Some of the presented 'facts' are arguably inaccurate (arguably being the operative word here), but that's largely because they are presented from a point of view of somebody who hasn't played EU for long, to an audience of people who aren't presumed to have knowledge. Therefore a degree of simplification has to take place to make the article paletable to the intended audience.

Have you read a Newspaper lately? They tend to write in this manner for exactly this reason, as it leaves a bit of room for personal opinion too...

Anyway, my point is, even if this guy had done more research, I'm sure his impression and distaste for the product would have been no different, because I, like many others here, can totally see where he's coming from. The game currently appeals to a minority for these reasons, and that's not going to change unless MA do something quite drastic.

Thankfully, I think some of the other planet partners have a better idea of how things should work around here. Lets hope eh.
 
Oleg said:
But you need to be able to do research to be a competent journalist.
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I dont think he's claiming to be a competent journalist. I think he's just describing his experiences in EU.

Skam said:
EU is not for everyone, as I'm sure you know
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This is getting so old :p What a cliche!

Its so easy to say that if something is not succesfull its due to beeing 'not for everyone'.

EU needs new players! And apparently the current method is not working! Even after 7 years!
Maybe try to change the method a bit?
 
Einstein said:
Maybe try to change the method a bit?
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lets see....

Before: Sell stuff for high amounts of cash

Now: CE2, new planets (essentially new games with the same base)


change = done :D
 
Nighthawk said:
lets see....

Before: Sell stuff for high amounts of cash

Now: CE2, new planets (essentially new games with the same base)


change = done :D
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Maybe wrong direction ey ;) Nice fancy Graphix aint fixing it... and besides, I still maintain that the graphics we got in EU could also have been realised with CE1 ... see another MMORPG that just came out based on CE1 ..
 
Nighthawk said:
lets see....

Before: Sell stuff for high amounts of cash

Now: CE2, new planets (essentially new games with the same base)


change = done :D
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Now:
CE2 doesn't seem to attract much new players yet. And quite probably a lot that tried have about the same reaction as in the article that is discussed in this thread.
New planets?!?!?! What new planets?!?!

So...


Nothing is done.... :scratch2:


So what remains is "before". Only problem is that less and less people are willing to buy the shit at 2 high prices!!
 
To me this review clearly indicates that EU needs to be more fun on a low budget and there need to be more things to do, for example quests. Does not mean you have to do those quests, but it would attract a very large group of people who do like it. The game should be accessible for anyone.

Still the review strikes me as a bit shortsighted and biased.
 
I think all his points are valid. I don't like the fact, but he acts like 90% of the new players who join Entropia and they all will be annoyed because of the same reasons.

My comment on the review:
Entropia can't be compared with any other MMO. Both look similar but have total different game concepts.

What I like:
+ a lot even extreme "uber" players talk and help beginners. Not very common in other MMOs afaik.
+ when I stop playing, i get a large amount of the money I spent back. Not only items, but also skills I developed over time are returned into real cash
+ I don't need to buy items via eBay and hope, I really get what I paid for
+ I don't need to hand over my avatar to someone else to skill it up, I can simply BUY the skills I need

Sounds bad?
Well, Entropia is for adults only. Most of us have families and real jobs, so we can't play 80 hours/week. So if we want to get better, we can skill with time or we can simply buy what we need.

As said above: different game concepts :).
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Basically the start point for beginners NEEDs to be changed to a good looking place with a lot helpers... my ticket to support obviously didnt change anything :).
 
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Kemp said:
Now:
CE2 doesn't seem to attract much new players yet. And quite probably a lot that tried have about the same reaction as in the article that is discussed in this thread.
New planets?!?!?! What new planets?!?!
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1) I dont think CE2 has actually been promoted that much yet...

2) New planets? Nov-dec or so I think...
 
Oleg said:
But you need to be able to do research to be a competent journalist.
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What do you actually disagree with in the review?

I'm afraid I think he's got most things spot on.

I think EU has a definite problem with new players. I just don't see how anyone would try the game for the first time and really be drawn in.. today. 5 years ago just dropping in to the world with nothing and no help no instructions might have been ok because MMOs were a new wild frontier, but in 2009 it seems incredibly amateurish. I really wonder how anyone gets started these days unless they are brought in by a friend who already plays.

Hopefully some of the new planets will be more noobie friendy.
 
Regardless of what y'all say, I think it was a pretty fair representation of EU and an honest review, imo.
 
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