The origin
My journey began back in 2008, as my IRL Friend whom's ingame name is Maxxon showed me the game and gave a very interesting introduction to it. Probably the same evening I believe, I registered an account and he met me ingame to give me more information and advice on what to do, how to proceed etc. I got involved in TP-runs (TP-runs or Teleporter Running, is something that was common back in the days, as teleporters were the only way to fast travel securely between locations, and you had to activate a teleporter location before being able to use it, and back then, running was the only way to reach new places) both with and without him that had now become my in-game mentor. Many laughs were exchanged not the least when a mutual aquaintance of ours decided to join us on our TP-run, and Maxxon accidentally headshot her in the back of the head while trying to defend us from an Atrax, so many good laughs back then!
This was a very exciting time back in the old game engine, the graphics as such didn't amaze me being a hardcore gamer in other spheres already (Such as spending quite some time in a semi-serious clan in counter-strike at the time). However the entrance, and beginning of being dumped in the old PA (Port Atlantis, one of the core main cities of Entropia Universe and Planet Calypso from back in the day when there was only one planet, Port Atlantis was the 'beginners hub' so to speak) and learning to navigate and run around felt very interesting, exciting and tickled many of my nerves in just the right way. For the first weeks all I really did was hunt small creatures not far from the old Port Atlantis, there was this outpost where most noobs spent their time skilling up. when not hunting I spent alot of time chatting with other players, browsing the auctions and checking what people were selling and buying. the term "Selling xxx at boxes" was a very frequent thing back in those days.
The next level
Pretty fast I noticed that my pace of game enabled me to level faster than my peers, I kept looking out for the next weapon to use, planning when I can use what and trying to reach new levels as fast as possible. Back then I had little to no active thought about trying to do anything at all "as eco as possible", the "eco"-mindset and burden had not reached me at all, it was more a matter of making the ingame PED do as much work as possible towards skilling up, and back then skilling up was alot harder than it is in this day and age. I remember a chat back then which I had when i had discovered the term "Uber" so I inquired about how likely it is for a person starting now (as I just had) to reach the definition, and was soon told by everyone and their kitchen sink that to become a member of this top group of players, one would have to deposit insane ammounts of money, buy insane ammounts of skills, and play insane ammounts of hours. What this did was only further motivate me to get to the "end game" level, becoming someone knowledgeable, skillfull and influential, in short words an "Uber".
Progression
Whilst skilling up, from the TT Opalo (TT stands for Trade Terminal, and Opalo was a ranged weapon you could buy from said terminal), and going through L-item (L stands for "Limited" i.e an item that you can not repair and is consumed/useless after its initial integrity value has been used up) after L-item progressing more and more, spending time evaluating and purchasing all kinds of equipment be it the 2600 FAP (Fast Aid Pack, healing tool), upgrading armor to gremlin, ghost, jaguar, all my focus was consistently towards having as much fun and progressing as fast as possible non stop, countless hours of countless long sittings but still most of this time, the biggest investments were maybe reaching the "thousands" in PED (Project Entropia Dollars, the in-game currency) over time, as still equipment such as the Adj-FAP (Omegaton Fast Aid Pack, Adjusted: a very saught after medium level healing tool), armor like Tiger, Angel and so forth still seemed eons away because of their Price, altho already very early on i realized WHY items have the pricetag they do, either they were very economical compared to lesser versions, or enabled you to do things you otherwise would not, so the in-game prices have always seemed like they follow a very specific curve of "ammount of people" that want to do "certain things", which again led me to push even harder to get ahead of the pack I was currently a part of, to reach new levels, unlock more content that was perceivable to do and so on.
The unfortunate decisions
Several times during my journey from 2008 to date, I came to the (in hindsight) poor decision of selling everything I own in the game, and chip out any valuable skills and sell them. The last time this happened was somewhere around 2018 and the break from the game lasted a good 3-4 years, altho coming back from the last break, my mindset had changed considerably. I was now not blindly trying to skill as fast as possible regardless of expense anymore, but had switched gears and focus to a more long-time sustainable model which meant implementing some, to me, boring aspects (such as setting up long-term goals, setting up monthly budgets and so on and so on).
The current and future
So here we are, a good 15 years since I first heard of, and started playing this Universe of opportunities, I have been through heaven and hell when it comes to loot, and learned alot during this time. I have skilled from absolute zero, to now over 400k total skill, Focus has changed from always chasing the bigger better gun to a more sustainable praxis of analyzing what I want to do now, what I want to be able to do in the future, and finding a good balance in the interim to continuously progress towards those goals. Every time I log-in to the game I already have atleast a couple of things that are the core reason, be it to continue grinding towards my goals, or Mayhems, to checking auction for certain things, or keeping an eye on trade-chat. And as a cherry on top there's always some fun to be had in society-chat, regional chats (next-island, monria, sverige, etc).
Rounding up
Q: So what lured me in in the first place?
A: Everything was different, the RCE-aspect, the Globals, the Hall of Fame entries, the All-Time-Highs! and ofcourse, personal progress, feeling that every action done had a long-term value and I could progress in my own pace (be it fast or slow) and always feel that every time I log-in my avatar was greater than the times that came before.
Q: Why did I decide to quit (several times!)?
A: Unreasonable expectations from the system to compensate me for my own decisions, chasing HOF's with the expectation that "I was due" (which I obviously was not), and personal pride.
Q: Ultimately, why did I come back and am now here to stay?
A: A personal attitude adjustment (huge contributing factor), shift in focus, and realizement that I can only change things within my control, the rest is a bonus at best.
So that is the story of "Exsolvus Exo Nex", only time will tell what the future will bring within this immense universe called Entropia!
Do my stories have to all be the exact same length?
