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Where virtual worlds once ruled, Farmville dominates (CNET)

Why do prices have to crash on all high end gear to make this universe attractive the masses? What needs to change is the cost to get going and cost to keep playing.

Your average MMO out there is 10-15 dollars a month and your average gaming consumer is well aware of this. The fact that one can easily lose 15 dollars in EU in 15 minutes is the problem. There are so few people playing this game and so many large payouts that it forces most people to pay more to play EU for a few hours than it does to play the competition for a entire month.

I firmly believe that more players in EU paying incrementally smaller amounts to cover FPC/MA's overhead and development costs will create a domino effect whereby player retention will increase. Overall losses should reduce which will stretch the play time per dollar ratio. Reduced costs to play will afford people the ability and cashflow to upgrade gear and skills. To try their hand at a new profession knowing that it won't be a virtual money pit for the first 6 months. And to generally get more enjoyment for their EU dollar spent.

And to all those people who say if you play smart you don't have to deposit. You may be right but I and many others like me don't have the time nor desire to investigate my costs and economy down to the gnats ass. I want to login, BS with my pals, use big guns to kill some shit, loot some decent shit from time to time, build some skills, and log the fuck back out having reaped the maximum amount of enjoyment from my time and money. Finding the formula that can provide that kind of experience to the masses is what will make EU a success.

That formula, IMO, is most easily achieved through the acquisition and retention of new players into this game. Sadly, I have seen very little forward movement from EU's ownership to make this a reality and I've been here for more than 6 years. I believe great potential exists here but sadly I'm just a credit card number in a database that helps keeps the lights on within FPC/MA's headquarters and my opinion seems to have no impact from a customer perspective.

/rant off
 
Heap said:
Finding the formula that can provide that kind of experience to the masses is what will make EU a success.

That formula, IMO, is most easily achieved through the acquisition and retention of new players into this game.
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It is possible that MA's numbers show that it is better to have a few new players of which a smaller subset deposit big (in an attempt to hunt big asap) than have many new players who deposit little and hunt little mobs.
 
I can only play farmville for around 20 seconds before it makes me want to hang my self from the happy happy rainbow tree.... seriously though if your older than 12 and are actually still in posession of your own testicles, don't waste your time.

That said, there is something to be noted of these flash games that are raking in the micropayments :/
 
It's funny because I know TONNES of people who play those stupid facebook games and pay for the premium items (or farm the coins/gold etc.. to trade) but then when I explain EU to them, they laugh.
:laugh:

But yeah, a huge difference is that EU is (or atleast, has been in the past) touted as a "make money playing games" game, whereas they're touted as entertainment, so people don't consider spent money as lost money, as many of us do here in EU.

ps: Farmville is SO lame... yet my whole entire family except me plays it. Oh and that crappy cafeworld thing too. /facepalm
 
Profit said:
It's funny because I know TONNES of people who play those stupid facebook games
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How are you using 'stupid' in this sense? Stupid as no intelligence required?
 
Profit said:
It's not very intellectually engaging, so I guess you could say that.
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But sadly, while EU may appear superficially complex (and granted does reward some trial and error - i.e. calculations to determine eco options), the core game play has progressed little over the years beyond the sole act of clicking a mouse repeatedly, while lush graphics serve to provide visual stimulation, promoting a sense that much more must be going on "under the hood" than meets the eye. I don't play FarmLand, but from its description it seems pretty basic and simple. However maybe its success lies in promoting what it really is ("simple pleasures from a simple game"). While conversely, EU is suffering at the moment from an identity crisis of sorts, encouraging people to play a complex game (that is actually very simple) and therefore pay a premium to enjoy the intellectual engagement that many rarely find.
 
perhaps we need the entropia auction flash facebook application. kind of good advertising and usefull tools.
 
iulrorck said:
perhaps we need the entropia auction flash facebook application. kind of good advertising and usefull tools.
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That(!) is actually a really really good idea, imho.
But, I'd edit/delete my post if I were you so MA can't steal your idea, then develop the app and propose a sale to MA of the intellectual property.
 
News Bot said:
Over the years, the innovation and investment that went into 3D immersive environments like Second Life has gone increasingly to social games and kids worlds.

More...

News feed provided by Yahoo! News.
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So, is Entropia going to be classified as kids' game, iPhone application or social game? Or it's just bragging that Entropia got mentioned (once, am I correct?) in some article? Phew...
 
If MA would have introduced farming and cropping and taming in 2005, to steady involve it...WE would have been the No.1 Farmuniverse !!!!11

But noooo
 
That's unfair. People in Entropia farm all the time. They farm sweat, disciples, even mobs. Certainly a LA owner is nothing more than an overgrown farmer :p

I believe that should be the new battlecry! Buy a real farm...in Entropia! Raise chickens, hogs, anteaters, giant walking crabs with red penis noses, magic mutants with a case of frostbite, worms, roaches, and all manner of..erm...livestock.
 
Animal attraction?

sledgehammer said:
That's unfair. People in Entropia farm all the time. They farm sweat, disciples, even mobs. Certainly a LA owner is nothing more than an overgrown farmer :p

I believe that should be the new battlecry! Buy a real farm...in Entropia! Raise chickens, hogs, anteaters, giant walking crabs with red penis noses, magic mutants with a case of frostbite, worms, roaches, and all manner of..erm...livestock.
Click to expand...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKla5Bhc_eo :D
 
Profit said:
It's funny because I know TONNES of people who play those stupid facebook games
Click to expand...

thoreau said:
How are you using 'stupid' in this sense? Stupid as no intelligence required?
Click to expand...

Profit said:
It's not very intellectually engaging, so I guess you could say that.
Click to expand...

Janus said:
But sadly, while EU may appear superficially complex (and granted does reward some trial and error - i.e. calculations to determine eco options), the core game play has progressed little over the years beyond the sole act of clicking a mouse repeatedly,
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Thank you Janus for making my point.

While people say games like Farmville and Evony are stupid - the fact is hunting in Entropia is about the least intellectually engaging activity you can do. Drag the health bar off the mob - click the mouse button. Rinse and repeat. No targeting necessary.

Hell, how complicated is mining? Press R to run and drop some bombs. If you get lucky you follow the little beeping light and click a few more buttons.

To be sure, you need to do some work to find economical setups and the like - but a few hours on EF and you would have the basic information. After that, its a clickfest.
 
I like Entropia for the pleasure of discovering the map, learning and interacting with other players.
In the end I think playing any game is fun at the beginning but in time you loose the enthusiasm (at least this is what happened to me). I remember the first day I stayed like 20 hours and I enjoy it a lot.
 
Menace said:
The reality of it is.... there are a HELL of alot more active Farmville players than Entropia/Planet Calypso players and I'm betting MindArk has about 10000x more money invested in creating EU and probably only a fraction of the profits. Slam farmville all you want.... but their owner (Zynga) is prospering while the owner of Planet Calypso and EU is struggling to keep financials stable.
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Charlie Gloom said:
cant cash out farmville (Fail)
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We can compare eu to many games out there. fact is this. other than the game where fashion is the primary reason to play there isn't any other online game with a official way to trade items for real life cash, or that have ingame money tied to real life money (officially).

Many don't care about what I mentioned above. But most that stick around eu have this in their reasoning for logging in. At least thats my opinion.
 
silly story...

farmville only exists because people want to waste time on facebook when their friends are not online to chat...

I find Mafia Wars on Facebook to be a little more fun, but it's just there to waste time too... Once my New York City started making over a billion dollars, it got old fast... even if new cities are a lot harder to play since you have to actually click the buttons in the businesses.

Still nowhere as fun as EU...
 
Thanks for bumping it... I missed it the first time around

I think the author of the article should have spent some more time looking a EU as it seems MA's platform focus and positioning addresses several issues he raised. The platform developed by MA allows the developers to greately cut the cost of developing virtual world scenerios that can meet the need for innovation and real life connections. A themed planet like Rocktopia IMNSHO is a perfect example of innovatively addressing those issues.



:scratch2:
Bring on the Farms

Scully?... If Pigs could Fly?
Muldar?... If pigs could fly... you'd need a hat...


:cool::cool::cool:

​
 
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I have no experience with FarmVille or any other Facebook game (I am one of there persons that just clicks "Hide Application xyz" on my news page.. it is just clutter).. And like was already written earlier.. to me it looks like a total waste of time.. :rolleyes: but yeah.. in some sense.. which game out there isn't? ;)

Hmmm.. interesting thought.. are there RCE Facebook games out there already? :yay::wtg:;)
 
I think games like farmville appeal to the majority of young folks that have the intelect and attention span of a hamster. sad but true. A lot of those folks will never be players in EU. Too complicated for them. Also, Looking at EU's hall of fame, I wonder that if MA took some of those 12000 ped scores, and take 2 grand off that and drop it on a lower end noob depositor shooting exos, they would get loads of free publicity. There needs to be a wild card in there that gives the noobs hope of striking it big. If you know that you're gonna get crumbs until you get to a certain level, it really makes it boring. They could also bring back the 2x and 3x skill times. I used to love those days watching the skills rack up at a reasonable rate.
 
This all boils down to one thing and one thing alone.

GAMEPLAY > GRAPHICS

PERIOD!

This is a plague that has engulfed all gaming markets for a long time now. They think having graphics that will make you need a new video card is better then actually having something to do in the game. Sorry, that's a lie, no, it's not even a lie, it's a damned lie.

I and many people I've spoken with, find ourselves regularly going back to older games, with poorer, almost archaic graphics, because they were fun to play. It's really a simple equation; do I spend 30 bucks or less and get several months worth of gameplay that does NOT consist of difficult to attain "achievements." Or do I spend 50-70 bucks on a game I finish the main storyline of in a week max?

For most people PE/EU/PC is the same way, it's fancy looking but there's little to "do." And most things to "do," make you lose your shirt in less then an hour. The only people who are enjoying that remotely are masochists, or addicts.
 
Don't forget rich folks. this game would be a real hoot if money were no object. buy any gun you want, shadow armor, no problem. buy an LA? sure why not.
 
Now MA must be seriously thinking about implementing the Farm system quickly. :laugh:
 
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