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Should EU go mainstream?

GeorgeSkywalker

GeorgeSkywalker

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The heart of the matter:
Should Entropia Universe go mainstream?​

Would you like Entropia Universe to go mainstream? By this I mean the market leader in online MMO's in terms of player base.

The real question then is how do we change the game from what it is now to this new improved EU that is suitable for the masses? If you were the developer what would you do to make it so?


Hopefully many of you would say low cost to play. This is the most essential ingredient for a mass player base expansion imho. Now if that is the case doesn't it strike you as odd that MindArk have also said that i.e. they aim to reduce cost to play.

My sneaky suspicion is what we are seeing here in the game are indeed glimpses of this bigger strategy. So corpses not disappearing is probably not a bug but part of a bigger strategy to reduce cost to play. If that is the case do we really have a genuine reason to make a big fuss about corpses not disappearing? I think not.

Surely a lower cost to play and player base expansion is worth this small price?
 
I am glad you posted your thoughts on this, though I still dont understand you.

From what I can tell you are saying that MA is intentionally adding (features/nerfs) that are designed to hinder grinding/turnover because that will reduce our cost of play?

If that is really what you are saying then I think you are really grasping at straws and will find very few people who agree with you/them that this is the best approach to making the game cheaper to play.
 
@narfi that is not what I am saying. That's what you interpreted my comments as.
 
GeorgeSkywalker said:
@narfi that is not what I am saying. That's what you interpreted my comments as.
Click to expand...

I can only attempt to interperate your riddles if you choose to not present things clearly.
I would love to see where you are coming from, please share clearly :)
 
I think I get what youre alluding to. Different features, specialties, ways of going about getting things that folks want that allow people to focus what they spend their money on, rather than the current shotgun approach in loot.

I'm all for it, and I think the more specialty ways a player has to play the deeper the social interactions, and the more appealing the MMO.

Ultima wasnt a great series because the adventure was awesome. It was a great series because if you wanted to do something, there was a way to do it. I used to push Lord British into a chest and then take him into the castle I took over, where he was held prisoner in one of its dungeons.
 
Theirs no way that their strategy is mass appeal. Their strategy is simply cater to the deep pockets who pay their bills and keep just enough shmucks like myself around for the deep pockets to pummel and hope that we continue to come back for the same abuse and continue to dump money on the game. I've seen zero evidence to suggest otherwise.

To examples of my own experience in my short time playing have driven me to this conclusion;
1-halloween mayhem and the ensuing error 89 when trying to collect what was a spit in the eye of a consolation prize. An error that still continues to pop up every time i log in.

2-2 hours of failed shot chains which cost me on the order of 10-20$. and their refusal to compensate me for it.

Filed support tickets on both matters and have received the standard horseshit response that ive seen all too often in games ive spent money on. They (ftp) all follow the same model and that is get enough deep pocket players to make some cash and keep them happy, turnover among the rest of the playerbase is acceptable and furthermore a necessary after effect of catering to said deep pockets.

For these reasons, unless they drastically change course in both my support cases(unlikely)I will play out the ped I have and give all my crap to a friend in the game. I dont expect to profit from hunting or any other in game activity. But I do expect the game mechanics to perform as advertised and when they dont after depositing real money I expect to be refunded in those instances. I also have been completely turned off by the blatant pay to win nature of their events.

They could easily make this game appeal to a wider player base and probably make more money for it by simply creating even playing field instances with a flat entry fee. They just dont feel they need to or they're scared to change what they feel has worked for 10 years. I say it hasnt, The game hasnt grown its remained stagnant which is evidenced by the failed attempts at PP's. If you're not growing you're failing IMO.
 
I think a tiered gaming system...

GeorgeSkywalker said:
The heart of the matter:
Should Entropia Universe go mainstream?​

Would you like Entropia Universe to go mainstream? By this I mean the market leader in online MMO's in terms of player base.

The real question then is how do we change the game from what it is now to this new improved EU that is suitable for the masses? If you were the developer what would you do to make it so?


Hopefully many of you would say low cost to play. This is the most essential ingredient for a mass player base expansion imho. Now if that is the case doesn't it strike you as odd that MindArk have also said that i.e. they aim to reduce cost to play.

My sneaky suspicion is what we are seeing here in the game are indeed glimpses of this bigger strategy. So corpses not disappearing is probably not a bug but part of a bigger strategy to reduce cost to play. If that is the case do we really have a genuine reason to make a big fuss about corpses not disappearing? I think not.

Surely a lower cost to play and player base expansion is worth this small price?
Click to expand...

...would make the most sense...with transferable credits that would allow you to upgrade from one level to the next but not in such a fashion that farming lower levels is even enticing...say tier 1 is totally free to play...merely to get introduced to the basic product...cross-selling higher tiers the whole time...available by app on all mobile media device platforms and all other platforms...but has the essential features of EU...crafting hunting mining...along with stupid stuff 9 & 10 year olds might like...maybe minecraft-esque stuff i dunno...2nd, 3rd, 4th???? tiers are monthly subscription or deposit based but are dirt cheap or have added features you can purchase or 'rent' or use iTunes cards for...then EU...just like little leagues, single A, double A, triple A and major league baseball...you want someone to come out of tier 3 or whatever into EU and go WOW! just like walking into a major league ball park for first time...but you wanna maintain the uniqueness of EU from all the others...its a big boys game...that shouldnt change and one of the biggest reasons it is unique is LIMITED availability of products like armor, guns, faps, ad infinitum...and economicalness of items...I think that MA should specifically commit in writing a pledge to not allow any more than ___ mod merc or mod fap or whatever items per depositing player to be allowed in game at any one time...anyway...you need to get younger generation hooked but theres no way we want 10 year olds running around in EU...that would be silly...if u want older players IMO...everyone is looking for purpose no matter what kind of 24 hour a day gamer lazy dope smoking fiends they are(no offense to the entire EU community :laugh:)...but marketing to gamers you are not going to beat PS4 or XBOX or other console gaming systems which is GREAT majority with graphics or playstyles...you gotta beat them on content and purpose...marketing strategy...cut to dude sitting all alone playing skyrim and he completes last mission, jumps up and down, yay! yay!...screen on TV cuts to credits for game then congratulations you completed the game...continue now by buying the next disc in series blah blah...he ejects disc...tosses it in cabinet with pile of other obviously discarded games...what next? then cut to entropia...features..never ending...it continues forever...differential game play...you can be better than someone with effort...you can own better equipment than someone else and outperform...options for player development are endless...options for creativity are endless...teaming and joint coordination of activities is seamless...societies...RCE...killing something or doing a task now has a purpose not merely completing a mission which ultimately has no purpose once its over...you can win real money...meanwhile playing some of best action clips from EU of all activities especially hunting and group activities...plenty more to consider...thats it for now...

Brick
 
jaydub said:
...would make the most sense...with transferable credits that would allow you to upgrade from one level to the next but not in such a fashion that farming lower levels is even enticing...say tier 1 is totally free to play...merely to get introduced to the basic product...cross-selling higher tiers the whole time...available by app on all mobile media device platforms and all other platforms...but has the essential features of EU...crafting hunting mining...along with stupid stuff 9 & 10 year olds might like...maybe minecraft-esque stuff i dunno...2nd, 3rd, 4th???? tiers are monthly subscription or deposit based but are dirt cheap or have added features you can purchase or 'rent' or use iTunes cards for...then EU...just like little leagues, single A, double A, triple A and major league baseball...you want someone to come out of tier 3 or whatever into EU and go WOW! just like walking into a major league ball park for first time...but you wanna maintain the uniqueness of EU from all the others...its a big boys game...that shouldnt change and one of the biggest reasons it is unique is LIMITED availability of products like armor, guns, faps, ad infinitum...and economicalness of items...I think that MA should specifically commit in writing a pledge to not allow any more than ___ mod merc or mod fap or whatever items per depositing player to be allowed in game at any one time...anyway...you need to get younger generation hooked but theres no way we want 10 year olds running around in EU...that would be silly...if u want older players IMO...everyone is looking for purpose no matter what kind of 24 hour a day gamer lazy dope smoking fiends they are(no offense to the entire EU community :laugh:)...but marketing to gamers you are not going to beat PS4 or XBOX or other console gaming systems which is GREAT majority with graphics or playstyles...you gotta beat them on content and purpose...marketing strategy...cut to dude sitting all alone playing skyrim and he completes last mission, jumps up and down, yay! yay!...screen on TV cuts to credits for game then congratulations you completed the game...continue now by buying the next disc in series blah blah...he ejects disc...tosses it in cabinet with pile of other obviously discarded games...what next? then cut to entropia...features..never ending...it continues forever...differential game play...you can be better than someone with effort...you can own better equipment than someone else and outperform...options for player development are endless...options for creativity are endless...teaming and joint coordination of activities is seamless...societies...RCE...killing something or doing a task now has a purpose not merely completing a mission which ultimately has no purpose once its over...you can win real money...meanwhile playing some of best action clips from EU of all activities especially hunting and group activities...plenty more to consider...thats it for now...

Brick
Click to expand...

TL;DR: OP needs to be shot in the knee-caps for abusing grammar like this.
 
EU will never go mainstream, EU is basically online gambling with shitty chances and a sci-fi GUI covering it. If it goes mainstream than it will be banned in countries like the U.S. that do not allow online gambling since it cannot be regulated.
MA needs this game to stay small, otherwise authorities will review their software and deem it a scam and MA will be no more.

Furthermore, the game is boring as shit, it would never make it against the real massive games out there. The plot is retarded... you do the same thing over and over and hope for something shiny to happen, this game caters to people that get addicted to gambling and online gaming easily, everything about it sucks the gamer/gambler in and keeps them addicted.
 
GeorgeSkywalker said:
My sneaky suspicion is what we are seeing here in the game are indeed glimpses of this bigger strategy. So corpses not disappearing is probably not a bug but part of a bigger strategy to reduce cost to play. ?
Click to expand...

I dont see how leaving the corps around for extra 30 seconds is gonna make it cheaper for me to play!
Please explain this point.
 
jaydub said:
...would make the most sense...with transferable credits that would allow you to upgrade from one level to the next but not in such a fashion that farming lower levels is even enticing...say tier 1 is totally free to play...merely to get introduced to the basic product...cross-selling higher tiers the whole time...available by app on all mobile media device platforms and all other platforms...but has the essential features of EU...crafting hunting mining...along with stupid stuff 9 & 10 year olds might like...maybe minecraft-esque stuff i dunno...2nd, 3rd, 4th???? tiers are monthly subscription or deposit based but are dirt cheap or have added features you can purchase or 'rent' or use iTunes cards for...then EU...just like little leagues, single A, double A, triple A and major league baseball...you want someone to come out of tier 3 or whatever into EU and go WOW! just like walking into a major league ball park for first time...but you wanna maintain the uniqueness of EU from all the others...its a big boys game...that shouldnt change and one of the biggest reasons it is unique is LIMITED availability of products like armor, guns, faps, ad infinitum...and economicalness of items...I think that MA should specifically commit in writing a pledge to not allow any more than ___ mod merc or mod fap or whatever items per depositing player to be allowed in game at any one time...anyway...you need to get younger generation hooked but theres no way we want 10 year olds running around in EU...that would be silly...if u want older players IMO...everyone is looking for purpose no matter what kind of 24 hour a day gamer lazy dope smoking fiends they are(no offense to the entire EU community :laugh:)...but marketing to gamers you are not going to beat PS4 or XBOX or other console gaming systems which is GREAT majority with graphics or playstyles...you gotta beat them on content and purpose...marketing strategy...cut to dude sitting all alone playing skyrim and he completes last mission, jumps up and down, yay! yay!...screen on TV cuts to credits for game then congratulations you completed the game...continue now by buying the next disc in series blah blah...he ejects disc...tosses it in cabinet with pile of other obviously discarded games...what next? then cut to entropia...features..never ending...it continues forever...differential game play...you can be better than someone with effort...you can own better equipment than someone else and outperform...options for player development are endless...options for creativity are endless...teaming and joint coordination of activities is seamless...societies...RCE...killing something or doing a task now has a purpose not merely completing a mission which ultimately has no purpose once its over...you can win real money...meanwhile playing some of best action clips from EU of all activities especially hunting and group activities...plenty more to consider...thats it for now...

Brick
Click to expand...


I bet you have some good points in there, but I get lost without paragraphs!
 
EU had a chance to go mainstream from around 2005 til when vu 10 came out... They blew it, and the competition took over... most of which has at least some level of true "free to play" where that form of play is more than just sweating or looking around for shit on the ground. MA has started introducing more low level stuff with the starter places and TT items that can't be TTed, which sort of breaks MA's own eula/tos, etc. in a roundabout way.

Getting back the lost reputation is a very big uphill battle. It might be possible, but it's going to take a hell of a lot more work than it would have just put the effort forth to fix problems before they happened or right after they happend, including but not limited to CE2 implementation that was introduced about 2 years before it was ready. Being proactive is much better than re-active when it comes to bugs, glitches, broken systems, broken graphics, and all the other problems that get mentioned here over and over and over, seemingly falling on deaf ears.
 
qamori said:
I dont see how leaving the corps around for extra 30 seconds is gonna make it cheaper for me to play!
Please explain this point.
Click to expand...

agree, this makes no sence. its more likely a bug.

I dont think MA can go "mainstream", too many people have heard of it, decided its probably not for them and moved on never having tried it. unless they or a planet partner pursue a stong marketing campaign those people arent coming and neither are those that never heard of it. the oppurtunity has gone now there are more stories of people losing $'000 than winning $'000. in the future, if it stays a float, they might regain some in game value and therefore interest as the wider economy picks up, but i dont think the game is strong enough any more. outside the AAA game market its all about kickstarter/indy projects now.

if i were a developer, im not but i've thought about this to some degree, i'd start again with a more structure to hang the "real" cash economy around. crafting is crap and needs to be recognised as a side issue for consuming materials for mining/hunting. those professions need to be more involving, more skill based or at least tactical. mining is a potentially a rich vein for deeper game play and economics (contracts, orders, short/med/long term claims, industry to extract and transport the produce), if someone though about it. there are entire games dedicated to this mechanic that are more popular in my local town than the whole ingame popultion of EU.
 
Last edited:
jaydub said:
...would make the most sense

...with transferable credits that would allow you to upgrade from one level to the next but not in such a fashion that farming lower levels is even enticing

...say tier 1 is totally free to play
...merely to get introduced to the basic product
...cross-selling higher tiers the whole time
...available by app on all mobile media device platforms and all other platforms
...but has the essential features of EU...crafting hunting mining
...along with stupid stuff 9 & 10 year olds might like

...maybe minecraft-esque stuff i dunno

...2nd, 3rd, 4th???? tiers are monthly subscription or deposit based but are dirt cheap or have added features you can purchase or 'rent' or use iTunes cards for
...then EU
...just like little leagues, single A, double A, triple A and major league baseball

...you want someone to come out of tier 3 or whatever into EU and go WOW! just like walking into a major league ball park for first time


...but you wanna maintain the uniqueness of EU from all the others
...its a big boys game
...that shouldnt change and one of the biggest reasons it is unique is LIMITED availability of products like armor, guns, faps, ad infinitum
...and economicalness of items


...I think that MA should specifically commit in writing a pledge to not allow any more than ___ mod merc or mod fap or whatever items per depositing player to be allowed in game at any one time

...anyway...you need to get younger generation hooked but theres no way we want 10 year olds running around in EU

...that would be silly...if u want older players IMO
...everyone is looking for purpose no matter what kind of 24 hour a day gamer lazy dope smoking fiends they are(no offense to the entire EU community :laugh:)


...but marketing to gamers you are not going to beat PS4 or XBOX or other console gaming systems which is GREAT majority with graphics or playstyles


...you gotta beat them on content and purpose
...marketing strategy
...cut to dude sitting all alone playing skyrim and he completes last mission, jumps up and down, yay! yay!
...screen on TV cuts to credits for game then congratulations you completed the game
...continue now by buying the next disc in series blah blah...he ejects disc
...tosses it in cabinet with pile of other obviously discarded games...what next?

then cut to entropia...features..never ending...it continues forever...differential game play...you can be better than someone with effort

...you can own better equipment than someone else and outperform
...options for player development are endless
...options for creativity are endless
...teaming and joint coordination of activities is seamless
...societies...RCE

...killing something or doing a task now has a purpose not merely completing a mission which ultimately has no purpose once its over
...you can win real money

...meanwhile playing some of best action clips from EU of all activities especially hunting and group activities
...plenty more to consider
...thats it for now...

Brick
Click to expand...


added some spaces (not that it's any better :) )
 
Touche...

lyosha said:
TL;DR: OP needs to be shot in the knee-caps for abusing grammar like this.
Click to expand...

Quote from Lyosha next post..."EU will never go mainstream, EU is basically online gambling with shitty chances and a sci-fi GUI covering it. If it goes mainstream than it will be banned in countries like the U.S. that do not allow online gambling since it cannot be regulated.
MA needs this game to stay small, otherwise authorities will review their software and deem it a scam and MA will be no more.

Furthermore, the game is boring as shit, it would never make it against the real massive games out there. The plot is retarded... you do the same thing over and over and hope for something shiny to happen, this game caters to people that get addicted to gambling and online gaming easily, everything about it sucks the gamer/gambler in and keeps them addicted."

Response:

First, going on a forum and complaining about grammar is pretty retarded...to use your vernacular...especially a forum that caters to a population of people with a dozen or more different languages as primary...second, to complain about grammar and THAN(again, your vernacular not mine) go on to use a conjunction for an adverb and sprinkle intellectual phrases like boring as shit and shitty chances and retarded...speaks for itself...

Samuel Clemens said it best: "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"

Brick
 
Just fyi, in alternate reality out there EU is mainstream, in a perfect reality that MindArk has done everything right from day one, and had some luck along the way too.

Unfortunately EU is too repetitive (boring) and too expensive to play for most casual MMO gamers. Thus we will never be "mainstream" unless this changes.

Answer to the title:
"Should EU go mainstream?"

Should be:
"Can EU go mainstream?"

Answer: No unless they do significant changes like the ones I listed above and a lot of marketing.
 
GeorgeSkywalker said:
My sneaky suspicion is what we are seeing here in the game are indeed glimpses of this bigger strategy. So corpses not disappearing is probably not a bug but part of a bigger strategy to reduce cost to play.
Click to expand...

Can you loot those corpses more than one time ? No? Then is not a reduction in the cost of play.

You could make the argument that MA tries to lower the cost of play by introducing new eco items, and available to lower levels than L100.

Yet the returns are lowered as well, from half of the forum posts and things discussed in game.

So my take is that MA is trying to destroy the market of the old items, and skills. The amount of money kept in them is important, and while to acquire them it would mean a lot of deposits, those sums would leave the game as fast. More important is probably the money which can be made in game with those skills/items (I make a wild guess that those avas involved are still profiting).

To lower the cost of play would mean"

a) a constant, guaranteed return of 90%
b) that return not to be tied up to a very high PED cycling (just hundreds of peds cycling)

As a corollary, this would mean either the disappearance of very large HOFs, or a personal loot pool which from time to time, but not very often, will give back part of the lost 10% according to spending and maybe a little bit from others.

No tens of thousands ATH possible with a lower cost to play, unless we're talking hundreds of thousands of active players.
 
I think Eu would not make it mainstream because the game cost more than most would want to pay. Sure the hopes of hitting the big one would bring them in but the grind and idea that in its set-up this game could easily be seen as a pay to win game. Most casual gamers will not go for that , they would demand skill levels for armor and all the unlimited weapons would be frowned upon because lets face it thats what wins events well that and a bigger ped card if your grinding through losses.
 
They could have, they can't ATM, they may will.. one day... i have a dream...
 
Is the OP ment cynical? I really can't tell. Though I might be the cynic.

an RCE will never go mainstream. no, ney, never.
 
I wasn't being cynical. Contrary to popular belief I think EU can go mainstream precisely because it's an RCE and a pioneer in that field.

We just need to see more of what MindArk are/have been working on behind the scenes but from the glimpses they keep showing us and their communications about lower cost to play etc they seem to be positioning themselves towards a mainstream audience.
 
George, I started playing in 2006; and we have seen a community grow and a playerbase grow. Much advertising and people actually asked their friends and family to play.
But many are not into a real cash economy. Many don't want to spend money in hope to gain money. Many players just want to play a game, with no financial restriction on the level of play.

a person can have a minimum wage IRL and be an uber war monger pink fluffy elf in many of blizzard & co 's games.
Or have a massive storyline that actually progresses and makes sense.
that same person can build a space fleet in another game; where social skills and such are important. Or go shoot each other in MMO FPS games. Or test his reaction, strategy and skills in a couple of mayor league games.
Or just play tabletop D&D.

All of these are more popular than EU, and all of these have a lower cost to play at a top level. The league games even make you money if you uber them and win an E-sport event.

What does it cost to play EU in highest tier. How many would do the boring grinds here? How many people like to play a game where the only way to resolve the playing style restriction is pay more money?

this isn't only EU, it will be true for all RCE games. These games are a niche, and should actually serve that public. It is true EU is unique; but I got a feeling some managers at MA try too much to be generic and lose the uniqueness that PE/EU has.

Why advertise missions and lure in new players not meant to play an RCE. to have them deposit 10 bucks; get mad and make negative reviews/advertising/ calling EU a scam and such.

Start by advertising EU as a virtual world instead of a game. Sure you can play like hunt mine and craft; but it comes at a cost. It is a sandbox where people create. Look at how creative our playerbase is/was. How many of us are entrepreneurs in spirit.
We are the Niche that make the game.
Bring EU mainstream (or try) and it will sink faster than the titanic did.

It's like the principle of demon souls/dark souls. The producer pondered to make the next instalment easier in a way, but they won't. They know that they will lose their core public that loves the hardness/1337ness it takes to finish this game. if it was easier, they might have less audience, even if they had a bigger potential playerbase. It was the fact that is was so hard that made that brand so popular, first as a cult classic, later as the game that 'hardest game of it's generation'.
If demon souls was easier, it would never have become available in the US, europe; and Dark souls wouldn't have been released outside the PS3 platform and it wouldn't be highlighted by steam a couple of times. It was something unique and they didn't give in to the market; so the market respected them and it gave in to the DS series.

They stayed true to themself; and thus become to most famous game in the niche of "difficult games".

If EU would stay true to the mindset that PE once had; but with the nicer graphics. If instead of making a crapload of missions and unwalkable terrain, they would remain the sandbox type of game. They would be more popular for what they are.

Because now, I have the feeling like MA thinks they need to change the game to the generic stuff to fit in; and in doing so losing its own identity; and that is wrong.
Never be ashamed for what PE was. The concept was bold and daring. It had a unique style; a unique gameplay; a unique playbase and community. And I am proud about what PE was.

It's not about the graphics or what teens and "real" gamers think about this game that counts. those people are narrowminded dimwits without money to spend. They crave the latest and newest and leave eventually. That is not the audience worthy of even downloading PE; let alone pollute what was our nice community with their childish and short sighted ideas.

If you look at entropia as a virtual world instead of just another game. You see that it is a world that grows on you; where you develop your skills, friends and contacts, knowledge and get something no mere other game can give.

That is why entropia should and can't go mainstream. It is a place for the anti-gamer; the player that doesn't play many other games; doesn't expect just another game with game settings. But an inhabitant of a world; a world known as entropia.
 
Acro said:
George, I started playing in 2006; and we have seen a community grow and a playerbase grow. Much advertising and people actually asked their friends and family to play.
But many are not into a real cash economy. Many don't want to spend money in hope to gain money. Many players just want to play a game, with no financial restriction on the level of play.

a person can have a minimum wage IRL and be an uber war monger pink fluffy elf in many of blizzard & co 's games.
Or have a massive storyline that actually progresses and makes sense.
that same person can build a space fleet in another game; where social skills and such are important. Or go shoot each other in MMO FPS games. Or test his reaction, strategy and skills in a couple of mayor league games.
Or just play tabletop D&D.

All of these are more popular than EU, and all of these have a lower cost to play at a top level. The league games even make you money if you uber them and win an E-sport event.

What does it cost to play EU in highest tier. How many would do the boring grinds here? How many people like to play a game where the only way to resolve the playing style restriction is pay more money?

this isn't only EU, it will be true for all RCE games. These games are a niche, and should actually serve that public. It is true EU is unique; but I got a feeling some managers at MA try too much to be generic and lose the uniqueness that PE/EU has.

Why advertise missions and lure in new players not meant to play an RCE. to have them deposit 10 bucks; get mad and make negative reviews/advertising/ calling EU a scam and such.

Start by advertising EU as a virtual world instead of a game. Sure you can play like hunt mine and craft; but it comes at a cost. It is a sandbox where people create. Look at how creative our playerbase is/was. How many of us are entrepreneurs in spirit.
We are the Niche that make the game.
Bring EU mainstream (or try) and it will sink faster than the titanic did.

It's like the principle of demon souls/dark souls. The producer pondered to make the next instalment easier in a way, but they won't. They know that they will lose their core public that loves the hardness/1337ness it takes to finish this game. if it was easier, they might have less audience, even if they had a bigger potential playerbase. It was the fact that is was so hard that made that brand so popular, first as a cult classic, later as the game that 'hardest game of it's generation'.
If demon souls was easier, it would never have become available in the US, europe; and Dark souls wouldn't have been released outside the PS3 platform and it wouldn't be highlighted by steam a couple of times. It was something unique and they didn't give in to the market; so the market respected them and it gave in to the DS series.

They stayed true to themself; and thus become to most famous game in the niche of "difficult games".

If EU would stay true to the mindset that PE once had; but with the nicer graphics. If instead of making a crapload of missions and unwalkable terrain, they would remain the sandbox type of game. They would be more popular for what they are.

Because now, I have the feeling like MA thinks they need to change the game to the generic stuff to fit in; and in doing so losing its own identity; and that is wrong.
Never be ashamed for what PE was. The concept was bold and daring. It had a unique style; a unique gameplay; a unique playbase and community. And I am proud about what PE was.

It's not about the graphics or what teens and "real" gamers think about this game that counts. those people are narrowminded dimwits without money to spend. They crave the latest and newest and leave eventually. That is not the audience worthy of even downloading PE; let alone pollute what was our nice community with their childish and short sighted ideas.

If you look at entropia as a virtual world instead of just another game. You see that it is a world that grows on you; where you develop your skills, friends and contacts, knowledge and get something no mere other game can give.

That is why entropia should and can't go mainstream. It is a place for the anti-gamer; the player that doesn't play many other games; doesn't expect just another game with game settings. But an inhabitant of a world; a world known as entropia.
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(Applause.gif) that was spot on. Reply of the year right here ladies and gentleman. Couldn't be said any better in my opinion.
 
I guess going mainstream sort of depends on your definition which at best is a very subjective definition. All I can Is from everything I've see they're doing nothing of the sort., In fact it seems they're driving as far away from mainstream as possible (again depending on your definition of what that means). As ive said it appears to me that this is a rich persons game not a working mans or teenage kid's. This is evidenced in many ways but they make it just playable enough for the non rich to keep a population maintained.

There is nothing wrong with the expensive nature of attaining uberness or reaching the apex of this game, but there is something wrong with the complete alienation of the rest of us who will never really be able to afford that level. The problem isnt the cost to play, its fine., the problem is when there are competitions the cost to win squeezes out all but the rich. The other problem is support., when I lose ped due to a technical failure on their end i expect to be compensated. I guarantee if I was one of those rich players dumping thousands per month into this game I would have been in my recent support case. Same story with a friend of mine. Working stiff like me deposits 100 bucks here and there, disconnects in pvp space and gets looted., again no compensation. Why again do they allow disconnected avatars to be looted again? I'll wait...

Funny how every single player I've met has had these recurrent connection issues yet its always our end when we file a support ticket. If taking accountability for technical issues on their end is "going mainstream" then yes thats exactly what they need to do.

This game hasn't grown since its initial novelty wore off.,It's remained stagnant.. people now see it for what it is, a game for rich kids. If they start losing the rich kids their toast. But if they werent such asshats to the rest of us they could have a far larger player base and sustain those losses., As it is now I wont be depositing again until this attitude of "cater to the rich kids and fuck the rest" attitude changes. The only way I can make my voice heard is with my money.
 
The reason the game can be costly is because it is an RCE. I would imagine MA are constantly attempting to balance the books between deposit and withdraw, not to mention development and overhead costs.

I would assume that if one month MA need to pay more out, then for basic business survival they would need to raise revenue (i.e. get players to pay more, buy delaying payouts and forcing deposits).

Other months they might be cash rich, and pay more into the pool for more hofs etc to the players that are "owed".

With the ideal situation being that MA can afford to distribute more funds to players as more people deposit.
That's why I think that MA favours hoarders of items, and resellers because reselling has the potential to raise more funds for them, and if they hoard as well it can generate high prices of items. As much as I personally hate it, those activates were once the driving force of EU.

The problem occurs when the scale tips and less players are interested in a world full of investments and value, including land ownership and CLD's. Because there becomes a point that hoarding items (i.e buying up stuff), can have a negative effect if the seller withdrawals. If you get a situation, that buyers don't need to depo, but the sellers are withdrawing, it can take quite a while for the situation to right itself.

There're too much non depositors in game in my opinion, it just sucks the live out of the game.

So to get to the point....the game needs to reach equilibrium again to enable MA to not fear rewarding the masses. It's as simple as that, and it will take time.

Personally I think they should be brave enough to load up some new servers and run a fresh universe side by side to attract the masses. I would not be surprised if it's been discussed at board level and not approved. Although if I was them I'd be asking myself what have we got to lose.

Rick
 
As much as I would like the game to be up there with the other two big MMOs, I have concerns about what government taxation agencies would say if it became that popular.
It does seem MA I trying its best to kill the Market value of high end items. Now we have MM and shadow sets selling SB +1Ped! It's going to be interesting. The market value of shadow is about to drop by 50% and a MM is gonna drop value big time. A lot of high end players are going to be very pissed.
 
Few Scars said:
As much as I would like the game to be up there with the other two big MMOs, I have concerns about what government taxation agencies would say if it became that popular.
It does seem MA I trying its best to kill the Market value of high end items. Now we have MM and shadow sets selling SB +1Ped! It's going to be interesting. The market value of shadow is about to drop by 50% and a MM is gonna drop value big time. A lot of high end players are going to be very pissed.
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And why should they be exempt? Almost everyone has taken massive hits to their "investments" over recent times.
It's the risk one takes, no different from real life investments (share market etc.).
 
GeorgeSkywalker said:
I wasn't being cynical. Contrary to popular belief I think EU can go mainstream precisely because it's an RCE and a pioneer in that field.

We just need to see more of what MindArk are/have been working on behind the scenes but from the glimpses they keep showing us and their communications about lower cost to play etc they seem to be positioning themselves towards a mainstream audience.
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Seconded. The instant gratification crowd wont understand this though.

Theyre like a bunch of heroin addicts clamoring for a fix. When they cant get it they are gradually roused from their slumber. It hurts them, and they want to go back to sleep.

Those who fail to get a fix for a long enough time get angry, and having wandered the streets in the rain for a few days living off cheap Mexican food, they point to their soggy clothes and empty pockets and claim that it is the fault of drug dealers that they are broke and wet, never admitting that they sought the fix, they went out in the rain, and although they knew how to do things properly, they were too dumb and desperate to actually act rationally.

Washington State is on my brain I think. Heroin. Rain. Cheap Mexican food. I must be moving to the Seattle area in a week. Yep. I am.
 
GeorgeSkywalker said:
The heart of the matter:
Should Entropia Universe go mainstream?​

Would you like Entropia Universe to go mainstream? By this I mean the market leader in online MMO's in terms of player base.

The real question then is how do we change the game from what it is now to this new improved EU that is suitable for the masses? If you were the developer what would you do to make it so?


Hopefully many of you would say low cost to play. This is the most essential ingredient for a mass player base expansion imho. Now if that is the case doesn't it strike you as odd that MindArk have also said that i.e. they aim to reduce cost to play.

My sneaky suspicion is what we are seeing here in the game are indeed glimpses of this bigger strategy. So corpses not disappearing is probably not a bug but part of a bigger strategy to reduce cost to play. If that is the case do we really have a genuine reason to make a big fuss about corpses not disappearing? I think not.

Surely a lower cost to play and player base expansion is worth this small price?
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Very simple really.

Make it possible for Planet Partners to choose a planet that is for consoles like XBOX with a monthly fee.
Players who choose to start on these planets pay a monthly fee. This fee would have a minimum but no maximum monthly cost that would be chosen by the players. Paying more then the minimum fee would also give the player a ped deposit after the initial portion was taken for their monthly play time. The peds would only be used when they go off world from the console version planet. There would be no RL money involved on anything on the console planets but the player could get special upgrades they pay for. Most Items and all skills on the console planet would have no meaning outside of those monthly fee worlds. Some items like vehicles could be sold on these new planets that are from the regular part of EU so that if the player chose to they can get off world to go play in the rest of the universe where peds are needed.

Players visiting these monthly payment planets from the rest of EU could bring their current skill level and play for a monthly fee only while visiting. Possibly pro-rated based on how long they stay and auto payments made daily from ped card or they are removed to space station. This could be done with all players that stop doing their monthly payment to keep the "fee to play" option available. So players that were born on the monthly fee planets could keep playing in the rest of EU when they could not do monthly payments.

There would have to be some form of professions for gaining levels in while playing on the monthly planets that would not be used on the other planets. All players would have access to leveling up like this while on the monthly fee planets. But as mentioned before players who have skills from playing in the rest of the universe would have that as their level if they visit. To increase your monthly fee professions you would have to skill there until you gained the skills gained there up to and then beyond the level you already have.

Examples:
Monthly fee player reaches level 20 in a profession while on monthly fee planets but that has no meaning when they leave and visit the rest of the universe. They would essentially still have no skills that can be sold.

Player who has level 20 from skilling up in the regular EU world will be level 20 when visiting the Monthly fee planet but will have 0 skill points that the monthly fee players would have that are level 20. So the visiting level 20 would not gain in profession levels until they achieved the same amount of skill points needed to level up there. This would give players something to do while visiting the monthly fee planets.

The monthly fee would have to be low like around $10.00 a month. This would be low enough to keep the console gamer playing yet high enough to not end up with too many kids playing. Increasing the chance that the monthly fee players might wander into the rest of EU and possibly start doing larger deposits.

This is all random, unfinished and no real order to it and would need to be figured out better but just an idea.:D
 
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