Social Psychology in Game, A disturbing observation.

:confused: Are you implying that grinding iron missions until your eyes bleed is not a fun time? :confused:

How can this be?

On a more serious note, I think the entire mission system has been a detriment to this universe by encouraging people to grind in solitude for hours upon hours. Back in the day, we didn't have all these missions and goals provided to us. We had to think up our own goals and create our own fun. That was the POINT of this universe. It forced us to be social, not anti-social.

I know many players were begging MA to give us a mission system... but I was hoping for something more... lively. I would rather have them delete all the current missions and only release missions like HUNT THE THING, even if it was only 1 mission per VU. Just my 2 pec.

I noticed the same thing shortly after the mission system was introduced. MA should have designed it so mob kill counts were 1.00 so if two or more people were doing damage they could get a share each. One does 20% damage and another does 80% then it would be 0.20 and 0.80 mission points. If you don't do enough damage in a large team then you don't get any % of the mission points. For missions with kill points based on mob maturity it would work the same. Just add two decimal places to the kill points.:)

This would go a long way to increasing social fun in game and possibly increased deposits for MA!
 
I think I'm on record as not likely grinding missions, so was Marco until they introduced them :rolleyes:

There have been a lot of additions that on paper looked like a good idea have been to the detriment of EU in the long run. MA have removed a few - equipping fees on some stuff for instance but usually MA will never admit they've screwed it up for us. On the few occasions they have it took a huge outcry from the players.

As weapons and armour have gotten stronger the need to group together to take down mobs has massively decreased, that MA slowed skilling many times before vu9 but then introduced a system that massively increased the speed hasn't helped that. Uber HP shared loot mobs were MA's solution to this but even that's not been a perfect solution with no looters and accusations of people turning for only the bosses.
 
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The personality attributes and actions of one-self, as part of a learned response process are replicated(or in game) in life as a response or reaction. Displacement: Reaction formation.

Regardless, if we're talking theory and psychology, we should talk about the consequences of reaction formation, not just that it exists. These consequences change with regard to context.
 
Back in the day, we didn't have all these missions and goals provided to us. We had to think up our own goals and create our own fun. That was the POINT of this universe. It forced us to be social, not anti-social.

Please don't force me to be social. If I wanted to be social I would turn off my computer and go outside.
 
Please don't force me to be social. If I wanted to be social I would turn off my computer and go outside.

Don't worry. Be happy. No one's forcing you. It was "encouraged", consequently. Nowadays it seems the opposite.

Many people who are introverted IRL become extroverts in game. One of the beautiful things about the internet.
 
Or you just talk way too much and people don't have the time or the capacity to converse with you...I started reading the first few paragraphs, scrolled to see how long the post was and stopped reading.

yes same here.
 
we may not have bothered to read all of the post..but that wont stop us from posting about it :scratch2:

welcome to EU
 
Because it's RCE people are only happy and social when either:
A.) Cost to play is low/profits are possible
B.) The dream to win big is very much alive.

In the past few years however,
A.) Avg player base lvl has increased and with that cost to play increases.
B.) the dream of winning big seems much further off than the loss of ones future deposits.

Therefore the player base is grumpy and negative, or simply quitting all together.

Menace
 
To add to my above post...
The ONE single thing that made EU so "great" was the dream of making money playing a video game. IMO that dream is gone for new players. When I started playing, most people I met felt that dream was within reach.... Even after a year of playing. Players seemed to feel closer to profit as they progressed. Now adays, new players learn in 72 hrs that profits (of reasonable value) don't come without ridiculous investment. We see them leave.
The RCE is what BUILT EU. Unfortunately, the RCE is also what is destroying it years later. I love the aspect of RCE. It's simply not working properly anymore. Old timers are angry with their losses. New players mock the game and treat it almost as if it were a scam. An ATH hits and no longer do people feel "that's gonna be me someday!". Instead they get frustrated and feel as though they've suffered financially so that ATH could drop.

It's unfortunate really. And I don't have any brilliant suggestions on how to fix it that wouldn't completely DESTROY the value of uber items aside from maybe 2 separate ball fields and loot servers where the übers and big PED cycles sustain their own loot pool and the lower/mid-level have theirs whereas the lesser pool won't have the ability to loot mod faps and such but could easily trickle in a steady small profit on the coat tails of those who play stupid. The same could go for the high lvl servers. If the noob wants to buy a huge gun and hunt big mobs all day while trying to loot an uber item.... That's fine. In the mean time the smart übers will live off the 1000 PED/hr the noobs are terminating from their PED cards.

In the mean time.... Negativity will prevail around here.

Menace
 
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I think the focus in promoting this game has been a little one-sided. "Play EU! RCE! Make $$ playing games!" This is, for one thing, misleading, as profit is impossible without substantial investment (as was mentioned previously).

Why do none of the promotions or advertisements (what few there are) talk about the social aspect of this game, or the "Virtual Sci-fi sandbox" aspect? The sci-fi sandbox is what brought me to this game, and the social aspect is what kept me here. These, IMO, are far more important to promote than the fact that some few have made profit from this game.

I think that there would be greater new player retention if the focus was less on finance, and more on fun. Granted, it's hard to have fun for long in this game without the pedcard to support it, but a guy can go for a long time sweating and punching out punies and low-level youngs with very little peds at all.

So, IMO the focus on promotion shouldn't be "come for the RCE, stay for the profit" it should be "come for the sci-fi, stay for the community", and there should be systems in place (other than mentoring) that can put new players in touch with the EU community at large. Maybe someone could run a "meet the noobs" event or something. Yearly soc recruitment rush a la fraternity? I'm just throwing ideas out there...
 
The sci-fi sandbox is what brought me to this game, and the social aspect is what kept me here.

I think this is how it works for most games. A vibrant community is everything. Sure there are some introverts who are happy grinding 10 hours a day by themselves. But this is not the majority. After all, what good would your level 120 Laser Sniper be if there were no other players?

One of the greatest treasures of EU is the mature friendly community. Not having to deal with the 12-14 year olds on the other popular MMOs is invaluable. But what good is a community within a game that encourages us to do iron missions and mine for ores in Domes? EU has turned into more of an gambler/grinder's paradise and less of a "Virtual Universe".

It has become a series of lifeless missions, "robot invasions", dry content updates and mayhem events. VUs are met with complaints and cynicism, rather than enthusiasm. I don't know if the blame should fall to MA, or anyone for that matter. Maybe I'm alone in my thoughts and all of you actually want MA to keep releasing new planets until we have 1 planet for every player so we can all grind in peace.

All I know is, as other people have said, this doesn't feel like "Project" Entropia anymore. The RCE carried it this far, but people are starting to realize that something is "lacking"...

MA has done a great job, there's no denying that. But I'm bored. I can't deny that either. I hope to see them take chances with exciting and ambitious projects in the future. I would give all the PED in my PED card :)rolleyes:) to know what they're thinking right now.
 
All I know is, as other people have said, this doesn't feel like "Project" Entropia anymore. The RCE carried it this far, but people are starting to realize that something is "lacking"...
\

I think that part of the problem is the ghost of "Project Entropia" hanging over the community. No matter how good the game gets, no matter how much they add to and improve systems, it will never be as good as the "old days" when sweat sold for a million ped per k and everyone dropped Mod Mercs and Shadow parts from every chirpy they killed. This game bears very little resemblance to Project Entropia, and whether that's a good thing or not would make a great debate thread. Perhaps if we were not so concerned about how things were, we could enjoy things more the way they are. People miss the apartment dance parties and the chatting around Twins and other places etc..., but what they don't realize is that those things don't happen because we're not making them happen. If the game seems less social it's because we've become less social. Perhaps it's the solitary nature of the missions, because hunting is(was?) a far more social activity than mining or crafting. Maybe it's a general sense of ennui and disillusionment among the older players. It could even be increased pressure from the greater cost of playing the game in recent years. Whatever the cause, it's easily corrected by societies and players (and PPs or even MA) running more social events. Events that have no purpose other than entertainment and interaction. Events without prizes, that don't cause decay or cost a pec, where a sweater can take a break and talk to an Uber who just got back from CP and they can stand around and do a little dance or run in circles or spam emotes.

The sandbox has gotten bigger, and there's a lot more toys, but what we do and how we enjoy it is up to us.
 
you think too much. this is the path to the dark side. mute your local chat, find a soc that almost never ever fights. and learn to feel, not think! and i dont mean feel emotionally, i mean feel, sort of, sense, without thought. like the force, sort of.
 
Don't expect all sunshine and puppy dogs in EU because the virtual world contains the same people as the real world...
 
Is it a trend to make a massive long post?
The stuff that really needs to be sorted is all text containing:

"This game is.. "
"We are.. "

The motivation to play is for everyone different, this game is about something different for each one
Anti social behaviour, thats a first?
Fine observation, but adding some title to it doesnt make it more proven or serious
Greed, how do you know? Got greedy yourself or is it your interpetation?

Allot of text, you bring it like a big shock but frankly speaking its about normal human behaviour plus some frustration of stuff you wish that it would be different but you are not in control.

Sollition:
-not having fun? Don't play (cant stop, ask yourself why. Either financial or emotion attachment. Fix that)
-anti-social stuff? Act social, you can be the one that is in for fun, make some jokes and throw in a few smiles. Dont expect that others do it for you
(So you already do that) then either find like minded and hang out or again find something else to do

You cant control mind ark from this position, they get massive heaps of dung thrown over them for years. You cannot tell people what to do or how to experiance entropia. So in essence the sollution lies only within you
 
I was most sociable in EU when there weren't sweat camps.

My reason for being there just evaporated as I used to drag in mobs to places like Camp Pheonix for people to sweat around the TP. When I was broke I just dragged mobs for a week or so.

The camps made that pointless as the mobs spawn right in front of the sweaters.

tbh some of their attempts at being helpful have massively backfired in the end either by making it too easy or ending the requirement entirely.

Some of the starter missions have reduced the requirement for new players to talk to the older ones.
 
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Interesting topic. I tho see quite a lot of the same things here as you see in real life. People are greedy in Entropia, people are greedy IRL. People have hidden agendas in both "worlds" etc. We don't have a police force per say in Entropia, but in many other aspects the sentences here are quite more harsh. Cheating can lead to permanent ban, aka death penalty irl etc.

Sadly is, the world is not a pretty place overall. There is a lot of crap out there and I seen a lot of it in my travels. BUT! There is also a lot of good in the world, people who care and treat others with respect and love. This can also be found in game. Take myself, I am probably the most annoying nub ever, I kid you not, but still I been in one soc only during my time in Entropia. AA has become a home. Sure, I don't know everyone anymore as I come and go due to work and travel, but it is home and so much love and help I gotten from my soc, random people and others I gotten to know in game is crazy. It has also happened IRL for me so I consider myself lucky in life and in Entropia. It comes down to how you regard the world and Entropia I would say.

I think you have a point in a lot of the thins pointed out, but for me it comes down to the same thing as IRL. Some ppl do anything for money, that is the way it is. I did not create this world, I live in it and all I can do is try to make it a bit brighter place. But who am I kidding, I am no angel, will never be, but I stand by my friends. I do not cheat or lie and I cherish the good parts and focus on them.

Tho, on another note. Where is the social psychology aspects in the thread? I cannot see them and as I have a degree in social psychology I am kind of missing the point of bringing that into the subject :)


Derid, the original and true nub of Entropia.


PS. Reach out that hand, save that nub from getting scammed, and the world will become just a tad lighter. If we all do it, we would all be much happier. In Entropia, in IRL and life in general.
 
Psychological disturbance in observation, a social game :smoke:
 
It triggered me, helped anyway. The game. I'm not in a good place lol and any1 who knows me in game knows this.

*edit* I have sworn off any physical contact and conversation with humans in real life from yesterday on. The game is partially to blame, the people in it. I'm to blame too. But now it is pretty much all the contact I have so I have no choice but to play it.
 
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It triggered me, helped anyway. The game. I'm not in a good place lol and any1 who knows me in game knows this.

*edit* I have sworn off any physical contact and conversation with humans in real life from yesterday on. The game is partially to blame, the people in it. I'm to blame too. But now it is pretty much all the contact I have so I have no choice but to play it.

ehmm, not sure to tackle this; but :hug:
don't give up on humanity, there are a few good ones amongst us.
 
ehmm, not sure to tackle this; but :hug:
don't give up on humanity, there are a few good ones amongst us.

I actually agree. I realized something, I was wrong. Thank u :) For real something has happened and I actually see my foolishness.
 
2 things

Hi Eris :rolleyes:

I saw a 'über' leaving today :(

Cashing out... He said "you don't !@#% with the loot"

Bye bye, uber :(





Last thing. "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Or TREAT your neighbor as yourself)
 
im here, screw the rest of those a, you knows.

Bleeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

You can still talk to me, ive faced it all down i dare them any of them to throw somtihing else at me. Be ready when you do....


<3 Blee
<3 Blee
<3 Blee
<3 Blee :eyecrazy:
 
im here, screw the rest of those a, you knows.

Bleeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

You can still talk to me, ive faced it all down i dare them any of them to throw somtihing else at me. Be ready when you do....


<3 Blee
<3 Blee
<3 Blee
<3 Blee :eyecrazy:

awwww Kull <3
 
Made it to like an half, but I don't see those things happening as anything new.
For example, noobs were begging for items even 10 years ago, selling TT stuff for non sense markup etc..

It's still the same :D
 
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