Wistrel's Diary

OK so the intention here is to post in a variety of different ways. The hope being that if I don't have to keep to a set format I'll do it more often and maybe one day have something thats worth re-working into something different. Sometimes this will be IC sometimes OoC as Wistrel is pretty different from me. I guess it all depends on how creative I'm feeling

The Road to Calypso is lined with Crashes

Well at least it has been for me but hopefully, from this day forward this is set to change. Ever since my computer was made, its crashed, not just occasionally but more or less everytime the heating kicked in or summer came! Of late however I decided to do something about this and, together with a fantastic friend, embarked on a whole heap of really dull and lengthy testing to work out what on earth was wrong with it.

To cut a long and extremely boring story short it turned out to be "memory incompatibility" which, once changed, left me with, for the first time ever, a computer that is capable of allowing me to play games for more than 10 minutes! Horray! This was all good and well except I was getting the weirdest things going on with graphics (You wouldn't beleive how creepy some of the things and people I found on calypso looked - no faces and made entirely of swirls in some cases!) This weekend I managed to fix it by the amazingly scientific technique of "taking the component for a walk" and would you believe it, it works now!! Calypso here I come

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional: From here on in, all text, ingame screen shots and artwork submitted within this thread are Copyright owned by Wistrel Chianti (2006). If you wish to use, duplicate or sell any of this content please contact me via Personal Message on this forum and I will provide an email address for further communication. Photos taken from other sources such as movies, catalogs etc I do not claim ownership of.

Concern over my ownership of this material has been prompted by the recent sale of entropiaforum to an unknown party.

Crashing is seriously bad for your Loots

Which is why of course I've hardly ever hunted on Calypso, preffering instead to keep with less "life threatening" activities such as making trousers (I'm English - pants are something entirely different!), chatting, exploring and trading. Some would say it was something of an embarrisment that, Wistrel, having been wandering around Calypso for coming up a on year soon is still not much more than a newbie in terms of skills or even knowledge for that matter so maybe now is time to change that.

Last night I can honestly say I went on the biggest hunt I have ever done. I went back for ammo several times and got through a few axes and boy was it fun!

Its interesting to how Camp Phoenix has changed since the mobs got more inteligent. CP used to be one of my favourite hang outs despite the lag as there was always something to do there or somone to talk to. I honestly expected it to be deserted but much to my supprise it was fuller than ever not with people blindly clicking away round the pilon however but groups of new arrivals working together to take it turns and find new ways to sweat the mobs. This is very encouraging The other good thing about this is that everyones a lot more spaced out so hunting around the area turns in to a pleasant mixture of hunting, sweating, trading and talking to people even when you are far from the teleport!

After the hunt was out I met up with fellow SMA member il. He wanted to do some fapping (something I have yet to try) so we teamed up so I could sweat his mobs. While we were at it we met Krille, a very nice new arrival who politely asked if he could join in and of course we let him It was interesting to see that, although he is relatively new hes already got more skills than me Haha well lets face it the sabas have more skills than me - I'm pants!

When does it stop being gambling and start becomming fun?

... is a question thats been on my mind ever since I started playing PE really. OK so I'm not sure exactly what the definition of gambling is but I expect its something like "betting money on an outcome overwhich you have no control". Under that definition PE isn't gambling because you have both choice and influence over what you do with your PED's. You could argue that certain aspects of PE such as crafting or hunting are gambling but even then you do have some influence on the stats and the more you do it the better you get. Hunting of course is better than crafting in that sence as theres somewhat more to hunting than "dropping the coin in the slot machine" so to speak.

Taking things to an extreme however, even trading is a form of risk but its a risk you DO have control of (or at least the power to decide how much control you want as determined by the risk of the investment) and you can't call it gambling any more than you would running a business in RL! I had some interesting discussions with my parents round about the time of the island sale about the fact that the money involved blatantly was an investment as much as one would invest in a bank or trade deal in RL. They felt otherwise though believing that at the end of the day MA have control of Death's money and could make or break the investment as they feel fit. I explained that of course it wasn't in their interest to do that as it would be more harmfull to them in the long run but their point stood and that was that the world wasn't truely random...

Now in some ways one could say this is a good thing. IRL you could own a factory thats situated on the site of a major earthquake and you could loose everything. In PE (at least for the moment) with MA as the (in effect) Gamesmaster or God of Calypso not only is it impossible for them to do this in game with the current implementation but even if they could its very unlikely they would cause lets face it, appart from your competitors, no one really WANTS that kind of thing to happen so MA would make sure it didn't. When it comes down to it the only real risk to the Calypsian economy is infact through its single tie to RL, the danger of MA itself folding.

All that aside, theres another line regarding whether PE is gambling or not and thats the weight of how much money you could loose against the amount of fun it buys you or rather, what is PE worth as an entertainment medium? For me, I compare PE to one of those slot machines you might find in an arcade. The type where you put in coins and they form a pile at the bottom and the more coins you add the more likely they are to tip the balance and knock a load of coins into the change bucket so you can win or keep on playing. Now with these machines the point at which it becomes gambling rather than fun, for me, is entirely determined by how long the spending of a certain amount can entertain me for. For example If I'm playing a 10p* machine, it takes me a matter of minutes before I've spent a pound** and the chances are I don't win anything so in effect I've spent a pound on very very little. The difference is, that when I use a 1 or 2p coin machine I've now got 100 or 50 chances to tip the balance and win something so not only does this buy me a longer playing time but also increases my chances of winning (admittedly smaller amounts). In short, the difference between 10p and 1p machines is whether a pound buys you an hour or mores entertainment or just 5 minutes!

I treat PE the same way. So far, when I compare the amount I've invested in PE and the sheer amount of entertainment that its bought me (whether I've lost the PED's or not) to what spending similar amounts on other forms of entertainment would have gotten me theres simply no comparrisson. I don't care to work it out but in my current style of play I recon I could loose many times what I have already invested in PE and even then, I'd still be winning!


* 10p = ~2PED
**1pound = ~20PED

A Girl I Once Knew

Making my way through the dank and dimly lit streets to the meeting point I find myself again considering the way things have gone. Calypso, once a bright and rich planet full of potential and dreams, now seems to have fallen under a permanent shadow of darkness.

In days gone by I used to be a hunter, a proud upstanding member of a successful society and a recognised and respected member of community. To say I have fallen so far though would hold little contrast to the background of the world around me today. Back then the days seemed permanently bathed with bright sunshine and warmth. Hunts were glorious team affairs, honesty abundant and this place… heh this place we laughingly still call “Port” Atlantis was a center of commerce, a bustle of activity and a jumping off point for all the orange flight-suit clad new arrivals determined to cut their teeth on this ripe and promising new world.

It’s not that Calypso has been abandoned by the Federal Empire’s colonisation plan of course. Oh no, it’s just that these days the lies they tell the suckers to get them to give up their cosy lives and ship off to the far reaches of space are ten times worse than they used to be. Who knows what they tell the poor bastards now, but they still arrive here in droves, not cheerful and optimistic like they used to be however but shaken and bedraggled resembling more that of beggars on the street than the healthy, driven looking individuals I remember from the recruitment posters back home. It seems everyone’s ambition upon arrival now is to leave. Most don’t make it of course but those wily and clever enough to lie, cheat or on a rare occasion earn their way onto a spaceship inevitably get caught by the pirates and are never to be seen again. My group, or what you might laughingly call a “society” I suppose, are the last ones it seems who actually want to stay here. Call it loyalty, stupidity or just an inability to move on and accept reality but there are those of us that, for some crazy reason, still believe in this place, hence why I find myself working, what seems a perpetual night shift, in the vain hope that one day my efforts may yet make a difference… A sudden crunch beneath my feet shakes me from my reverie and I crouch down to see the remains of what looks like a crumpled up bounty advert. Holding it to the swiftly darkening sky it is just about possible to make out the words, “WANTED: For Robbery and Life Displacement”.

Life Displacement, that’s “the” politically correct term on this planet, invented and used by those who haven’t and are never likely to experience its true meaning which itself is nothing short of death or murder in this case. When the revival terminal technology was launched it came with the advertising executives dream slogan of “Experience Eternal Life” but anyone with enough savvy to think about it soon realised that was just a romantic way of saying “Experience Eternal Death”. Myself? I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve died but one thing’s for sure, it was never fun nor something a person could ever “get used to” and for this reason, despite our so called “charmed lives”, taking the life of a fellow colonist still to this day is considered a heinous crime.

Normally, it’s almost textbook the kind of people who turn to such a way of life. Desperate colonists who, in some manic desire to leave this place, snap, loose all sight of reason and eventually go on a killing spree but as for this one? This one’s different somehow… My curiosity piqued I stand back a little, holding the page clear of the shadows and then, adjusting for the light, I recognise the familiar features of a girl in her early twenties with silver grey hair and pale skin.

Although it has been many years, the name Wistrel Chianti is still as familiar to me as if it were yesterday. A pretty girl then, she was one of the most up and coming employees of the ill fated Sterling and Moss Association, popular, enthusiastic but with a strange dynamic and rebellious streak that could never allow her to be pigeon holed. Straightening with a sigh, I crumple the advert and drop it to the floor. Admittedly a long time has passed since I last saw her but I feel my heart sink at the thought she could have fallen so far. In their time the SMA group were among the most trusted of colonists on Calypso and their leader, Il Lavashna (after the founder Aziphirael Stone’s tragic demise) is still with us and loyal to the cause. As I move on resignedly I can’t help feeling that poor Az would be turning in his grave.

Rounding a corner I see, up ahead through the gloom, my target, a lone cloaked figure standing half hidden by the shadow of a doorway. Hastening towards them I call out the pass code and nodding, the figure moves surreptitiously a little into the light, their face still shrouded by a deep weathered hood. “What’s the trade?” she says monotonically, giving away nothing but an indication of her gender. “Blue prints” I reply, ”5000 or equivalent and the information on the drop Stasi promised us”. Close enough to see the lower half of her face now, she smiles as she reaches beneath the cloak and produces a small bag. “Dulurium ingots” she says by way of explanation as she hands it to me, “and you’ll have your information.” I make to query the remark but, puzzlement evidently clear on my face, she anticipates the question and moves to point toward the road behind me. As I half turn to look the sharp snap-hiss of an En-Blade igniting heralds loudly my fatal mistake! Too late for weapons, I whirl to counter the attack but, with lightening speed, she has already brought the blade to bear and in a moment my vision explodes in a maelstrom of light and sparks, a streak of sudden pain down my right hand side and my legs buckle as my body spasms out of control…

As I lay paralyzed from the electricity, staring up through a haze of pain, the figure staggers dislodging her hood and reaches up to feel the blooded bruise I inflicted on her face. By the light of the En-Blade the silver grey hair and pale features are suddenly apparent and I cry out in anguish, “WISTREL!!” Her head snaps round to look at me and I can see clearly the dark sunken eyes, an inhuman look of sheer hatred etched upon her features. Then, just as suddenly, her eyes widen as recognition dawns traversing slowly to a look of wonderment and in a moment she is the girl I once knew. She stairs unblinking down at me and I feel a rise of hope unfurl within that maybe it is only circumstances which have led her to this and perhapse, if I can persuade her, we might both still be saved. Then, slowly, her mouth twists into a cruel smile and my hopes are dashed as she reaches into my coat to retrieve the blue prints. Straightening, she raises the sword above my head and the pain erupts with ferocity, this time, beyond comparison.

…​

“As the sparks filled my vision and death was upon me, the last thing I remember was the haunting look of contempt on her face and then… then the darkness consumed me yet again.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OK so there it is, my first attempt at a PE related story. How many thought the character doing the narration was me? Well anyway this is pretty much the first bit of creative writing I've done in 6 months or more so feel free to message me any comments good or bad since chances are, I'll probably do another one some day so could do with that grammar checking!

A few things about the content. Basically I just woke up last Sunday and thought "Hmm, wouldn't it be cool if Wistrel turned bad" and therefore sat down and wrote a story about it. Obviously it isn't set in our current time but at least 10 years hence probably more (thanks to revivals no one ages though). Apologies to Az of course for a) killing him and b) wrecking his society. What can I say but it just felt right at the time

On a final note, yes! I want hooded cloaks! and dark alleyways in which to wear them! Heh, somehow I think I'm probably playing the wrong game though

Update: Saw this in a film called Avalon - guess its a sort of equivalent look to that which Wistrel might have in the story. If only avatars really could look this cool

Every society needs a "Kick Ass Elf"!

OK so I promised myself I wouldn't get into the habit of only doing big updates and the like for the very reason that each update would have to be bigger and better than the last and suddenly several weeks go by and I'm still sitting silently in a corner saying nothing. Er... whoops!

OK so the story was fun and I enjoyed doing it and it was really really nice to have one or two people come up to me in game and tell me they liked reading it. That made me feel very happy and made my day

So game wise I've been experiencing quite a few new things but it seems at the moment I'm more or less doing nothing much more than socialising. We have a new member in SMA, DD and its been really nice talking to her when previously no ones been online. Was quite amused the other day when she told me Az described what the members of SMA all did. Roughly he said "DD helps with mining, il's the fighter, I'm just a trade junkie and Wisty's the Kick Ass Elf!"

hehe well I was pretty chuffed with that description. I was originally described like that by some guy I met at Hades C but its amusing that it's become my official role now! I've never really had much of a direction in game so to be honest its actually fairly accurate!

Heh, now I'm sitting here writing, quite a few things have actually popped into my head but I think I'll leave those for another day. One thing that has been on my mind though lately is an idea I've had for what essentially I could call my very own "Project X". I guess I have Az and his "Project X" to thank for that but yeh, I've had an idea, I think it's doable but it may be a little while before I get it done. I wont say anything more than that except for the fact that its going to be called PenPal

For Sale: The services of one kick ass Elf. House trained and personable!

Yup seems I'm unemployed again in game Nothing to do with SMA, of course those guys are still great but I no longer have my job in trading since, after conversations with Az, we've come to the conclusion that trading materials is getting a little pointless these days. To briefly explain, the ethos of SMA was to ride out short term fluctuations in market trends by fixing prices that seemed reasonable, based on long term realised and informed knowledge of demand and availablity, and more or less sticking to them inorder to attempt to provide stability to those who trade with us. In short, to make life easier for those who play the game with other intentions and don't want to get bogged down with the headache of a cut throat market place.

People want to have available supplies as and when required without having to hunt them down and to feel safe in the knowledge that they aren't being ripped off.... or at least that was the plan! I'm not sure whats going on with the economy at the moment but, for some reason, there's a flood of raw materials on the market and a complete absence of crafters willing to buy them! "Your Amazing.... Have you tried crafting?" says the voice of Mind Ark. Ironic... very ironic...

Anyhow, to cut a long story short, Az bought up, as promised, the gigantic supply of lyst I had that every man and his dog had been happilly selling me at PA and took my remaining stocks of tailoring material for the shop suggesting I shift the rest on the street and get out of the trade as fast as possible. OK I think, "It's not that bad, trading was just a way of financing my other hobby of tailoring, I'll just do that more" Wrong! Y'know, despite the number of orange clad freelancers running about I can't shift a single garment! Its not even the like the price is too high either its just that, as far as I can tell, New Arrivals simply arn't interested in clothes anymore

So yes, strange things are a foot and this more or less brings me down to my point, or rather my question, which is, Why on earth do people play Project Entropia at all?

To answer this, it strikes me there are two types of players really. Those who are in it for the money and those who want to play, essentially, what is the only form of pay-as-you-go online gaming currenly on the market. For myself, if you've been following this diary you'd probably realise that I fall very much into the latter group whereas Az, for example, probably the former. The problem, I feel, is that what all games need is an objective or goal and with Entropia, unless your playing to make money, finding a goal on Calypso is harder than looking for dung!

For myself, I like this game I really do and I want to play it in way that, by my own standards, leaves me feeling as if I have progressed. Life on Calypso is fairly open ended and that, in itself, is a good thing. Take away someones reason for playing though, be it trading, skilling, crafting whatever, and MindArk are suddenly left without a game, but instead what is little more than a very expensive and pretty looking IRC channel.

I guess many people would consider this a bit of a winge and for that I apologise for dissent really isn't my intention. I guess what I'm voicing here is more note of concern than complaint. In SMA we've been discussing things quite a bit and have a few theories on whats going on and why. I'm not leaving or anything and nor is anyone else but I spose you could say I've got out my old harmonica and gone back to sleeping under a bridge for a while.

I've fallen off the Wagon

...well at least the front page! Stupidly I told myself I wouldn't do that which is daft really considering that the more people get diaries and update them regularly the more entries I'd have to write inorder to keep up. In the future, we can't all be on the front page I guess but when theres only 2 pages total, its not such a hard target to live up to ;-)

I could argue its quality not quantity, something that's certainly true of the 2nd page of this forum (where there are some fantastic one entry role play/short story style threads) If you've never ventured onto page 2 I encourage you to take a look and even better PM the authors to get them to write more! I'll probably write more about diaries another day as seeing the different ways in which a variety of people, from newbies to ubers and old timers, use them is in itself a pretty interesting subject. I wonder how many of us ever thought we'd be writing about our lives, a long time hence forth on a planet far far away? ;-)

So, to be a little more realistic, my recent lack of diary entries is in fact more or less analogous to the lack of time I've actually spent on Calypso of late and thats it. When you're entire life on a planet consists of waking up, taking short strolls around some of the larger cities and Ports, noting the steadily declining population or deficiency of things you want to buy and occasionally saying "Hello" to fellow soc mates there really is very little to write home about. Once again, due to the general populace of wingers we see these days, it's important to understand that this isn't a complaint, I'm mearly stating facts.

At the end of the day you see, this diary is supposed to be about Calypso. Calypso, Entropia and all things related so if I have nothing to say (sheepishly looks for some content in "this" entry) on the subject and instead write about what I did in my holidays, thats really quite insulting to the kind folk who run this forum. I'd be better off just getting a live journal.

However, if your looking for a reason not to watch a film, reading the book is a pretty neat alternative and I have to say, a good part my absence on Calypso of late is due to my increased interest, instead, in PENpal. To be honest, I'm just loving working on my little project. Talking to people, finding stuff out, reading around and learning new things, it's just great. I'm afraid, I really still can't say much more about it at this time cause, to be honest, I don't really know yet myself. I think the thing that enthuses me most though, is the idea that I might one day actually contribute something back to the PE community. I wonder how many more people have reached such a feeling...

Window Shopping!

Well the new VU seems to have rebuilt the bridges that were burnt of late and all of a sudden Calypso is thriving again. The Avatar creation system seems to have brought with it mixed blessing however. I've been a bit worried about this one, to be honest, since I was expecting a complete overhall of Avatar models and figured either I'd have to start from scratch or there would be some awfull automatically bodged version of my character, in the new format, that I would have to spend ages and ages fixing. Luckilly, however, I had the good sence to read up on the situation before logging in and, since there appeared to be no changes, I decided I didn't need to touch a thing ^_^

Unfortunately for some, mistakes were made and there are an awful lot of people now running around asking to be the next storyline in the PE equivalent of "Nip, Tuck" One can't help feeling though that this one was almost by design. As the saying goes, "There were complications" but, conveniently, theres a whole new generation of surgeons just itching now to fix everybody up.

On the plus side, however, one thing the new avatar creation system did offer, was a rare opportunity to try out the, much sought after, Essi Dress!! It turns out I don't scrub up too badly after all


As usual, of course, this "Window Shopping" opportunity got me thinking and I realised that theres a real need, in Entropia, for some sort of "try before you buy" style set up. In effect what we need is a department store with changing rooms!
I bet everyone who tries to dress well has the same problem. You wander round the shops and auction looking at the clothes thinking "yeh thats nice, but would I really look good in red?" Given that the hot profession on the block now is beauty treatment, MA are obviously expecting us to care more and more about our avatars appearance and yet it still remains, that the only way to try something on is through trust and when it comes to the auction or shopkeepers, you're pretty much back the catalog! (with the added lack of incentive of course that, if you don't like something, you can hardly send it back! )

Still, as if to proove myself wrong, this afternoon me and my soc mate DD had a fantastic time trying on each others armour and getting opinions. I've always really fancied some black and white armour ever since Rascal appeared and DD had both Rascal AND Paladin (heaven!)
As expected I LOVED both, the only problem is now that I waaaant some! Still, DD very kindly offered to let me borrow it sometimes. (yay!) I guess, untill I have the money, I'll have to stay content with gazing at the screen shots and dreaming...

125PED Sabakuma Young!

Recently I made a friend and told him about "The Pit" Yesterday I went and joined him there for a spot of rifling which turned out to be my shortest and best hunting trip EVER! I turn up and a little saba, who obviously had been lving the highlife, comes to say hello. One axe blow and I'm 125PED better off! Woohoo!!


Seriously though, this couldn't have come at a better time, I was starting to run really low and can't allow myself to deposit until I have a more stable income IRL. Still, that didn't stop me buying that samurai sword I've always wanted....

My how I've grown up!

It must be something like I year now since I've started playing so the global or whatever you call it last week was a nice birthday present from MA. Happy birthday Wistrel, you are 1 today!!

Clothes borrowing seems to be a bit of a running theme for me at the moment. The other week DD had a rancher outfit on loan from Etopia and she let me try it Well suffice to say, I now have a new reason to be play Entropia - I WANT that outfit. Still, it got me thinking about the year gone by, which in RL would be an understatement to say it hasn't been one of my best. It's strange though recalling my first few times on Calypso, how I thought and viewed the place then as apposed to now, a lot has changed!

They say a picture tells a thousand words and in this case I think that is definitely true. When I look at the first one I see a green arrival, making her first attempt to look different with "leg warmers" and desperately clutching onto a terminal rifle in the hopes that it might actually help. In comparisson the second one eminates confidence, casual ease, a little cynicism and style. If only I actually owned those threads

Not so much a "good bye", more a "till next time"

Some people may have seen my mock humour story over at Entropia Pioneers about the drugs I was sold at port Atlantis. Of course there were no drugs it was just a jape but the fact remains that my graphics are knackered. The descriptions in that story about the sky cracking up and gigantic columns rising to the sun wern't my imagination, that actually happened and keeps happening to the point the game is now unplayable.

I don't know what the problem is, all I know is that when the drivers were broken (no tab in windows) and most games didn't work Entropia did but now I have new drivers its gone back to how it used to me. The solutions probably to buy a new card or mess around with with windows, neigher of which I have time or funds for right now.

Still its not such a bad thing. What with trying to read Harry Potter, all the PE fan fictions, another massive fan fiction not to mention several other books, work, forums and my own PE project, I've got plenty to be going in with.

I'm sure I'll be back with a vengeance, I just don't know when

Signing off for now
Wistrel

OK so I got bored...

Well quitting Entropia is, and I stand by this, a good thing. Theres a lot more you get done when you don't find yourself thinking, "I know, I'll just look in to see how the sales are doing" or "I'll just see whos online for five minutes" (One lengthy conversation or a two hour hunt later...). Of course not all of it is always entiiiiirely constructive hence I occasionally find myself producing things like this:


Come on Mind Ark. War Paint! You know you want to

Who me?

"I quit, I hate the loot - lalala will somone listen and care? no? well screw the lot of you, I'm going home" is the normal quitters cry. Well ok so I never said I quit but I did say I was leaving and like many leavers my will to stay away wavered and of course of late I have been back to my old habbits of sitting under trees in search of digital enlightenment.

Its not entirely lack of will power thats brought me back however. One reason was the that I really missed the music and the other is a secret I guess you could sort of say I need to keep checking up on something from time to time at the moment and that has the TERRIBLE side effect of having to keep entropia installed for the time being

So what have I been up to? Well despite a few peoples efforts to help me, my graphics problem still remains so I havn't really wanted to hunt and, although trading would be nice PA is pretty much out of bounds and I don't have the financial resources to graduate above peddling.

On the financial side things are looking up actually. Seems some of my long term stuff sold in Az's shop which made me a tidy sum and of course there was that generous little Sabakuma just before I left. DD also generously donated a pair of boots to my cause for me to colour and I now have a really nice yellow and grey outfit which is currently my clothing of choice I think its quite smart and I feel as an SMA representative maybe I should try and look a little more respectable when I'm out and about.

Some of the discussions I've been having at zychion have been kinda interesting too for example a debate I had with DD about status. In many ways I consider myself a nobody in game. I don't play enough to gain skills, make that many contacts or really contribute a lot to the community unyet DD feels I'm still really important. In my view, if I wasn't part of SMA I'd just disappear into the background like so many others.

The interesting thing about PE though is that you can make a name for yourself in the most bizarre ways. You don't have to have the best gear or stats or play 24/7, instead its all about how noticable you are. Take some of the people on this forum for example. Deathifier, some of the female players, namely Skam, Svetlana, Essi, Suggababe and Nea all seem to be pretty well known for one reason or another. Its strange, thinking back to when I started Nea seemed to be revered as some kinda god by the people on EP along with members of cK and few other ubers but these days she seems to have faded away a little... or perhapse I just don't notice?

Deathifier is, of course, a living legend, Skam is becomming well known for writing all those articles (and having a strange name), Svetlana for posting a lot and Essi, well I guess she has that massive diary which seems so popular. It makes you wonder about all the other people though who never post here or who don't speak english. Maybe theres a whole other world of Entropian celebrities who speak French or something but, due to the language barrier, we will never know anything about them...

For myself, I did have a bit of "famous for five minutes" moment the other day. I was wandering around Zychion and saw someone called Silverrain. I asked if it was THE silverrain of the "legendary" (as in it doesn't exist yet ;-)) Fan Fiction and it turned out it was. We got chatting about FF and I asked if he'd read my story. At the time I was using my nickname, Wisty rather then my full name so he wasn't sure but when I changed it back he was suddenly all, "WISTREL! Your Wistrel?? OMG I'm a huge fan!!!" Well needless to say such enthusiasm for what was a pretty short and fairly insignificant little bit-story came as something of a supprise but I was flattered all the same. One thing led to another and eventually I ended up drinking with him and his society back in the bar so, hey presto, I'd made some new friends!

Guess it just goes to show that a little contribution can go a long way.

"Sorry I've been away... say what?"

You know how in real life sometimes when you go away somewhere, perhapse
to another country or maybe just out in the sticks where theres not much (or need for) communication and some major event happens in the world then when you come back everyones talking about it and you havn't a clue whats going on? I never thought it were possible but thats happened to me in game too.

I went for a wander recently and to cut a long story short I got stuck in the shop container at the end of the universe with little hope of escape! In the mean time of course the vu has been applied, stuffs going on and I'm completely shut off from it all.

Its annoying one might say but I kind of like it. Its good to think there are still frontiers on Calypso, places that are difficult to get to or out from and the idea that one could feel isolated in such a place is a powerful concept and one the MA should be in no rush to destroy.

To be honest I have absoluely no idea how I got there (the journey CERTAINLY didn't involve being chased by hoards of Atrax's!) but I don't much care. The point is, I'm stuck and this opens up another one of those wonderful challenges that Entropia so often lacks for me. The task of getting from A to B!

So far I'm about 7 attempts down and now a servers crashed on me so I'll probably wake up to find myself being eaten by sabas. Still it doesn't matter. I'm having fun and thats really all that counts

Come with me in the twilight of a summer night for a while

"Only God could be omniscient enough to understand and even interact with everything in the system"
"God?"
"At least what I call God. Even thought no individual can ever grasp the system as a whole, it's still programmed for anyone to look at any of its pieces. The entire world exists in binary code and is stored in records. The world that we witness is displayed on a screen. It's not reality. We're witnessing the illusion of reality, what the Hindus call maya. It's really just a shadow world. But the system itself is alive and constantly operating every moment of every day. I call that system God."

I didn't write that, it's a quote from a book I just finished reading (see if you can find it ) but I wanted to share this particular passage as it conveys more than anything a concept I realised about virtual worlds a few months back. I was attending a talk given by an ex-collegue who had moved to work for Linden. The subject was on their online game known as "Second Life". The fascinating thing about this game in particular is that it is made from primitive pieces of data that can be combined by players to make new ones the result being much like the building blocks of life. The most important thing I took away with me after the talk was the concept that neigther the programmers, the managers, the players or anyone knew exactly what existed within that world which has been created. The company themselves have a database and they can look at any moment to see that component A is connected to component C but that in itself is meaningless. The fact that these connections actually result in part in the creation of a beautiful sunset could only be seen from within.

Has anyone seen my Daikiba?

Was the question I would have asked, if only the Snables understood english! OK so not being one to write about, "what I did on my holidays", in these things I prefer not to bore people with what I've been up to in game. Still, my poor diary has been a little neglected of late so I thought I'd voice my thoughts on what I believe is showing all the signs of being the best VU (7.8) ever, in my entire stay on Calypso!

Controversial? Wrong? Misplaced optimism perhapse? Well I expect all of the above could be said of my views on this but here's why...


Pure and simple. OK so why do I think this? Well, the problem with most VU's is that they are normally for the ubas and the ubas only. Perhapse new furniture is introduced thats only looted on Atrax or maybe we can all have cheap appartments that arn't worth the PED you pay in rent unless you have a further 50 million to spend on soft furnishings. Even the carpentry of 7.7 was elitist because the wood was found on high level mobs and consequently was in the auction for a whopping 1000%+ (meaning only those with the money could afford to try). So why is animal taming any different?

OK well first of all, lets overlook the stupidly hiked price of Nutrio Bars (although its not too bad considering its equivalent to Mind Essence) and further bypass the fact that whips are selling at something like 1000% (not to mention brushes) and get down to the act itself. It's fun cause it actually involves DOING SOMETHING.

What I'm getting at is that theres so little to do on Calypso thats a challenge because, in most cases, money will buy you everything. Not animal taming though, for that you need skill and, for once, I don't mean the kind you can buy on a microchip!

Admitedly, I've only had a small try but, on first impressions, animal taming is about as difficult as trying to sweat a Berycycled without dying, when you're on your own, a complete newbie and still wearing your orange jump suit! Taming a mob requires, thought, planning, skill, patience, a little bit of money and heck even mathematics! ;-)

Whats even better than that is, as far as I can figure out, the worse your skills are, with a whip, the greater your chances! Add to that the fact that MA have capped the level you can train your pets to in order to stop the ubas buying up the entire food supply in an effort to "get there first"* and you have one fantastic VU that is not only fun (because its actually difficult rather than expensive) but for once aimed at everyone.

For myself, I'm looking forward to some fun times ahead trying to tame my first pet. Next go, however, I'll remember to repair il's whip first because the problem, it seems, with trying to find a mob you havn't tamed yet, is that when you call their name, the silly things don't come running!

*ok its more probably they havn't finished the higher level tricks yet but it has a good side effect whether intended or not

Writing again

There's something stupendously wrong I feel with being paid forty pounds to do almost nothing but sit around writing fan fiction. But while last time, such circumstances led to the creation of, "A Girl I once knew" it seems right somehow that, when once again finding myself in a similar situation, the boredom seemed to trigger something and as a result another Entropia fiction is seeing the light of day.

Yes, I'm writing again but as could pretty much be expected it isn't anything to do with "Girl" or, more annoyingly, Wistrel's back story which seems to develop more and more as time goes by within my head but still so far is yet to make it as far as a piece of paper. Similarly, this new one has barely begun and, as usual, probably isn't likely to progress at anything that could be considered speed. That said though, I've enjoyed what little progress I've made already and to be honest, even if it doesn't turn out as well as the last one, that is all that really matters at the end of the day

In other news, as a BBC reporter might say, I imagine most people who care, know that I'm currently on a break from Calypso but with any luck there will be more on that in a future post Without going into huge details the reasons can be summarised by: Crappy computer, crappy computer, crappy computer, new years resolution, no money, 3 new jobs oh and I guess theres that little thing called life too. So in short I've been, and shall continue to be, away for a little while but I will be back, I'm just not sure when yet...

It's funny actually, when I think about it, cause I've deliberately waited a little while before stating this officially this time cause last time, it seemed that no sooner had I declared I was gone, circumstances conspired to get me back again and I was running around Calypso with the week! This time I think (or at least I hope) I'll be gone for a while and the fact that I've survived past a version update (one of the killers against my resolve last time) is a good sign.

Despite being on a break though, I've still had plenty of things to write about but have simply been too busy to come here and put it all down. There should be more updates on the way in the future but for the moment its best to believe I've just run away to space

Please wait, your call IS important to us

We've all been there, your sitting with a sweaty phone pressed to your ear listening to Mozart or Handle if you're lucky but more likely a perpetually repeated collection of synthesizer chords where, every so often, just to prevent you falling asleep or actually start to to enjoy the music, some bored operator pipes up to tell you how much they value your custom, that they are really sorry to delay you and to encourage you to keep holding until they finally get round to answering your call. Sound familliar? No? OK have you played Project Entropia?

Now, before I get started, this isn't your textbook, "Wahh, MindArk don't care" rant more something that, as a player who is coming up on their third month of break from the game, recently occurred to me. Wistrel hasn't set foot on Calypso now for nearly two months; one, how is this possible? and two, why arn't MindArk doing anything about it?

The answer to the first question, I'm pleased to say, has little to do with MindArk. I originally left due to money, time and hardware constraints none of which are attributable to any dissatisfaction with Project Entropia. But, given I'm missing the game actually quite a lot, why then havn't I gone back? Answer: Lack of motivation.

There's no delusions as to the state of play here. Calypso,by its very nature is designed to have a high turnover of new colonists and, without knowing the exact statistics, it seems likely that most of these will fall by the way side. It's not only impractical for MA to chase those who can't handle more than a few hours of sweat gathering but also probably undesirable. As those having witnessed the Gold Rush following the Treasure Island sale will testify, the game simply canot handle that much Orange! It is not the casual passers by though that worry me, more what happens when the regulars quit. I, for example, know that I will be back (or at least I expect I will) but MindArk of course do not. Without attatching too much self worth to this argument, to MindArk I represent a statistic depicting an enthusiastic regular player who has made several deposits but has now, inexplicably quit. They've got my credit card, they know I'm capable of using it, I'm not... surely this isn't good?

Normally, I'm the first person to criticise someone who will state something is crap yet offer up no usefull suggestions or ideas on how it could be improved. It's easy to diss something, a lot harder to fix it and in this case, sadly, I am also guilty. I can see that MindArk are not doing enough to entice leaving players back onto the accounts sheets but I'm also at a loss as to what to suggest. This said, however, I feel the answer probably lies in communication or in essance, making the leaving player feel like they are missing out.

From the first of my previous breaks, I know that one thing MA do do is send out an email after n months of player inactivity. I can't remember exactly what this said but the jist was along the lines of, "we noticed you've gone, anything we can do to help? or maybe you could just let us know why you're off?". Although it is admirable that they don't simply let their bread and butter walk out the door this does smack a lot of, "too little too late" syndrome and, in my opinion, something more needs to be done.

So, speaking from personal experience, the key to the problem lies in communication. The setup with community as it stands is that of, "if you want to be a part of it, you can be, but don't think for minute we'll invite you in" ie there are forums you can be involved with but if you stop looking you won't have a clue what gives. MindArk therefore need to be more pro-active on informing their participants about whats going on in the world they inhabit. A while ago Marco started mailing regular updates on the things that had been happenning some of which, even as a forum reader, I was totally unaware of and likewise story arcs on the client loader were popping up more and more often. Of late it seems however that this spout of pro-active informativeness has died out, the last mailshot being utterly dreary, stale in content and unenthusiastic, doing little to contradict my decision to leave. Last time, what brought me back was a desire to explore the features of a new version update. This said, MindArk could still go a long way to keep their players feeling involved inbetween months even if they are not active. As stated before, I don't know what form this carrot could take but anything from weekly story arc updates, notification of interesting happennings in game or even a video window on the world or a live chat stream from Port Atlantis Market could go a long way toward making "walking away from Calypso" something thats much harder to do.

Bad times ahead? or will this be our finest hour?

All around Calypso the scene was the same. Frightened colonists crowding round TVs in appartments of those rich enough to own one. The rest, without the luxury of homes or possessions, forming large groups in the city centers and various outposts to watch as news of the war was broadcast to the large ad boards and video screens located in their squares. In one such gathering, a scrawny dirty looking girl edged in at the back, standing on tiptoes and jumping to try and get a better view, as the static cleared to reveal the latest of the EBN news reports on the dire situation that was unfolding.

On screen, a worried looking reporter cleared his throat and shuffled his papers. Then, upon receiving an unseen confirmation from somewhere off camera, in a crisp educated voice, he began to read. "EBN is saddened to report that the robot chokehold on Calypso is growing tighter. Relentless waves of massive robot forces continue to attack human outposts, especially Fort Ithaca, which appears to be their main focus of aggression. Imperial recon units have now also reported robot troop buildups in the area around Fort Troy and Camp Echidna, a major assault being immanent. Up to now we’ve observed attack forces mostly made up of drones, but more and more numbers of Warrior and Trooper class robots are now being reported. Even the dreaded Warlocks have been sighted in some areas and an eerie sense of coordination seems to be a new element in this attack.
RDI, the Research Defense Institute, are tightlipped about the desperate situation, but say the colonists have at least found one piece of rare robot technology. Speculation around the supposed finding of the late Professor Barton is also being kept a secret, while colonists once again are left suffering the extreme and reckless violence. Sources within the Government say they are 'worried' about the heavy usage of the revival terminals on Calypso and that this widespread practice may result in power drains or, in the worst case scenario, a collapse of the entire revival system backbone due to the stress. EBN will follow these developments closely and keep the citizens of Calypso informed."

As the reporter moved on to 'other' news all chance of hearing what else may have been considered news worthy was drowned out as the murmuring amongst the crowd began to reach fever pitch. It was obvious to all that the information about the revival terminals was bad, very bad. Much as they were hated by all as the curse of this planet the colonists knew that they were essential and that without them, they were all surely doomed to a fate, literally, worse than death.


er.... that wasn't supposed to be the start of a fiction... I was going to say something about what this means for gameplay! Ah well, I kinda liked it anyhow

Those 'oh so early' days...

So how many people I wonder, when asked, could recall their very first hours on Calypso. What did you think? Who did you see? Where did you even go when you made your first strides out of Port Atlantis and into the Eudorian Countryside? What did you find there? and, most importantly, what was the first thing that ever killed you?

I'm betting for the majority of people they havn't got a clue to any of these questions and probably a whole lot more would ask me why the hell they should care to remember anyway?

Well I don't know what it was like for others on Calypso or why I did it, but for some reason something triggered in my head that this wasn't just "any other game" this wasn't just some static made up place that would exist to become well documented and then forgotten about when the next game came out and gfx improved. Something here was special, something had been carved out with love and devotion and I knew I was in for something amazing. So I documented my travels in the early days, I went to EP, printed out a basic map and started scribbling!

Today, I reached into my draw and pulled out a torn, ragged, stained and well loved map from those early early days and thought "hmm its time to make a new one"! While doing this, thanks to those annotations, I had a chance to once again read through and, to a certain extent, relive those early days. I hadn't written much, a note here, a silly description there, and a few route lines but it certainly served to give me a good laugh at my past naivity ("Killed by big blue hopping thing! ") and take me back to those heedy days of innocence.


I remember once, in those early days, I met a lady out travelling who told me to savour my early days of exploring for they were times that I would never have back again. How right she was and I am thankful to her for those words of wisdom and the fact that, to this day, I STILL havn't been everywhere.

Much of Calypso is still a mystery to me which is good cause I know that, while ever this remains the case, there will always be another adventure just waiting to be had.

I'm telling you it IS yellow!

Ok so this will be the first of a few entries I've been meaning to do for a while on "fashion". To kick off this one's, in answer to the question me and DD have been asking each other for some time which is:

"Is the track suit in Kill Bill 1 yellow or orange?" Now WE both think its yellow and as such have both gone and got/made ourselves the best copies we can, of the costume in game, by using basic pants (trousers) and shirt coloured as brightly yellow as possible to create the illusion that the stripes are in fact black rather than dark grey and wasting all our pocket money on a pair of katsuishi's! THEN people tell us it should be ORANGE!!

If it were orange then every new person on the planet would already be there when they arrive Anyhow heres my answer to this debate once and for all. The only question left to answer now, is if I can afford to get Sarah to do my stripes!

Just for fun

Its amazing what a bit of procrastination will produce sometimes. I was just mucking about with this for fun, applied some random effects and well... this is what I got. Its not great I know, its a bit unprofessional but hey, I liked it so what the heck?


Incidentally I feel I should point out this has nothing to do with TCI. I was just using their name for fun.

Anger... Rarr!

> http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/05/mindark_im_sorr.html

I've already wasted enough of my life reading this crap and debating it with Az who thinks its big news. As far as I can see theres nothing more here than MA seeing an opportunity to get some more publicity (no news is bad news) by taking on some big wig, and a bored law professor trying to show the world how great he is by proving he can slag off a small company and get away with it just cause hes got tenureship, a strong grip on American law and happens to have founded some dull blog site that personally I'd never even heard of (even though apparently its supposed to be THE place to read ).

They are one as bad as the other if you ask me. The whole thing actually really pissed me off. Especially the guy who wrote about it in his blog on the Guardian website, pretty much just quoting what Hunter said. It was just his way of saying "look what I can get away with if I put some bullshit in quotes and post it in my blog cause then it doesn't count even though I know too bloody well that the ONLY reason anyone reads my blog AT ALL is because it IS on the Guardian website and that I happen to work for them (but don't think for a MINUTE this is the views of the paper cause that would libel!)"

Jeese what a crock of shit

Wistrel

A very interesting post

Not really anything I have to say (haha like THAT would happen this quickly, I havn't even dropped off the front page yet ;-) ) but I found this

http://e-pec.info/forum/index.php?showtopic=2198&st=0&gopid=5440&#entry5440

to be an exceptionally interesting thread over on e-pec. So thought I would spread the knowlege. Its about mob names, here is a sample:

Fugabarba - This one isa funny one lol. It's made of exactly 2 portuguese words, I dont' really know if it's suposed to be about that , but it sure is funny. "fuga" means "escape", or something like running away , and "barba" is "beard". lol , so we have a mob with a big beard that runs away a lot. That kinda fits to a fugabarba

Click to expand...

There's plenty more where that came from if anyones interested so go take a look and while you are at it say hi to the folks on e-pec. Its a great little forum for the more pedestrian forum peruser

Awww.... I was so LITTLE!

Was just trying to find some old people on EP and came accross my very first post EVER. Awww... it brings back memories. I was so green!

Hey all,

Just saying "Hi" to see this is all working. Been playing on Calypso on and off for a week or 2 now. I love it, especially now I've managed to loose that yucky orange jumpsuit

So far been pretty much enjoying exploring the place. I'm keeping a map and log of what I find since it seems more fun that way. Hoping to get into clothes making eventually once I've had a chance to settle down somewhere but for the time being its a hunters life for me - or death more frequently

Even though at this stage I'm more interested in having fun than making money I think its great that you can. The whole thing is facinating!

Cheers to everyone whos been helpfull getting me started - you've been terriffic.

Wistrel

Click to expand...

Its quite refreshing to see that actually I havn't changed much. To think, after all this time I STILL havn't been everywhere done everything or know it all yet. Here's hoping I can remain in this happy state of being for years to come!

Things to do on top of the world!

Wow! Middle of the third page! I really HAVE been neglecting this thing. Ah well, not much of a particularly exciting update but the other day I was trying out frapps and the windows movie making program. Just for laughs, made this:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/katsuragi/Sumit.wmv

The trip to the highest point on calypso was really fun and I was supprised to find it actually felt like real mountain walking! haha especially when the high wind noises kicked in! If you havn't been I really reccommend it, its north of Orthos... just keep going "up"

Incidentally an interesting thing happened. While I was there, I put down a stool and foot rest so that anyone visiting could have a seat and enjoy the view. I wasn't sure it would last but I was quite supprised it didn't stay a single day! Next time I was in, somone had half inched it! Ah well guess thats just the way of things on Calypso.

Wistrel

Wistrel Meets MA!

Wow oh wow! Its been a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time since I posted here!!! Soooo long... Its a shame cause game wise not only have I been "relatively" active but also theres been sooo much I've wanted to comment on and talk about but life over this last year has been nuts. I guess one can only do so many hobbies and when one takes over, others (like doing this diary) have to fall by the way side. I've got tons of pics and stuff I wanted to post. Who knows if I'll ever catch up. Heck I never even got round to documenting my time on CND! (Bizaarely I am missing that place recently....).

Anyhow, just a small thing to kick off with and apologies this is a bit "me me me" and not very interesting... sometimes you just need to rabbit before you can start. The other day I went to PA and in a moment of randomness decided to head over to the arrivals area to see if I could help out any new people. Who should I find standing there? None other than an MA Official Assistant!!!

I couldn't believe it cause I've never seen one before* but there she was, bold as brass hanging around and asking for the new people to come and talk to her. Well I WAS impressed!!! This was bold new move on MA's behalf and possibly perhapse a direct result of the new, long sought after, window mode. I'm guessing, now MA employees can run PE in a window they can afford to spend some time hanging around and work on a 2nd monitor or something? Whatever the reason though its a pretty good sign that MA are trying to do something about that large drop out rate I heard quoted some time back cause not only was she handing out advice but also pistols and ammo! Thats right, as Az put it, "MY GOD!!! MA freebies??? Whatever next!" I didn't check, but I suspect it was same as the recent ukash promotion (TT pistol and 10ped ammo) which was equivalent to something like 20% back (don't quote me cause I really can't remember) of the £5 deposit required for it. However just handing them out for free! Thats actually a really really nice move as it promotes good feeling in new colonists upon arrival, far better than just "starting the game with x y and z in your inventory" cause it feels like someone has actually welcomed you to the game and, no doubt, given you a starter for ten to play with as regards information and wise use of the equipment.



So yeh, top marks to MA and I hope to see more of them hanging around PA in the future cause, as I hope they are discovering, people REALLY don't bite as hard as they have seemed to think they would in the past and it only takes a nice gesture before people will meet you half way, stop complaining and start being usefull

Wistrel



* no one has but I'm guessing its a white and blue person

A Matter of Respect

Who do you respect in game? Well I guess we all have someone we respect and look up to. I suppose for me its, anyone who "gets it" as one Marco B once put . I think out of game I have separate respect for those who have done great stories and things such as Kira Red, Epic and Donald. There was also this recent poll about who was the most "outstanding" entropian which was, quite rightly, won by Neverdie who is the Calypsian equivalent of Zaphod Beeblebrox! (can you imagine him saying "I'm so cool you could keep a side of meat in me for a month! I'm so HIP, I have difficulty seeing over my own pelvis!" and getting away with it? hell I can!) Interestingly, among the runners up were none other than the infamous Knuckles and Chainfire. Chainfire I have a HUGE respect for because not only did he write a DARN usefull program but also withstood a MASSIVE amount of criticism and reputation slurs from all kinds of people (who mostly didn't know what they were talking about) claiming he was a hacker or something. Some thanks eh? Knuckles I respect simply cause hes been around so long and has never ceased to cause upset and havoc but he still keeps on going and has never quit. That sort of resilience takes dedication

Still, its always nice when I meet what I would consider to be the ubas which, to me, are the people I remember from my early days in the game on the Entropia Pioneers forum who are STILL around. Whats even nicer is when they recognise and talk to me (cause when I turned up I must have been little more than "another orange" to most of them) The other day I had the fortune to meet Mango who, to be honest, I always just liked for the simple reason that she looked cool. I wasn't in for a disapointment either. She gave me a grand display of all the different Jackets she owned, my favourite alas, was from her beta days and its nice to say, she is still one of the coolest looking players I have ever seen. It's funny though... theres something about the latter picture, I have taken here, that put it all in perspective for me. Compared to Mango, I just look SMALL! Like a teenager or something talking to an older sibling. I suppose in many ways this is synonymous with my status in PE. Despite 2 and a half years on Calypso I am STILL a newbie with skills of a laughable standard. Ah well, its not the winnning, its the taking part that matters

"i'm lovin' it"

Entropia: The Movie

A while back someone cut together a load of scenes from movies and computer games that all seemed somewhat 'Calypsian' and created a great
trailer for a so called, "Entropia the movie". Will certainly say it looked pretty darn cool so I began to wonder just how much scope there really was for such a thing? Certainly MA's original storyline back drop is epic in proportions and provides massive scope for any number of short or long historical and present day accounts, the stories from The Gate and Entropian being fine examples of this as are the wealth of fictions available on Entropia Pioneers. My own fic, "a girl I once knew" has been commented on as being more like a trailer than a complete story (and I would say that was a fair comment) so could a movie be made?

Entropia pretty much contains everything on the scifi wish list so I would say "why not?" which brings us to the all important question of who would the lead roles be and who would play them? Well of course I guess it all depends on the story being told but personally I say why bother restricting life to one movie when you could make *several? The backdrop exists, its just a case of coming up with the imagination to write a few good scripts. Its interesting, having thought about this, that there are many many entropia fan movies however a minority of these actually tell a story or feature key roles and a script. I would probably attribute a lot of this to peoples unwillingness or inability to voice act the characters they want to create or perhapse it is because direction of more than a few avatars to make machinima in Entropia is too difficult. I wonder if films featuring such complex scripts exist for other MOG's that are on the market? I know, for example, the online game, Fragment is in fact born out of the successfull .hack francise of Japan and itself existed as a series of static computer games and animated series prior to existing as a MOG outside the realms of fiction. However, if the reverse is true of any other MOG's or indeed Entropia it would be great to know about and see what has been made.

Still, machinima aside, having seen the likes of Firefly (clips from which were used in the mock up Entropia trailer) it feels that there definitely is scope for something good in this vein of the slightly bleak futuristic colonisation of some far flung galaxy. Personally, for my own stuff, although I think in pictures in my head, I don't know if what I'm aiming for with my own ideas would really constitute a good script for a movie as I feel such a thing would need to be somewhat more rapidly paced. Perhapse though the current or future writers of Calypso could come up with something more suitable and then we'd be left with the fun task of deciding who our ideal real life actors would be to pay our Calypsian Dopplegangers For Wistrel, its hard for me to picture her exactly as, in my own story, I see her changing significantly as time plays out. However, recently I was looking up the new characters for the upcomming Harry Potter movie to find out who would play my favourite character, Tonks. I was delighted to see that she will be played by Natalia Tena who, funnilly enough, by my current view of things, would also make a pretty neat Wistrel...


* Rather than the hollywood trend of sequels, I somewhat prefer the idea of several films that are entirely unrelated in style, depth, characters and time which would be somewhat more akin to the Animatrix ie they all exist within the same "world" but thats as far as any such restrictions would go.