Good to see some posts actually discussing the subject itself. I hope that the conversation we have here will bring some conclusion which can lead developers the way for 2019 and beyond.
Let me swiftly refer to some of your claims:
Now, this guy comes telling us all we should not put a penny in, and we all act surprised and take him so serious.
My problem lies with his advice he glued to that post.
"NO", dont ped your money in.
That triggered my reaction.
Well, I know that the article is a subject for interpretation but all I wanted to do here is to comment the drop in the sales. I only said that the drop in the sales happened because many of you simply do not use Webshop anymore or reduced the money you spend there. I only commented simple facts.
My intention was never to tell you what you should do with your money. I clearly said in this thread was:
I do not want you to quit or join the game. I do not want to take away your pleasure you have while playing the game. I am a liberal – I believe you should do whatever you want to do and spend your money in whatever way you like as long as it does not hurt innocent people. I do not judge anyone.
And in terms of economics I back traditional Adam Smith's classic attitude, I consider all people
Homo œconomicus. If it triggers you, I will rephrase my words from the article:
Sales are dropping, there is no new source of revenue for MindArk now so if you believe in the project and you want to back the people who stands behind it, follow those two steps:
1. Do not request significant withdrawals for now - it may hurt MindArk further.
2. Throw some money at them if you are willing to - buy some stuff from the Webshop whatever they sell there so it will bring some money directly to MA corporate bank account and will keep them more stable.
But as I said, the choice is fully up to you. I will never force you to do anything with your money. I respect you and the way you spend you money. Some people support financially church some don't, some buy beer and some buy juice, some loose all in casinos and some save up for children's future, some support orphanages and some spend all in go-go clubs
et cetera.
Moreover, below words are interesting to me:
MA has always been deaf and blind to us.
And still we play in their sandbox.
Yes, MA has the reputation to do that.
Many times.
And many times the sky fell.
Many times everybody rage quited because of this.
And still, we here.
In my first article my conclusion was that community accept buggy MMO because it brings nice casino-thrill and some dopamine shot with it. Thing was clear to me as long as one guy on the forum told me that actually MindArk guarantees only the deposits from past 6 months to be withdrawn. Only deposited amount. Not the money you 'win', 'loot' or whatever. So you can basically tell that there cannot be any casino-thrill experience because, as we know, regular casinos always guarantee you to pay you all you win.
So my conclusion was practically wrong, it's not the casino thrill for sure what makes people play. What then? What you find interesting, what keeps you going. I am very curious about it.
Let's go further:
I can look back at a fantastic period I had here and would mourn more over the loss of the universe than the loss of my PED. And that's exactly what the OP doesnt understand
I understand believe me. I understand because I know how it is to care about something/someone and how it is to be afraid to loose it. The difference is just that you care about Entropia and you are afraid to loose it and I don't care about it because it is another game in my 'Gaming CV'. I simply have other things to care about. We all care about something don't we? We just care about different things - that's life.
See ? You are ignoring my question and ignoring my advice to you... don't do too much stories-link and assumptions.
What am I missing exactly? To which post are you referring to, I'm a bit lost I guess. Without assumptions I would have to write a book here, not an article - I said it already.
And also, what is this acronym 'EL' you are referring to and why is it so important when you are talking about right to speech and value of the comments.
And last but not least -you have asked so many times about my motivation that I had to actually sit and think again why have I exactly done what I've done. For sure, MindArk's finances are nice case-study for me as their business profile is very interesting. At that time I thought you could freely withdraw all the money, that kept me asking so many financial-related questions and check their actual financial situation. Since I know now that they do not guarantee all withdrawals, most of my financial-related questions are answered.
Truth is that MA can live this way forever, it's a gold-rush for them. Make people think they play real world economy and convince them to 'invest' in this 3D world real money. In fact you just 'Experience' the real cash economy - that, I think, why they call the game Real Cash Economy Experience, not directly Real Cash Economy. I accept this as an answer to my question how they manage to be still alive with 10,54 million player debt.
I also wrote all those articles during my work-time (don't tell my boss
) when the workload was not so big and I had to make the time pass somehow. And I just also like to write.
Still the most important to me is: What makes you play? What keeps you going then if it is not the casino thrill?
regards,
boring_player
and btw.
Tell me a game where there are players sticking around for 15+ years?
WoW, Tibia, Ultima Online, Anarchy Online, Second Life...