I said I'd not comment anymore on other planets on PCF, as it seems unfair to have the bulk of the discussion about any of them only on another planet's forum when they have their own forum, but this is getting on my nerves so much I will now go back on that self made pledge. Before going further, I must state that I am not an ND fangirl, I like some of what he has done in EU, but not all, I am not on for example RT because I'm not keen on some elements of it like the GTA style of female mobs etc. So please don't bother dismissing my thoughts on that idea. I am a player of Entropia Universe, end of, I will try all new planets that I think may appeal and make my own conclusions about whether or not I like them enough to play on them.
/rant mode on
The schedule for Next Island that Casay repeated above has not really changed that I can see. It was originally hoped to do that beta opening for existing players back in October, but that was delayed until December. Beyond that, it was later announced that it would be opened to the games media on last Friday, but that seems to have been cancelled, because of the 'unknown circumstances' that meant there would be no update to NI on Friday. That choice of phrase to me screams 'MA did not do the update as planned or expected', which is also what I assumed on Wednesday when the main planet content wasn't included or activated in the mix, things like mobs and missions and the portal to the first time location of Ancient Greece. That was a big update that day, a new planet, as well as a new land area for Calypso etc, so somewhere in there things didn't go as expected. Is that truly something others haven't thought of at all? It seems not, since all the screaming across at least 4 forums now has been assuming that the developer, ND is the one responsible for no main content on NI, claims that he deliberately opened the beta early just to show off his land area and screw up the vision of the planet owner. Uh, the schedule listed here seems to be when the beta was planned and announced by the planet owner, so what says ND decided that date all by himself and for his own benefit only and with intention to screw over the owner ( who is his client)?
Simple truth is that something went wrong on Wednesday, and then again Friday. The only official explanation so far is the 'unknown circumstances' that prevented an update on Friday but hopefully new things will come next week if things go right. I also take that IF things go right to be a simple comment about the 'dynamics' we all know and love from MA. All the yelling and finger pointing at one person, claims being made about what he supposedly did etc, is nothing more than speculation and personal opinion presented as though it is fact (and in my opinion bordering on slander and libel, if it was my business being attacked this way my lawyer would be the one answering). I just find it interesting in the extreme how different people can look at the same situation and see two entirely different 'obvious' explanations come to mind. Mix that in with the clear objection to ND being a dev for that game and a land owner as well and it gets muddied. Mix that even further with one person being pissed off at ND because he apparently didn't honor an 'exclusive' story with a forum the way the interviewer believed he should have (and has stated all of this as part of the 'problem' publicly on forums), and frankly you start to get a mix that is really stinking to high heaven.
As a player of Entropia Universe, and as someone attempting to give this new planet a fair chance to get off the damn ground, I would love to be able to browse game forums without having to listen to what appears to me to be one person's personal vendetta over and over and over and over again (opinion). We get it. We don't all agree, and none of us are ever going to know what happened, what went wrong, what made changes in updating content get delayed etc, until one of those officially involved (which no 'community' forum or self appointed representatives are by the way) tell us what they feel they can and want to share publicly.
I strongly recommend that anyone wanting to know why more main content is not yet implemented in NI go over to their forum (
http://www.nextislandlife.com ) and post that question, or ask that question on their facebook or twitter (they are quite active and just today posted another story about the 'launch' right before the Spike Video Game awards,
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/11/next-island-game-debuts-before-spike-video-game-awards/ . If anyone feels they are somehow due a personal response and explanation but they aren't getting any such personal response and explanation, oh well, I'd guess that ND, David Post etc are perfectly capable of reading emails, pms, forums whatever, hell they may even be able to answer their telephones! If they aren't, maybe they have good reason not to?
For those complaining on an entirely separate issue, which is MA's rules about the roles allowed in it's platform, partners, devs, land owners, players etc, and whether or not it is currently set up in a way that is open to abuse, yes please, discuss, then hit the submit button on a support case. We may get an answer from MA one day, we may not. For those who are upset that ND is currently in all of those roles and don't like it or him or his style of promotion or whatever, consider going to his forum and saying so, and then hit that submit button on a support case? It just seems to me to be several separate issues getting all mixed up together, and I for one feel like this new planet and it's owners ideas and chances to make them happen did not deserve to have it's throat gone for like it has been since it's opening day to us.
If you are a player in Entropia Universe, I wish you lots of fun playing the game on whatever planet you happen to be on at the time. If you don't actually even actively play in this game any longer then perhaps you might find something more relevant to your life to look into?
/rant mode off
