Wanted to share this which I think is relevant to this particular discussion:
Oldschool Runescape is very popular, actually more popular then RuneScape 3, but there are a lot of bots in Oldschool Runescape.
Some of the points raised in this video to try and explain this phenomenon are:
1. The new Runescape lost itself in an attempt to compete more directly with well established MMORPGs like WoW for example. In doing so, they got rid of certain things and streamlined others and lost some of the features that made it unique.
MindArk is guilty of having done this as well and they are continuing this into UE5. It's easy to see that the UI they are building and their primary concept for the game going forward aligns more readily with mainstream games. This means that certain things about Entropia which are unique will be lost, gameplay will be streamlined and more similar to most other games; if the transition to CE2 is any guide, Entropia will become more bland and tasteless in the process, yet again.
The problem I think is this idea of seeing what's popular out there and wanting to copy it so as to become popular as well. But for a game player, why would I want to play the copycat game if I can just go play the original, and that leads me to the comments in the conclusion of the video above:
2. "If it ain't broken, don't fix it" and "Stick to your roots"
I think there is a tendency for everyone to want to grow the game, especially when we see other lesser games becoming so popular almost overnight. But also, it's easy to make the mistake to think that if the game isn't growing, there must be something wrong with it and having a desire to change it. MindArk is guuilty of this, they have tried and tried again and again to reinvent Entropia. With graphics, with a mobile game like Compet, with Planet Partners, etc...
The thing is, when they do this, they get lost and abandon their roots completely. They don't remember where the concept came from after a while and it just becomes another MMO like so many out there already.
I think this thread and so many other comments in other threads basically comes down to this: a lot of the community wants MindArk to bring the old Entropia back or at least not abandon all of the early concepts wich Project Entropia was rooted in which made it so unique and so awesome at the time, and hopefully just build on those concepts, instead of trying to be like other games.
