Why Mindark going bankrupt would be great for EU ...

[Juliane]

Yes we've all have ideas how EU could be better, but it would be unfair to forget all the improvements made with each VU (It's not that long ago we had a player register added for example)

Finally, I disagree that they dont listen.


We wanted:

Unlimited friend list - we got one (eventually)
Missions (taken for granted now)
Auction sort, search
Vehicles....
and so on, you can list the changes or look through old VU notes for yourself, theres a lot more than you may think.

I totaly agree.. MA did a lot of improvements over the last years. A lot things we asked for we got. But it seems every time we got one thing the people start to complain about the next thing.

 

[Strash]

dumbest thread ever.....

seriously?
why would anyone want anyone to go bankrupt.......

and the second issue is...... there would be no more game if MA did...... So .... ya dumbest thread ever.

 

[Neil Stockton]

I agree with the last two comments. It would be bad for them to go bankrupt and the fact that this FUD is surfacing just means we're ready for another VU.

 

[Skullseige]

I dont
Finally, I disagree that they dont listen.


We wanted:

Unlimited friend list - we got one (eventually)
Missions (taken for granted now)
Auction sort, search
Vehicles....
and so on, you can list the changes or look through old VU notes for yourself, theres a lot more than you may think.

After several years, they even removed that controversial Armor equipping fee!

So that means if we want these things:

- Communication on what MA is working on, what MA stopped working on and what MA will start working on in the next week.
- Faster response to harassment/exploits/scams (make a fun and fair game so your clients will like to play more often)

MA will get to these issues (soon?) and not forget them?

All in all I agree with Mega.
MA is trying but they have given up or are lazy in some very important areas.
Lets hope MA/PPs realize what should be on the list and where those problems rank on that list.

 

[OZtwo]

If company becomes liquidated, obviously all the part related to "markup" is gone (it's even in the EULA). It means that CLDs, land areas, motherships and mod faps are worth TT, at the most.

You are joking right? As you should know, in this type of game if Mindark does go bankrupt all items will have a TT value of 0ped.

 

[Profit]

I dont think MA going bankrupt would be great at all.

I also disagree (with the exception of Taming) with several of the opening points.

We asked for more communication - we got more communication! Remember the developers blogs (I think there were 5 of them)? They caused players to riot / quit. No great surprise they stopped doing them really.

MA cant give too much information on updates apart from the occasional teaser video as it can affect market values of in-game items.

Yes we've all have ideas how EU could be better, but it would be unfair to forget all the improvements made with each VU (It's not that long ago we had a player register added for example)

Finally, I disagree that they dont listen.


We wanted:

Unlimited friend list - we got one (eventually)
Missions (taken for granted now)
Auction sort, search
Vehicles....
and so on, you can list the changes or look through old VU notes for yourself, theres a lot more than you may think.

After several years, they even removed that controversial Armor equipping fee!

All the positives you mention should be a given by any competent gaming company.
Communication, basic game options (friends list, missions, functional auction, vehicles..) etc.. are all things a competent game developer would implement. Also, you say communication has improved, I say it's gone from nil to fuck all. Sure that's improvement, but it's still not adequate.

The fact is that we are thankful that an incompetent company (Mindark) finally got off their ass and did what any other legitimate dev would have done years ago.
We shouldn't have to be thankful for that.
It should be a given.

 

[Profit]

A bit of advice: Get a job. You have too much time on your hands!

Trolling 101

 

[aia]

A bit of advice: Get a job.

I'm a participant in Sweden's most popular activities (still growing!): FAS3.

 

[Nobleone]

... it is probably easier for an investment group to create a new RCE game and try to steal away players to eliminate the competition. Because, to be honest, if one arises EU is doomed.

An investment group has already formed and they are working on the new game right now and they are already stealing away EU customers which you can see if you read the threads on their forum.

Someone has already given the name of this new RCE game in a previous post in this thread so I won't mention it by name.

Cheers, Q

 

[crazyqpp]

I totaly agree.. MA did a lot of improvements over the last years. A lot things we asked for we got. But it seems every time we got one thing the people start to complain about the next thing.

I agree..

Well i tried to read all the comments but was bored on the first page..too many complains...MA suck at business ? who cares about business ? I m a gamer and i havnt found any better MMORPG then entropia..so i think they have done pretty impressive job so far and are getting better at it every passing day..

 

[BaronNuss]

Dear fellow Entropians,

after having been part of this community for over 7 years now and running a company myself irl I was wondering the other night how great it would be, if MA was to go bankrupt.

Fact:
This game has been, is and will likely be quite unique amongst all other mmorpg's


Having something unique that people actually want is something any business would dream off. Yet MA's annual reports have been catastrophic for the past 3x years running... and that is not because people have stopped depositing, it is because of the cataclysmic way MA runs their company. I will quickly bullet point what I meant by that

- Next to communication with their clients (us)
- Next to no information about updates, game development etc.
- Lies, lies and more lies regarding many aspects of the game (taming)
- No idea how to run a business (which company in Sweden would buy a castle in Germany?)

... this list could be carried on for pages. Those players who have been with us for some time will happily list hundreds of other aspects in which MA has failed utterly.

So you might think, hell no one is perfect and I agree with you, but MA's idea of running this show is so far from perfect as humans are to settle mars (although on that point I am open for discussion, hehe). In fact, MA has managed this game so badly that they had to sell 60.000 CLD's for 1k ped giving out 20-30% roi on them. No what functioning company would raise money for ~25% when my business could borrow money for under 3% atm (sure, I sit in Germany they in Sweden, but interest rates are not that different)? I can tell you who would do something ... Someone who is desperate and that is exactly what MA is imo.

Sooo .... What would happen if MA does indeed goes bankrupt?

From my point of view there is a lot of cash in this world just waiting to be venture capital and I cannot see this game dying any time in the future as it has over 10 years of tradition, as it actually runs smoothly and, lets face it, as it isn't a bad concept to start off with.

So from my point of view we would have an investor (or a group) stepping up the table and taking over and unless that is a blind three-legged donkey they cannot do worse imo. The longer I think about, the less likely it is in my eyes that MA will survive (unless they start thinking like a business and act like a business).

Feel free to discuss

Angel

 

[Pyhä Antero]

Unlimited friend list - we got one (eventually)
Missions (taken for granted now)
Auction sort, search

I don't know how to code, but I can bet that I could have learned to code these things in a week.

 

[Butch C v.2]

It is like knowing 6 months before a wheat harvest that it will be a poor one. If you knew that you could corner the market in flour and make a massive profit.

No it isn't actually, it is nothing like that, it's a little more like this.

Its like not knowing your profession will be taken away from you that you paid hard earned cash for and not have that profession so far for 4 years and if that profession were to come back you wouldn't be on a gold mine you may possibly be where you were when it dissapeared.

And how you can have a go at a shop owner for no longer selling his merchandise that has dropped in value due to the fact THERE IS NO TAMING is beyond me, i wouldn't be selling anything either or he would be losing more money than he has so far, you know that shop the one he owned to sell taming gear that he can no longer sell?.

And Hangar owners who owned their hangars before cryengine got royally ripped off, they went from the only mode of transport to a large ship people can skill engineering on that can no longer land on the planets and they have to buy L addons and ores to build its strength. How is that cornering the market by knowing things sooner and sitting on a goldmine?

By your reckonings someone like me who has 54 lvls in taming is so lucky and should be thankful when and if taming comes back as my skills and tools may actually be worth something again like they were originally.

Excuse me if i don't follow your way of thinking.

 

[valentin]

An investment group has already formed and they are working on the new game right now and they are already stealing away EU customers which you can see if you read the threads on their forum.

Someone has already given the name of this new RCE game in a previous post in this thread so I won't mention it by name.

Cheers, Q

Not "stealing" offers another altenativ.

 

[HardWrath]

I'm not gonna point fingers here but....

I think that a lot of the things said by some people in this thread are indicative of their level of ignorance when it comes to running a business and filing bankruptcy. Moreover, there is no reason to believe that MA is or will be filing bankruptcy.

Its very easy for us to sit here and be critical, I certainly have some points that I could make in that regard, however the fact remains that MindArk has in fact remained in business now for over 10 years meanwhile the vast majority of companies go out of business within the first year or two. MindArk has had some epic curveballs thrown at them but they managed to overcome those problems and they are still here.

Its very easy for us to sit here on the side lines and say "that's the dumbest idea I have ever seen, WTF was MA thinking?" but we also don't see what's going on behind the scenes and what MA is aiming for. No doubt they have made their share of missteps but anyone does.

My friends list is full of people who are making money in EU, some make substantial amounts. I make a little myself. Moreover, my friends list is also full of people who happily run their PED through the loot system everyday.

All MindArk has to do is keep releasing updates at a reasonable and responsible pace while simultaneously attracting new people to EU, just as they have been. New customers are the life blood to any company in any industry and there is no shortage of new people joining EU and depositing... some are quite frustrated with the monthly deposit limit.

 

[Amar]

how great it would be, if MA was to go bankrupt.


we would have an investor (or a group) stepping up the table and taking over

In comparison to traditional games where upfront development costs have to be gambled against a relatively short-lived period of high income after games release, the MMO has a very stable high income stream. It is very hard to imagine that a company such as MA could fail to make this viable, even if they had to make further reductions to operating costs. Although, I must admit, I too have been baffled by some of the numbers and decisions we have been seeing over the last few years.

It is perhaps true to say that there was a period when MA imagined they were making a "step-up" and they allowed spending to get out of control. But I don't see any reason why they would have to go bankrupt in the foreseeable future.

Also, I think your idea of what would happen if MA did go bankrupt makes too many assumptions. What you describe is certainly perfectly possible. But, a group of investors taking over EU as a going concern is far from the only option. It is conceivable that in the event of MA bankrupcy the EU platform (with or without all its infrastructure) could be sold off as an asset. In this event, while the new owners would most likely wish provide continuity of the virtual world(s), they would have no liability in regard to deposits or value & stats of items held by pre-existing participants. This would not necessarily be viewed as "great" by all participants.

 

[starcollector]

An investment group has already formed and they are working on the new game right now and they are already stealing away EU customers which you can see if you read the threads on their forum.

Someone has already given the name of this new RCE game in a previous post in this thread so I won't mention it by name.

Cheers, Q

Yep it seems that this new MMO RCE is going forward with their project.....Ty for remind me to check their website and forum...

 

[DiabloP]

So hypothetical speaking, what would happen if mind ark was to go bankrupt? would they allow players to withdraw their assets first?
Technically as part of the TOU they can ban accounts without reason and prior notice:

"MindArk reserves the right to, for any reason and at its sole discretion, refuse approval of an Account application, to refuse access to an Account, to Terminate, Ban or Lock an Account and to remove, edit or add Account information, with or without notice to You."

(TOU 3.1. Account Application and Registration )

 

[Uncle Mo]

I am personally not depositing again until Mindark sells the game to someone else. They are completely incompetent. Their software, hardware and coding capabilities are miles behind every other product on the market.

 

[HardWrath]

I am personally not depositing again until Mindark sells the game to someone else. They are completely incompetent. Their software, hardware and coding capabilities are miles behind every other product on the market.

Well GL to you

 

[valentin]

So hypothetical speaking, what would happen if mind ark was to go bankrupt? would they allow players to withdraw their assets first?
Technically as part of the TOU they can ban accounts without reason and prior notice:

"MindArk reserves the right to, for any reason and at its sole discretion, refuse approval of an Account application, to refuse access to an Account, to Terminate, Ban or Lock an Account and to remove, edit or add Account information, with or without notice to You."

(TOU 3.1. Account Application and Registration )

In Sweden, it is always the biggest creditors first go to to get money back
(such as banks) ,to the players if they have any money left how it works in Mexico, I do not know.

 

[Futurama]

So hypothetical speaking, what would happen if mind ark was to go bankrupt? would they allow players to withdraw their assets first?
Technically as part of the TOU they can ban accounts without reason and prior notice:

"MindArk reserves the right to, for any reason and at its sole discretion, refuse approval of an Account application, to refuse access to an Account, to Terminate, Ban or Lock an Account and to remove, edit or add Account information, with or without notice to You."

(TOU 3.1. Account Application and Registration )

It's a service provider not a manufacturer. When a factory goes bankrupt due to no cash flow or whatever, you can always sell the equipment, warehouse items, sell any property etc. in order to at least partly satisfy the creditors.


If Mindark goes bankrupt there is nothing. Mindark would most likely go bankrupt when there is almost no money left (can't pay the bills, salaries etc.). And you are asking if they will allow to withdraw your assets first? Sure, in monopoly money.

 

[Solo4711]

Dear fellow Entropians,


So you might think, hell no one is perfect and I agree with you, but MA's idea of running this show is so far from perfect as humans are to settle mars (although on that point I am open for discussion, hehe). In fact, MA has managed this game so badly that they had to sell 60.000 CLD's for 1k ped giving out 20-30% roi on them. No what functioning company would raise money for ~25% when my business could borrow money for under 3% atm (sure, I sit in Germany they in Sweden, but interest rates are not that different)? I can tell you who would do something ... Someone who is desperate and that is exactly what MA is imo.

Angel

its not that easy to step to someone asking for money with low rates for a virtual universe when your annual reports are not that bright.

the post above explains it. no security for the institute if it fails. the castle in dresden wont cover 6 million.
so you have to think about "who would invest for sure?" - the ones who keep the faith.

mid level football/soccer teams do it all the time also. lending money from fans with a return above average. when they are in a situation no institute would hand them money cause the situation of the club is not likely to change to the better in a suitable timeframe and the club itself got no securities (stadium belongs to the city and is just rented, clubhome rented, etc etc. ) only the club, its employees, sportplayers and fans.

 

[Kitch]

MindArk is a limited liability company. If they go bankrupt claims will be handled in following way:
1. the employees will get payed and lose their job sadly
2. all loans to financial institutions (banks, insurance companies, the goverment in many cases) will be repaid
3. all claims by vendors will be repayed if there is money left (server centre, electricity,...)
4. if there is money left the planets and moon partner may make a claim (=/= lawsuit). If the claim is approved the remaining money will be distributed

5. all players are screwed; that's it.

absolutely this

 

[crazy]

People cry that the loot returns are shit, and this is with MA loosing money past 3 years

can you imagine another company takes over and is making profit from the game how shit the loot will be then

 

[raxxor]

People cry that the loot returns are shit, and this is with MA loosing money past 3 years

can you imagine another company takes over and is making profit from the game how shit the loot will be then

You're saying MA needs to increase their income? how about reducing their spending?

Actually.. you know what.. remove all planet partners and make calypso one planet again, owned by MA.. that would for sure make this game better and their profit would increase. + less development costs

 

[crazy]

You're saying MA needs to increase their income? how about reducing their spending?

Actually.. you know what.. remove all planet partners and make calypso one planet again, owned by MA.. that would for sure make this game better and their profit would increase. + less development costs

im just pointing out that life with out MA isn't guaranteed to be better.

why anyone else would want to take over? I think if they did would of happened years ago, or even they would of made there own game, mindark doesn't have copyright on RCE, nothing stopping anyone creating there own game.

So why havnt they? This game really isn't as succesfull as you might think, when talking in money values or trades etc sounds impressive, but reality is that items in this game cost so much that any regular gamer wouldn't give it a second thought to play this game.

Playerbase is very small in EU, I don't think the concept is as great as all assume, otherwise there would be countless other games giving MA a run for there money which just is not the case

 

[crazy]

I should also add that I think mindark have been to stubborn to let this game fail, I think any other company might of gave up on this long ago and moved onto something else

so I think you should be thanking mindark for trying there hardest to keep this baby alive

 

[Pyhä Antero]

People cry that the loot returns are shit, and this is with MA loosing money past 3 years

can you imagine another company takes over and is making profit from the game how shit the loot will be then

Well it's hard to make profit if you fck up major sale and you have to take over Calypso again and break the pending deal and in the meanwhile your castle walls are starting to crumble.

 

[crazy]

mindark bought the castle during the boom period, and now it is one of the few assets the company has