FYI: Latest ND Article Tweeted w/Link ...

The latest ND article showed up at my Twitter account with a link to the article and thought I would share:

In The Virtual World, His Fiancee Never Died

The only thing I'm going to say is ...

• the author needs an editor
• the content of the article has quite a few inaccuracies
• David Simmonds makes a direct statement about Neverdie

Other than that, I'm sure you'll derive your own opinions from the article.

MindStar9 said:

Other than that, I'm sure you'll derive your own opinions from the article.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no...

The article was too friggin' long and bored me to tears, I didn't make it through 1/3 of it.

Chrome said:

Unfortunately, no...

The article was too friggin' long and bored me to tears, I didn't make it through 1/3 of it.

Click to expand...

Yes, quite lengthy, and my comments are more about the author than ND, because this guy just missed the mark on a few things for sure, and there are inaccuracies throughout the article. Also, perhaps the comments by David Simmonds might answer a question or two.

I found the David Simmonds quotes interesting:

• "Jon (Neverdie) Jacobs is not a special case."
• "He must follow the rules as all account users must do."
• "We asked Jon not to 'play' with his avatar, only to use it for publicity... as a developer he cannot influence the economy and get unfair advantages. MindArk can see every capacity of an avatar. Some players believe he has an unfair advantage, [but] this is not so."
• Commenting on the purchase of the original CND: "MindArk's Simmonds, who considers Jacobs, 'a great guy,' confirmed the transaction and denied that Jacobs had any inside help. He made the winning bid fair and square."
• "Jon was the fastest to deposit and won the auction."
• "We returned the money to the unsuccessful bidders. Jon is a celebrity, flamboyant [and] loud. People take notice of Jon, [which] makes good news. So Neverdie has been good for Entropia Universe."

The following is content by the author who I think really made a mess of things, and I'm sure clearly doesn't pay attention to the details of the interview:

• gives the impression that Next Island is ND's planet, with no mention of David Post whatsoever
• also, no mention that where Tina's NPC was going to be located was a section on David's planet
• "Jon and Tina hunted virtual monsters together. They partied at Jon's virtual nightclub, Club Neverdie, together." - (my note) - that never happened, because Tina passed in Feb 2005, and CND launched in Dec 2005
• "Subject to the rules of MindArk's platform but creatively independent of the Swedish company, he [ND] and his team landscaped a virtual place of their own called Next Island."
• "That's what his [ND's] press release was about. Come to Next Island. See Tina. Play Jon's game."
• "Jacobs has the kind of dreams for Next Island and Rocktropia that sound like those of so many other virtual-world dreamers and salesmen."
• "Entropia Universe, now known as Planet Calypso was and is run by a Swedish company called MindArk."

Like I said ... my comments aren't about ND, but rather how this article was poorly constructed, with some inaccuracies that give false impressions, and leaves the reader thinking some things that aren't true. Perhaps ND should have an opportunity to review these articles before they're published.

If you have the patience to read the entire article (obviously my friend Chrome doesn't ... lol), then perhaps you might find other content interesting.

This article was published on the 27th, was new and brought to my attention at Twitter, and I thought I would share, so please let's not make more out of it than just that.

Thank you!

I read it all and noticed the things you mentioned. In a story like that it's easy to tell who made the mistakes with some of it, but other parts make me wonder if it was the author or the subject causing things to be off.

I read it, and laughed several times.
Aside from the sloppy writing of a poor journalist, resulting in great insinuations like "ND owns Next Island" and "MindArk used to own Entropia Universe, but now owns Planet Calypso" there were some other cherries as well:
This however, is by far my favorite:

First warning:

David Simmonds, one of top people there confirmed that incident to me over e-mail. "Jon (Neverdie) Jacobs is not a special case," he wrote.
"He must follow the rules as all account users must do." Simmonds liked Jacobs, who was known by some as a spokesperson for MindArk—though it was never quite clear if that was an official title—and he'd been fond of Tina, who he'd only met virtually. Forcing Jacobs to abandon Tina's avatar was a way to prove that Jacobs wasn't receiving preferential treatment being allowed to flout rules that constrained other players, a concern Simmonds knew other players had about the boastful, attention-getting Jacobs.

Click to expand...

Second warning:

The short version: people started complaining—in a 77-page message board thread!—that Jacobs was violating a MindArk rule by playing his Neverdie avatar in the very virtual world he was developing. Developers can't be players, lest they tip the playing field. MindArk told him he was violating the rules and, shades of the playing-as-Tina prohibition, told him to knock it off. In reaction, Jacobs built himself a prison in a virtual world he's constructed called Rocktropia.

Click to expand...

Conclusion:

Reanimator

He has no respect for the dead, shows 'God Complex' every time he open's his mouth.
Trapped in the 80's, emotionally and culturally.
Play's to sympathy vote to make money.

...sickening.