The MMO Gamer digs into Entropia (updated)
The MMO Gamer has tough questions for Entropia, but mostly doesn’t get answers. A prime topic of discussion is their recently announced deal to expand into China. Among the tidbits:
- 595,000 registered accounts
- 110,000,000 PEDs were deposited last year (10 PED to the dollar, so $11m [corrected math!])
- No mention of how much was withdrawn
And of course, this response to the censorship question:
The MMO Gamer: When western companies expand into China, there are worries about censorship. Will Entropia Universe be filtered and censored according to Chinese policies? Stories of giants such as Google and Yahoo filtering web searches of keywords such as democracy or falun gong comes to mind.
Marco Behrmann: There have been no such demands from CRD.
The MMO Gamer: Will CRD have the ability to impose such restrictions? Will Chinese players in Entropia Universe be able to express opinions without fear of their private information such as IP address being forwarded to Chinese government agencies?
Marco Behrmann: You have to ask CRD about their abilities. Entropia Universe is set to be one unified universe.
Edit: There’s also this detailed article at Virtual Worlds News.
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110,000,000 PEDs / 10 = $11m USD, not $1.1m
Also, if you’re interested in MindArk’s financial details, all their financial reports are published at http://www.mindark.com
Whoops, fixed the math. And thanks for the pointer.
The entire concept of Entropia is based on gambling PEDs (US Dollars) in various games of chance in the hope of greater returns, based on unknown and secret random algorithms.
If Entropia Universe isn’t supposed to be an online gambling service, what is the purpose of “Global” loot messages advertising loots received over the value of 50 PEDs, the “Hall of Fame” and “All Time High’s” other than to encourage players to gamble their PEDs (US Dollars) in the games of chance that are the Hunting, Mining and Manufacturing professions in pursuit of that elusive win?
The driving dominant factor for successful outcomes (a win) in the three playable professions in Entropia (Hunting, Mining, Manufacturing) is nothing other than a series of hidden random algorithms that determine a profit or a loss, with unknown and secret odds.
The obvious nature of the game is that the ‘House Always Wins’ at the expense of those paying for the privilege of a chance to spin the wheel/roll the dice/pull the lever/click the mouse and gamble on striking it lucky.
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lol the tag “Gambling” is a bit of a misnomer. even if you lose everyday,the real cash economy of the entropia universe allows the value of your avatar to increase no matter how you play. as long as you are in playing you gain skills which over even a one year period only gain value. as a regular to the universe i put in small amounts of real cash weekly or monthly depending on how well i am playing, over just one year the cashout value of my avatar is almost twice what i have put in. to me it is not only entertainment, but an investment as well. long live entropia universe!
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Lokiscamaro, unfortunately you seem confused here about the specific meaning of the verb “to gamble” in this context.
Gambling in this context has an economic definition, referring to “wagering money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods”.
The Manufacturing/Crafting “profession” in Entropia is directly analogous to playing a Slot machine, in that items of real value are gambled with the intent of producing a gain/profit given unknown odds. The actual in-game system involves nothing more than dragging virtual items of a specific value into a window, pressing a button and then waiting for an algorithm to generate a random outcome of either a win or a loss.
The exact same thing also takes place in the Hunting and Mining “professions”, however, this time virtual ammo or virtual mining probes (which have a real cash value) act as the casino chips/coins, and an unknown random algorithm generates either a profit or a loss in terms of the loot received (which has a real cash value) when a creature is killed or a mining probe dropped.
The only purpose “Global” loot messages, the “Hall of Fame” and “All Time High’s” serve is to demonstrate how much one may win, and to encourage players to gamble PEDs (US Dollars) on these so called “professions”.
Billy, unfortunately you seem confused here about the specific meaning of the verb “to gamble” in this context.
Gambling in this context has an economic definition, referring to “wagering money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods”.
Roller skating, or driving a car, does NOT involve wagering money with the primary intent of winning more based on an indeterminate outcome.
The Manufacturing/Crafting “profession” in Entropia is directly analogous to playing a Slot machine, in that items of real value are gambled with the intent of producing a gain/profit given unknown odds. The actual in-game system involves nothing more than dragging virtual items of a specific value into a window, pressing a button and then waiting for an algorithm to generate a random outcome of either a win or a loss.
The exact same thing also takes place in the Hunting and Mining “professions”, however, this time virtual ammo or virtual mining probes (which have a real cash value) act as the casino chips/coins, and an unknown random algorithm generates either a profit or a loss in terms of the loot received (which has a real cash value) when a creature is killed or a mining probe dropped.
The only purpose “Global” loot messages, the “Hall of Fame” and “All Time High’s” serve is to demonstrate how much one may win, and to encourage players to gamble PEDs (US Dollars) on these so called “professions”.
Are you able to cash out? Will they let you? Is there any information on how much and whether people have been able to cash out?
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@Ace
Yes, you can cash out. I have cashed out several times. A search on the Entropia Forums (fan site) will show others that have cashed out. The cash out time can be up to 6 months but usually around 3 months. If you have done a cash out before it can be a few weeks. The long time for cashing out is (we are told) so an account review can be done to see if there has been any ‘shady’ activity.
@GEP
If hunting is gambling then so is stock trading.
In the past, the only purpose to crafting was to try and get a ‘HoF.’ This was due to a lack of worthwhile craftable items.
However today, there are an amazing collection of craftable items. As such, one can craft as a profession and perhaps get a global or HoF as a little ancillary benefit.
While you are probably correct in that global and HoF messages are designed to pull others to hunt – it begs the question – pulls who?
A global message does no good to those not already in the Entropia Universe. And those in the Entropia Universe (with PEDs on their cards) are ‘already in the casino’ so to speak. So, what good are the chat messages?
Perhaps the chat messages in EU perform the same function as the chat messages in EQ2 where they tell your guild mates when you have looted a fabled or heroic item – they facilitate communcation.
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