Ever wondered how things have changed for newbies since you joined Entropia Universe? I joined a little over 2 years ago and I know sweat prices have gone down, I know many item prices have gone up, but other than that I havent experienced being a new player for a long time. So how do newbies cope these days?
I decided to write an article to answer that question, by living as a newbie and starting all over again. However, after thinking about it for a little while, I realised I could never truly be a born-again noob. I know too many people, I know how to play the game, and even if I sold all my skills, I would have trouble convincing the community that I was a true newbie. So how could I ever really get into a new player's skin and see what they get up to these days, and try to determine how their newbie experiences compare to that of veteran participants?.
After tossing a few ideas around, the solution hit me. I know from previous experience that MindArk sometimes provides avatars to reporters in order for them to experience Calypso firsthand; so, I sent a private message to Marco|MindArk requesting permission to create a new avatar, one that I could use to write a series of reports on the lives of noobs for the EntropiaForum front page. After some deliberation, Marco agreed to allow me to create a temporary avatar for one month, after which time it will be deleted from the system. The avatar was created solely for the purposes of this article, and was identified to MindArk so that they could monitor its activity, if necessary.
To simulate the experience of a complete newbie as closely as possible, I needed to set some rules for myself. The concept was for a series of articles spanning one month, to determine exactly how far I could get as a noob. I would ignore everything I know, and only do those things that fellow Entropians advised me to do, or those things that could be reasonably expected of a new player who has read the participant guides available on the Entropia Universe website, and the tutorials secton of EntropiaForum. There must be no interaction between myself and people who know PINKY, unless we crossed paths by accident. In such cases I must keep the avatar's identity a secret to ensure that it would not get any assistance a true newbie would not also receive. At the end of this series of articles, I will reveal the name of the 'undercover' avatar used for this project.
Due to the necessity of keeping the undercover avatar identity a secret, sometimes I will not be able to name the players I have met or the avatars who have assisted me until the final article. At that time, all skills and equipment acquired by the project avatar will be sold off, and the proceeds will be awarded to those who I noticed helping others enjoy the game, and who helped me as an unknown noob.
For the first week, I will play without any form of deposit. At the start of the second week, I will make
one single deposit of £10 (about 190 PED). Any remaining PED will also be included in the prizes at the end of the series. There are two reasons for the deposit: firstly, four or five weeks of articles about me sweating would be very boring
and secondly, I want to ensure I have some cash to be able to give out as prizes at the end of the series of articles. Hopefully at the end I will have more than I started with and therefore reward as many people as possible!
So, can I profit? Who will help me? Will I be scammed? Can I graduate within a month? Over the next five weeks, you can read up how I am progressing on the front page here on EntropiaForum.
The first step of course is avatar creation, so I set to work creating a pretty random character, going for the "forgettable" look to ensure I blend in as much as possible... Then I am prompted for an avatar name. I forgot all about this part and wish I had given more time to considering this decision. I always regretted calling Pinky "Emma Pinky Thomas" as Emma is not my IRL name but I am called it endlessly. After much deliberation, I settle on an avatar name and proceed.
The first installment is due in two days time...