Wistrel's Diary

[Wistrel]

OK so the intention here is to post in a variety of different ways. The hope being that if I don't have to keep to a set format I'll do it more often and maybe one day have something thats worth re-working into something different. Sometimes this will be IC sometimes OoC as Wistrel is pretty different from me. I guess it all depends on how creative I'm feeling

The Road to Calypso is lined with Crashes

Well at least it has been for me but hopefully, from this day forward this is set to change. Ever since my computer was made, its crashed, not just occasionally but more or less everytime the heating kicked in or summer came! Of late however I decided to do something about this and, together with a fantastic friend, embarked on a whole heap of really dull and lengthy testing to work out what on earth was wrong with it.

To cut a long and extremely boring story short it turned out to be "memory incompatibility" which, once changed, left me with, for the first time ever, a computer that is capable of allowing me to play games for more than 10 minutes! Horray! This was all good and well except I was getting the weirdest things going on with graphics (You wouldn't beleive how creepy some of the things and people I found on calypso looked - no faces and made entirely of swirls in some cases!) This weekend I managed to fix it by the amazingly scientific technique of "taking the component for a walk" and would you believe it, it works now!! Calypso here I come

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Additional: From here on in, all text, ingame screen shots and artwork submitted within this thread are Copyright owned by Wistrel Chianti (2006). If you wish to use, duplicate or sell any of this content please contact me via Personal Message on this forum and I will provide an email address for further communication. Photos taken from other sources such as movies, catalogs etc I do not claim ownership of.

Concern over my ownership of this material has been prompted by the recent sale of entropiaforum to an unknown party.

[Wistrel]

Crashing is seriously bad for your Loots

Which is why of course I've hardly ever hunted on Calypso, preffering instead to keep with less "life threatening" activities such as making trousers (I'm English - pants are something entirely different!), chatting, exploring and trading. Some would say it was something of an embarrisment that, Wistrel, having been wandering around Calypso for coming up a on year soon is still not much more than a newbie in terms of skills or even knowledge for that matter so maybe now is time to change that.

Last night I can honestly say I went on the biggest hunt I have ever done. I went back for ammo several times and got through a few axes and boy was it fun!

Its interesting to how Camp Phoenix has changed since the mobs got more inteligent. CP used to be one of my favourite hang outs despite the lag as there was always something to do there or somone to talk to. I honestly expected it to be deserted but much to my supprise it was fuller than ever not with people blindly clicking away round the pilon however but groups of new arrivals working together to take it turns and find new ways to sweat the mobs. This is very encouraging The other good thing about this is that everyones a lot more spaced out so hunting around the area turns in to a pleasant mixture of hunting, sweating, trading and talking to people even when you are far from the teleport!

After the hunt was out I met up with fellow SMA member il. He wanted to do some fapping (something I have yet to try) so we teamed up so I could sweat his mobs. While we were at it we met Krille, a very nice new arrival who politely asked if he could join in and of course we let him It was interesting to see that, although he is relatively new hes already got more skills than me Haha well lets face it the sabas have more skills than me - I'm pants!

[Wistrel]

When does it stop being gambling and start becomming fun?

... is a question thats been on my mind ever since I started playing PE really. OK so I'm not sure exactly what the definition of gambling is but I expect its something like "betting money on an outcome overwhich you have no control". Under that definition PE isn't gambling because you have both choice and influence over what you do with your PED's. You could argue that certain aspects of PE such as crafting or hunting are gambling but even then you do have some influence on the stats and the more you do it the better you get. Hunting of course is better than crafting in that sence as theres somewhat more to hunting than "dropping the coin in the slot machine" so to speak.

Taking things to an extreme however, even trading is a form of risk but its a risk you DO have control of (or at least the power to decide how much control you want as determined by the risk of the investment) and you can't call it gambling any more than you would running a business in RL! I had some interesting discussions with my parents round about the time of the island sale about the fact that the money involved blatantly was an investment as much as one would invest in a bank or trade deal in RL. They felt otherwise though believing that at the end of the day MA have control of Death's money and could make or break the investment as they feel fit. I explained that of course it wasn't in their interest to do that as it would be more harmfull to them in the long run but their point stood and that was that the world wasn't truely random...

Now in some ways one could say this is a good thing. IRL you could own a factory thats situated on the site of a major earthquake and you could loose everything. In PE (at least for the moment) with MA as the (in effect) Gamesmaster or God of Calypso not only is it impossible for them to do this in game with the current implementation but even if they could its very unlikely they would cause lets face it, appart from your competitors, no one really WANTS that kind of thing to happen so MA would make sure it didn't. When it comes down to it the only real risk to the Calypsian economy is infact through its single tie to RL, the danger of MA itself folding.

All that aside, theres another line regarding whether PE is gambling or not and thats the weight of how much money you could loose against the amount of fun it buys you or rather, what is PE worth as an entertainment medium? For me, I compare PE to one of those slot machines you might find in an arcade. The type where you put in coins and they form a pile at the bottom and the more coins you add the more likely they are to tip the balance and knock a load of coins into the change bucket so you can win or keep on playing. Now with these machines the point at which it becomes gambling rather than fun, for me, is entirely determined by how long the spending of a certain amount can entertain me for. For example If I'm playing a 10p* machine, it takes me a matter of minutes before I've spent a pound** and the chances are I don't win anything so in effect I've spent a pound on very very little. The difference is, that when I use a 1 or 2p coin machine I've now got 100 or 50 chances to tip the balance and win something so not only does this buy me a longer playing time but also increases my chances of winning (admittedly smaller amounts). In short, the difference between 10p and 1p machines is whether a pound buys you an hour or mores entertainment or just 5 minutes!

I treat PE the same way. So far, when I compare the amount I've invested in PE and the sheer amount of entertainment that its bought me (whether I've lost the PED's or not) to what spending similar amounts on other forms of entertainment would have gotten me theres simply no comparrisson. I don't care to work it out but in my current style of play I recon I could loose many times what I have already invested in PE and even then, I'd still be winning!


* 10p = ~2PED
**1pound = ~20PED

[Wistrel]

A Girl I Once Knew

Making my way through the dank and dimly lit streets to the meeting point I find myself again considering the way things have gone. Calypso, once a bright and rich planet full of potential and dreams, now seems to have fallen under a permanent shadow of darkness.

In days gone by I used to be a hunter, a proud upstanding member of a successful society and a recognised and respected member of community. To say I have fallen so far though would hold little contrast to the background of the world around me today. Back then the days seemed permanently bathed with bright sunshine and warmth. Hunts were glorious team affairs, honesty abundant and this place… heh this place we laughingly still call “Port” Atlantis was a center of commerce, a bustle of activity and a jumping off point for all the orange flight-suit clad new arrivals determined to cut their teeth on this ripe and promising new world.

It’s not that Calypso has been abandoned by the Federal Empire’s colonisation plan of course. Oh no, it’s just that these days the lies they tell the suckers to get them to give up their cosy lives and ship off to the far reaches of space are ten times worse than they used to be. Who knows what they tell the poor bastards now, but they still arrive here in droves, not cheerful and optimistic like they used to be however but shaken and bedraggled resembling more that of beggars on the street than the healthy, driven looking individuals I remember from the recruitment posters back home. It seems everyone’s ambition upon arrival now is to leave. Most don’t make it of course but those wily and clever enough to lie, cheat or on a rare occasion earn their way onto a spaceship inevitably get caught by the pirates and are never to be seen again. My group, or what you might laughingly call a “society” I suppose, are the last ones it seems who actually want to stay here. Call it loyalty, stupidity or just an inability to move on and accept reality but there are those of us that, for some crazy reason, still believe in this place, hence why I find myself working, what seems a perpetual night shift, in the vain hope that one day my efforts may yet make a difference… A sudden crunch beneath my feet shakes me from my reverie and I crouch down to see the remains of what looks like a crumpled up bounty advert. Holding it to the swiftly darkening sky it is just about possible to make out the words, “WANTED: For Robbery and Life Displacement”.

Life Displacement, that’s “the” politically correct term on this planet, invented and used by those who haven’t and are never likely to experience its true meaning which itself is nothing short of death or murder in this case. When the revival terminal technology was launched it came with the advertising executives dream slogan of “Experience Eternal Life” but anyone with enough savvy to think about it soon realised that was just a romantic way of saying “Experience Eternal Death”. Myself? I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve died but one thing’s for sure, it was never fun nor something a person could ever “get used to” and for this reason, despite our so called “charmed lives”, taking the life of a fellow colonist still to this day is considered a heinous crime.

Normally, it’s almost textbook the kind of people who turn to such a way of life. Desperate colonists who, in some manic desire to leave this place, snap, loose all sight of reason and eventually go on a killing spree but as for this one? This one’s different somehow… My curiosity piqued I stand back a little, holding the page clear of the shadows and then, adjusting for the light, I recognise the familiar features of a girl in her early twenties with silver grey hair and pale skin.

Although it has been many years, the name Wistrel Chianti is still as familiar to me as if it were yesterday. A pretty girl then, she was one of the most up and coming employees of the ill fated Sterling and Moss Association, popular, enthusiastic but with a strange dynamic and rebellious streak that could never allow her to be pigeon holed. Straightening with a sigh, I crumple the advert and drop it to the floor. Admittedly a long time has passed since I last saw her but I feel my heart sink at the thought she could have fallen so far. In their time the SMA group were among the most trusted of colonists on Calypso and their leader, Il Lavashna (after the founder Aziphirael Stone’s tragic demise) is still with us and loyal to the cause. As I move on resignedly I can’t help feeling that poor Az would be turning in his grave.

Rounding a corner I see, up ahead through the gloom, my target, a lone cloaked figure standing half hidden by the shadow of a doorway. Hastening towards them I call out the pass code and nodding, the figure moves surreptitiously a little into the light, their face still shrouded by a deep weathered hood. “What’s the trade?” she says monotonically, giving away nothing but an indication of her gender. “Blue prints” I reply, ”5000 or equivalent and the information on the drop Stasi promised us”. Close enough to see the lower half of her face now, she smiles as she reaches beneath the cloak and produces a small bag. “Dulurium ingots” she says by way of explanation as she hands it to me, “and you’ll have your information.” I make to query the remark but, puzzlement evidently clear on my face, she anticipates the question and moves to point toward the road behind me. As I half turn to look the sharp snap-hiss of an En-Blade igniting heralds loudly my fatal mistake! Too late for weapons, I whirl to counter the attack but, with lightening speed, she has already brought the blade to bear and in a moment my vision explodes in a maelstrom of light and sparks, a streak of sudden pain down my right hand side and my legs buckle as my body spasms out of control…

As I lay paralyzed from the electricity, staring up through a haze of pain, the figure staggers dislodging her hood and reaches up to feel the blooded bruise I inflicted on her face. By the light of the En-Blade the silver grey hair and pale features are suddenly apparent and I cry out in anguish, “WISTREL!!” Her head snaps round to look at me and I can see clearly the dark sunken eyes, an inhuman look of sheer hatred etched upon her features. Then, just as suddenly, her eyes widen as recognition dawns traversing slowly to a look of wonderment and in a moment she is the girl I once knew. She stairs unblinking down at me and I feel a rise of hope unfurl within that maybe it is only circumstances which have led her to this and perhapse, if I can persuade her, we might both still be saved. Then, slowly, her mouth twists into a cruel smile and my hopes are dashed as she reaches into my coat to retrieve the blue prints. Straightening, she raises the sword above my head and the pain erupts with ferocity, this time, beyond comparison.

…

“As the sparks filled my vision and death was upon me, the last thing I remember was the haunting look of contempt on her face and then… then the darkness consumed me yet again.”

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OK so there it is, my first attempt at a PE related story. How many thought the character doing the narration was me? Well anyway this is pretty much the first bit of creative writing I've done in 6 months or more so feel free to message me any comments good or bad since chances are, I'll probably do another one some day so could do with that grammar checking!

A few things about the content. Basically I just woke up last Sunday and thought "Hmm, wouldn't it be cool if Wistrel turned bad" and therefore sat down and wrote a story about it. Obviously it isn't set in our current time but at least 10 years hence probably more (thanks to revivals no one ages though). Apologies to Az of course for a) killing him and b) wrecking his society. What can I say but it just felt right at the time

On a final note, yes! I want hooded cloaks! and dark alleyways in which to wear them! Heh, somehow I think I'm probably playing the wrong game though

Update: Saw this in a film called Avalon - guess its a sort of equivalent look to that which Wistrel might have in the story. If only avatars really could look this cool

[Wistrel]

Every society needs a "Kick Ass Elf"!

OK so I promised myself I wouldn't get into the habit of only doing big updates and the like for the very reason that each update would have to be bigger and better than the last and suddenly several weeks go by and I'm still sitting silently in a corner saying nothing. Er... whoops!

OK so the story was fun and I enjoyed doing it and it was really really nice to have one or two people come up to me in game and tell me they liked reading it. That made me feel very happy and made my day

So game wise I've been experiencing quite a few new things but it seems at the moment I'm more or less doing nothing much more than socialising. We have a new member in SMA, DD and its been really nice talking to her when previously no ones been online. Was quite amused the other day when she told me Az described what the members of SMA all did. Roughly he said "DD helps with mining, il's the fighter, I'm just a trade junkie and Wisty's the Kick Ass Elf!"

hehe well I was pretty chuffed with that description. I was originally described like that by some guy I met at Hades C but its amusing that it's become my official role now! I've never really had much of a direction in game so to be honest its actually fairly accurate!

Heh, now I'm sitting here writing, quite a few things have actually popped into my head but I think I'll leave those for another day. One thing that has been on my mind though lately is an idea I've had for what essentially I could call my very own "Project X". I guess I have Az and his "Project X" to thank for that but yeh, I've had an idea, I think it's doable but it may be a little while before I get it done. I wont say anything more than that except for the fact that its going to be called PenPal

[Wistrel]

For Sale: The services of one kick ass Elf. House trained and personable!

Yup seems I'm unemployed again in game Nothing to do with SMA, of course those guys are still great but I no longer have my job in trading since, after conversations with Az, we've come to the conclusion that trading materials is getting a little pointless these days. To briefly explain, the ethos of SMA was to ride out short term fluctuations in market trends by fixing prices that seemed reasonable, based on long term realised and informed knowledge of demand and availablity, and more or less sticking to them inorder to attempt to provide stability to those who trade with us. In short, to make life easier for those who play the game with other intentions and don't want to get bogged down with the headache of a cut throat market place.

People want to have available supplies as and when required without having to hunt them down and to feel safe in the knowledge that they aren't being ripped off.... or at least that was the plan! I'm not sure whats going on with the economy at the moment but, for some reason, there's a flood of raw materials on the market and a complete absence of crafters willing to buy them! "Your Amazing.... Have you tried crafting?" says the voice of Mind Ark. Ironic... very ironic...

Anyhow, to cut a long story short, Az bought up, as promised, the gigantic supply of lyst I had that every man and his dog had been happilly selling me at PA and took my remaining stocks of tailoring material for the shop suggesting I shift the rest on the street and get out of the trade as fast as possible. OK I think, "It's not that bad, trading was just a way of financing my other hobby of tailoring, I'll just do that more" Wrong! Y'know, despite the number of orange clad freelancers running about I can't shift a single garment! Its not even the like the price is too high either its just that, as far as I can tell, New Arrivals simply arn't interested in clothes anymore

So yes, strange things are a foot and this more or less brings me down to my point, or rather my question, which is, Why on earth do people play Project Entropia at all?

To answer this, it strikes me there are two types of players really. Those who are in it for the money and those who want to play, essentially, what is the only form of pay-as-you-go online gaming currenly on the market. For myself, if you've been following this diary you'd probably realise that I fall very much into the latter group whereas Az, for example, probably the former. The problem, I feel, is that what all games need is an objective or goal and with Entropia, unless your playing to make money, finding a goal on Calypso is harder than looking for dung!

For myself, I like this game I really do and I want to play it in way that, by my own standards, leaves me feeling as if I have progressed. Life on Calypso is fairly open ended and that, in itself, is a good thing. Take away someones reason for playing though, be it trading, skilling, crafting whatever, and MindArk are suddenly left without a game, but instead what is little more than a very expensive and pretty looking IRC channel.

I guess many people would consider this a bit of a winge and for that I apologise for dissent really isn't my intention. I guess what I'm voicing here is more note of concern than complaint. In SMA we've been discussing things quite a bit and have a few theories on whats going on and why. I'm not leaving or anything and nor is anyone else but I spose you could say I've got out my old harmonica and gone back to sleeping under a bridge for a while.

[Wistrel]

I've fallen off the Wagon

...well at least the front page! Stupidly I told myself I wouldn't do that which is daft really considering that the more people get diaries and update them regularly the more entries I'd have to write inorder to keep up. In the future, we can't all be on the front page I guess but when theres only 2 pages total, its not such a hard target to live up to ;-)

I could argue its quality not quantity, something that's certainly true of the 2nd page of this forum (where there are some fantastic one entry role play/short story style threads) If you've never ventured onto page 2 I encourage you to take a look and even better PM the authors to get them to write more! I'll probably write more about diaries another day as seeing the different ways in which a variety of people, from newbies to ubers and old timers, use them is in itself a pretty interesting subject. I wonder how many of us ever thought we'd be writing about our lives, a long time hence forth on a planet far far away? ;-)

So, to be a little more realistic, my recent lack of diary entries is in fact more or less analogous to the lack of time I've actually spent on Calypso of late and thats it. When you're entire life on a planet consists of waking up, taking short strolls around some of the larger cities and Ports, noting the steadily declining population or deficiency of things you want to buy and occasionally saying "Hello" to fellow soc mates there really is very little to write home about. Once again, due to the general populace of wingers we see these days, it's important to understand that this isn't a complaint, I'm mearly stating facts.

At the end of the day you see, this diary is supposed to be about Calypso. Calypso, Entropia and all things related so if I have nothing to say (sheepishly looks for some content in "this" entry) on the subject and instead write about what I did in my holidays, thats really quite insulting to the kind folk who run this forum. I'd be better off just getting a live journal.

However, if your looking for a reason not to watch a film, reading the book is a pretty neat alternative and I have to say, a good part my absence on Calypso of late is due to my increased interest, instead, in PENpal. To be honest, I'm just loving working on my little project. Talking to people, finding stuff out, reading around and learning new things, it's just great. I'm afraid, I really still can't say much more about it at this time cause, to be honest, I don't really know yet myself. I think the thing that enthuses me most though, is the idea that I might one day actually contribute something back to the PE community. I wonder how many more people have reached such a feeling...

[Wistrel]

Window Shopping!

Well the new VU seems to have rebuilt the bridges that were burnt of late and all of a sudden Calypso is thriving again. The Avatar creation system seems to have brought with it mixed blessing however. I've been a bit worried about this one, to be honest, since I was expecting a complete overhall of Avatar models and figured either I'd have to start from scratch or there would be some awfull automatically bodged version of my character, in the new format, that I would have to spend ages and ages fixing. Luckilly, however, I had the good sence to read up on the situation before logging in and, since there appeared to be no changes, I decided I didn't need to touch a thing ^_^

Unfortunately for some, mistakes were made and there are an awful lot of people now running around asking to be the next storyline in the PE equivalent of "Nip, Tuck" One can't help feeling though that this one was almost by design. As the saying goes, "There were complications" but, conveniently, theres a whole new generation of surgeons just itching now to fix everybody up.

On the plus side, however, one thing the new avatar creation system did offer, was a rare opportunity to try out the, much sought after, Essi Dress!! It turns out I don't scrub up too badly after all

Click to enlarge

As usual, of course, this "Window Shopping" opportunity got me thinking and I realised that theres a real need, in Entropia, for some sort of "try before you buy" style set up. In effect what we need is a department store with changing rooms!
I bet everyone who tries to dress well has the same problem. You wander round the shops and auction looking at the clothes thinking "yeh thats nice, but would I really look good in red?" Given that the hot profession on the block now is beauty treatment, MA are obviously expecting us to care more and more about our avatars appearance and yet it still remains, that the only way to try something on is through trust and when it comes to the auction or shopkeepers, you're pretty much back the catalog! (with the added lack of incentive of course that, if you don't like something, you can hardly send it back! )

Still, as if to proove myself wrong, this afternoon me and my soc mate DD had a fantastic time trying on each others armour and getting opinions. I've always really fancied some black and white armour ever since Rascal appeared and DD had both Rascal AND Paladin (heaven!)

As expected I LOVED both, the only problem is now that I waaaant some! Still, DD very kindly offered to let me borrow it sometimes. (yay!) I guess, untill I have the money, I'll have to stay content with gazing at the screen shots and dreaming...

[Wistrel]

125PED Sabakuma Young!

Recently I made a friend and told him about "The Pit" Yesterday I went and joined him there for a spot of rifling which turned out to be my shortest and best hunting trip EVER! I turn up and a little saba, who obviously had been lving the highlife, comes to say hello. One axe blow and I'm 125PED better off! Woohoo!!

Seriously though, this couldn't have come at a better time, I was starting to run really low and can't allow myself to deposit until I have a more stable income IRL. Still, that didn't stop me buying that samurai sword I've always wanted....