Gaming Loot Mindset

[Dion Red Strike]

The Effect Other Games Have Had on Peoples Expectations of Gaming

Ok, long title, so I'll try to make it simple

I got to thinking about this while reading another thread with people whining about loot....

Because people have played other games in which 'loot' happens (any RPG basically), a lot of users have come to expect 'I open box, I get stuff' or 'I kill monster, I get stuff'.

Because of these other games, many people come to Entropia and expect the same thing. The archaic 'I killed monster, I get stuff' attitude often leads to dissapointment of loot. The belief that you will 'loot stuff' after kiling a monster is perpetuated by these other games still giving you stuff for killing a monster.

However, upon closer inspection, you will findd that not every single monster, in most of these other games, gives you loot. So, why would one expect the same from Entropia? Because money is involved? Hmmm... doesn't seem likely to me... if anything, if money is involved, I would suspect that loot should drop far less than in other games.

Anyhow, so, people that expect to loot well are not realizing the dynamics of the situation, and often continue doing the same thing expecting different restults. 'Kill monster, no loot' then 'kill monster, no loot' then they think 'one more, and it will loot', and what do you know, 'kill monster no loot'. At this point the player gets frustrated, and leaves. They come back the next day, and think 'That monster was shit yesterday, I'll try a different monster'. And the cycle continues.

When in fact, a player should do this;
'Kill monster, no loot' then, 'kill monster, no loot', then 'I need to go kill something else, right now, and come back to thee another day'. If at that point, another location isn't working, make a decision to either go crafting or mining, or change locations again.

In other games, there is no 'cycle' of what is looting when. In Entropia, there is. We all know that there is. None of us (at least publicly) know the exact specifics of the cycle, but we know there is one. Use this to your advantage.

So, in conclusion, the next time you are looting bad, leave the area. Leave now, go elsewhere. Try the area again another day, if it's still looting bad, gtfo. Don't come here to whine, like many many people before you, change what you do, or where you do it. Don't bother thinking that you should receive loot because you've spent money (ammo, decay, bombs, materials, whatever), but realize that life helps those who think for themselves.

This has been a public broadcast announcement from the 'WGTFO' foundation

~Red

[Nighthawk]

Originally Posted by Dion Red Strike

This has been a public broadcast announcement from the 'WGTFO' foundation
~Red

WGTFO?

We Got To Fsck Of?

[Dion Red Strike]

Originally Posted by Nighthawk

WGTFO?

We Got To Fsck Of?

hhehehe, Whiners, GetTheF...Out

[safara]

Never played any other MMORPG's, only PE/EU for the last 2.5 years.

Originally Posted by Dion Red Strike

This has been a public broadcast announcement from the 'WGTFO' foundation

~Red

Kinda harsh ending there.

Define what you mean by Whiner?

I love this game to bits and will be here for a good while yet. It could be said that occasionally I squeak about it, but only because I love it so much and want to see it improve.

[Dion Red Strike]

Originally Posted by safara

I love this game to bits and will be here for a good while yet. It could be said that occasionally I squeak about it, but only because I love it so much and want to see it improve.

In this particular instance, those that complain that loot isn't good enough.

And, if you don't mind me asking, before 2.5 years ago, what games did you play? If Entropia was the only 'game' you ever played, then I would hypothesize that your views on the loot may be different.

And, theres nothing wrong with making suggestions on improvement, as has been said many times. It's when suggestions turn into negative harrasment that suggestions become whining.

[Dion Red Strike]

to further expand on my earlier statements...

I would even hypothesize that people would be less irritated by the slow progession of 'story lines' in Entropia had they no previous knowledge of any other game.

Because of the instant gratification of other games, Entropia often has a hard time with the slow progression of it's life span. Most games are to have a short life span of 3-5 years, with a sequal coming out within 2-4 years. It has been reitterated many times that Entropia is expected to last many many decades. Entropia has no sequal planned, ever. So, it would seem logical that the 'life span' of 'story lines' would be greatly extended in comparrison to the other games.

[safara]

Originally Posted by Dion Red Strike

And, if you don't mind me asking, before 2.5 years ago, what games did you play? If Entropia was the only 'game' you ever played, then I would hypothesize that your views on the loot may be different.

I said that PE is the only MMORPG I have ever played. Prior to PE I played Minesweeper and some PC car racing games, maybe stuff like Stronghold. Nothing online and nothing involving loot

Originally Posted by Dion Red Strike

And, theres nothing wrong with making suggestions on improvement, as has been said many times. It's when suggestions turn into negative harrasment that suggestions become whining.

Cool I get what you are saying. It is the manner in which one presents the argument or suggestion that is key in the suggestion being ignored or implemented.

I do think that there is a ton of natural human emotion displayed here, and people will be very quick to moan, as they have lost real money. A lot of the time I think this is because they are not thinking of EU from a gambling perspective, but are thinking of it from a gaming perspective.

Once people realise that once the money is deposited, the house will usually win as is necessary for the House to pay for itself and continue. Only occasionally you will win.

The challenge with this game/service is to limit these losses and even profit. But the profit will not come from the game/service - the profit comes from other players/users of the game/service.

Ooh, rambling a bit and heading off on a tangent, need another Beer...

[aridash]

i feel you are fundementally wrong in your analysis. Like safara i too have not previously play online/mmo games so have nothing to compare to, yet i feel frustrated at the lack of potential to progress and develop the equipment of my avatar through any method other than depositing lots of real cash. As for the "progress" of storylines, for me it is not the pace so much as the sporadic nature of them and the fact they just half finish. As a great fan of Elite/Frontier and GTA series i relish the ability to not have to follow a mission path or story line, but when one is offered it should be done with more afore thought and medium to long term planning.

[Gaius MB]

Hi,
i don't understand why people think there are kind of lootcycles. Ok i'm a newb maybe that's the reason, but i didn't seen any proof for that so far.
When loot is bad, i keep on hunting and loot gets better, sometimes it doesn't.

I think it's random, and you will certainly have good and bad series of loot, that's absolutely natural, it doesn't take a cycle theory to explain this imho.

If you play roulette for example, and put your money on red or black it's a similar thing. You might put the whole time on black and lose like 7 times in a row. Happens. Some then say thats a cycle of bad luck/(loot) and start to develop strange theories, like "if you had 7x black in a row, switch to red, cause since red and black will have approximately the same hits on the long run, red is now more likely to hit" - wrong theory. The chances are still the same, no matter if you had a series of hits or misses, it's just the natural course.
I think it's not much diffrent with loot. Having lots of "no-loot" mobs might make you think it's a bad time to hunt now, but it also might be just a series of bad luck, without something being wrong with the mob.

Was hunting yesterday troxes for example, they didn't give any loot all the time, but i stayed and then got 2 globals within few minuts, so you see, unless there are serious data that proves the loot cycles, i'd not change hunting behaviour just because of feelings - but again, thats my point of view.

[Malin]

In fact your wrong, your not the one looting, your beeing looted.