Project Entropia: what's in a name?

[Doer]

I hear a lot of people stating (incorrectly) that MA gets their profit from repairs (they don't, it's from the decay 1 2). Reading that in a thread today again got me thinking that i've been wanting to share the "inside joke" behind the name and indeed the design of PE for those who might not have the background to "get it". The name of the "game" describes exactly what the profit model is. Entropy is the unavoidably (IRL) increasing disorder of the universe due to every reaction and event that happens. You might call it the "running down" or "decay" of the universe. The-game-formerly-known-as-Project -Entropia is a project to see if a business model based on "decay" in a virtual universe can succeed! MA takes out of the game what amounts to the increase in entropy (in the form of decay).

Here's something eerie: the scientific discipline known as thermodynamics is the study of energy and heat and entropy (among many other things, yes) and the rules that govern their exchange. It has three fundamental laws which can be used to evaluate the possibility of some gadget or process working. (For example, the laws show that a "perpetual motion" device producing energy is impossible IRL, or getting heat to flow "uphill" to cool something relative to the surroundings without putting in energy.) The kicker though is this--it's a long-time joke that the laws can be summarized surprisingly accurately as:

1) You can't get ahead
2) You can't break even
and
3) You must play the game

I'd say project entropia is a complete success in all ways. Perhaps that's why they've changed the name. However i think Project Entropia is still the perfect name for the project and will always call it that, even though "Entropia Universe" is taking the play on words even further i suppose.

Now back to your addiction creating entropy in MA's project...

[Snipe]

this is actually good!

what always bothers me is this:
Entopia is the perfect world, but in Project Entropia (sounds almost like entopia) or even Entropia Universe (the project fell away, telling me that entopia has been reached) if it was so pefect, why do so many people leave the game?

[sumy]

lol i got lost halfway doer but i get what your saying i think
true what your saying but who's to say that the prject is over tand the bigger money taking process is gonna take part in EU?

[Edain]

This is what I noticed as soon as I started playing the game : ) I think it is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics; the universe of 'order' is inevitably dissapating into random uniform mush, not a pleasant thought. Any temporary states of order we create use up and dissapate more energy than the total order created.

I've used the argument in many a 'whine' converation in-game

Life itself, and how it has formed - according to some, is the opposite of entropy, 'negentropy'. This is sometimes used in rather silly arguments by creationists at some of the forums I stalk, when they are trying to disprove evolution theory.

Anyway enough, thats not for around here!

Good luck all in creating your temporary order spots, may they be large and HOFlike

Edain

[KapokWu]

Originally Posted by Doer

I hear a lot of people stating (incorrectly) that MA gets their profit from repairs (they don't, it's from the decay).

Don't judge people hard, for many it does not matter which one
it is, I guess you admit these two are very close. (I don't know
actually which one it could be...) And as the rules of common
conversational dialect dictate, two things close to each other can
sometimes substitute each other. We make the difference only
when it matters, and in this case it does not. And your grandma
may not like to hear about "decay", "repairs" sounds much more
positive word. And being positive affects your health. And
you need to buy less pills, thus saving more money for this game.

Entropy as a matehematical concept could have been used in
the design of this game, if a part of the game dynamics have been
made adaptive. Adaptiveness has to be partial, so that
Man From Above can fiddle with parameters when needed.

[heehaw]

it all sounds too scientific to understand, but the sum. helps alot O.o explains why i can't stop playing lol...

[aridash]

Originally Posted by Doer

I hear a lot of people stating (incorrectly) that MA gets their profit from repairs (they don't, it's from the decay).

dude, decay=repairs=decay. when they actually take the money out of the economy is acedemic. when they take it from my ped card is through repairs.

[Fiona Simmons]

They can change the name to whatever they want, for me it is and will still Project Entropia. Since they claim, not being a Mmog anymore but a virtual parallel reality universe its more a project than ever bevore.

Do i need Labour in my Sparetime in a 2. universe, i really want this ?
When it stop being a game, being entertaining, when it become a Buissnes and im not enjoying my free time but working on my virtual alter ego ?
Its a bit scary what Project entropia is going to become and its joy and pain together.

[Randy Tronstead]

Doer,

You may find a book by Brian Greene, "The Fabric of the Cosmos" interesting... theoretical physics type stuff...

Man, I love thermo... takes me back to my college days

-Randy T

[Doer]

Originally Posted by aridash

dude, decay=repairs=decay. when they actually take the money out of the economy is acedemic. when they take it from my ped card is through repairs.

This is the flippancy that confuses people. Clearly MA takes the decay, not the repair. Take for example limited items. Where does MA get their cut? You might say when they're manufactured, but then what about looted limiteds? No, there's a semantic difference between decay and repair. I understand what you're saying Kapok, and ultimately one doesn't need to know any of this to enjoy the game. I just think those people who want to understand would be confused less often about the flow of things if they understood the basis of the project and where the drain to the loot pool lies.

Thanks for your comments everyone. Randy, i'd like to read that book...got a lot of books i'd like to read someday.