The decrepit state of the shopping malls in Entropia Universe

[Chaad Losan]

I’ve been playing EU on and off for about two and a half years. It’s an interesting game. I like to play it from time to time to see what I can do and where I can go, without getting killed along the way, or at least getting killed close enough to where I want to go so I revived there.

I’m not a powergamer or a PvP players. But I enjoy the game at my own pace. I’ve only deposited somewhat less then 6 months of what WoW would be over that two and a half year time span.

When the shopping mall first came about and we’re finally set up. I remember most stores had a lot of merchandise. It also had alot items that were cheaper on average then the auction had them. For instance I bought some Nexus Force for 120% for 1000 units. Along with tons of other minerals, items, weapons, armor in stock etc. Over the next year and change the mall’s have been ignored, marginalized or downright abandon by their owners. In one of the mall’s the entire 3rd floor is empty. They maybe have been bought out of certain items only to have them flipped for higher markup on the auction block. But after more than a year you’d think that would come under control. But there is no real way to tell.

On the Port Atlantis Mall web site. It lists a store called. Le Chineur. With a web site link going to the site http://proximacentauriairlines.net/ The only problem with this link? The web site itself has been abandon by it’s owners and it appears it’s parked, with no site to see. This site is even listed on a sign in front of the store in game. It’s on the first floor shop 2. This is awful. These stores costs between $1500 and $2500 to buy and the monthly maintenance is only 60 ped a month. Yet many of these owners have abandoned their store and stopped paying their maintenance fees. If you are going to do that give me the store I’m sure I can do something with it.

One more thing. Those virtual banks that people paid way too much for. Only 2 of the 5 that I have found are even functional. The others are closed. Why pay so many thousands upon thousands of dollars for a virtual bank then do nothing with it? I find it ironic that the only 2 banks that ARE open are Neverdie’s and Anche’s Banks. Two of the most well know internet virtual millionaires. The other banks were bought by corporations. Maybe they don’t have anyone in their employ that has a freaking clue what to do with their newly purchased virtual asset so it sits unused and unmanaged. Another abandoned idea in a sea of dead ideas for get rich quick schemes in the virtual wild wild west. Mindark did get paid regardless. Now they get to host these dead endeavors for the rest of time to remind us that nothing is free, even virtual money.

[Xen]

The shops on the 3rd floor of the Emerald Lakes Mall have not been put up for sale yet by the owner of the mall, that's why they are all empty.

But I agree that the state of many of the shops in the malls has become kind of pathetic.

[Lucky Seven]

Running a store is not the easiest thing to do in this game.

I see you point in thie post, but you offer no advise, ideas, just a complaint.
Unless your a crafter - where do you get goods to sell?

Well, you can stand around for hours and buy, or work the auction. Neither of thoese things is easy.

So unless you really have a solid business setup for your shop, you cant do much.

[DeeDee]

The main reason is lack of customers. It is hard to beat the easy access of the Auction.
If there would be a Shop Directory working just like the auction interface and being just as accessible I am sure the shops would be more competitive.

[Nighthawk]

One of the reasons for the auction fee being changed (a while back) is, I think, so that shops will get an advantage.

However, it doesn't seem to work.

One of the reasons of shops being abandoned, is probably that the owners can't make enough money from them.

This is (probably) because of:
1. Auction being easier to use for people looking for stuff.
2. High-end crafters that can keep a slightly lower price than others, and therefore 'steals' all the customers.

Solutions are:
1. Nerf auction even further, forcing people to go shopping.
2. Make sure to put up better signs for the stores (storeowners), and maybe add a few signs on the outsides of the malls/houses that the stores are put in.
3. Add a system so that you can search for the item you need and see what stores it is available in.

Problem with this is:
1. You REALLY have to nerf the auction, or the other changes will just serve to make the job easier for resellers.



Hope that will help really want stores to work but it's a bit too messy right now (at least for me)... If you need something quickly you don't want to browse around for hours in every single store on Calypso to try and find it

[aridash]

Originally Posted by DeeDee

The main reason is lack of customers.

and the reason for that is a lack of reliable open and stocked shops... so we have a chiken and egg situation.

the auction does present too big a competition, i think the answer there is to remove buyouts, at least on non-stackables. this will also help limit manipulation. for stakables they could be implemented so that a stack in a shop shows up in auction andupon purchase you go to the shop for collection.

(and if you think theres a problem with malls, you should have a look at the old shops or the vast CND shooping area thats in desperat need of a shinking...)

[Bogger]

I think the shop deeds should never have been sold, it should have been a renting/leasing system to allow the owner of the mall much more control and interaction with the shopkeepers.

[alh]

Buyers are so damn lazy

I had m3a:s in my shop for 109.8% for a couple of weeks.

Then I got fed up and put them on auction and sold all of them within hours for 112.5%

But I guess that could partly be because you don't expect guns in a resource shop


I'd love for MA to implement some kind of renting/sharing system for the shops.
Specially if you want to sell high volume stuff like resources and components, its quite a lot of work to run a popular shop...

[Xen]

Originally Posted by alh

Buyers are so damn lazy

I had m3a:s in my shop for 109.8% for a couple of weeks.

Then I got fed up and put them on auction and sold all of them within hours for 112.5%

But I guess that could partly be because you don't expect guns in a resource shop


I'd love for MA to implement some kind of renting/sharing system for the shops.
Specially if you want to sell high volume stuff like resources and components, its quite a lot of work to run a popular shop...

You could put a few of the guns out front so people notice you have other stuff for sale. Or add another sign that says you are also selling xxxxxxxx.

[JackFree]

Originally Posted by DeeDee

The main reason is lack of customers. It is hard to beat the easy access of the Auction.
If there would be a Shop Directory working just like the auction interface and being just as accessible I am sure the shops would be more competitive.

I agree. This is something that I have been wanting to see. Being able to buy directly from a shop without having to go there, like online shopping in RL. You would think that the colonists of Calypso would have built a CWW (Calypso Wide Web) by now. With wireless access points everywhere that you can connect to with your ingame laptops...

Cheers