PE News in media [Local]

[chaoz]

a quick and dirty translation...

->Swedens best on-line game is made on Järntorget in Gothenburg.
->One of the most popular game is called Project Entropia.
->It attracts thousands of players each day.

In the newspaper Arbetets old office is the planet Calypso located. On servers belonging to computer game manufacturer Mindark PE are roughly twohundredthousands players colonizing, socialising and finding adeventures in the online game Project Entropia, a virtual world with a real economy. Gothenburg has a tradition as a strong city for development of computergames. Maybe as a result of Chalmers, maybe beacuse computergame developers seek to live near other developers. Once it looked dark in the business when the Swedish falgship Dice which produced Battlefield moved to Stockholm.

One thing we're still are the biggest and alone with in Sweden is online-roleplaying games. In a online-roleplaying game you chose a character and plays whit thousands, sometimes hundred of thousands other players. One fights together or against eachother, one trades or hang out, all in the framework of the game. There are games where you fight against dragons, andr there are games where you are a superhero.

With hundreds of titles released, and ~300 in production online games is maybe the fastest growing trend in computer gaming. Still not many people have heard of Project Entropia, if one except the slightly bizzare news about 22-year old aussie David Storey which bought a $26500 virtual island, a price which found it's way into Guinness book of records as the highest price paid for a virtual item. As opposite of other games where the manufacturers are struggling against sales of items, Project Entropia encourage this.
- Our economic model is completly different from other games, Marco Behrmann tells, responsible for relations against the Project Entropia player community.
- Instead of selling a game in a box, and then playing a monthly fee, this game is free to download. We don't have a monthly fee, but the ingame currency is fixed to the dollar. Plauyers who beeds cach fast in the game can transfer from the real world to the virtual, and we make money on taxes and repair of items.

As the owner of Treasure Island David Storey har the rigth to sell virtual lots to other players which will settle down there, he can also taxate players for beeing adventorus on he's grounds. The investment has now after eight months beginning to break even, and David soon expects to make money of his island. Money that can be converted back from the currency of calypso to real dollars. Maybe this oppertunity to influence the world and taka an active role in it is the most tempting part of online games.
The Vision about an interactive story, where player themself can decide what will happen have never been so close to be true, and opposing to ordinary games, where the creator more or less leave the product after relasing it, the online game creators needs to have an active dialog with their clients.
- The fantastic with this kind of games is that we have a direct link between customer and producer Marco says. We get much active feedback from the player community on our forum, and we try to realize all good ideas we recieves.

[MindBuster]

Chaoz, you got PM with info on where to send those full size pics, then i'll host them.

[Fiona Simmons]

Originally Posted by chaoz

We get much active feedback from the player community on our forum, and we try to realize all good ideas we recieves.

*Cough*
I missed something ?

[Svetlana]

Originally Posted by Fiona Simmons

*Cough*
I missed something ?

I also caught that.
But, to be sure, while "we" in the community often feel neglected I do believe MA is always watching, listening, thinking.... doo-doo-doo-doo There have been numerous things implemented in game throughout the course of my 2+ yrs here that seem to be directly related to suggestions on forum

[MindBuster]

High-res version of the article available here...

http://www.entropiaforum.com/images/pe-gt-article.jpg
(1.3mb)

Thanks to chaoz.

[Epictetus]

Thanks to Marco for the notice and chaoz for the english translation.

I wish I could read the chat that was going on in that screen shot of PE in front of you Marco...maybe it says "Ok, let's program the Thorafoid attack to contain the hidden artifact."

[Dash Smashing]

w00t. who are the noobs pretending to be working bEHIND marco?

Is one Jan? Is one *gasp* LARS!? =))

If one is Jan, I retract that noob comment.

that picture of the berycled overwhelming a corn is bADASSS! howcome i've never seen it ingame? =( Can I be the first to loot one?

[truantduck]

The fantastic with this kind of games is that we have a direct link between customer and producer Marco says.

We get much active feedback from the player community on our forum, and we try to realize all good ideas we recieves.

I'm not usually one to obsessively complain, but ... ahh.. well... while the majority of this article was interesting, I found these last two points to be rather odd and somewhat misleading.

1) There is no MA PE forum. MA shut it down, and has not re-started it. Recent comments suggest they have no interest in restarting it. How old is this article?

2) I have played several MMROPGs, and PE has BY FAR the lowest level of designer to player communication I have seen in a game like this.

This post is not intended as a insult to Marco or MA, only a reflection of what I have experienced in my several years of playing.

we make money on taxes and repair of items.

MA makes money on taxes? Does that mean that all non player-owned lands are taxed? Or is there a global tax? Or are we talking about auction tax? Interesting.

[Kjetil]

Originally Posted by truantduck

This post is not intended as a insult to Marco or MA, only a reflection of what I have experienced in my several years of playing.

Maybe it is like with other newspapers and reporters?
Not everything that is written in the newspaper is 100% correct information.
I guess Marco needs to explain this and what he told to the reporter.

/Kjetil

[Devil Doll]

Also, we must consider that this is an interpretation so I wouldn't rely too heavily on taking the word literally.

DD