EBN: Blackness

[majorputty]

My ADSL is down since saturday, so i am missing this event so far.


I love events !!!

Hope it will last a while till my line is sorted out.....

[McCormick]

28 days later

[MindStar9]

Originally Posted by AkiranBlade

Really?
So, you say (Ahh) The Egg is not part of a long term story?
The professor is still missing that disappeared at New Oxford?
The Robot Menace is not a throughly long term storyline?

So tell me then my sweet friend ... does long-term story mean we take a breather up to one year or more in between carrying on the storyline?

Originally Posted by AkiranBlade

If you're not on the same server where there is event activity, then you're just experience a normal spike in Lag. Happens to me all the time outside of events.

This is "normal" ??? ... if I'm not on the same server as an event that is causing lag, I should still have to experience the lag effect? I'm sorry my dear, but events that are designed for a large ingame population should encounter as minimal lag a possible for the event to be enjoyed the way it's meant to be enjoyed ... without CTD's and server crashes ... and without "spiking" in other areas ingame.

Originally Posted by AkiranBlade

I wouldn't expect events to be come extremely 'busy' for a long time. I suspect most of the resource at MindArk are busy on implementing the CryEngine2 Engine and for me, that's just fine.

This isn't new ... as we have found out in the past with each VU update, MA staff has been busy coding new content that many of us agree was not needed, and also agree that the staff resources could have been better utilized in fixing issues that would indeed make EU a far more pleasant experience. MA has been busy with Brazil, China, and other future endeavors, including the implementation of the upgraded CryEngine2, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't have enough staff available to handle the more critical aspects that have required attention for some time now.

Originally Posted by AkiranBlade

Lag happens at all event story locations, if you don't like lag, don't go.

Sorry Luv ... but that's a cop-out response. We want to participate in events, and therefore, it is up to MA to make sure that this is possible. It's not a matter of liking or not liking lag, it's a matter of having an opportunity to engage in events if we so choose, and not have to deal with the lag issue.

Originally Posted by AkiranBlade

I'm sorry but many are interested to find out what happens with the Egg, what happens with this Note stuff and the Black Orb.

First off ... NEWS FLASH ... the Note thingy is over my dear ... click on NEWS FLASH for the information. Guess it didn't work out as well as they expected.

With regard to the Egg ... the Egg storyline is over a year old now, and while there may be interest in wanting to know what happens to the Egg, it has become the brunt of I can't tell you how many jokes now. It's nothing less than laughable for some, because no intermediate story has come of it, and even ND had to be creative and get the assistance of a well-known fantasy writer IRL to design an event to generate more interest. However, even that seems to have slowed down a bit based on less activity being posted in the event thread.

With regard to the Black Orb ... MAYbe this scenario has hope if MA plays it right, BUT ... if it is tied into China or the CryEngine2 implementation without any further interaction other than a periodic unique Argo spawn that continues to cause lag and server issues, then I'm guessing that this too will be lost in the muck and mire.

Originally Posted by AkiranBlade

It's holding my attention just fine, even if I'm not visiting the event horizon, it's still interesting to see what people write about regarding the event and what happens at the particular locations.

I'll agree that ... what may be of interest to one, may not be of interest to another ... however, that said ... you cannot dismiss the fact that there are multiple threads and posts at this forum (not by just the same people) that are asking MA to please continue with our PE/EU history and long-term storylines, but not with a year or more lag period in between (no pun intended), and not with filler like the most recent soap opera that really took us nowhere whatsoever. Personally, I feel EU and it's participants were taken advantage of ... and while the ride may have been a little interesting with regard to the deciphering of notes, or mystery-solving activities that brought the community together, where is the meaningful EU storyline?

Originally Posted by AkiranBlade

What seems clear to me is that a number of people simply can not appreciate the concept of the longer game and understand that these events are ongoing and happening. Patience is a virtue.

Forgive me dear friend, but ... patience my purple ass ... you don't start an ingame participatory sci-fi storyline and then expect your playerbase to wait up to a year or longer for the next episode. That to me is just very poor planning, and certainly not a way to keep your playerbase engaged. Aside from the role play and RCE factor, that's what I thought PE/EU was all about ... awesome sci-fi storylines that were continuing and engaging, and not laying dormant for long periods of time.

I truly think ... that the founders and originators of this entire concept need to go back to the drawing board and get their act together. EU can be on the cutting edge of all things great, but if the original intent and/or concept is forsaken for "big business" opportunities, then we will lose all that is so precious to us. If that happens, then it will become a self-fulling prophecy based on Marco's own words that the playerbase turnaround is 6-12 months, and if that's what they're banking on to build their empire, then I fear that they will lose those who have all the potential required to continue making EU what it was meant to be based on player dedication and loyalty. I say to MA ... DON'T LOSE THAT!!!

Originally Posted by AkiranBlade

You don't live all your life's major events in one week. One particular tag line from at least the old Project Entropia marketing back in the day was "Get a life in Project Entropia" and that's exactly what it is. It's not some slapdash wham bam thank you man experience.

There are plenty of those kinds of events for people to get engrossed in run by the participants themselves, if you want some kind of quick fix event, these suit the job fine if you ask me.

However even avatar run events aren't exactly short and sweet, some take months and months; WoF, Champions League, MMOWC for example.

Interesting that you use these events as examples ... because these events have exciting episodes every single week or month during full season activity, so really poor choice on your part as examples my dear.

Also ... of course we don't live all of RL's events in one week, but at least there is ongoing activity, and we don't have to wait enormously long periods of time in order to have the next experience, so again, another poor example.

Avatar-created events are awesome ... and yes, we can get a quick fix by attending any number of these events, but it doesn't mean that we don't want to be involved in the MA-generated EU storylines that not only give our advancing virtual universe an historical timeline, but also allows us to be a vibrant part of it. We should not have to wait eons in between events such as these, it can't be rocket science for coders to implement this stuff ... they have enough going on to give us graphics-heavy locations like New Switzerland and Palms Corner that are not being used for anything specific, and coders with enough time on their hands to create nipple protrusions in some clothing (perverts), why not more focus on what's really important.

Originally Posted by AkiranBlade

I agree, it would be nice to see some smaller turn around events but when you have your development team working full tilt on implementing a new Game Engine there's not a lot of time for development in 'old' code to react quickly on small turnaround events that only capture peoples interest for a short time.

Maybe it's because I'm a software development manager that I can appreciate what MindArk is doing here.

Appreciate all you want ... however, development in a virtual environment like EU takes on far different dynamics than software development with companies outside of this type of environment. We're talking about dynamics that take into consideration not only an historical timeline, but incorporating a real cash economy, not to mention a very real social environment ... even though that took a downslide after VU 9.0.

Luv you to death my friend ... but I have to totally disagree with you regarding your take on all of this. I've been called fangurl in the past, and while I still believe in MA and what they're capable of doing (and hope they do), I've also had my eyes opened by many things ... I think a lot of people have. It's not that we don't love EU ... it's for that very reason that we become so vocal, and me especially more recently. I have a different perspective now, and while I love EU and want it to succeed more than ever, it just can't be at a compromise so deep that no matter what we do we lose.

Look at where the focus in VU 9.0 was ... I'm not going to reiterate the plethora of dissatisfaction that this most recent VU generated, but suffice it to say, it not only disrupted our economic and social environment, but also seems to have been the catalyst for many more beloved Entropians to leave. This is tremendously sad to me, because without mentioning names, these were people who were 100% dedicated and loyal toward helping to create a more vibrant EU thru their own personal efforts.

I appreciate your perspective AB ... but for me, I just can't see how enormously long periods of time between our own ingame historical storylines, or IRL soap operas really serve EU in a positive way. The community has spoken out on these issues quite clearly, and I really don't think you can dismiss that so easily ... I don't.





***

[AkiranBlade]

Originally Posted by MindStar9

So tell me then my sweet friend ... does long-term story mean we take a breather up to one year or more in between carrying on the storyline?

What's wrong with that? I don't have a problem with it. I think it suits EU that storylines don't finish prematurely. Bear in mind not all who participate within EU can be in EU every night. If things like this are distributed over a longer time frame, there is more opportunity for casual participants to become involved.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

This is "normal" ??? ... if I'm not on the same server as an event that is causing lag, I should still have to experience the lag effect? I'm sorry my dear, but events that are designed for a large ingame population should encounter as minimal lag a possible for the event to be enjoyed the way it's meant to be enjoyed ... without CTD's and server crashes ... and without "spiking" in other areas ingame.

It is normal to experience lag outside of event times. I didn't say this was 'right.' I just said normal. Of course EU shouldn't have the lag that is has, this, I hope is something that will be rectified by moving the CryEngine2 platform.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

This isn't new ... as we have found out in the past with each VU update, MA staff has been busy coding new content that many of us agree was not needed, and also agree that the staff resources could have been better utilized in fixing issues that would indeed make EU a far more pleasant experience. MA has been busy with Brazil, China, and other future endeavors, including the implementation of the upgraded CryEngine2, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't have enough staff available to handle the more critical aspects that have required attention for some time now.

The models are something that can probably move into CryEngine, so working on things like that has dual benefit. We don't know how many people are doing what tasks at MindArk, so we really can't make the assumption they not focusing on things that need to be done. Nor can we make the assumption to the contrary of course.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

Sorry Luv ... but that's a cop-out response. We want to participate in events, and therefore, it is up to MA to make sure that this is possible. It's not a matter of liking or not liking lag, it's a matter of having an opportunity to engage in events if we so choose, and not have to deal with the lag issue.

So too is saying STOP EVENTS because of lag. I understand that EU has a lag issue, I also understand that if I go to an event that there will probably be lag. If you can't handle the fact that there is lag at these events then stay away. It's as simple as that.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

First off ... NEWS FLASH ... the Note thingy is over my dear ... click on NEWS FLASH for the information. Guess it didn't work out as well as they expected.

Well, I missed that, having been travelling back from Denmark last week and sorting stuff out IRL I didn't notice the rather unremarkable thread. I was expecting some EBN news about this if it had come to an end. Was still interesting nonetheless and as far as I can remember, there were times when the 'event' was 'happening' that weren't that far apart??

Originally Posted by MindStar9

With regard to the Egg ... the Egg storyline is over a year old now, and while there may be interest in wanting to know what happens to the Egg, it has become the brunt of I can't tell you how many jokes now. It's nothing less than laughable for some, because no intermediate story has come of it, and even ND had to be creative and get the assistance of a well-known fantasy writer IRL to design an event to generate more interest. However, even that seems to have slowed down a bit based on less activity being posted in the event thread.

Maybe some other events were linked to the Egg storyline, which you may not appreciate fully until there is some kind of 'end' to the Egg. I don't know but I'm still interested. NEVERDIE is a key stakeholder in EU and has shown nothing but enthusiasm over the years, I expected nothing less from him regarding the event that was created. Part of MindArk's apparent business model is that participants drive the experience themselves... again, this is a life not just some kind of entertainment.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

With regard to the Black Orb ... MAYbe this scenario has hope if MA plays it right, BUT ... if it is tied into China or the CryEngine2 implementation without any further interaction other than a periodic unique Argo spawn that continues to cause lag and server issues, then I'm guessing that this too will be lost in the muck and mire.

Well, who knows, this could have just plainly been a glitch on that server, but still interested in what happens. The fact that we had these named Argonaut Leaders spawning was interesting. I've been online when these spawns have happened and notice no difference in what I termed my normal experience of Entropia Universe.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

Personally, I feel EU and it's participants were taken advantage of ... and while the ride may have been a little interesting with regard to the deciphering of notes, or mystery-solving activities that brought the community together, where is the meaningful EU storyline?

I don't understand how people were taken advantage of? And why does the event have to have been 'meaningful.' It was an interesting event that brought people together in collaboration to try and crack codes and find out when the next location was. Why do events have to follow a common recipe to be meaningful to the overall story line. I feel that this kind of diversity is part of the charm of Entropia Universe.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

Forgive me dear friend, but ... patience my purple ass ... you don't start an ingame participatory sci-fi storyline and then expect your playerbase to wait up to a year or longer for the next episode. That to me is just very poor planning, and certainly not a way to keep your playerbase engaged. Aside from the role play and RCE factor, that's what I thought PE/EU was all about ... awesome sci-fi storylines that were continuing and engaging, and not laying dormant for long periods of time.

For me, I joined EU for the skilling/RPG element twinned with RCE. Events were not part of the sell. So whatever events I see take place is a bonus.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

Interesting that you use these events as examples ... because these events have exciting episodes every single week or month during full season activity, so really poor choice on your part as examples my dear.

Note event had exciting episodes, Egg event had exciting episodes? The Orb has spawns of mobs which are exciting as these Argonaut Leader casts are totally new. Not really a poor example as far as I'm concerned.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

Also ... of course we don't live all of RL's events in one week, but at least there is ongoing activity, and we don't have to wait enormously long periods of time in order to have the next experience, so again, another poor example.

Like I said, we might not appreciate how all the different stories may come together in the end, so, again, not another poor example in my opinion.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

... and coders with enough time on their hands to create nipple protrusions in some clothing (perverts), why not more focus on what's really important.

Actually, model design is done outside of coding and require different staffing resource, there are several model standards which means models design in one tool can be exported to a number of Engine environments. As far as I'm concerned work done toward the goal of hitting the CryEngine2 running is really important. Therefore coding resource will not have been tied up with implementing the new models as much as some may think. Some of the other visual enhancements like the inventory look and feel I imagine will be similarly easy to utilise within the CryEngine2 platform.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

Appreciate all you want ... however, development in a virtual environment like EU takes on far different dynamics than software development with companies outside of this type of environment. We're talking about dynamics that take into consideration not only an historical timeline, but incorporating a real cash economy, not to mention a very real social environment ... even though that took a downslide after VU 9.0.

I'm afraid I'm not seeing what point your are making on this. Could you kindly explain it to me.

Originally Posted by MindStar9

Look at where the focus in VU 9.0 was ... I'm not going to reiterate the plethora of dissatisfaction that this most recent VU generated.

I didn't read much on this to be honest, care to summarise the key points for me?

Originally Posted by MindStar9

I appreciate your perspective AB ... but for me, I just can't see how enormously long periods of time between our own ingame historical storylines, or IRL soap operas really serve EU in a positive way. The community has spoken out on these issues quite clearly, and I really don't think you can dismiss that so easily ... I don't.

I will continue to disagree with those in the community who whine "stop the events ma" and cite lag and uninterest being the reasons because that is truely introspective and not representative of everyones viewpoint. It is nothing short of childish. On the point of how long it's taking for something to happen with the Egg, I guess I have more patience than some

[Tussi]

Originally Posted by AkiranBlade

What's wrong with that? I don't have a problem with it. I think it suits EU that storylines don't finish prematurely. Bear in mind not all who participate within EU can be in EU every night. If things like this are distributed over a longer time frame, there is more opportunity for casual participants to become involved.

Nothing against a storyline that is a bit longer - but not in a way that a 10 page shortstory is stretched to an 800 page book by just inserting blank pages.

It is normal to experience lag outside of event times. I didn't say this was 'right.' I just said normal. Of course EU shouldn't have the lag that is has, this, I hope is something that will be rectified by moving the CryEngine2 platform.

Hope dies last.

So too is saying STOP EVENTS because of lag. I understand that EU has a lag issue, I also understand that if I go to an event that there will probably be lag. If you can't handle the fact that there is lag at these events then stay away. It's as simple as that.

Sorry, the moment where there is lag which breaks basic game mechanics (like moving for example) then there is something wrong with the system and the people running it (because they should know that problem and because of that design an event in a way which circumvents it).

Maybe some other events were linked to the Egg storyline, which you may not appreciate fully until there is some kind of 'end' to the Egg. I don't know but I'm still interested. NEVERDIE is a key stakeholder in EU and has shown nothing but enthusiasm over the years, I expected nothing less from him regarding the event that was created. Part of MindArk's apparent business model is that participants drive the experience themselves... again, this is a life not just some kind of entertainment.

Being able to take some k$ in taxes out per month could be called a living, would make me more enthusiastic too. For the majority of players it's simple entertainment.

I would like to see that this world isn't only taken as a money generating asset by MindArk - i would like to see that the developers show some heart for their product, and some esteem for their users (which they might have - i must have missed that then over the last VUs).

Look at {other game, the one in space} and what's going on in there - storylines are running on a daily basis, even if they're only consisting of some news articles in the client loader!

Well, who knows, this could have just plainly been a glitch on that server, but still interested in what happens. The fact that we had these named Argonaut Leaders spawning was interesting. I've been online when these spawns have happened and notice no difference in what I termed my normal experience of Entropia Universe.

Why not let them spawn sparsely all over the map over a longer periode then?
So maybe the users could experience them under normal load conditions - or at all (in case that the 1h event sadly falls into working hours or is even not noticed because you had some RL to do and havn't been online for 2 days)...

At least the avatars killing them would be able to loot them then.

For me, I joined EU for the skilling/RPG element twinned with RCE. Events were not part of the sell. So whatever events I see take place is a bonus.

Good for you.

Advertised was a continuous event: Fight back the bad robots who try to kill us all. And by that i don't depict them standing around at some places for us to come and shoot them until they global or HOF.

I will continue to disagree with those in the community who whine "stop the events ma" and cite lag and uninterest being the reasons because that is truely introspective and not representative of everyones viewpoint. It is nothing short of childish. On the point of how long it's taking for something to happen with the Egg, I guess I have more patience than some

To be honest i don't care about the egg. Neverdie payed big bucks for it so in the end after all dust has settled he will (or - very unlikely - not) have harvested the benefit from. Since i don't see any change for joe average from it (except maybe 'take the l out of play and the r out of free')...

I would care about events which are not over after an hour or even a day or week.

Like a nice robot invasion which is running over some weeks on a global scale (so not one place where there is just a big spawn of ubermobs) invading at various places at once, and enough places to spread out the playerbase over a wider area than 500x500m plus the nearest revival terminal!

And i cases where MA wants to do some stresstest to figure out ways to deal with massive player aggregations they could simply put a flat, rectangular piece of land somewhere in the ocean where normal access isn't possible ('servers for this area are offline') with a TP on it which everyone has (like TI), place a hefty spawn of mobs there and ask the players to be so nice to pay a visit to help with resolving the issues which we all have seen.

I guess there would be no need then to call that an 'event' because there are surely enough users which would take the time to help them out if invited to such a thing nicely and receiving a thank you afterwards.

Tussi

[AkiranBlade]

Originally Posted by Tussi

Hope dies last.

I guess you have none. If you feel the lag is never going to go away then vote with your $$s. To make Entropia Universe a true contender for the future, they really do need to address the lag. There is no denying that. But I see no point in whining about it constantly. There is a new Engine coming in next year, I'll re-assess the situation personally at that point and not sooner.

Originally Posted by Tussi

Sorry, the moment where there is lag which breaks basic game mechanics (like moving for example) then there is something wrong with the system and the people running it (because they should know that problem and because of that design an event in a way which circumvents it).

I guess I need to explain my words more basically.

We all know there is lag, and that the lag is not how things should be, but the lag has been there ALWAYS. Why the is it any surprise that there is lag when there are events ffs. And therein lies the point... either put up with it, or don't. We've harped on about the lag again and again in the past and it's not getting any better and many have blamed the Engine that Entropia Universe currently runs on. Until this Engine is changed we're not going to see a change in this...so why keep on about it!!

Originally Posted by Tussi

I would like to see that this world isn't only taken as a money generating asset by MindArk - i would like to see that the developers show some heart for their product, and some esteem for their users (which they might have - i must have missed that then over the last VUs).

All MMORPGs are intended to make money, Entropia Universe does it differently. Why does it surprise people the MindArk do things that do them good business?

You don't have to partake at all level within Entropia Universe, you can get by on chuff all PEDs by hunting snables with TT weapons. Or you can decide to pay a bit more and aim a mid range mob, or you can pay lots and go for high level mobs. This is the way it has been all along. MindArk introduced t