Comments on: An Entropia tidbit

By: links for 2006-09-17

links for 2006-09-17 — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 07:30:00 +0000

[...] An Entropia tidbit [...]

By: Russ Duckworth

Russ Duckworth — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 19:55:06 +0000

It was great to meet you Raph.

Yup. In some ways it’s like a Ponzi scheme with the older and richer players owning a good chunk of the best gear, but if I were to use a single term to describe it, I’d the game much more closely resembles a casino when you take a look at the mob loot and mining system.

With an active crafting community, land ownership and taxation rights, guild (called “societies”) competition, player owned shops, and a robust event system, Entropia Universe (formerly “Project Entropia”) much much more than some ladder to climb.

I’ve seen new smart users come in and rise past my accomplishments and riches in only a year. I’ve been playing for 4+. Those that come come in, avoid playing the high stakes slots, and be prepared to deal with a little tedium can find great success in Entropia Universe.

When you get there, look me up. I’m Rei of the society Coat Killers.

By: Morgan Ramsay

Morgan Ramsay — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 09:32:09 +0000

"Ponzi" refers to Charles Ponzi.

By: Cael

Cael — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:49:07 +0000

Off-topic question, i think.

I apologise once again for being English, but i’m guessing a “ponzi” scheme is just pyramid marketing, which is illegal pretty much everywhere?

Because the term itself means nothing to me.

By: Darniaq

Darniaq — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 19:54:05 +0000

It’s the “not in so many words” part. There’s a lot of ponzi schemes out there by definition of what individual roles are within the structure. Some are just more overt about it than others

By: Shan

Shan — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 06:32:22 +0000

Darniaq wrote: Not sure anyone would actually advertise their service as a ponzi scheme

Oh, I don’t know. Amway, Nutra-life, etc. do.

Not in so many words, perhaps, but it’s clear from the description of their activities that this is what the system is.

Also, the “economic crisis” which took down Albania’s economy in the 90s was a huge Ponzi scheme, and everyone knew it. They just thought that it was the Italians, or the Greeks, at the bottom of the pyramid, not themselves!

By: Darniaq

Darniaq — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 22:03:23 +0000

Raph wrote: I don’t know that the game is actually a Ponzi scheme.

Not sure anyone would actually advertise their service as a ponzi scheme

By: Morgan Ramsay

Morgan Ramsay — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 21:05:11 +0000

I remember that MindArk was owned by a bank. I probably read that somewhere at Club Neverdie. I checked out the MindArk 2005 annual report, and their primary shareholders are Jan Welter Timkrans and real estate property lessors C-G Bothén AB.

By: Raph

Raph — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 17:34:52 +0000

Trucegore: I haven’t heard any word about Entropia being officially a bank. But yes, I do think that games that function in this manner probably need to be.

I don’t know that the game is actually a Ponzi scheme. That’s just one of the popular descriptions of it on the Net.

Moo: the Raph and Half-Raph things don’t haveanything to do with me, as I understand it. There are other Raphs in the industry — I know of at least two more.

By: Tide

Tide — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 15:29:30 +0000

and by “protected” I think you mean to say Raph that there are sufficient funds being held in trust against whatever debits he makes. That is, PE is a bank. Holding money in reserve against the real world purchases its members make.

yeah this is nuts. Someone in anti-terrorism is going to start monitoring this stuff eventually. Regardless of