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Pay to Play II - Project Entropia

Posted by michael on from the delta-s dept.

Gonzago writes: "God knows how many hours I spent mining or chopping down trees while playing Ultima Online. The dedication (spelled a-d-d-i-c-t-i-o-n) I had to that game would have made me some serious cash if I applied it to a real life job. Now I can have my cake and eat it too! At least that's what the people behind Project Entropia would have me believe. Not only does the premise behind the game look cool, but players will trade amongst one another with real money. Anyone want to buy some armor?" There's an article on CNN which briefly covers the game's premise: pay the company for all the equipment you need in-game, and it all slowly degrades - Entropia, get it?

5 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Cheating by Mac+Nazgul · · Score: 2, Redundant

    Cheating could now become a new organized crime facet- Hacking games to sell virtual items!

  2. Going broke anyone? by mizhi · · Score: 1, Redundant

    So addicted RPGers can spend their money online and play hookey from work all in an effort to see which one goes broke the fastest?

    Utilities: "For failing to pay your bill, we're cutting the power to your house now."
    RPGer: "But I've sent in 1000 PEDs each month!"
    <lights go out>

    --
    Humorless sig goes here.
  3. Re:Recursion? by Dwonis · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Troll! I asked.

  4. Life by datawar · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Instead of wasting your time playing a game that lets you mimick life, why not take a stab a life itself? Feel like going to a bar in a virtual world? Why not go to one in the real, physical world, where your date, if you pick one up may actually be REAL.
    I understand the concept for a MUD where you get to kill monsters, etc, but this game emulates LIFE. It's good as an AI project, but please people, you don't need to EMULATE life in order to LIVE life!

    Moderate down on whim.

  5. UO versus Everquest on this issue by Bob+Loblaw · · Score: 1, Redundant
    This was one thing that differentiated Ultima from Everquest. The makers of Everquest opposed the real life selling/buying of virtual assets. Ultima Online, while not directly endorsing it, offically turns a blind eye to this type of trading knowing that it boosted their player base.

    One steady economy that arose on UO was lumber and ingot supply. Due to the skill point cap, Bowyers/tinkers/armourers/weaponsmmiths didn't want to also use up skill points for mining/lumberjacking since that would restrict them from learning combat skills. To fill this void, lumberjacks and miners sprung up selling lumber and ingots on eBay. They can pretty much make a living at it if they can drum up some loyal consumers (by being always ready to supply goods to satisfy their demand and being honest) to keep a steady flow of goods.

    Do a search on eBay ... I think that a lot of people would be suprised to see how much of this sort of thing goes on day to day.