Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/13/getting-rich-or-not-in-entro.html
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hops / hopes same thing for those suckers.
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I actually played this for a little while many years ago. It was a grindy mess (since I wasn’t going to spend any real money on it) and I gave up pretty quickly.
Though to be fair, from what I remember the free grinding was collecting animal sweat, not poop, but maybe that’s changed in last 10 years. Kind of a sidegrade, really.
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The video says you can do either. Maybe they added the poop collection after you stopped?
But yeah, the upshot of this game is you CAN make a tiny bit of money for free if you want to endlessly grind at wiping sweat and scooping poop. The people making real money have spent a ton of real money to upgrade their in-game gear and equipment, and the vast majority make back only 90 to 96 percent of what they spend on average. It’s a gambling game… people gamble real money on virtual tools hoping for the random, lucky, huge virtual score that will pay out in a huge real pay check.
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I can’t believe this thing has been around since … 2003?
Entropia Universe entered the Guinness World Records Book in both 2004 and 2008 for the most expensive virtual world objects ever sold. In 2009, a virtual space station, a popular destination, sold for $330,000.[1] This was then eclipsed in November 2010 when Jon Jacobs sold a club named “Club Neverdie” for $635,000; this property was sold in chunks, with the largest sold for $335,000
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Yeah, I remember getting some promotional stuff from them when they first started, and I’m surprised to hear it still exists. That’s hugely impressive for an MMO, online games just don’t last all that long. I mean, WoW isn’t even quite that old, and don’t have the subscriber numbers they once did (but survive because their players numbers were so insanely huge to begin with). Entropia found a funding model that consistently sucks people in, apparently…
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Quinns asking the CEO about offering self-exclusion measures for players, while maintaining that Entropia isn’t a gambling game, was just…chef’s kiss.
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Everquest launched in 1999 and there are still people playing it
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When you hear stories about how people made money playing games like this and Eve you look into the figures and they not only spent a bunch of money getting started, but also put in so many hours that at the end of the day they’re working for less than minimum wage.
It’s arguable that they were having more fun, but I’d say that any fun was sucked out of the game long long before they turned a profit. It was just a really poorly paying job.
Maybe not so bad if you live in some third world craphole where an American minimum wage would be a decent income though.
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Interviewer: Is this game gambling?
CEO: No.
Interviewer: Is this game gambling?
CEO: Everything in life is a gamble?
Interviewer: So then this game is gambling.
CEO: The lawyers say I still have to say “No” despite what I just said.
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I’ll stick with Scrabble. It’s been around since 1938.
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Get rich quick schemes are always popular.
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Yeah, in general, but specific ones usually fall apart after a while. Entropia found some durable hook to pull people in.
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I went to school with one of them, she never came and sang the hymns in morning assembly, and wore a red little house on the perry hat to school.
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This is a fascinating story and a very well presented video, but the whole thing buries the lede.
Entropia is pretty literally a Heinlein-esque perfect libertarian universe. And guess what? All moderately successful players are scamming and backstabbing everyone else. The middle third of the video is all about all the different ways everyone is going to try and to scam you.
Everyone should see this game for what it is: a dark window into the world at the end of Deregulation Road.
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