Monday, January 31, 2011

An Avatar's Reputation

Two threads on the Planet Calypso Forum got me to thinking today.

My Ava is best known for?
The opening post asks what you think people best know your avatar for.

Name that Asteroid and win 5000 peds!!!
John Foma Kalun purchased the bulk of the Asteroid formally known as Club NEVERDIE for 3,350,000PED (335 thousand USD) and needed to rename it since NEVERDIE was no longer the owner. He started a competition offering 5,000ped (500 usd) to anyone who would come up with the name he would use.  I would have thought this was a generous offer, as well as great advertising and PR for his new investment.  But things went horrably wrong when he named a winner who was not entered in the competition, and the thread has turned into a huge fiasco with all sorts of accusations and bad PR.

Although I am a fairly low level player (in the big scheme of things) I now own a shopping booth and would like to become a business man in this Universe even if it is just on a small scale.  I need to look at how people before me  have succeeded and failed. I need to learn from them as well as create my own opportunities.

This is a Real Cash Economy and so people's pocketbooks are at stake, and because of this emotions can run very high.  This magnifies anything we do in the eyes of others to a point it could become stressful if you allowed it.

Being an A-hole in this game isn't just annoying to people, it actually costs them money which makes it even worse.  If you mob train someone they don't just die, they take lots of extra decay costs as well as potentially loosing the ped worth of ammo into a 1/2 killed animal.  If you "kill steal" from someone by killing an animal that someone else has already started shooting, you not only get a cheaper kill for yourself, but you are in essence stealing ped from them since they had already put ammo into the animal.

Those are some of the more obvious and blatant things that can bring you a bad reputation. But there are others as well, especially in business.  A good example would be when Shoti was buying Proteron DNA and pissed off a bunch of people by the way he did business. Since then Skippy and Star were able to finish another set of dna and put it on their land area in competition with Shoti. Shoti has had lots of times with 0% taxes as well as high prize value events trying to get interest back in his land. There was a lot of ped invested there and pad PR seems to be causing issues with the profits.

There are lots of well known players and or business men/women in this game that have done well for themselves.  How have they done it?

Mercury
Famous for being Uber and for having deposited little or nothing into the game to achieve what he has. He doesn't seem to post much on the forums, but does run constant sales threads as well as other random logs from time to time. He frequently records his activities and streams them live for people to watch.
His best advertising: A constant stream of globals and a reputation for being one of the top "Ubers"
His worst PR: A short temper and random posts of rage in the past. (those were my first impression of him when i started playing 3 years ago, I haven't seen any of that lately and seems he is much more professional now)

NEVERDIE
Famous for spending 100 thousand usd for the original purchase of the Asteroid and then actually making a profit from it in such a short time.  He was always a huge advocate for Entropia and last year started a Development Studio and became a Planet Partner with Rocktropia as well as a contract for building Next Island.  The king of name branding, he makes sure that everyone knows the name NEVERDIE. He thrives for the limelight and loves the cameras even if its controversial.
His best Advertising: A hardcore belief in the game and high energy to promote it everywhere he goes.
His worst PR: He is just too dang full of himself.

Deathifier
Famous for the big purchase of Treasure Island and well known for being one of the most involved land owners in the game. If he makes an investment you know it will be profitable.  His most recent big investment appears to be in Arkadia and we all have high hopes for it.
His best Advertising: Actions speak louder than words, his land areas are maintained in a way that draw people in.
His worst PR: Not a very big forum presence. (cant say much bad about him)

Fishface
A player and adviser to new people. When I first started playing there was an animal at sweat camp that said "Fishface is a decent fellow"  He has a show on Atlas Haven Radio and is known by everyone new and old alike.
His best Advertising: A slogan people remember and always being avaliable where the crowds are.
His worst PR: That stupid mask after vu10. (come on that was lame)

Mindstar9
Well known for her radio station and storytelling, she has done alot of news reporting since before I was around.
Her best Advertising: Always around on the forums and great detail into news and posts.
Her worst PR: Too passionate to stop when there is controversy.

I think that peoples greatest strengths can also be their greatest weaknesses. The trick is to figure out how to maximize it in the strength and minimize it in the weakness.

I am not claiming to be as important or that I will ever reach the pinnacles that these people have, but they give me reference for what I want to do.

How can I apply this to myself? What should I do that I am not yet, or what should I change that I am currently doing?
I don't know, but its something that I feel needs considering.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Cinetropia & AxeMurderer

I now have feeds to three different blogs besides my own on the right column of this page.

Sorven Shrang Shadowsoul - An ongoing work of fan fiction that I have already told you about.

Cinetropia - A blog run by the Death Lords society and dedicated to the Entropia Universe. They have some good articles on starting out as a new player. They are also working on creating some videos.
They are currently on part IV of a series called "A Newb's Eye View"

AxeMurderer's Blog - AxeMurderer is a Store owner at the Emerald Lakes Mall. I met with him for buisness to see if he would be interested in selling Rocktropia weapons on Calypso and found out that he had a blog which I have started reading. (haven't had time for all the posts yet) He is keeping a pretty detailed log of his hunts and activities, so once I am caught up, I think I will enjoy watching his progress.  He also seems to be pretty caught up on the news around the Universe and has some nice pictures of weapons from Arkadia. (I'm really liking the new longblade)

For anyone looking for B.A.M.F zk5(L) shotguns and Cryogenics II(L) chips I would recommend looking in his store at Emerald Lakes.

Blogs are interesting in that they give you a chance to look at something through someone else's eyes with their perspective.

There is so much to the Universe that one person cant experience it all for them self. There are lots of times when I think about what I would do in a certain situation, but because of the choices I have made and where I am in the game, I wont have the opportunity to experience those situations.  Reading these blogs is a way for me to experience them anyways, which I think is kind of cool.

Good luck, and have fun reading :)

narfi

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A Fickle Deity (where is Lootius?)

The Good:
I returned to Rocktropia, and got lots of first time blueprint discoveries.
I crafted the new blueprint and got lots of first time dragon armor plate discoveries.
I got a 707ped HOF (hall of fame) crafting some of the dragon plates.

The Bad:
The day after all the excitement I started hunting again to get more dragon parts that I needed.
Morrison Dragons,
Lunch run = about 250ped loss
Evening run before bed = about 500ped loss
Both runs were so bad I didn't even try to calculate in armor/fap decay.

I got enough Doors Hides to do another small run on Morrison Dragon plates and finished off a complete set.
It was also a bad run and sucked up about 200ped more than the tt value of what I put into them.

Lunch break today I started hunting Joplin Dragons since I need more claws to finish the set of Joplin Plates.  I think these may be some of the more valuable ones since they would be good for Crystal Palace hunters, as well as several of the Calypso acid mobs. (Proteron, Leviathan, TI mobs)

When down and glum over bad losses I like to think back and see if there is anything I could have done to prevent it from happening, and in turn do what I can to prevent it in the future.
I knew there was a VU last night, and I know that usually my returns are really bad the several hours before servers go down for a VU. So really I shouldn't have been hunting, and it was my own fault for not following my own rules. I was just excited about being able to hunt a dragon that I hadn't normally been able to hunt before. (Polaris + Lemmy Dragon Plates = 80 cut/stb protection) and I needed more hides to make plates with.

Looking back and then forward, I will try and not hunt/mine/craft right before a VU again. I will also try to keep hunting that requires me to hire a medic to a minimum, its just not economical when you need someone constantly healing you for a couple hours straight. (at least at my level)

Monday, January 24, 2011

How to price a new item: Part II (my hunch was right)

A huge part of the draw of this game is that the highs are high and the lows are low.  When you follow what your avatar is doing enough you become somewhat emotionally attached to its successes and failures.

In my last post I was disappointed that I had been unable to purchase the newly discovered Rudolf Dragon Plate blueprint.
Last night I finished my errands on Calypso and purchased a bunch of crafting supplies that I brought back to Rocktropia with me.  I started clicking armor blueprints hoping that I would be able to get a Rudolf Plate print for myself.
I was successful ;) and now I am pretty excited. I got not only two rudolf plate prints for myself but discovered a couple of new dragon plate prints as well.  My hunch paid off and I was able to loot what I wanted much cheaper than I had originally offered to purchase the one print for.

The next problem lays with my relative inexperience with crafting. I am/was only a lvl 5 armor crafter. The minimum skill recommended for the new dragon plate blueprints is level 5, but for best chance of success its recommended to have about 5 levels above recommended.  So this morning I made my first big (for me) skill purchase and bought 500ped (counting mu) of engineering skills. I have used a couple of skill chips before, but just small ones from friends leaving the game, nothing I have spent so much on.  This brought me up to almost lvl 9 armor manufacture which I decided was good enough for what I needed.

For an interesting side story on what a healthy diet of low-fat  high-skill chips can do for your avatar, check out this thread.

I only had time to click some of the Pop Dragon Plates this morning before work, but had what I considered to be good success with them.
You may check out my Discovery  and Price check threads if your interested.

I have some more new prints to try out next time I log in, hopefully they are as successful as the Pop one was :)

narfi

Thursday, January 20, 2011

How to price a new item (or am I an Idiot?)

I logged on on Calyspo this morning to start placing stuff in auction. (the boring, stressful, time consuming part of the trader/adventurer lifestyle I have adapted)
Chatted with some society mates, and started waking up when I saw a new discovery in the global chat.
Rudolf Dragon Plate MK1 Blueprint (L)

WOW, I have been wanting that print for a month, I knew it would come eventually, but thought it wouldn't happen until the next update.  During the update when blueprints were first found on Rocktropia I cycled thousands of PED to loot the prints that I got, some of which were new Discoveries, and some of which got even more new Discoveries when clicked by me, or by another crafter with more skills that I had click them for me.  I don't know if this Rudolf Plate bp just hadn't been discovered from that VU, or if it was a hidden addition from the apparently useless VU this week.  Either way it dropped, and I want it.

I have been camping Rudolf Dragons for a while now and have been almost the only person hunting them.
I know from the other Dragon Plate bps that I have roughly what the ingredients required will be, and have collected over 100 of the hides which is the more difficult to obtain part needed. (I am pretty sure that no one hunter has collected half that number yet)

Being stuck on Calyspo and not having the lucky crafter who discovered the print on my Friend List, I quickly started PMing people who might know him, or that would be around the likely spots where he was probably crafting when he discovered it.  It was a good 10 minutes of chaos trying to get connected with him via other people.

This is where the hard part comes in, I want the print but I also want the best for him and understand that he has something new and unique that would likely sell for more than its profit value when used.  How much should I offer, and how should he respond?

I offered him a price of around double what the existing dragon plate blueprints sell for, and he discussed it with his society leader. (very smart for anyone to do, I wouldn't recommend anyone blindly selling something new without getting advice from more experienced players.)

They talked about it amongst themselves, presumably in soc chat or pm and then asked me if I would be willing to sell them the required resources to click the print.  I told them that I wasn't interested because I believe that the print will drop again, and so that I would like to click it myself when I get one.  They talked some more and decided that they would try and gather the resources needed themselves and craft it. I told them that if they changed their minds to please let me know what price they would like to sell it for. I am still kind of hoping that he will sell it to me even though its not likely.

I think this was probably a good choice for them even though I felt that my offer was fair. It will give them the opportunity for a new discovery when they have their first success, and they will then get to set the price for the new plates.  Very exciting times indeed.

Reflecting back its hard to know if I should have done anything differently, or if I greatly miss-judged the value of the print.  Maybe it truly will be a unique and rare print and I just screwed myself out of every using the hides I've spent a month or more collecting.

It is my goal to be a business man in this game even though I have limited resources.  It is times like this though that the adrenaline and doubt push you to wonder if you should pay 4x what your gut tells you, or to back off and stick with your initial feelings.

GL to the Discoverer :)

narfi

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Sales Run 3rd week of Jan

My PED card was getting low so I packed up all my stuff;
  • All the loot I had gained or purchased on Rocktropia
  • All the Ores/Enmatters I had purchased in trades
  • All the Shotguns and Attack chips that I had looted or purchased in trade
  • as well as all my inventory of guns for selling in my booth or to people p2p
It is nice that there isn't an item count for your inventory anymore, but that is still too much stuff to try and keep organized, especially when so many of the guns look identical when they are different levels etc...

I found that for right now PitBulls are the cheapest means of storage. So I have 5 (low TT) Pitbulls that I organize my inventory in as well as multiple Lady Nicole Handbags and Storage Boxes.

This serves two purposes for me;
  1. Everything is organized by type, laser guns in one, blp in another, tools in a third, and Rock weapons in another, etc...
  2. When I get to another planet and want to do something, I can just drop all the Pitbulls and storage containers in the local Planet storage and be free to go do what I want without 2 hours of dragging and dropping from my inventory into the local storage.
I teleported to Next Island last night and sold a high dollar gun there.  I had lent about 1800 ped to an avatar who had used two guns as collateral but then defaulted on the loan. So now I need to sell the guns to make back what I had lent out. The remaining gun is a Fire Forge 8000 which I can sell at full TT for 1000peds if anyone is interested.

I met up with two of my local trader friends on Next Island and bought all their ores/enmatters which I will take with me to Calypso to put in auction.

Since I have my full inventory with me, I have already sold a P5a(L) and a M1a(L) as well as two mining amps.  As long as your always prepared for a trade, you will usually find opportunities.

I read on nextislandlife.com that there was someone stuck at a revival, but by the time I logged on at Lunch they had already been rescued.

Apparently Meg the PR lady from Next Island was demoing the game to some people, and asked Dilly (from Gloryhound Irregulars) and I to do some emotes and so we strutted around a little bit trying to look good for the cameras.  One of the people demoing it got stuck at a revival when they first created their avatar, so Dilly quickly tpd over to rescue them.  I was too slow to be of any use :P I had just picked up some ammo, and was waddling towards the tp to see if he needed any help, when they came back, Mission Accomplished.

I will do a little more trading on Next Island tonight before Teleporting to Calypso to start selling off everything I have collected in my travels.

I just finalized arangements to sell all my zk5s and cryo II chips in bulk to a store owner there, so that will save me a lot of time.  I hope he is able to make a nice profit from our arangement.

Not all business though, my soc is planning a soc hunt tomorrow night and an event hunt on Sunday.
Its kind of weird, this is a virtual game where you don't really know the people you play with except for how you interact with them in the game. Your society still starts to feel like family though, and with my traveling between planets all year I have really missed out on a lot of the fun and interaction with them. Needless to say, I am looking forward to a fun weekend with them on Calypso.

I am not sure what if anything I will be taking back to Rocktropia with me this trip.  I have my variety of weapons stocked pretty well so don't need any of them.  I could take some mining amps, but dont want to spread my card to thin building up inventory that wont sell fast enough.  People aren't mining much there since they are waiting for the blueprints to drop so that the ores and enmatters will actually be valuable.

I could take back a bunch of Iron and sell it to crafters or click it myself in hopes for more Dragon Plate and JUELZ gun blueprints to drop.  I think this is most likely what I will do this trip, but Ill think about it some over the weekend.

    Rocktropia's Dark Secret

    First posted in the "What is in the Egg?" thread.

    Rocktropia's Dark Secret
    A short story by Doc Mathamus


    Nobody knew who or what created this virus. All we know as of now and with certainty is that it was not a naturally occurring phenomena. It was man-made. Who or what would have created this virus? There was speculation and rumors that the First Planet Corporation created it in order to halt other new planet partners from getting a foothold in the Entropia Universe. This is of course denied by the FPC, who claim these rumors were created to intentionally tarnish their name. A ploy brought on by societies who’s sole purpose is to populate other planets. They countered, that certain planet partners were paying these secret societies to spread these rumors in order to gain new colonists. Others claim that it was created by an ancient civilization during a great war. Though, there is little archaeological evidence to support this theory. Regardless, whoever or whatever created this virus had one thing in mind. Genocide.

    Though the origins of this virus are still unknown, there are a few peculiarities that have been observed. The virus seems to infect and mutate differently according to the geological location and climate of which it is exposed to. The mutations themselves can only be described as mythological in appearance. Suddenly things that used to only be in fantasy and horror novels are becoming living breathing flesh. These have all been categorized according to the monsters they most closely resemble. Such as vampires, werewolves, demons, dragons, and zombies. It‘s as if our worst nightmares are deliberately being used against us.

    The zombies seem to act as a catalyst for spreading this mutant virus disease throughout the planet. There is a central location that locals call the “red zone” that seems to be a breeding ground for this disease. However this virus was introduced must have been started there.

    In order to keep the virus at bay and from spreading even further, the Battalion Aid Medical Force Headquarters was created. Or B.A.M.F. HQ for short. This area surrounds the east side of the red zone that includes the BioDome, This is where biomedically controlled experiments are carried out in order to help better understand this virus. Through field research they have found that the standard issue VSE MK1 sweating device renders the virus to where it is no longer contagious. Although not a cure, it has allowed them to better control the populations of mutants, along with hunting , with relative ease. Parts of these mutants are still being analyzed in order to create new items to better help their efforts in controlling this virus. The idea being to use the planets own resources to help fight this epidemic plague.

    There has been some controversy over the experiments being done in B.A.M.F. The Landfill that was created to dump bio hazardous material from B.A.M.F. has since been infected. Creating even more mutants and destroying the indigenous wolf population that lived in that area. These wolves have taken on the characteristics of zombies. This was most likely contracted from medical waste dumped in that site and consumed by scavenger wolves. B.A.M.F. has yet to admit any wrong doing and claims that there is no direct evidence that supports they had caused this infection. However, due to protests and animal rights activists’ interference with their research they have since changed their hazardous waste policies and instead use incinerators that are scattered throughout BAMF. Protestors now claim that these incinerators are polluting the environment and are punching holes through Rocktropia’s Ozone layer. BAMF again deny these claims and have since installed weapon mounted turrets around key facilities. Though their official use is to keep mutants away from their research efforts, they have been known to “accidentally” discharge from time to time. The fact that protestors seem to perish because of these malfunctions has been deemed a mere coincidence from BAMF representatives. They claim that the picket signs confuse the automated weapons systems sensor arrays. As a result protests have ceased in those areas and research continues without interruption.

    Anti-Tox shots were created so the more seasoned veterans could enter the red zone without fear of becoming infected by the now airborne virus in that area. These courageous individuals enter the red zone in order to battle this virus on the front line. However, the effects of war and greed have turned many of these brave individuals against each other. It’s a lawless area, rich with resources, and full of danger. New colonists are urged to stay away from this area or be prepared to face the consequences. Rogue thieves and mercenaries camp around the red zone to take advantage of those who are foolish enough to step within it’s border. It is advised that if curiosity gets the best of you, to take only the necessities when exploring that area. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself picked off by a rogue assassin’s sniper rifle. You may find yourself waking up in BAMF with your belongings missing. You have been warned.

    Other efforts to find a cure for this virus have come from the planet’s founder, Neverdie. He himself had become infected by the virus during his first surveying efforts of the planets resources. When medical scans determined that he had indeed contracted an alien virus, he and his team was forced into medical isolation in order not to infect other avatars. The diagnosis was grim, and determined that eventually his body would succumb to the virus and he would cease to exist. Through his own research he was able to create the anti-tox shots so that others would not fall victim in the red zone as he and his crew had. Determined to find a cure he has diligently been studying the virus in hiding. His efforts revealed that certain species from other planets had a natural immunity to this virus. Which led to the purchase of an Atrox Egg.

    The Egg

    The egg's DNA was dormant...... It was missing the sequence of XY chromosomes needed in order for it to hatch. Meaning, it had not been fertilized. When ND learned of his impending doom, he decided to work in his lab secretly with the egg in order to continue his avatar's lineage and legacy and to save his Rocktropians from the man-made virus. He than created a serum from his own DNA that fulfilled the eggs need for XY chromosomes. Once the serum is injected there will be a 9 month gestation period before a new species of humanoid avatar is born. This new species of avatar will be half human, half Atrox. Hopefully, this new being will contain the same DNA that made the Atrox immune to the virus. If successful, transmu gene therapy, will allow avatars to change their DNA in order to never need another anti tox shot. It is unknown at this time how this gene therapy will change the appearance of said avatars.

    Then ND can rest easy knowing that his DNA will live on even though his avatar will not, thus living up to the name NeverDie. So what's in the egg? Our salvation.

     

    Tuesday, January 18, 2011

    Sorven Shrang Shadowsoul

    Sorven Shrang Shadowsoul
    Just your average guy who happened to find an alien vessel and then converted it into something much more.

    I have known Sorven for a long time, he is probably one of the most disciplined players I know.  He played successfully as a non depositing miner on Calypso and F.O.M.A. - Fortuna (then known as Club NEVERDIE) for a very long time and to be honest I somewhat envy his patience and persistence. (I only lasted as a non-depositor for 6 months)

    He is an excellent story teller and I have been following the story of Sorven since he started it in April of 2010 with the very first chapter, Strange Beginnings.

    It is a fictional story based on his avatars name but not the actual accounting of his avatar in the Universe, if that makes any sense.  It is a story about what might have been or what could (im)possibly be in the future.

    I have really enjoyed the daily installments of the story. If you haven't tried it out yet then I would highly recommend starting with Strange Beginnings and make your way through the entire story which is still ongoing.

    For future reference you will notice there is a link to his story on the sidebar of this blog.

    Monday, January 17, 2011

    VU Downtime

    Well the servers are down for a Version Update (VU) I am off to bed for a rare full nights sleep wondering and dreaming about what will be new in my Virtual Universe when I wake up.

    Will the item count on my shopping booth be fixed so I can finely fully stock it with all the inventory I have been saving for it?
    Will there be Missions or new Blueprints on Rocktropia?

    What about Next Island? Will it have Missions or Blueprints introduced?

    Calypso still has lots that needs to be implemented as well. Taming? Mentoring? Hangers/Spaceships? BEACON MISSIONS?

    The list can go on and on, but all we can do is hope.

    See you on the other side :)

    narfi

    GamingBolt.com - Next Island Featurette

    Thanks to M Rufen Power over at PlanetCalypsoForum for finding this video series about Next Island featuring some of Neverdie Studios crew. His thread is HERE.


    Kind of cool to watch even though it feels kind of weird watching someone try and explain something that you already know about.

    Saturday, January 15, 2011

    Gold Cards

    The Entropia Universe is a place where Real Money changes hands daily and where every activity you participate in costs or earns you money.

    Since this is all taking place online, Security is real concern.  People can have hundreds to thousands of dollars invested in their avatar or in the game, so they want to make sure that investment is secure from hackers.

    Mind Ark has provided a safety device that lets us sleep soundly at night knowing our money is safe in the virtual world.

    The security system is called Gold Cards.  You can get a Gold Card and reader from Mind Ark.
    More info on their site.
    The Gold Card looks like a credit card, but instead of a magnetic strip on the back, it has a little spot on the front with multiple contacts to interface with the smart card sandwitched inside.
    You are also supplied with a Gold Card Reader which is about the size of a USB flash stick. You don't plug it into the computer at all. (thats how I thought it worked before I got mine)

    The way it works is when you go to log into the game you use your username and password like normal, but then once its verified that you have entered the right password for that username a new log in screen comes up asking for your Gold Card number.  You then insert your card into your reader, and it displays a 6 digit number that is never the same.  You then type those 6 numbers into the log in screen and your avatar logs in like normal.

    This means that a "hacker" could use some illicet means of obtaining your username and password but still be unable to log into your account since you need both the username and password as well as the proper gold card number to log in.

    This is great untill you work a hard week and then sleep in on Saturday morning when your 15 month old son decides to take it off the table and hide them in seperate locations amongst his toys and couch cushions.

    If you are serious about this game, and plan on investing any kind of money (more than 1-200$) then I think it is very important that you get a Gold Card to secure your account.

    Look into getting one HERE.

    Monday, January 10, 2011

    In the News: January 10th

    In the News:

    Rocktropia Forum

    Yesterday NEVERDIE posted about his hopes for Rocktropia in 2011.
    Today Tenacity announced a new section on the forum for more technical feedback and wish lists for the community to be able to better stay in touch with the developers as well as a developers blog.
    Read his thread here.

    Entropia Planets Forum / Next Island

    An unexpected news announcement was discovered and posted on Entropia Planets today.
    A new Reality TV Show based in/on/around Virtual Reality will be starting in March.
    15 men will be competing for 1 woman's affection on the Virtual Resort Planet of Next Island.
    Read more about it here.

    Manny from Soaring Eagles posted a quick how-to on crafting for Next Island.
    Crafting Blueprints dos & donts


    Planet Calypso Forum

    Naomi from Menace to Society announced that he successfully got Entropia Universe running in Linux.
    Read about how he did it here.

    First Week of January

    After spending a fun and expensive (-600ped) weekend on the resort planet of Next Island I returned to Rocktropia and my normal hunting and trading activities.
    Wednesday night I had a great run on Rudolf Dragons getting my personal best of 4 globals in run including a 155ped ESI!
    Returns seemed to drop pretty low for me after that including some back to back 50% or lower runs.
    Counting my losses from Next Island as well as from hunting this weekend, I think I am still about even after markup when counting the ESI, shotguns, and Cryo chips I've been looting.
    Break even with skill gains is always great in my book :)

    Trading is still slow, I bought a couple thousand ped of ores/enmatters when I was on Next Island and have probably bought up another thousand since being back on Rocktropia.  Funds are running low though, Ill have to make another trip to Calypso to auction stuff off.

    I just got word from someone who I had lent ~2000ped to that he is quitting the game.  So I need to sell the guns he gave me for collateral.  I should be able to profit a couple hundred PED hopefully if they sell well.

    I really need to be keeping a better accounting of my business dealings, but time just doesn't seem to be on my side.

    Saturday, January 8, 2011

    In the News: Januray 8th

    In the news today:

    Planet Arkadia
    A competition was announced today, the person who most closely guesses the release date of Planet Arkadia will win an Uber set of clothes including 1 Black Master Coat, 1 Urban Nomad Black Jumper, 1 Urban Nomad Black Slacks and 1 Urban Nomad Black Boots.
    Read the rules and enter your guess on the announcement thread.

    Rocktropia
    I started a thread asking what types of blueprints have dropped on Rocktropia so far. Amber a member of the Rockstars society hinted at ones that I don't know about yet. It will be interesting to find out what else is out there.  Read about it here.

    Entropia Planets
    MindStar9 a well known figure in the Universe has announced that she will no longer be as active with the storytelling and news reporting as she has been in the past.
    Read her announcement here.

    Evidently ViagraFalls aka Peter aka Admin(from Entropia Planets) had a post deleted and his account banned on the Rocktropia Forums today.
    Here is one side of that story.

    Planet Calypso Forum
    TigerSkin is selling his Unlimited Kesmek Vass using a reverse auction.  The starting buyout price for it is TT+1000 and he will lower the price by 50ped each week or so.  Looks like it could be a sweet deal for whoever decides to pick this one up.
    Kesmek Vass Auction Thread

    Who is Narfi?

    Narfi Hungry Willem first logged into the Entropia Universe in the spring of 2008.
    Wearing nothing but a tattered jumpsuit on the alien world of Calypso he spent the next 6 months struggling to survive with no source of outside income. He worked hard, daily gathering sweat from the animals to help pay for his education as a miner.  That fall after having graduated from his discipleship as an enmatter miner two major things changed for him.

    First, his wife Jessica Narfette Riley joined him on Calypso to support him in his struggles.

    Second, he started receiving funds in the form of deposits from earth which helped him maintain his profession as well as start a new education as a hunter.

    It is now almost three years later, and Narfi has come along way.

    He is the Founder and General of the Lost Renegades Society
    He killed a monster that was worth $1,600usd part of which was a knife that he sold for over $4,000usd.
    He has traveled to and explored all three known planets in the Entropia Universe.
    He received recognition as Rocktropian of the Month on the planet of Rocktropia.
    There was an article about him published in the September 2010 edition of the EntropiaTimes.
    Plus many other accomplishments and adventures.

    It will be interesting to see what comes next in this Universe where reality merges with the virtual.