My First Global

Okay, so I'm running around last night, mining, hunting and sweating as I usually do. I drop a bomb on a small mountain ridge and bang! I find a claim marker! I start digging and Lysterium starts coming up. No bid deal. Well it keeps coming! After over an hour of digging, the resource is finally depleted and I’m sitting there with 78ped worth of Lysterium! This is the biggest loot I’ve ever come across. And the best part is that I only started mining a few days ago. Actually, I’ve only been on 5 mining runs so far! So I am very excited about my first big loot! Let’s take a look at what I’m using to mine:

After doing some research online and in-game, I settled on mining for Ore rather than enmatter. In order to do this, a ore-seeker is needed to locate the resources. I purchased the most basic one offered at the TT. The Ziplex Z1 OreSeeker. Here is what it looks like:



It can be purchased right from the TT at a cost of 2.40 ped.

In order to use the ore-seeker, one needs Omegaton Seismic Bombs, which can also be purchased from the TT. They are expensive though, costing 1 ped/ea bomb. I purchased 50 to start with, and am still working my way though them.



So the bombs are used by the ore seeker which is how you find the resources to be mined. Once you have located the resource, you will need an excavator. Again, I used the one offered at the TT, the Genesis Star Earth Excavator ME/01




With this setup, I have been able to start mining ores. As I stated, I’ve only been out on 5 runs, but I am very happy with the results. According to my calculations, I am currently up 200% of my investment. After last nights huge find, I am up 65ped. Very Exciting!

Stay tuned for more info soon!

Hunting...

So in order to really know whether things are becoming profitable, I have set up a few small spreadsheets to keep track of things like sweat averages, mining and hunting returns and auction sales. This will help determing which areas offer the most returns. Let's take a look at the items I am currently using for hunting:



Hunting:
Jester D-1 which can be found at the Trade Terminal (TT) and has a value of 4.50ped.

This weapon takes standard medium weapon cells. It costs 2 ammunition per shot so you can burn through them pretty quickly.

I am currently near the max range and damage for this weapon, so by normal thinking, I should upgrade very soon. I will most likely wait until I am at MAX damage before doing so.

I spent some time browsing Entropia Forum looking for the next option in weapons, but was not able to nail anything down.

I have also noticed that most people are using a weapon attachment, in this case, the Omegaton A101.

It seems as though this attachment can increase your damage output by adding 3 base points without increasing your ammo burn. I am planning on purchasing one soon. The problem is that they are extrememly expensive. I have checked on PEAuction.com and the average price is around 80-100ped. Making this one of the more expensive items that I've considered purchasing. Seeing that TT is only 18ped, it's tough to swallow paying 90ped.

After doing some more research, I've come accross THIS POST that has a nice chart for figuring out which weapon should be my next investment. The post also has some great information about weapon damamge, skill increase bonus (SIB) and the like.

And THIS POST discusses what others have tried when in come to weapon progression.



I will soon post information about my mining and sweating experiences as well.

Game Experience

I've been a registered user of Entropia Universe since December of 2005. At the time it was called Project Entropia. Like so many before me, I was intrigued by the allure of making money in a virtual game. As you can see, my curiosity has not subsided. Although I hope I have a few more tricks up my sleeve this time around.

I originally played the game for a couple weeks. Starting off by 'sweating' but got bored with that really quickly. So I broke down and deposited $10 which gave me $100ped to use. Naively, I quickly spent that money on a rifle (Opala), some armor (Settlers) and ammo thinking that I would go out and kill the Ultimate Uber Beast and reap the AMAZING rewards forever solidifying my stake in this virtual universe.

I blew through the ammo in no time and there I was, broke and feeling empty inside. So I stopped playing. At that time, I had other games that were more rewarding because I didn't have to 'pay' for everything.

More recently I've come back to EU to have another crack at making some money. I have deposited $20 and got $200ped out of it. I've purchased A few items that I've read are going to be helpful. This Guide by Pinky got me started on what I should focus on at first.

I've been working on collecting the items needed. So far I've got the NeoPsion Aa Mindforce Implant & the Payn-Inc Implant Inserter. I now need to track down a minor focus chip and some force nexus so that I can finish up the 'Uber Sweater' part. Then I can move onto my next step, which I believe will be sweating and hunting.

I also should mention that I purchased a Jester D-1 rifle because I had read that the return is slightly better than the Opalo and I have been using that for most of my short hunting trips. Yes, I have still been hunting. It seems to be the only activity in the game that actually keeps me interested at this point. I know there is much more to the game, but it take a lot more money to get involved with them. So my plan is to start off being good at what I can and move up from there.

I realize that in order to make any king of money in this game, I'm going to have to work my way through the professions slowly. Which I'm fine with. While I do that, I'm going to spend my 'out of game' time researching online, finding resources that might make things easier for me. I'm know it's much quicker to deposit a boatload and skip these trivial steps, but like most people, I don't have boatloads of money kicking around. And this wouldn't be much of a Blog if I just skipped all the hard stuff and went directly to 'Go' nor would I learn very much about the game. I figure this is the best way to learn the ins and outs of the game and still work within my budget.

At some point soon, I'm going to establish a monthly budget (more of a business plan) that I'll be working with. Whether for depositing or working some other aspect of the 'business' I don't know yet. Most likely, the first few months will need to be spend depositing so that I can build up experience and items that will be useful for future endeavors.

In the meantime....

It's on to research!

The Entropia Universe Experiment

Well, I figure I better just start writing or I will never get started...

My plan is to experiment with the idea of making money in a virtual world.

My chosen Platform? Entropia Universe.

For those not familiar with Entropia Universe (EU), it is a virtual game world that boasts the first 'real-world economy.' Players of the game are not charged to play the game. It can be downloaded free of charge, and even played without putting a single dime into the game. But for those wanting more than a measly game-life of endlessly 'sweating' for any spending money, there is the option of depositing real money into the game. There's a fixed exchange rate of $1us=$10ped (PED is the in-game money), so basically a 10:1 ratio.

I'm not going to get to far into explaining how the game works as there is a plethora of information online that one can search for. EXAMPLE The company website has plenty of information for getting started in the game also.

What I want to know is...

Can one make a living by playing a game? Particularly this game. I say 'this game' because I have had limited success in other game endeavors that I have experimented with. I have dabbled in gold trading, account buying and selling as well as item sales, guides and the like. And, to my initial surprise, was actually making what I would consider a 'decent' amount. It certainly wasn't enough to live on, but nonetheless it was a legitimate earning from virtual goods/services.

My initial speculation is Yes, money can be made by playing a game. My limited experience tells me that it won't necessarily come from simply killing mobs or crafting items. It will come from a multitude of different 'streams' of income that could make up a more steady, sustainable income, while still involving me in the game regularly.

The goal of this blog is to simply chronicle my travels during this experiment.

Will it work? I have no idea.

Will I learn something? Absolutely!
Will I make money? Probably
Will I make a living? Let's find out together!

If you want to follow along with me as I discover whether a simple game lover can make and sustain a real paycheck by using a little entrepreneurial spirit, then click on the 'Subscribe' button.


Thanks for reading