Generation X ~ The new arrivals

[Lykke]

Her name is Baalat, Baalat LaDiosa Phoenician, to be more precise, and I met her at the Sweat Camp just north of Port Atlantis. We were chatting briefly when she suddenly ran towards the lake, jumped in and started paddling out to the middle...

The sun was shining hot and not to be rude I ran after her, jumped into the water and swam into her direction. "Sorry", she laughed. "But I have to hurry if I don't want to be killed". "Aahhh", I thought - "The logic in the mind of a newbie".

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Neas Place was crowded as always when this guy was standing with his sweat tool, looking a little lost - even though his stance was firm and proud - perhaps he was feeling like one among many... But he is far from lost! His name is Roni, Geronimo Roni Last.

"Neas place is busy, but at least it's not snowing", he tells me with a sigh. "The snow lol... I have always difficulties finding my cursor when it snows", he continues and his face lights up with a big grin...

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A handsome stranger, Joseis Whitewolf Eien, master of sweat! He is very much into details and tells me about accuracy, ambitions and how he hopefully will be able to make it in game just by sweating.

"It took me 2 days to figure out how to use the auto tool when sweating", he tells me with a wicked smile. "I just hope the prices goes up", he finishes and I can tell by the look in his eyes that he wishes there was something like a sweat HOF, because he would definitely be the one trying to get one of those.

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Three newbies in the Universe, three different backgrounds and three different sets of experiences! But how did it all begin?

"I'm reading computer sites on a regular basis", Roni tells me, "and one day I stumbled upon an article about Buzz Erik Lightyear and his buying of the virtual spacestation. So I googled for Entropia Universe and Wiki to find out about this virtual planet".

Whitewolf add: "I also saw the news of Buzz on one of the gaming sites I frequent and decided to check it out, I was surprised by the amount of options that the game had and decided to try it out".

"Hmmm". Baalat looks as if she was thinking, "The short version is, I got bored of my previous MMORPG after 6 years of playing it (mostly due to bad support by the publisher, Mu Online by Webzen). In there I was a kinda of 'crafter-trader' with a very good reputation. So i started looking for a good game with market and crafting possibilities. After some google and reading a good article for 'virtual economy' at Wikipedia I found Planet Calypso and Eve Online".

All three of us looked at her thinking it wasn't that short of a version after all.

Baalat is a real life Engineer from Venezuela aged around 30. What amazed her most in-game when she first joined the Universe was the Graphics. "Woah, nice graphic" was her first thought, and since she believes she is bad with guns and pvp, Entropia and the opprtunities presented in it seemed perfect for her.

"I did not know anyone, not even a mosquito, when I joined game". She looks at me and smiles. "But now I'm a proud member of Skillin' Villains". She continues: "They have an infinite patience to answer my noobie questions. Very friendly people, always joking, and not much drama in the chat "

Whitewolf is 18 and was extremely confused when first entering the game. "Whatever help that was offered was ignored in a attempt to avoid being taken advantage by the usual troop of douchebags that take advantage of beginners' hard work", he explains with a serious look, "I wandered for a while until I learned how to sweat".

Whitewolf didnt find it too obvious what to start with, "I found out by listening to others' questions. The more common the answers, the more likely the answer is the truth. Of course I made a lot of mistakes until I had found a good group of people to ask questions to".

Roni in real life is a 41 year old Teamleader at (the) Dutch Bloodbank in the Netherlands. As a casual gamer and a bit of old-school sci-fi lover (particularly Asimov and, Frank Herbert), he got interested in how Calypso would "feel" and look like. And he found that to be very easy because it is free to enter and play.

"I was very impressed by the size of the maps, the entourage and the music", Roni explains. "I'm used to 'open world' games, but I hadnt expected it to be so big. Another thing that struck me was that I felt that I had to put some effort in it to be able to play and I like that".

Which is interesting, because the Universe has been expanding a lot the last couple of years, and with the new planets it will grow even bigger!

Baalat suddenly breaks into laughter. "Well this one is funny; I was one of the many people who were 'born' at Treasure Island Castle, which was kinda confusing since all the guides (which I read about before logging in for the first time) said that you would be born at a nice welcome port with real guides. So the first thing I did when I entered the game was to log off again to read forums and guides once more ".

Whitewolf tells me, that he did not use the in-game guides, but he is still in the process of reading several tutorials. "I am happy people take the time to make them", he says. "Now I can see myself looking back in a few months on those tutorials knowing I have accurate information. The only thing I miss is information about scammers and other miscellaneous information such as decay and several up-to-date tactics for hunting and runners". Once again his face turns serious while he looks as if he needs a couple of minutes to double-check the amount of sweat he gathered.

Roni got help from the guide written by Alice. "It is a fine guide which leads you through the Entropia Universe step by step. So it was a great help to me and I do not believe I miss any information - or not yet, anyway . I was thinking of trying out the service offered by Entropian Tour Agency for the TPs, but I could not figure out how it worked. But that was on my 1st day".

"I love the guides, too! They are very helpful", Baalat says and smiles, "I did sometimes miss something out when I asked, but they are always open for a more detailed explanation". Baalat continues: " I also joined the ETA runs. They are always fun and sometimes they even have free clothes to hand out at the end The people helping out are awesome and I can really recommend it".

"I also recommend all newbies to be taking a tour", Whitewolf says, "It's helpful to get as many TPs as possible and I would suggest others to take the tour as soon as they have the opportunity to join them".

~ To be continued in next post ~

[Lykke]

~ Continued from previous post ~

All three newbies can agree on the importance of a nice and helpfull community. Roni even has a story to tell about his first interaction with people in game!

"That's a funny story", Roni nods and continue, "I joined a tp run from Treasure Island Castle towards Nea's my second day and we got as far as to Timbesha. Close to Timbesha my PC crashed due to the stress of the Cryengine2 on my graphic card (all settings were very high). I lost the teamspeak and got back alone at Timbesha after loggin in. I heard that Nea's was due south so started walking solo. On the way I fell off a mountain and got stuck in an area with real tough mobs. Couldn't get away alive from the outpost there. Back then I was not familiar with the Calypso rescue team. I was lucky that a 'veteran' was hunting near the outpost where I was stuck so I asked him if I could follow him out of the land area. He agreed and was really nice. He gave me a Vivo so I could heal him on our way out while he shot the mobs. When we left the land area he got me a Pixie harness and an Opalo with ammo at the next tp and he took me to Nea's without me asking him to do so. On our way he gave me some basic info on the game and we had an overall nice chat. He still checks sometimes on me on how I'm doing, which is really nice".

Baalat looks down while she smiles and brushes her leg from side to side, wiping away some sand. "Definitely, the game itself is good (although maybe the PVP system could be upgraded), and I would currently give it around 8 out of 10 points overall, but it is improving, which is good. But the community is AWESOME, and gets a 10/10. A lot of forums, tools, wikis, societies and independant people in-game helping 24h a day. Thank you guys for that!" She looks up with an even bigger smile, and you can feel the honesty in her voice and the way she warmly looks at people.

"I joined the highest member count society I could find", Whitewolf explains, "but I honestly wish there was at least a small description for each society. My society is full to the brim with people, so it is easy to ask questions and actually get answers to my questions. It makes it easy to learn further about things like prices, armor, decay, and events. But I still wish there were someone to make sure you don't get ripped off by spotters; people who sit there and buy all your hard work while they feed you with false information".

Baalat and Roni look at him, as if they didn't know there could be people like that in a game.

The day seemed to head to an end - the sun went down over the mountain and everybody was eager to get back to sweating, running TPs or just socializing. I could feel it was time for my final question. I asked all of them how the future would look like and what their best advices for other newbies would be.

Roni begins, "I believe that I will be having fun exploring Calypso and meeting new people in the future. There's so much to do and learn still, and I can do all sorts of things. If you're new to the game you do not have to run around screaming "where are the monsters?" because they find you soon enough...hahaha" - Roni shakes his head while he laughs and continue with a more serious voice: "As a newbie it is important you have the patience to learn, enjoy the experience and treat your fellow players with respect".

Baalat adds: "The future looks so huge that I prefer to focus on my goals for today, but as a newbie I will recommend others to read as much as you can; before, during and after playing every day :-)".

Finaly Whitewolf wraps up the interview, "Hmm, the future! It really depends on how the price of sweat developes. I don't see myself able to spend money on crafting or mining that soon. I can't say I would do anything differently though, as I haven't really encountered anything that couldn't be turned to my advantage. As a newbie you should be aware of scammers most of all. They make a lot of PEDs of the uneducated and unprepared players. My best advice would be that they should join a society first! And of course, always make sure your information is accurate!"

All three smile, looking quite relieved that the interview is over, and I watch them hopping into a TP to unknown destinations - on their way in the big universe, getting new experiences, exploring new areas.

In three months time I will attempt to find them again and it will be interesting to know where in the Universe they ended up.


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A big thank you to Baalat, Roni and Whitewolf for making this interview possible!

[RAZER]

nice , I have seen Baalat and Roni walking around at Swamp and talked to them a bit as well, both seemed like nice people indeed. Maybe I need to talk to them some more because they are famous now

[Oleg]

Nice article, and grats to my socmate Baalat for hitting the front page

[jb-aristide]

omg! omg! omg! very nice Likke!! I love u!
It is amazing how did u link all information together to make this article, gratz! your writing skills are awesome!

RAZER maybe later I come to swamp camp for the usual 'Sweating Tricks' team, and we talk a bit

Oleg(pedia), thank you! can I ask u something? (kidding) ... no, not kidding, are u online?, cya there ok? ...

[Alice]

Baalat i know as well and Roni sounds familiar too

nice interview

[Stagger]

i see them both sometimes ingame, nice to see them get some fame!

[JohnCapital]

Very cool.

[Stave]

Nice Interview...

Its nice to see some of Entropia Tour Agencys past clients hitting the front page

[Flapman]

Very nice article and interview Lykke.