Hardwrath taught me a lesson tonight...

Since McCormick radically changed the content of his original post, I have updated the content of my first reply to this thread.

 

This is an example of why forums tend to be moderated. Cos it's not a good look for the forum. Despite Mccormicks initial statements, this thread appears designed to get a slanging match going. I'm all for openness about flaws of the game or scamming and such but this is just a personal dispute playing to an audience. Such bullshit.

 

Are you both done pissing on the trees? It's getting kinda boring.. ​

 

I "get" McCormick ... I "understand" McCormick ... I "respect" McCormick for the enormous historian work that he has done that documents so much of both PE and EU history in great detail ... I "applaud" McCormick for calling bullshit when he recognizes it ... and I "laugh" at those who make desperate strides to bully his efforts ... he's "iconic" in the way that I like to remember the important stuff, and ...

The first person who tells me I don't have the right to an opinion because I'm not as active in the game as I used to be will cause me to piss in their cereal of choice, because I'm coming up on 10 years in a few months and I've kept up with goings on, as well as living more than 8-1/2 years as a very active Entropian.

Max, with all due respect ... you don't get McCormick ... and while I have been vocal in my own way about the ups and downs of our universe, I've loved it ... I just don't like (I actually hate) MindArk's management/development style. There's plenty of your own postings where you are harshly critical, so I would step back from calling the kettle black, and ... what happened at the rig was not about PK'ing for McC and you know it, and all about you bullying him for his opinions and work about the game.

You may be all PRO for Entropia and MindArk right now, but you always haven't been, so perhaps be a bit more fair.

 

or perhaps its time to take another year break from eu like the two you've taken in the past. Just don't hand your avatar to another guy or take a few k ped of other folks money offline with you when you go. :)

 

I disagree with your assessment of McCormick. I think it completely lacks objectivity and is biased by your disdain for MindArk. He is no "historian", he exists only to ridicule and troll individuals in MindArk. Even when he was more active, all he knew how to do was ridicule. Seldom do I see him make a substantive point. Instead what he does is photoshops real life pictures of MindArk executives into YouTube videos that make a mockery of them, their efforts, and amount to nothing more than a personal attack.

He even does it with other players. Who remembers MMA Big Show? He came and left EU during one of my extended breaks from the game. I don't know the issues surrounding him but there was some drama with him, that much I know. Lets use the video that McCormick made of him as a case in point example:

Once again, zero substantive content in a video meant simply to ridicule, diminish, and flame a specific person. The efforts by McCormick that you call "iconic" are nothing more than McCormick's personal blend of humor, personal attacks, and trolling meant to embarrass and ridicule individual people.

You have every right to have an opinion, just please... spare us of it since you dont actually play the game anymore (by your own admission). By continuing to make critical comments in the forums for a video game that you do not play makes you and those like you, a forum troll. By thinking that you need to chime in and share your opinion on nearly every subject pertaining to EU makes you a self important troll.

And please, don't threaten to urinate in my food. It makes you look undignified.

Seeing as how you and I have never discussed McCormick before, you have no clue what I understand about him and what I don't. Quite frankly, I have zero desire to try to understand McCormick any more than I already do. I have seen enough. Aside from his tantrum about getting PKed like anyone else would, his videos are self-evident and should be obvious to anyone who is objective and clear minded. Just because there is a little humor blended into them does not mean its ok for him to upload videos on YouTube that attack people associated with this game in a personal way. It doesn't make it ok for him to ridicule and embarrass them. These videos amount to nothing more than McCormick trying to bully these people along with gain attention for himself.

MS9, I think you have lost your objectivity to such an extent that you can no longer see the difference between being constructively critical and merely trolling. I'm speculating here but your critical comments throughout the forums might have something to do with why a certain MindArk executive canceled his interview with you.... and lets be honest here. Since that day, you have become increasingly negative toward EU.

Sure I have my fair share of issues with MindArk, some of them I make known on the forums in a constructive way. Other things I take to MindArk directly, in private. I think at this point every one knows that when I find a problem, or have an issue, I address the subject in an attempt to bring resolution to the situation.

What I see as a problem (among other things) is elements of the community itself. Specifically those who dont play, those who seek praise and +reps from others by being unnecessarily and excessively critical of everything done by MindArk. It is these people, along with those who dont recognize them for what they are, who comprise of this mob mentality anti-developer attitude that runs so rampant through these forums. The need to flame and be critical of everything that MindArk does and says creates an environment where its impossible for them to be involved with the community, impossible for them to communicate more, and impossible for them to care about the things said on the forums.

Somewhere in your mind perhaps you think that all of your critical comments are in some way helpful to the Entropia Universe when in fact its actually adding to and compounding the problems that you complain about. By staying so active and so critical in a forum for a video game that you no longer play, you have made yourself into part of the problem.

 

And here you are, at it again, like the stupid worthless neanderthal toll you have come known to be.

If I want to allow someone to temporarily use my avatar (I dont) that's my business. More importantly, i have not run off with anyone's peds. You continuously say things about me that you know are not true throughout all of the EU forums and your blog.

You continuously try (and fail) to discredit and slander me and others.. and once again with you we have a case in point example of someone who does not play EU. Someone who is not active except for on the game's forums. You attempt to bring others down as a method to elevate and entertain yourself and for that, it makes you one of the lowest pieces of scum sucking shit I have come to know in my life.

 

I agree completely and until this forum "grows up" and implements sensible and enforced rules then all this place will ever be is a weak version of Entropia Reality and will never be a successful investment.

A lot of people question me, asking me why I bother with these trolls and idiots.. the answer is not because I like it, I dont, but because if I dont defend myself, then my ability to do what I do in EU is compromised. These trolls, these rabble-rousers , specialize in destroying reputations, in getting a mob mentality working against a person, or a company, with no factual basis. These are the people who would want to watch the world burn just for their own amusement. In my eyes, and I know in the eyes of a lot of people, some of these people are pure filth.

EP was created in an atmosphere where many believed that PCF was too strict and Entropia Reality was too lax. ER was the troll capital of EU and I had to spend many dozens of hours defending myself there. People initially thought there would be an exodus from the other forums with people migrating to this one, a place where they could more freely speak.

Instead whats happened, EP has catered to only a niche within a niche and not the broader EU player base. With the closure of Entropia Reality, EP lost its balance, being the website that was in the middle of heavy moderation and no moderation. It has simply become home to PCF rejects, inactive-player trolls, and others who just complain all-of-the-time about everything. It has become the center of negativity in EU.

This forum has failed to adapt with a changing environment and it's low daily post count is a direct reflection of that.

The first step I recommend is modifying the rule about naming and shaming... require evidence be presented, that way people cant abuse this ability simply to slander and make false accusations. Second, excessive complaining and trolling needs to come to an end. This means locking threads, temp/perm banning users, etc.

If this website ever wants to enjoy a higher daily post count, it needs to model itself as a fan site, that supports EU, and MA, while allowing constructive criticism.

 

What the Hell are you talking about? I really don't appreciate your gossip and rumor starting with information that is absolutely not true. My avatar has never been under the control of anyone but me, and I have NEVER taken anyone else's money, so stop with your instigating of stories that has no basis in truth whatsoever. Unbelievable.

 

I do not believe that Mastermesh's comment was directed at you. I believe it was directed at me and I believe that because for years he has been spewing out the same garbage about me. Ive already responded to his post... Just like I have responded to all of his other posts, in all of the various threads, across many of the EU related forums.

For these brief few minutes you thought that comment was directed at you. To understand my perspective (just try once) imagine the same core group of people making these kinds of false accusations about you continuously for years on end. Maybe, just maybe then you will start to understand why I respond in the fashion I do.

If Mastermesh wasn't such a coward, and if he had the courage befitting of a man his age, then he would gather all of the "evidence" and all of the "facts" that he thinks he knows and he would create a thread dedicated to the topic.

 

MS9, MasterMesh is definitely trying to raise some old ghost stories from Max's Past (one involving me) and not about you. To be honest, I'm tired of hearing about it myself.

Must be a slow day for any real news..

 

Yes.. and now since everyone is curious, here is that story:

Was it 2006 or 2007? ...when I was still in the NBK, my avatar was the General of the Natural Born Killers, Sionkiewicz was the General of another NBK society and was the 2nd in command. Before people have a coronary, words like "command" and "leader" are used here as best fitting descriptive words because in a multi society organization such as what we had, a clear and defined leadership structure was required.

Anyway... I needed to take a break from the game to focus on IRL because some things happened and frankly I was burned out of EU. I was in my mid 20's and trying to lead and continue to build a group of societies that had many hundreds of members. I had spent nearly a year trying to find someone who could/would be willing to replace me as that group's leader. The constant infighting and power struggles in that group were the source of me burning out of EU and were the reason others didnt want the job.

Sionkiewicz rose to the level that he did because he didnt kiss my ass, he wasnt agreeable, he was always questioning (in a respectful way) and he was always providing intelligent and substantive information and insight. As a result of this, I felt he would be best suited to take the job as leader of that group of societies. Unfortunately and unfairly to him, I was exiting the game for the foreseeable future, thus he was put in a position where it was difficult to refuse.

At the time his avatar was locked in the General rank of a different NBK society with no suitable replacement at the time. Additionally, his avatar was slightly short of the skills needed for our top society. So to overcome this, I allowed him to use my avatar which included me sending him a half dozen to a dozen gold card codes at a time. Prior to doing this, I made an announcement on public and private forums telling people that he would be the one accessing my avatar for the foreseeable future. The EULA does not prohibit this sort of thing in any way shape or form. What it does do is make me personally responsible for anything that he did with my avatar. We had eachother's IRL contact info and Sionkiewicz is an upstanding and trustworthy guy so I knew that allowing him to use my avatar would not create any issues... and it didnt.

Because of this time I allowed Sionkiewicz to temporarily use my avatar, Mastermesh likes to run around trying to convince people that multiple individuals are continuously accessing my avatar to this day. The sick part is that Mastermesh knows these exact facts firsthand. Despite that he continuously twists the story, invents his own facts, and uses his concocted version to slander me.

 

EDIT:

I think I may have mistook your post to be directed at me MM, but after reading Max's post, I can see it was most likely meant for him, because I now remember what you're talking about, so my apologies.

@ MAX:

You responded exactly as I anticipated you would because your ego wouldn't allow you to do otherwise. Your style is to personally attack and not consider what the truth might be, and to twist things to discredit others. The only one trolling this forum is you Max with a style that I think most have become accustomed to ... you tear down a person with whatever method you can in order to make yourself look more significant in the grander scheme of things.

Guess what? ... it doesn't work, because we value someone's contributions at this forum that adds information, insight, and historical value for a game we all love, even though we may not agree with how the developers deliver it. You coming here and making every excuse and bloated reason for why you have the definitive word is a joke, and that we don't value.

We may not always agree with each other, but we know how to be civil in how we express ourselves. We also respect the fact that we have many veterans at this forum who have always loved the game, who play in their own way and time, and feel comfortable sharing what they like or dislike about the universe.

Forums are ripe with complaints about MindArk and the mechanics of the game, especially at PCF, so don't come here and act like we don't know what we're talking about, or that we don't have a right to hang out with friends and veterans and discuss this game and its developers. No matter what our level of activity, we have the game in common, and we are here to share, whether it's positive or negatively constructive ... and we do both, so cut the bullshit with all we do is flame MindArk.

If you took the time to read the information that McCormick and others have put into print, there is documented evidence with the majority of it that can't be disputed, but it seems that these things are overlooked in the course of pointing fingers.

I choose also to ignore anything further that you put into print Max, because again, I am fully anticipating that your ego won't allow you to not respond in a way that really adds nothing but remnants of bully tactics. I understand this, because there's a pay-off for you, so I hope at least you appreciate your efforts.

Max ... I've had my challenges over the years with antagonists and bullies trying to intimidate me, so I know the path quite well. I don't walk in your shoes, and you don't walk in mine, but I know for sure that you're wrong about McCormick, and it has nothing to do with bias whatsoever ... he and I have never been close personal friends at all, so I'm being totally objective here and looking at just the facts.

 

Oh look a bunny... No?!....

On topic, can we get some more smilies?!

 

As usual MS9, your assessment of the situation does not run parallel with reality. What exactly is this great "truth" that you think I dont understand? All I see is a man who is ridiculing people through youtube videos and taking things way too personal when he gets killed in a PvP zone.

I have used case in point examples, a multitude of videos made by McCormick to lend evidence to and back up my assessment of him. I have made accusations and backed them up with video evidence.

Again, your assessment of things is inconsistent with reality because partaking in this sort of exchange on a forum only diminishes me. It does nothing to improve my reputation and merely makes me look like a person who is easily trolled and baited into an argument.

How would you know that?

You dont actually play the Entropia Universe, as you have pointed out many times throughout this forum. For you, the "game" exists simply as banter between the EntropiaPlanet's community, a forum thats littered with anti-EU people who also do not play the game any longer and take personal enjoyment in tearing others down.

The opinions of people like that mean nothing to me. Because you dont log in, because you don't play, and because you dont have access to my in-box in game, you dont see whats said to me there. You have no clue.

Where is the insight, information, and historical value in a YouTube video thats meant to mock and ridicule people by using their real face and in many cases photoshoping their image in such a way that it makes them look infantile or developmentally disabled?

Where did I say or imply that what I have to say is meant as the "definitive word"? Please point it out because I think that you are reading simply what you want to read, you are trolling, you are building an argument on a basis that is completely absent from the discussion.

I present things in a matter-of-fact way that is very direct and blunt. Thats my personality.. deal with it.

I know that many of you interpret my writing style as a man shouting through the keyboard but if you think that then you are mistaking. When I want to raise my voice through text communication, i use CAPS. Words flow from my brain to my fingers and only a minimal amount of proof reading is made until after the post is made. So if what I say seems raw in some way, its because its largely unfiltered. I speak my mind, I have since I was expelled from Kindergarten, it is something that will never change and it is something that I will continue to carry as both an asset and a liability.

Actually we seldom agree with each other and we only gained respect for each other when we acquired a mutual friend many years ago. Those years came to pass a long time ago and I feel that you have completely lost your objectivity and ability to think clearly and rationally when it comes to matters pertaining to the Entropia Universe.

You claim that I have an ego and I think that you either dont understand the definition of the word or you are misinterpreting how I communicate. Dont mistake confidence with arrogance and dont assume that I establish my sense of self worth through what I think I can do. My sense of self worth is based strictly on what I have done and what I know that I can do, what I know that I can accomplish, and of who I know that I am. Its based on fact, not fiction, and its not inflated in anyway.

I do respect those people, as long as they still play in some way. The one that I dont respect are the ones who do not play, do not log on, do not involve themselves with the actual game yet persistently post here whining and bitching about a game that they do not play.

There is a difference between constructive and destructive criticism. There is a difference between criticism and trolling. There is also such a thing as beating a dead horse.

I dont need to take the time to do those things... I can believe they exist, I'm certain good contributions exists, however its not those things that define him in my eyes. Any good contributions by him are offset and completely negated by the bad things he contributes.

Posting a few pictures on a blog of simple items that once existed in game does a sum total of zero for me. Who cares? Sure its nice to reminisce in the memories of how the game was a decade ago... but that was a decade ago and its not representative of the game today. EU has changed, it has evolved, in some ways better and worse. If you dont like the game as it is today, and you dont like where its going, and you no longer play it as a result then get the hell out of the EU related fan sites. Move on with your life. Find a new hobby.

A big part of the problem with you is that you ignore the counter points from the onset of the argument. I understand you are trying to defend your friend here but you fail to realize how you have lost all objectivity and all ability to understand the argument of the opposition.

Your objectivity in an argument used to once be a source of pride for you. Do you remember those days?

 

No, I don't think that people are still accessing your avatar other than you... nor do I "run around trying to convince people" of anything other than the things you yourself explained to the public in various forms over the years, i.e. that you have admitted to using no less than 3 avatars at various times in the past, at least two of which were 'in game' for an extended period of use due to Mindark's allowing them to exist in the player database or society terminals, making it appear that multiple folks were behind them and that they were still active even if they weren't being logged in to daily... that and that you took a bunch of folks peds offline with you for about a year, even if you did eventually get a conscience and come back in and pay most of it back... well that, and that the Nbk, when under your leadership kept up the good ol black and red lists to enact a bunch of cyberbullying online (has Imo told ya about all of the 'parties' he broke up with mob trains by harassing folks on those lists for one of those years that he was gone).

MS9, no I don't think you have anyone running your avatar other than you, but do think your admission of using an alt 'testing' avatar to get someone a completed discipleship gave that disciple a bit of an unfair advantage vs other folks with normal community mentors... just part of what planet partners do daily I guess. Again, it's nothing I'm really accusing you of other than what you admitted to publicly...

 

I'll just say that MindArk created the Guidelines for Official Avatars and their Incognito Avatars and what was acceptable and what wasn't. I clearly laid that out in another post and how we could not gain as Official or otherwise avatars. I was also granted permission to create a temp avatar on Arkadia for media reporting (first-hand experience) of their revised new player area, and the avatar was used just that once and was removed. I provided a service to the community in promoting the game and never took advantage of anything ... and besides, I also clearly stated that these avatars are "tagged" and monitored, but I guess people forget about that because they need something to talk about.

 

Then stop insinuating that there is.

I used multiple avatars when MindArk allowed multiple avatars. When MindArk changed their EULA in 2006, I terminated those accounts immediately. They carried the HardWrath name and no one was ever led to think that it was anyone other than me logging onto those accounts. They were created for the purposes of administering a multi-society organization that was at its inception after being burned by someone who I thought I could trust in a leadership position in one of those lower societies.

The other avatar that I logged into, The Dice Man, is owned by a IRL friend of mine who tried the game for a day or two and then didnt play. He created his account with me there and gave me full permission to log into his avatar. The account is in his name, with his real life address, and his email. It is his account.

When I logged into it, I used it for the purpose of aiding MindArk in busting open a scammer ring which also contained a person who was exploiting a security and policy loophole within MindArk's system. This loophole allowed the person to close and terminate any person's EU account whether they had a Gold Card or not. All he had to do was gain access to your email account that was registered with MindArk. Through a series of various avatars that person would earn the trust of people, send them a file with a keylogger inside. If the person's account didnt have a gold card, he first would clear the items and peds from the account. Once inside the email account registered with MindArk, he would email them with it, pretending to be you, and then request that MindArk close and terminate the account. He then realized that he could market this ability.

One of the people affiliated with him scammed a friend of mine. Seeing as how it was a trust came and MindArk was unable to do anything, I took it upon myself to expose him as a scammer. His avatar name was Travis CEO Byers. I was able to track down his IRL information including his home and business address in New York, along with his phone number, and called him in person.

The outcome of these events caused him to be very mad, as a result he hired his associate in Croatia to earn my trust, gain access to my email, and then terminate my EU account. The cost for this service was 10,000 PED. The approach this person used to market his service was pretending to know a MindArk employee in the support center who was in his pocket and got a cut of that money. After receiving the key logger and positively identifying it as one before it was installed i then set my sights on busting the whole operation wide open.

Travis CEO Byers, knowing I had received the key logger began bragging to people on the Entropia Reality forum that he hired the "MA Locker" person to terminate my account. I obtained all the details and contacted MindArk through the forums and through support. Instead of responding there, they called the phone number attached to my account. Unfortunately all the IP addresses associated with the MA Locker person were from a public internet cafe in Croatia that had been used for a series of scams throughout EU. On their side the investigation was at a dead end. Whenever MindArk would terminate accounts new ones would just be created. They didnt know who was behind it. So... together with this high ranking MindArk employee, we got Travis CEO Byers on the phone, the one who hired MA Locker to terminate my account and flipped him. We turned him against the person he hired.

We coordinated a sting operation in Port Atlantis. The Dice Man account (used by me) was to meet with an avatar belonging to the MA Locker person. MindArk was present as well. We were trying to identify avatars and some were locked.

Through Travis CEO Byers, I went beyond what MindArk was capable of doing. I got Travis to hand over the IRL phone number for the MA locker person in Croatia. Then through a recorded 3-way call, we got that person on the phone. After numerous lengthy phone calls, I found the leverage that I needed and used it. I got him to give up all of his EU accounts, all of his forum accounts, all of his email accounts, along with the log-in and password information to them all.

I immediately accessed those accounts, took screen shots and forwarded emails that contained all of the proof that I needed. I uploaded recordings of those phone calls to YouTube and left them there for years. The Croatian guy Stipe GTF Kamenjarin along with the New York guy Travis CEO Byers have not returned to EU. All of their accounts were locked and their entire operation was dead in the water.

Now when a person wants to terminate their EU account, they are required to verify their identity with MindArk.

For my efforts with this, MindArk rewarded me a small amount PED as well as real life items. On this same forum, some individuals tried to make me look like a hacker, like a bully, for what I did to this poor scammer. Some even reported me to the FBI as a hacker.

Also for this, Mastermesh likes to use these events to portray me as a person who did nefarious things with alternative avatars.

And here you go again, misconstruing reality in order to flame and slander. Its called defamation of character and you already know what actually happened. There never was a situation of me "eventually getting a conscience" and there wasn't a situation of peds leaving the game or being taken offline. You already know what happened you piece of shit.

A group of NBK members convinced me to start an investment fund because they saw my success as a trader. I allowed a maximum of 20K ped to be deposited and fixed monthly interest payments were made. Back then, the EU economy was much different, much more robust, and everything was increasing in value. Trading was easy and paying out a high monthly payment was no problem. I think that amount was a whopping 10% per month.

With the launch of CryEngine and the sudden absence of major components of the game, the EU economy came to a grinding halt. At the time I was sitting on a lot of items that immediately lost a lot of value. Combine that with the world wide financial crisis at the time and the EU economy took a nose dive. So i was losing PED on the items in trade plus was having to pay out on a monthly basis. It wasnt long before that fund had a value much less then the principle. Part of the agreement I made with those people, is that I would guarantee their principle investment, regardless of what happened in EU.

At the same time, because of the financial crisis, I had lost my job, and a failed venture in self employment went completely bust. My computer fried and I had no way to buy a new one. I was completely broke, alone, and on my ass. Instead of completely walking away from EU, I doubled down IRL, went back to a profession that I did not like and initially didnt pan out. I moved from Minneapolis to Chicago to seize on a opportunity, and the FIRST debt that I repaid was my EU debt. I bought a computer, the next month I deposited another $1000, then the next month another $1000. Not only did I deposit $2000 USD to cover the principle, I also deposited an additional $1000 to pay back interest... which was beyond what I agreed to do.

When I was offline the NBK was not under my leadership. Imoyaro and I have a significant rift between us due largely to his erroneous and false accusations of people, due to a lack of integrity when adding names to that list, etc. His actions while I was gone are indefensible and you need to address them with him.

 

Here's hoping that everybody will be more civil in 2015 :)