Planet Postmoderna Blog

One thing that I have always noticed about any project or business is that you can take away product, you can take away the money, you can take away all the glitz and glamour but, when it comes down to the true value of what you are doing or working on, it is all about the people.

I am reminded about this countless times, not only from the great people I work with in my real job at Quadrant but by the interactions I have with people on this project team. It’s about people and relationships. I am not the best at managing them. That is evident when I throw my family, all my friends, the parents of my kids’ friends, the band parents at my son’s high school, my daughter’s soccer team and the members of the life group I meet with every week. The things is that no matter what, people are what matter.

This project has added a new dimension to relationships. It is now more exciting not just because of good ideas, concept and storyline, nor because some day we might be a partner planet for Entropia Universe (which I do love to play when I actually have time to do so) but it is because I have had the benefit of meeting some really neat people from around the world.

In addition to the great people on the project team I have also met people beyond the scope of this project. I have met owners and team members of other projects. I have met people from other virtual world companies and people from virtual worlds and games like Entropia. A cynic might think you can’t forge friendships that way but I am sorry, you can. You can build some pretty good relationships through the common interest of the virtual world or MMO games.

Games like Entropia, Second Life, World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies, and many others, have blurred the boundries between countries and cultures and brought people together on a even playing field (pardon the pun). In times like today where anytime you turn on the tube, there is one tragedy or another one bad news or another, it is good to have small distraction like a virtual world or game or even miracle of Facebook (another subject altogether). One might think that you will never know who the RL person is behind that avatar in your game, but the truth be known, people do. They are building friendships not with imaginary characters but the real people behind them.

Not only has this project been the ultimate example of that but I think of all the great people I have met that I would not have met, had it not been for MMO Games and Virtual Worlds.

So, when I talk about plugging away at the basics, I remind myself that the “basics” are really the valuable relationships you forge. No one endeavor can ever succeed without good quality people and the relationships that you surround yourself with. I really don’t think anything on this world is meant to be done all by yourself. Well, I guess you could but, why would you want to? That’s no fun. This is especially true, when you realize that the hidden gems that make life worth living are those that come from the lives you touch and those that touch you back.

This is why I am proud that Postmoderna is a project based on people. We have so much to learn from each other and so much to give back as a result.

That’s right! Thanks to one of our talented artists, Jitse Akse (Holland) and , whom created the original New Worlds Inc, Postmoderna logo used in several concept renders, we have a new project logo. I have to tell you I love it!

Both of these artists are veterans of the MMO Game and virtual world, Entropia Universe. Jitse is one of the project’s newest volunteer members and has shown his quality talent on many occasions.

We also made a fan icon available for purchase on Entropia Planets by fans of the project and members of the Entropia Game Forum site. No real money is involved here! Just EPDs (Entropia Planet Dollars) that you earn by participating in community discussions.

Again, thanks to the team and the fans for this exciting new image. It represents the virtual world indie project, Planet Postmoderna, very well.

**Note: The did not want to be connected with the logo. Bummers really. I think it is awesome. I tired to credit him with what he did for the original logo but couldn’t find it on the forums. I think the link broke. Sorry.

I have been thinking about this over the last two days. I wrote a brief highlight piece about the sale/auction of the Entropian virtual land property, Crystal Palace.

As mentioned in our article and the one posted by Entropia Planets, Buzz Erik Lightyear, a player on Entropia, the MMO with a real cash economy, placed the final bidding blow at just about 3.3 Million PEDs (roughly $330,000 USD). That is quite a sum for a virtual property but I am sure it is every bit worth it and Buzz will likely pull in some good income off the property in the years ahead.

Crystal Palace Station

Crystal Palace Station Common Area

Now what does this mean to us on Project Planet Postmoderna? The dynamics of the Virtual World, MMORPGs and the Gaming Community (inclusive of Social Network Gaming) in general has evolved a lot over the years. Payments through everything from per/month subscriptions to pay-to-play-up or free-to-play (which really is barely-free) drive the games. The Real Cash Economy games are those that give players ownership in their avatar (s) and their property. The game(s)’ governing company receives a good part of the revenues derived from player transactions within the game but, the general idea is that the economy is driven by the player community. Needless to say, ownership of virtual property is a new market and very hard to grasp by people that don’t play in these gaming entertainment arenas.

Planet Partners in the game Entropia are companies that are leveraging these concepts to build their own planet. Ownership of these planets, sub-games of the Entropia Universe, pay parts of their revenues (about 60%) to Mindark, the owner of Entropia. This may sound like a lot to give up but it covers access and usage of the already established Entropia Universe’s RCE model, Mindark’s CryEngine2 license and usage of the Development Kit for the game. Basically, this allows investment in the development of a new world property without reinventing the wheel.

Yes, there are trade-offs to this arrangement (eg. limited customization of the game) but that does not mean a lack of opportunity. After all, it’s not like an Entropia Partner Planet has not established an open-door and dialogue with Mindark for possible development of the Universe. Why would Mindark not want to take advantage of that especially if any ideas can make the game better, keep the valuable existing player and fan-base and bring in countless potential future players and account-holders.

Why us? Well, do the math. If the average player generates (based on Mindark published statistics) $1-1.50/hour (USD) of play in revenue to the parent company and Mindark, what does that mean to the total potential revenue that a creative Partner Planet can bring in? An immersive storyline, content, fun-factor and economic opportunity can do a lot to keep an existing player base and add to it. Over time, that can be a lot of money, not only to Mindark but to the Partner Planet.

Now, the other side of a commonly voiced debate is why not do this on our own? Well, a lot goes into building a brand new game and we are starting from practically nothing. In the case of Entropia we don’t need to reinvent the wheel and are in many ways, merely buying a franchise. Yes, if we start from scratch and do it all ourselves, we have more room for growth and creative expansion, but that will cost a lot of money and expertise that we don’t currently have.

We at Planet Postmoderna think we have have lots of great ideas as do say many people with like projects and dreams…lol. Still, I think we actually have something here (or I am just all-out crazy). However and regardless how great our ideas may be, we need to find funding to make anything happen or this will just be a “tortoise and the hare race” in which we are the tortoise. Odds are we will finish this race but how long will that take? I don’t know. Will the opportunity still be there to take advantage of or will we be cast to the side by a constantly-evolving industry and an embarrassing lack of financial backing? At least one thing I am rich in is persistence.

We are building a demo of our initial POI (Point of Interest, in case you didn’t know that). The idea is if we can do that, we can sell the concept to investors, players and the community alike. There may be a better and more direct approach to making this happen than this but getting investors is not easy. I believe in the idea of “show-and-tell.” I also find myself asking (actually often), if I just need to do this to prove to myself that I can do it. Pride, selfishness, you name it. I probably have all of that. My wife says I have NPD (Narcistic Personality Disorder) and maybe I do a little. Determination at all costs, that’s me and, sometimes to a fault I know. Nonetheless, I am determined and if it takes me years to do this on my own, I will. Hopefully though, the right people are watching this project and someone or several people will come out and say, “let’s help; let’s make this happen.”

So here’s to the good reasons for doing this project. Here’s to more victories like Crystal Palace. Here’s to Planet Postmoderna.

I have to say that if anyone ever had any doubt, look at this.

In the online MMO Game and Virtual World, Entropia, a virtual property called Crystal Palace, was put to auction. The land property is actually a space station that orbits Planet Calypso, the core planet in the Virtual World. It had been announced during the last month that this property would go up for auction. That announcement led to much discussion and speculation about who would bid for it, let-alone who would win it.

I heard stories that ranged from players like the legendary Deathdifier (who in a previous bidding war of days-gone-by won the famous Treasure Island on Calypso) to groups of players banding together to build asset pools of untold monetary amounts.

I unfortunately was not lucky enough to witness the event (only because it would have just bummed me out more that I could not have participated) but, here is an excerpt from an article by our friends over at Entropia Planets.

With 12 minutes to go, “Zachurm Deathifier Emegen” made his entry into the bidding, and set the bid to 1,010,000 PEDs. A bidding war erupted, with Qetesh raising to 1,111,111. Deathifier raised to 1,121,111, with Qetesh raising to 1,234,567 PEDs. Deathifier took the bid to 1,244,568 PEDs.

The auction finally ended the final bid of 3,300,000 PEDs made by “Buzz Erik Lightyear” at 23:01 Calypso time, thus ending an incredibly exciting auction.

Now why is this so important? Well, the exchange rate for the Entropia currency (PED) to US Dollars is 10:1. This means that for every dollar that is deposited in the Entropia Universe you would get about 10 PEDs (less charges). What does that say about the value of the virtual property of Crystal Palace? Well I can’t tell you how much it is worth but “Buzz” was willing to pay $330,000 US Dollars for it.

So to answer the question about virtual property having value? What do you think?

I can share with you that Deathdifier (and his real life persona), in the year the followed his winning the auction for Treasure Island for $26,500, he made back his investment in fees, taxes and land sales.

In any case we all wish Buzz the best of luck. We can’t wait to see what he does to make Crystal Palace blossom and recoup his investment (and then some).