EntropiaTimes Magazine - Says goodbye for now

You all did an amazing job with the magazine. I thoroughly enjoyed reading each one cover to cover. I really am sad to see it go, but I COMPLETELY understand why.

Thank you all for your parts in it.

 

Sorry to see the magazine go, but I understand totally your position with your decision.

You all did a fantastic job on releasing quality material on the universe. :)

 

Tis a shame to see it stop but understandable as well. At least we still have EP. Maybe the articles that would have otherwise gone in the next mag can instead go on the frontpage? I'd been intending to sending something in for a while but could never find the time to sitdown for long enough to finish it off. One day maybe. Just a thought in any case.

Thanks again for all your efforts. I will cherish the printed copies i have.

 

I'm so sad to hear this. This was as high a quality effort in covering EU as I have seen in nearly seven years. A very bright star in my Arkadian sky just went dim. ETimes will be missed.

Thank you all sincerely for the enjoyment of reading these.

 

Thank you E-team, EntropiaTimes had some fun and interesting articles, especially insight on the different planet partners. I will miss it.

 

Your magazine was even better in my opinion than the magazine one could buy ingame at one point in the past.
Thank you very much for that!

Investing ones own time is something done out of passion.
For me whenever I think about maybe working on my inventory calculator again, one of the main factors that is putting my motivation down is how the communication with us as community is taking place.
I wager one of the triggering factors for MS9 was how the hangar owners were treated, which was right in line with how the shop owners in the deer mall were treated.
Anyhow not to whine too much - I still enjoy EU as it is but the passion is fading.

Lets see what the future brings, my hope is that things will improve so much that we all will regain our passion :)

 

I know the decision to shut down the magazine was an incredibly difficult one, but this is not something that just happened overnight, nor as a total result of my announcement in my "Final EU State of Mind" thread. This is something that has been discussed behind the scenes more than once, and for several good reasons.

We have volunteered and dedicated immense time to this project over the past year, and as Lykke has mentioned, it was quite consuming. I really don't think some in the community realize just how involved a production this is, nor what it takes to gather the content we've been able to present to you from the Planet Partners, MindArk, and various other sources. Sometimes, even the 3 months between issues wasn't enough time because of schedules and other details that needed to be worked out, but we always managed to meet our deadline no matter what.

When we first started the magazine, we had a few people come on board to work with us, but then it became clear that there weren't enough people willing to dedicate time and effort to continue. Therefore, as Lykke also mentioned, the majority of the work fell on our shoulders, with most of it being done by Lykke for sure. She not only wrote articles, but did the fill-in pages as well, not to mention all the graphics and layout design of the magazine itself. To this day, I don't know how she managed it all.

One of the other things that became very apparent to us as well, was the fact that people like reading the magazine, and some even purchasing it, but hardly anyone wanted to come to EP to engage in magazine chat, even when we created discussion threads for some of the articles that we thought for sure would inspire opinions and perspectives. We truly produced this magazine for the community, but (IMO) we also had reasonable expectations that the community would at least be more responsive to the informative, interesting, and generous content that our Planet Partners, MindArk and others in the community provided for each issue.

We understand that PCF (old EF) is a familiar and comfortable environment, and to be honest, we were all conditioned to post in that environment mostly, because we all helped to build that database, but ... Lykke and Peter established a new all universe environment where discussion and sharing could take place that encompassed the entire universe, and not just in a place that has since become an official Planet Calypso forum.

EntropiaPlanets is still young, but I think more and more people are realizing just what a quality environment this is, and how much work goes into developing it to the degree of experience that Lykke and Peter provide for us. We are also especially proud that several Planet Partners have made this their home forum of choice, and that they share as much as they do with us without reservation. We respect and appreciate their contributions, but there are more Planet Partners who have indicated that EP will also be an environment where they will interact with the community, so I know there is much more in store.

At any rate ... on a more personal note ... I can't thank Lykke and Peter enough for all they do, and for giving me the opportunity to be a part of their operation. I've known them almost since the beginning of when I started EU over 6 years ago, and they've always put a lot of effort into everything they do with the community in mind. Perhaps that's why we became such good friends, because we've always had similar intentions.

The magazine was the frosting on the cake, because it provided a medium to share even more with the community. The fact that Planet Partners and MindArk supported us in this effort with a consistent supply of exclusive content, made it all the more sweet. This is why we felt that the community would be more participating, but it didn't work out that way unfortunately.

Writing will always be my number one passion, and it will continue to play an important role in my real life as well, but I will certainly miss the magazine and being connected at the hip with Lykke for as many hours as we devoted to what we did to not only meet our deadlines, but to also produce a quality product. What we won't miss, is the level of stress it caused that was present in one form or another during the production of each issue, but we don't need to go into detail about that.

For now, as Lykke mentioned in so many words, the magazine will sit in limbo, but I know they (Lykke & Peter) will do their best to keep the front page of the forum filled with interesting content. Right now, I know they both have an enormous amount of demand on their time in real life, but I'm sure eventually something will pop up. :)

I personally also want to thank those who have contributed to the magazine over the last year in whatever capacity they could in order to help make it what it became. The time and effort was certainly appreciated, but we also understood the limitations on your time as well. It's a shame that we couldn't get more people from the community to contribute toward the growth of the magazine, but as Lykke said ... it's an enormous challenge for just a few people to produce without much help from others. The help faded, but the quality of the magazine didn't, because we were dedicated to giving the community the inside scoop on what was going on with the Planet Partners and MindArk.

Who knows, maybe in the future they will revive the magazine, but I'm sure it will take a whole lot more than just Lykke and Peter to make it happen.

Thanks again to those who supported this effort, it's appreciated.

 

Disturbing news lately, MS9 leaving the Universe, the EntropiaTimes Magazine
says goodbye, some of my soc mates having doubts so...is...the...sky...falling?

 

Hey guys. This is indeed really sad news but I understand more than ever why its happenned and can even say I'm not that surprised... I could just tell that you werent getting the support you needed from the community article wise even though the quality of magazine just appeared to be going up and up.

Its a shame that all the Entropia Magazines end up ultimately going this way. I remember the last days of The Calypso Post. As soon as left the team and went on my 3 year leave from the game the next issue was written almost exclusively by one person and of course the designer we had (who always did an epic job) and then, like ET now, went into indefinite on hold status.... I don't think any of us ever felt it had gone forever but I know I've still not got my writing muse back (or I'd have maybe tried to put something into ET) and well its probably ancient history now ;)

Sad though cause I can really say that you guys completely and utterly raised the bar even above that which was achieved with the original Entropia Magazine that MA failed to pull off. I attribute this 100% to the professional dedicated effort you all put in but also to the fact that EU has opened up beyond the world of mediocrity that MA has always provided commication wise, with all the planet partners that are not only willing, but actually enthusiastic about providing info and content.

You guys really did a fantastic job and have now set the standard so high I think few will be able to follow your act. Above all the best thing you have achieved by far was actually having printed copies of the magazine. I've got the latest issue on my desk here at work right next to me and I love being able to pick up something physical to read and get away from a PC for a while.

Really you can't place a price on that... (ok you can... 15$ ;)_ )

Its a real shame its ending and although it will be good for this site to pick up the articles that otherwise would have been in ET it won't be the same as the mag for me at least.

Its my hope that maybe as more and more ex magazine contributors fall by the way side eventually there might be enough of us to somehow rise up together again out of the ashes of the old mags and start a new one that is actually well staffed ;) Its tricky I know though...

Well, we can only hope... we could hope also that one day MA will provide some decent backing behind those of us that do this sort of thing which would be well worth their while given the amount of effort involved.

That really would be a forelorn hope though... ,-)

As for MS9 sorry to hear you are off again... I'd be interested to see the quit thread whereever it may be. Good luck with whatever hobbies or games you move on to though. I really was enjoying some of your writing in the Magazines... currently for me at least you are on your way to cyrene ;)

Well done everyone though and I hope you enjoy a well earned break now!

Wistrel Chianti

 

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First, thank you very much for your kind words about the magazine, they are appreciated.

Second ... I'm not quite sure what you mean by what I put in bold above, because my avatar MS9 is not headed anywhere at all Hon. I have her on Arkadia, and as I have mentioned in my "Final EU State of Mind" that Lykke gave you the link to, as well as in several other posts both here and at PCF - MS9 as this universe has known her is done. She will not be an active avatar in EU. Perhaps reading my thread, as well as other posts will give you the full picture.

 

See Magazine 4 page 13 Mindstar ;)

(yes yes I haven't got very far reading it yet ;) )

Wistrel (off to read the final state of mind thread now)

 

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Ahhh ... now it makes sense. You're reading the "Secrets and Covert Operations" article in the June issue of the magazine that reveals more about the Cyrene storyline, and MS9 is just arriving on Cyrene - got it. Well, there's plenty to be revealed for sure as you read on, so have fun.

I really enjoyed working with Ed on this piece, and am very grateful that he took the time to create a story arc for me to develop that was true to the Cyrene storyline. It even taught me a few things that will help fine-tune this type of writing for me, so it was not only an amazing experience, but very beneficial as well.

Thanks again Wistrel. :)

 

Great to hear!