MMA FIGHT PROMOTER STARTS INVESTMENT BUSINESS IN VIRTUAL UNIVERSE

Yes, it's rather obvious when you think about it.YOU? Do you think your plan will succeed?I'm not sure I understand the implication of that.Are they exactly the same? Tell me more about it. You don't say.If you could have any kind of robot what would it be?
"Without your space helmet Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult" -- HAL.Tell me a little about your life in favor of getting something for nothing but a experienced EU participant can attest to MA is lacking in the something for nothing department.
I hope it's worth the wait.I'm happy you're amused.

 

Unusually there was no nonsense! Something wrong Kets? :)

 

Gamble is a good word here Kets, and I think that CryEngine plays a big part here. No player of EU can have escaped noticing that things are a little stale of late, and the impending update will either catapult EU toward the top of the MMORPG stakes, or be a catastrophic failure, or have very little effect at all.

Personally I'd rather see a huge investment in playability, depth, and features. I love pretty games and new gaming technology but when it comes to MMORPG I don't really care that much.

 

mmabigshow,

Your idea in principal is great, and I've been tempted by such things in the past. The problem is the lack of security, mainly due to the lack of joint ownership in the game. A good way forward for be for people to lobby MA to add joint ownership - this would be great for shops too.

I only know of two similar schemes in the past. One is still going strong from what I can see, but the other disappeared along with all the investors' money. So it's easy to understand why people are scared by similar ventures.

I get annoyed by people using the word "scam" incorrectly. To scam someone is "to perpetrate a fraud; to cheat, trick, or swindle." (quote from OED). To me this means they set out with the intention of stealing your money.

Anyway, good luck with your venture. I'm pleased to see people building on top of Entropia, and expanding the way it's used. It's a universe, after all - anything should be possible.

Erach.

 

How does Society land ownership work? I know someone asked earlier: does one individual own it or is it listed to all the members of a Society?

Perhaps the solution is to buy the property as a Society, then add new members when they pay their share.

In defense of the skeptics, and being a small business owner myself, how do you plan on offering a guarantee to the investor that their money is safe and won't be obsconded? I don't expect any customer of mine to hand me money simply on faith even in a face to face transaction. They would at least receive a receipt, or a layaway contract, etc. As far as international transactions and agreements go, the complexity of legal contracts involving compensation are even more critical.

I certainly don't mean to question your integrity as I know how that feels when someone does that, ( again, as a business owner, been there, done that ). Through which agency or agencies are your company filed, and how would someone pursue resolution to any conflicts?

MA makes use of a Licensing Agreement, however restictive, limiting and seemingly unfair and non-customer sensitive theirs may be, but that is recognized as a legal and binding agreement to any court through international commerce laws. Without a clear, documented path to legal accountability on behalf of your company I'm afraid that playing it safe may continue to be the standard course of action.

(Boy, my two cents is growing into more like a dollar and a half, but with the decreasing value of the US dollar these days, it may only be worth two cents very shortly any way. Hmm...perhaps this is why the loot shares have been so low...MA states that the PED is tied to the value of the US dollar and with dollar falling... Hmm...)

 

My understanding is that this is a "special" case for landgrabs. I don't think you can buy things as a society. In the case of landgrabs all the members of the soc at the time of the landgrab (maybe with a few conditions) get profits earned by the land area.

Erach.

 

I slipped on some errant cat litter and bumped my head this morning. I landed pretty hard on my funny bone so perhaps I injured my sense of humor. I'm sure it will correct itself as soon as the swelling goes down. I just wish the damn phone would stop ringing whenever I pick it up!

:D

 

A scam can be something that has honest intentions as well as something that has dishonest intentions, but if something fails due to a miscalculation or two for such a venture as this, then investors will see it as a scam - however, maybe 'scam' was the wrong word to use, and the more posts that 'mmabigshow' makes, the more honest I think he is being.
However there is still the land ownership question imho.
Even the likes of TI and CND are not ultimately owned by the respective purchasers, at least not according to the strict terms of MA's EULA - whether or not a favourable 'handshake' was conducted behind the scenes in actual fact, no one will ever know, but according to the EULA outright ownership was/is not possible.
People that I know in-world had a similar idea (there were differences, but it was similar), but to test whether the whole thing would be possible at all, I took it upon myself as part of this groupt to approach MA directly and to ask them point blank (without being rude...ha, ha) - 'can someone purchase outright any LA, building, landmark, what have you - and the answer was 'MA does not directly sell anything......'

 

I quoted this particular phrase mmabigshow, as I think this is both the driver for your venture - and also potentially why you get so many negative or conservative responses.
The problem lies in the fact that this is a great 'hook' for a scam. Although your intentions may be honourable, it is this exact 'dream' of owning something bigger than their small potential that is ideal for pulling in suckers, taking their money and leaving them high and dry.
There are many similar examples IRL, so right away the wise and the wary will have a guarded response. That will take a LOT of work to get through, especially considering the legal (or lack or) nuances of the agreement you're proposing.

In essence tha failing is MA's (now how unlike me to take a pop at them!); there is a lack of being able to 'collaborate' in business deals within the virtual world, and all such deals are then based on trust.
It's about time that a society was allowed to own objects, and that players could belong to more than one soc for different purposes. They seem so eager to hear about business 'success stories' yet seem to do so little to expedite them.

Saying that I can't say I've ever, or know anyone that has; tried to ask them how to go about such things. It would be interesting to hear your experiences of exactly that.


Finally, you may notice I've changed my opinion of your venture as you have been responding to your original post. I applaud your efforts and I sincerely *DO* wish you success, as it seems many do here. Still you'd have a long way to go before I'd part with any PED ;)

 

About owning a land:

1. A single person can buy a piece of land from auction, a single person, a shop /booth (which is the same than a single person) or as a gift from MA. The buyer receives the estate deed (or land area deed). Every income generated by the LA will be transferred to the owner of the estate deed.
2. A soc can only achive a piece of land during LandGrab events. I do not know if the winning soc receives a deed for the land and who is able to handle the LA. income generated by the LA will be splitted equally between the members of the soc (even inactive members, or members that leave the soc after the soc receives the land)

Another point which I think is not mentioned in the thread is the running costs for the LandArea.
You need energized fertilizer and DNA to maintain the land. no fertilizer, no spawn of mobs. no mobs, no income. only ressources in the ground you can dig for.

Overall I think the idea is not bad, but risky. But for me the business plan is missing and there are too many variables I do not know

 

Perhaps my own interest in the idea is what is subduing my normal jocularity. I would be very interested in the prospect of joint land ownership as soon as it can be secured within the EU environment.

 

mmmabigshow - this is the 'crux' of the issue, I suppose... If you are a 'limited liability company', then you will have a business bank acount 'in your name'. Peoples investment, therefore, i.e 100 x 1000 PED) will go into this account - right? But because the account is in your name; your companies name, legally, only you will have the authority for accessing funds in that account; unless you are prepared to set-up a joint account with all the investors/envisaged investors- am I right? You say nothing about this...
This is in addition, to the land-ownership question/problem, which would also have to be clarified. I now truly believe that you are being honest about this proposed venture, but you do not clarify certain fundamental issues, as I have outlined here (and on previous posts).
Entropia is not like WoW or other such MMORPg's, this is real-life involving real money, only in a virtual form....

 

I think you're right. In essence the 'sharing' of the virtual account, has to be channeled through a single trustee, because they must have the legal contract with MA.
Everyone in the venture must use that trustee, and any disputes would have to be resolved by them.

Maybe mma, your 'board of directors' is the problem, as it is really the president that has the power and is the centre of the trust?

 

But there would need to be a joint account for all the investors; not your companies account, but a sepperate account.

 

Joint accounts or shared accounts is a violation against the EULA!
Thats was stated by MA ages ago.

Maybe you (mmabigshow) aren't a "scammer" as in the true meaning of the word, but the whole layout of the concept is a scam if you ask me
No way can you secure any kind of ownership, neither towards MA or your investors.
Even less can you present a trustworthy businessplan for this project, therefor it cant be regarded as an Investment only as a high risk gamble.

Take a sesoned Eu players word for it when I say, all kind of angles of this topic have been carefully examined before and they alll ended the same way.

Finally I like to give you a friendly piece of advice, save your strenght to another battle!
Im sure of that a creative guy like you will be successfull inside EU, just not on this project