Editing About Making Money in Entropia Universe

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How to make money in [[Entropia Universe]] is a question regularly asked. This up-to-date guide discusses possibilities, compares different methods, exemplifies one possible way to earn money, and directs to more detailed information. If you are only interested in one possible how-to check out the final section of the guide: [[About_Making_Money_in_Entropia_Universe#From_rags_to_riches_-_a_short_guide|From rags to riches - a short guide]].

Sections of this guide:
* [[About_Making_Money_in_Entropia_Universe#Real_Cash_Economy|Real Cash Economy]] - The precondition that enables making money in Entropia Universe
* [[About_Making_Money_in_Entropia_Universe#Entropia_Universe,_virtual_property_and_real_money|Entropia Universe, virtual property and real money]] - Formal legal considerations regarding real money in Entropia Universe
* [[About_Making_Money_in_Entropia_Universe#Entropia_Universe_is_a_business|Entropia Universe is a business]] - How the companies running Entropia Universe and planets make profit
* [[About_Making_Money_in_Entropia_Universe#Activities_that_usually_cost_money|Activities that usually cost money]] - How players are charged for playing
* [[About_Making_Money_in_Entropia_Universe#Possible_ways_to_make_money_in_Entropia_Universe|Possible ways to make money in Entropia Universe]] - Finally listing and introducing most options for making money
* [[About_Making_Money_in_Entropia_Universe#Comparison_of_money_making_methods|Comparison of money making methods]] - The different options compared in a table
* [[About_Making_Money_in_Entropia_Universe#From_rags_to_riches_-_a_short_guide|From rags to riches - a short guide]] - Last but not least one possible approach for starting with zero and end with a regular income
* [[About_Making_Money_in_Entropia_Universe#Conclusion|Conclusion]] Is it worthwhile to try making money in EU? Here's the conclusion
==Real Cash Economy==
In Entropia Universe 'making money' is possible at all because the game features a "Real Cash Economy", meaning you can [[Depositing_money_into_Entropia_Universe|deposit real-world money into the game]] and also the other way round [[Withdrawing_money_from_Entropia_Universe|withdraw money from the game to your real-world bank account]]. The ingame currency Project Entropia Dollars (PED) has a fixed exchange rate of 10/1 to the US Dollar.

==Entropia Universe, virtual property and real money==
It should be noted that by the Entropia Universe EULA and ToU there is no real-world money inside Entropia Universe. Also there is no virtual property whitin the legal meaning of the term "property". Everything in game incl. avatars, their skills, in-game money, etc are parts of the Entropia Universe system belonging to MindArk and partner companies who are licensing the use of these to the players. However, it is a unique feature in Entropia Universe that players are able to convert in-game money to real-world money by "withdrawing" it to their bank accounts.
 
These are the relevant sections in the EULA and ToU discussing virtual property:

'''Entropia Universe End User License Agreement (EULA):'''
<blockquote>...<br />

7. Virtual Currency Transfers and Fund Transactions<br />

...<br />

The terms in this paragraph 7 do not apply to Your participation within the Entropia Universe Starting Area.<br />

The Entropia Universe incorporates a PED Card System connected to each Account, through which MindArk administers the funds You transfer to and withdraw from the Entropia Universe (the “PED Card”).<br />

You may use MindArk’s approved and secured fund transfer methods to increase by deposits and/or decrease by withdrawals the PED balance on Your PED Card. The deposited funds are converted by MindArk to PED that may be used by You as virtual currency in the Entropia Universe. If You choose to deposit or withdraw funds to or from the Entropia Universe You hereby agree to any costs and fees involved in all fund transfers.<br />

...
</blockquote>

'''Entropia Universe Terms of Use: (ToU)'''
<blockquote>...<br />

4.1 MindArk’s Proprietary Rights<br />

...<br />

Virtual items are fictional in-world graphical objects with a predefined set of parameters in Entropia Universe and will often have names similar or identical to corresponding physical categories such as "people", "real estate", "possessions”, “currency”, “cloths” and the names of specific items in those categories such as "house", "rifle", "tools", "armor", “coat”, “money” etc. (“Virtual Items”). Despite the similarity in terminology, all Virtual Items, including virtual currency, are part of the Entropia Universe System and/or features of the Entropia Universe, and MindArk and/or respective Mindark’s Planet Partner(s) retains all rights, title, and interest in all parts including, but not limited to Avatars, Skills and Virtual Items. These retained rights include, without limitation, patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret and other proprietary rights throughout the world. Notwithstanding any other language or context to the contrary, as used in this EULA and/or in the Entropia Universe in the context of Virtual Items, You expressly acknowledge that all terms like “exchange of”, “trade with”, “purchase of”, “sale of” or “use of” Virtual Items, and all similar terms in context of transactions with Virtual Items, refers to the licensed right to use a certain feature of the Entropia Universe or the Entropia Universe System in accordance with the terms and conditions of this EULA.<br />

...
</blockquote>

==Entropia Universe is a business==
In general MindArk PE AB, the company developing and operating the Entropia Universe platform, as well as the Planet Partner companies creating content for Entropia Universe are for-profit private businesses. Entropia Universe and its planets are supposed to generate income for them coming from the players playing the game. 

Development and operation of games like Entropia Universe costs a lot of money, usually Millions of USD per year. The total of costs has to be defrayed by charging players depending on the business model of the game, for example one time payments for regular 'offline' games, monthly subscription fees for [[Massively_multiplayer_online_game|MMOGs]], microtransaction models utilitzing "item shops", etc etc etc.

When in Entropia Universe players profit from playing the game these are from the developers perspective a part of the running costs too. To defray costs and generate profit in Entropia Universe players are charged based on their ingame activities, for example consuming ammunition when hunting creatues in game, fees for auctioning ingame items, deterioation of equipment used in game and many more.

Consequently the majority respectively the average of players has to spend money to enable a minority of players to earn money in Entropia Universe or simply use the service for free.

==Activities usually cost money==
Usually most activities in Entropia Universe cost money. If you want to make money you should avoid or restrict these activities, unless they serve the original purpose.
===Using items===
The use of almost all items lead to decay of the items, meaning they lose value. This occurs when actively performing actions with the items, for example: Scanning with a scanner, healing with heal tool, attacking with weapons, etc etc. But items can also decay in a rather passive way, for example: equipped armor decays when get hit by a creature, vehicles decay when hitting obstacles, etc etc.
With weapons the attachments on weapons such as amplifiers and sights decay too, also Enhancers put on items have a small chance to break each time the item is used or in case of armor enhancers when the armor part is getting hit.
Many items also need consumables that get consumed when using the items, for example laser weapons consume Weapon Cells, mining finders consume probes, Mindfore chip consume Mind Essence, specific repair tools consume Welding Wire, and vehicles consume Oil.

==Possible ways to make money in Entropia Universe==
'''General considerations:'''
* most of the items listed below are rather theoretical but nevertheless listed to ensure completeness.
* most of the items listed below need a lot of dedication and time
* some of the items listed belelow need a significant starting capital

===Sweating===
[[Sweating guide|Sweating]] or formally "Sweat Gathering" is the process of gathering "Vibrant Sweat" from the various creatures around Entropia Universe. 
Sweating is a free-to-play activity. Since "Vibrant Sweat" is used for further processing, mainly for creating "Mind Essence", it has a small market value and can be sold to other players. Depending on your strategies and dedication you can gather a couple of 100s of units of sweat per hour. Sweat usually sells best in stacks of 1000 units with the market prize for 1000 units between 1 and 3 PED currently (May 2013).

While sweating you will also get in-game skills that theoretically can be sold to other players. But to get a substantial amount that is possible to sell at all you probably need to sweat for 100s if not 1000s of hours.

Further information: [[Sweating guide]]

===Collecting fruits, stones, dung and Broken Elysian Technology===
* Various types of fruit, various types of stones, Common Dung are resources that can be found on the ground of planets occasionally
* "Broken Elysian Technology" can only be found on planet [[Next Island]] occasionally
All of them can be used for further processing, mainly in [[Crafting]], therefore have a small market value and can be sold to other players. Depending on one's luck the profit can be in about the same range than the profit from sweating but is somewhat boring since it only involves walking around and keep your eyes open for the items on the ground.

Further information: [[Collecting resources from the ground]]

===Oil Rig and Beer Gardens===
Oil rigs and similar are free goods spreading facilities and regularly found in areas with Player-versus-Player combat (PVP) enabled and usually controlled by groups of high-skilled and well-equipped players. The costs to control and defend control over these facilities quite likely eat up all possible profit from collecting the oil.

* The Oil Rig northwest of Ashi on [[Planet Calypso]] is regularly producing stacks of Oil which can be picked up from the ground by everyone. Further information: [[Planet Calypso Oil Rigs]]
* The Oil Fields near [[Camp Icarus]] on Planet Calypso work similar. Further information: [[Planet Calypso Oil Rigs]]
* On [[ROCKtropia]] one can find the Motörhead Stadium Beer Garden where Motörhead Kegs appear on the ground. Further information: [[Motörhead Stadium Beer Garden]]
* On the [[ROCKtropia]] sub-destination [[Hunt The THING]] there's another oil producing facility. Further information: [[Hunt The THING]]

===Free Competitions===
Free competitions or events are usually run by other players but sometimes also by Planet Partners, ingame or on community websites. Depending on the setup of the event one does not necessarily have to spend PEDs to achieve good results. Often those events offer low value prizes for the winners. Considering the chance to win and the rather low frequency of these kind of competitions this is merely a theoretical way to make money.

===Skill selling===
A small group of skills can be acquired for free. They increase while Sweating or getting hit by creatures. Skills can be extracted to Empty Skills Implanets (ESI) and sold to other players. But due to the relatively high prize of ESIs compared to the relatively low prize of most of these free skills you first need a substantial amount of skills to make selling of these profitable.

Further information: [[Skilling for profit]]

===Missions===
There are a few missions that can be completed without spending any PED and which reward completion with items or skills theoretically worth PED. Since each can only get done once and the value of the rewards sums up to a maybe few PED (<10) this method is actually not worth mentioning.

===Mentoring===
Entropia Universe has a [[Mentoring|Mentoring system]] that allows experienced players to be mentors for new players. New players need to reach specific skills level to "graduate" and if they do the mentor gets awared with a low value ingame item. Considering the time spent to mentor a new player and the low vaule of the rewarded item this is just a theoretival way of earning money.

Further information: [[Mentoring]]

===Land deeds===
[[Lands deeds]], similar to shares, entitle the deed holder to receive a share of the revenues of the entity represented by deeds.

Currently there are only two types of lands deeds available: [[Calypso Land Deeds]] (CLD) receiving a 25% share of Planet Calypso's total revenue and [[Arkadia Underground Deeds]] (AUD) receiving 5% tax revenues of the [[Arkadia Underground]] estate. Another type, the [[Battle Arena Deeds]] are scheduled for release in 2015. For further information please refer to the respective wiki pages and/or the general [[Land deeds]] page for a comparison.

Further information, opinions and the option to discuss land deeds and their revenues are available in this thread: http://www.entropiaplanets.com/threads/land-deeds.11486/


'''ROI Market Price 2014: Calypso Land Deeds vs Arkadia Underground Deeds'''
ROI is based on the market price for both CLD and AUD!
{{#ask:[[Category:Land deeds revenues]] [[Date::>01 January 2014]] [[Date::<31 December 2014]]
|?Date
|?CLD revenue % markup=CLD
|?AUD revenue % markup=AUD
|format=timeseries
|link=all  
|zoom=top
|zoompane=bottom
|sort=Date
|order=descending
|limit=450
|searchlabel=
|layout=line
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|height=400
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|charttitle=Calypso Land Deeds (CLD) vs Arkadia Underground Deeds (AUD) in 2014
}}

=====Calypso Land Deeds=====
In November 2011 [http://www.entropiaplanets.com/threads/entropia-universe-takes-virtual-world-citizenship-to-a-whole-new-level.6470/ MindArk announced a citizenship program] and started to sell [[Calypso Land Deeds]] for 1000 PED (=100 USD) each. Each of these deeds entitles its "owner" to get a share of Planet Calypso revenues on a weekly basis. Considering an investment of 1000 PED/Deed the ROI is around 23% p.a., condidering the current (as of June 2014) market value of Calypso Land Deeds of about 1350 PED/Deed the ROI is around 12%.

Further information: [[Calypso Land Deeds]]

=====Arkadia Underground Deeds=====
Arkadia Underground Deeds (AUD) are Lands deeds similar to Calypso Land Deeds but instead of receiving a share of the revenues of a whole planet they receive the regular taxes of the Arkadia Underground Land Area. AUD are still (as of June 2014) available for the original price of 50 PED/deed which could be an advantage compared to the significantly higher price of CLDs, but it seems the revenues are also significantly lower compared to CLD (as of June 2014): ~ 9% ROI.

Further information:  [[Arkadia Underground Deeds]]

=====Battle Arena Deeds=====
Battle Arena Deeds are not available yet and attached to the web-based Battle Arena scheduled for release in early 2015.

Further information: [[Battle Arena Deeds]]

===Trading===
Trading is one of the more promising ways to profit in Entropia Universe but requires a start-up capital depending on the scale of trading. The capital can come from depositing money into the game and/or building it up by the other methods. More on trading can be found in the example further below: [[About_Making_Money_in_Entropia_Universe#2._Trading|From rags to riches - 2. Trading]]

===Offering services===
Most of those activities require a significant amount of starting capital and profitability is not at all to be expected.
=====Piloting and transportation service=====
=====Item customization service=====
Many items like clothes, vehicles, furniture can be customized by applying textures and colors to them. The ability to do so is largely depending on ingame skills in the area which enables higher skilled players to offer customization services to lower skilled players. Further information: [[Item Customization (Coloring, Texturizing)]]

=====Beauty service=====
=====Event Management service=====

===Playing for profit (Pro Gaming)===
There is no "[[wikipedia:Electronic_sports|Professional gaming]]" in Entropia Universe in the common meaning of playing competively in tournaments or leagues. Playing for profit is not a true feature of the game but rather MindArk allowing for a few success stories to support the marketing concept of 'getting paid for playing a game'.

In Entropia Universe playing for profit mainly relates to having a huge amount of in-game skills allowing you to efficiently use high-end ingame equipment performing regular activities such as hunting, mining and crafting. The according equipment is rare allowing only a small cirlce of players to profit regularly. Consequently both, acquiring the skills and even more the necessary equipment are fairly expensive, at least costing 1000's of dollars if not ten-thousands of dollars. And then, merely having the skills and equipment are not sufficient to profit on the long run, it also involves deep knowledge of the game mechanics.

==Making PED outside Entropia Universe==
===External Paid-to-Click, microtasks and offer service websites and referral programs=== 
=====EntropiaPartners=====
[[EntropiaPartners]] is crowdsourcing website that rewards small amounts of PED for performing more or less simple tasks. Tasks include things such as flagging inappropriate content in photographs and taking marketing surveys. Simple tasks that take around 30 or so seconds to complete pay 8 to 16 PEC. There are also surveys for marketing purposes available which reward up to 20 PED and take about 10 or so minutes. 

When having gathered a few PED you can request a withdrawal session with a representative of EntropiaPartners in game. The request is done on the EntropiaPartners website and the ingame meeting is negotiated in a chat window on the Entopia Partners website. On the website lets there is only an display of who of the representatives is currently online.

Entropia Partners also features a referral systems that allows users to place referral links on the internet. Before posting referral links anywhere please make sure that this is allowed on the website in advance. Referral links look like this: http://www.entropiapartners.com/?r=17460 (which is EntropiaPlanets' referral link, all PEDs potentially generated will be used to fund rewards for free events, so you can use this link with a clear conscience).

=====EntropiaFriends=====
[[EntropiaFriends]] is a service participating in MA's ominous affiliate program and is re-selling/re-licensing affiliate partnerships to their users. Users of EntropiaFriends get an affiliate link to distribute which is tracked by EntropiaFriends and redirected to the Entropia Universe sign up for new accounts via EntropiaFriends affiliate link with MA. EntropiaFriends might get up to 25% of what referred new accounts generate in their lifetime in Entropia Universe. EntropiaFriends forwards to their affiliate partners 1% of the value of "[[Global|globals]]" that the referred new accounts generate. Invite links to [[EntropiaFriends]] affiliate program look like this: https://entropiafriends.com/inv/33 - invite links to Entropia Universe via EntropiaFriends look like this: https://entropiafriends.com/33

=====PEDtoClick=====
PEDtoClick is similar to Entropia Partners and Sometrics. It is relying on 3rd party crowdsourcing and ad disctibution services and pays tiny rewards for performing task and watching or clicking ads. Rewards depend on the tasks but usually it's not more than a few PEC from the completion of a task that can take 30 seconds to 10+ minutes. Referral links look like this: http://www.pedtoclick.com/?ref=EntropiaPlanets (which is EntropiaPlanets' referral link, all PEDs potentially generated will be used to fund rewards for free events, so you can use this link with a clear conscience).

=====Stuffpoint=====
Stuffpoint is a site where you can get points for actively participating in so-called "fan clubs", doing tasks, completing offers, etc.

Stuffpoint also features a referral systems that allows users to place referral links on the internet. Before posting referral links anywhere please make sure that this is allowed on the website in advance. Referral links look like this: http://stuffpoint.com/index.php?r=EntropiaPlanets (which is EntropiaPlanets' referral link, all PEDs potentially generated will be used to fund rewards for free events, so you can use this link with a clear conscience).

===Official services by MindArk or Planet Partners===
=====Entropia Universe Affiliate Program=====
MindArk is developing a general affiliate program since ~2011. It might be launched in 2017.

=====Entropia Universe Emissary Program=====
Discontinued! The [[Entropia Emissary Program]] was a Facebook app that allowed players to share promotional material via Facebook and receive points for these activities which and exchange them for low value ingame items. Considering the limited content to share and low value of the rewarded items this was just a theoretical way to earn money.

=====Sometrics=====
Discontinued! [[Sometrics]] is a service provider MindArk partnered with in 2012 to enable Entropia Universe players to add Project Entropia Dollars to their ingame accounts. This could be done by accepting offers provided via the Sometrics platform. The offers appeared at the depositing page on EntropiaUniverse.com: https://account.entropiauniverse.com/account/deposits/sometrics/ . The offers depended on the account holder's country and other parameters. The content of the offers could vary largely, most likely one had to buy something to be granted a prize of a couple of PED. Also the availability of offers was rather scarce.

=====Questbomb=====
Discontinued! [[Questbomb]] was an official website by [[ROCKtropia]] developer [[NEVERDIE Studios]] for reviewing ROCKtropia content like missions and instances. NEVERDIE Studios were paying 10 PED per appropriate review.

===Free Competitions / Events===
Free competitions or events are usually run by other players but sometimes also by Planet Partners, ingame or on community websites. Depending on the setup of the event one does not necessarily have to spend PEDs to achieve good results. Often those events offer low value prizes for the winners. Considering the chance to win and the rather low frequency of these kind of competitions this is merely a theoretical way to make money.

==Comparison of money making methods==
An overview and comparison of methods, those not available anymore are not displayed in this table. 
{| class="wikitable tighttable" border="1"
|-
! Method
! Sweating
! Collecting fruits & co.
! Rigs & similar
! Free competitions
! Skill selling
! Mentoring
! Missions
! Calypso Land Deeds
! Arkadia Underground Deeds
! Trading
! Services
! Playing for profit
! EntropiaFriends
! EntropiaPartners
! PedToClick
|-
! Short description
| <!-- Sweating                  -->
| <!-- Collecting fruits & co.   -->
| <!-- Rigs & similar            -->
| <!-- Free competitions         -->
| <!-- Skill selling             -->
| <!-- Mentoring                 -->
| <!-- Missions                  -->
| <!-- Calypso Land Deeds        -->
| <!-- Arkadia Underground Deeds -->
| <!-- Trading                   -->
| <!-- Services                  -->
| <!-- Playing for profit        -->
| <!-- EntropiaFriends           --> 
| <!-- EntropiaPartners          --> 
| <!-- PedToClick                --> 
|-
! Official/Non-official
| <!-- Sweating                  --> Official
| <!-- Collecting fruits & co.   --> Official
| <!-- Rigs & similar            --> Official
| <!-- Free competitions         --> Both
| <!-- Skill selling             --> Official
| <!-- Mentoring                 --> Official
| <!-- Missions                  --> Official
| <!-- Calypso Land Deeds        --> Official
| <!-- Arkadia Underground Deeds --> Official
| <!-- Trading                   --> Official
| <!-- Services                  --> Official
| <!-- Playing for profit        --> Official
| <!-- EntropiaFriends           --> Non-official
| <!-- EntropiaPartners          --> Non-official
| <!-- PedToClick                --> Non-official
|-
! Provider

| <!-- Sweating                  --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- Collecting fruits & co.   --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- Rigs & similar            --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- Free competitions         --> Entropia Universe, Planet Parnters, Community
| <!-- Skill selling             --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- Mentoring                 --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- Missions                  --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- Calypso Land Deeds        --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- Arkadia Underground Deeds --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- Trading                   --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- Services                  --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- Playing for profit        --> Entropia Universe
| <!-- EntropiaFriends           --> EntropiaFriends ("3rd party")
| <!-- EntropiaPartners          --> EntropiaPartners ("3rd party")
| <!-- PedToClick                --> PedToClick  ("3rd party")
|-
! In-game/off-game
| <!-- Sweating                  --> In-game
| <!-- Collecting fruits & co.   --> In-game
| <!-- Rigs & similar            --> In-game
| <!-- Free competitions         --> In-game, off-game
| <!-- Skill selling             --> In-game
| <!-- Mentoring                 --> In-game
| <!-- Missions                  --> In-game
| <!-- Calypso Land Deeds        --> In-game
| <!-- Arkadia Underground Deeds --> In-game
| <!-- Trading                   --> In-game
| <!-- Services                  --> In-game
| <!-- Playing for profit        --> In-game
| <!-- EntropiaFriends           --> Off-game
| <!-- EntropiaPartners          --> Off-game
| <!-- PedToClick                --> Off-game
|-
! Locations
| <!-- Sweating                  --> All planets
| <!-- Collecting fruits & co.   --> All planets, Elysian Tech. exclusivey on Next Island
| <!-- Rigs & similar            --> Planet Calypso, ROCKtropia, Hunt The THING
| <!-- Free competitions         --> In-game events, off-game on websites
| <!-- Skill selling             --> All planets
| <!-- Mentoring                 --> All planets
| <!-- Missions                  --> All planets
| <!-- Calypso Land Deeds        --> All planets
| <!-- Arkadia Underground Deeds --> All planets
| <!-- Trading                   --> All planets
| <!-- Services                  --> All planets
| <!-- Playing for profit        --> All planets
| <!-- EntropiaFriends           --> Internet
| <!-- EntropiaPartners          --> Website
| <!-- PedToClick                --> Website
|-
! Requirements
| <!-- Sweating                  --> None
| <!-- Collecting fruits & co.   --> None
| <!-- Rigs & similar            --> None
| <!-- Free competitions         --> None
| <!-- Skill selling             --> ESI
| <!-- Mentoring                 --> Specific skill levels
| <!-- Missions                  --> None
| <!-- Calypso Land Deeds        --> Investment of at least ~1350 PED (as of April 2014)
| <!-- Arkadia Underground Deeds --> Investment of at least 50 PED (as of April 2014)
| <!-- Trading                   --> Investment, amount depending on scale of trading
| <!-- Services                  --> Investment, largely differs between various servies
| <!-- Playing for profit        --> Significant investment, probably USD 10k+
| <!-- EntropiaFriends           --> None
| <!-- EntropiaPartners          --> None
| <!-- PedToClick                --> None
|-
! Profit potential
| <!-- Sweating                  --> max a few PED/hour
| <!-- Collecting fruits & co.   --> max a few PED/hour
| <!-- Rigs & similar            --> max a few PED/hour
| <!-- Free competitions         --> depends on available competitions, usually tiny
| <!-- Skill selling             --> max a few PED for many ours of skilling
| <!-- Mentoring                 --> usually max a few PED per graduated disciple
| <!-- Missions                  --> limited, probably between 10 and 100 PED in total for all free missions
| <!-- Calypso Land Deeds        --> ~ 14% ROI (considering the market value of ~1350 PED/Deed as of April 2014)
| <!-- Arkadia Underground Deeds --> ~ 14% ROI (considering the market value of 50 PED/Deed as of April 2014)
| <!-- Trading                   --> depdends on scale of trading
| <!-- Services                  --> largely depends on the service
| <!-- Playing for profit        -->
| <!-- EntropiaFriends           --> depends of the success or your affiliate links
| <!-- EntropiaPartners          --> a couple of PEC to max a couple of PED/task
| <!-- PedToClick                --> a couple of PEC to max a couple of PED/task
|-
! Fun factor
| <!-- Sweating                  --> little
| <!-- Collecting fruits & co.   --> very little
| <!-- Rigs & similar            --> little
| <!-- Free competitions         --> depends, can be high
| <!-- Skill selling             --> little
| <!-- Mentoring                 --> individually
| <!-- Missions                  --> high
| <!-- Calypso Land Deeds        --> not really applicable
| <!-- Arkadia Underground Deeds --> not really applicable
| <!-- Trading                   --> individually
| <!-- Services                  --> individually
| <!-- Playing for profit        -->
| <!-- EntropiaFriends           --> 
| <!-- EntropiaPartners          --> pain in the ass
| <!-- PedToClick                --> pain in the ass
|-
! Further information
| <!-- Sweating                  --> [[Sweating guide]]
| <!-- Collecting fruits & co.   --> 
| <!-- Rigs & similar            --> [[Oil rigs and similar facilities]]
| <!-- Free competitions         -->
| <!-- Skill selling             --> [[Skilling guide]]
| <!-- Mentoring                 --> [[Mentoring guide]]
| <!-- Missions                  --> [[Missions guide]]
| <!-- Calypso Land Deeds        --> [[Calypso Land Deeds]]
| <!-- Arkadia Underground Deeds --> [[Arkadia Underground Deeds]]
| <!-- Trading                   --> [[Trading guide]]
| <!-- Services                  -->
| <!-- Playing for profit        -->
| <!-- EntropiaFriends           --> [[EntropiaFriends]] https://entropiafriends.com/inv/33
| <!-- EntropiaPartners          --> [[EntropiaPartners]] http://www.entropiapartners.com/?r=17460
| <!-- PedToClick                --> [[PedToClick]] http://www.pedtoclick.com/?ref=EntropiaPlanets
|}

==Generating PED indirectly==
===Depositing using bargain Paysafecards and Ukash vouchers=== 
Often you can {{#widget:EbayPSCEng}} for less than the actual value of the card. For example 100 Euro Paysafecards sometimes sell for 90-95 Euro which means a discount of 60-120 PED. So when you plan to deposit you might want to check whether there are Paysafecards or Ukash vouchers for sale. But please be careful and make sure to avoid fraudulent sellers!

==From rags to riches - a short guide==
This section exemplifies one of many possible ways to start from scratch with 0 PED and end up with a regular income.
===1. Sweating, rigging, etc===
'''PED Balance: 0 PED.'''

From the free-to-play activities that earn you money Sweating still is the most promising. A more detailed description of the whole sweating process can be found in the [[Sweating guide]].

First you have to find a good sweating spot on your planet of choice. These may vary over time so best ask other players and/or consult the [[Sweating guide]].

It is recommended to sweat in team with other players for the following reasons:
* attacks of the sweated creatures are shared among the sweaters, you die less and consequently receive more sweat/hour
* other players skilling healing or simply enjoy helping might turn up and heal for free, you die less and consequently receive more sweat/hour
* other players skilling mindforce or simply enjoy helping might turn up and give you focus - a status effect that enables to keep up the sweating process while being hit by a creature-, consequently you receive more sweat/hour
* other players in need of sweat often go to popular group sweating spots to buy sweat
* it's a social activity and good way to make ingame friends

When getting hit you regularly receive skills that increase your ability to evade the attacks as well as slowly increasing your max health points, both of which make the sweating process a little bit easier over time.

While sweating keep your eyes open for players buying sweat, as soon as someone does you should try to sell to him if the offered price is reasonable. Alternatively you can actively try to sell your sweat at the planet's trading hubs. You should at least have 1000 bottles of sweat before doing so beause usually sweat is traded in chunks of 1000 (="1k") bottles. The market prize varies slightly over time, currently (June 2013) this can be considered a rule of thumb:<br />
:< 1.5 PED/1k Sweat = bad deal<br /> 
:1.5 - 2.0 PED/1k Sweat = acceptable deal<br />
:> 2.0 PED/1k Sweat = good deal<br />
There are mentors who offer good deals to their disciples as well people offering good deals to other society mates. 

The process of continous sweating and trying to sell sweat can be boring. For a change you might want to consider other free-of-charge activities like free missions, lining up at the oil fields, gathering Teleporters, participating in free events, ... and/or check out other options to earn money discussed further above. Alternativly you could also "swunt" instead of sweat from time to time.

But as a rule of thumb you might want to consider not engaging in activities that usually cost your hard earned PED like:
* buying anything
* using vehicles
* hunt, mine, craft
* ...

Once you have a few PED you can already start trading on a very small scale. You can also wait until you have a 100+ PED (or even much more). The more you have the easier it should be.

===2. Trading===
'''PED Balance: <10 PED.'''
With such little trading capital there also little you can do. Auction doesn't make much sense because the auction fees (at least 0.5 PED per auction) alone would probably make it rather unprofitable already. However, if you are taking the sweating approach above discussed in the section above you could keep your eyes and ears open for other players who want to get rid of their sweat quickly and offer it slightly below market price. You can buy it and later sell it for a higher price - maybe together with your own.

'''PED Balance: <100 PED.'''

...

'''PED Balance: <1k PED.'''

...

'''PED Balance: 1k+ PED.'''
...

===3. Investing===
The trading approach discussed in the section just above has limits, for example market saturation or your limited time to engage in trading. So at latest when you have accumulated more capital then are able to use in trading you should consider investing a part of it, but it should be noted that low level investing requires not much more capital than low level trading.

Depending on your available capital and personal preferences there are several potential options for investing starting with Land Deeds and ultimately with becoming a planet partner yourself. Most of the options can be combined and also work in combination with the trading approach. Diversification is almost always a good idea but also require to split capital and assign it to multiple different options. 

<big>'''Land deeds level'''</big><br />
The 'cheapest' type of [[Land deeds]] are currently (as of June 2014) [[Arkadia Underground Deeds]] (AUD), still available for the original price of 50 PED/deed. So the capital needed to start investing would be 50 PED but would have to be deducted from your trading capital if you take the trading approach above. Also the current (as of June 2014) ROI of AUD is ~ 9% p.a. (!!!) something you might be able to achieve in month, week or even shorter time when trading. The current 'high end' of Land deeds are [[Calypso Land Deeds]] (CLD), originally offered for 1000 PED/deed and with a regular market value of 1200-1400 PED per deed. Compared to AUDs the revenues of CLDs are a little higher, ~12% in 2014 considering market value. The big total number of Land deeds respectively the corresponding total market value of up to 10 Million USD probably ensures that this investment option doesn't become too tiny for your personal capabilities.
...

<big>'''Land area level'''</big><br />
When you have the capital needed for buying a Land area or similar estate yourself you probably have progressed enough in game to know what Land Area management is all about. Small remote estates can be available for as little as 10k USD while more valuable and popular ones can easily reach 50k USD or more.

Unlike Land deeds individual Land Areas require active management, for example regularly supplying resources to ensure creatures spawn as intended, organizing events and promoting the Land Area and events. Consequently the commercial success of Land Areas doesn't only depend on paying an appropriate price but also on sustainable and appropriate management. In addition unforeseeable developments can influence the value and revenue of a Land Area in a positive or negative way, for example: a competitive spawn of the Land Area's creatures in added somewhere else on the planet, the Planet Partner re-designs the environment, the Planet Partner or MindArk makes changes to the creatures (stats, loot, availability, etc), new features for LA management get implemented, the game becomes more or less popular in general, etc etc. 

<big>'''Premium estate level'''</big><br />
The premium estate level requires higher investments than really high profile Land Areas. Some examples: The [[Asteroid Space Resort]] (fka Club NEVERDIE, aka F.O.M.A. Fortuna) was originally sold for 100k USD in 2006 and for a total of more than 600k USD in 2010, [[Crystal Palace Space Station]] was sold for ~330k USD in 2009, and in 2013 [[Monria]] (fka "Moon Resort") was sold for 150k USD. 
In case of premium resorts there are two basic types:
* the classic Land Area/estate type which gets you taxes for activities on the estat(s), for example ([[Crystal Palace Space Station]]
* and the marketing partner type that requires you to engage in marketing to acquire new players of whose money spent you then get a share, only instance so far: [[Monria]]

<big>'''Planet level'''</big><br />
It is currently not known whether the Planet Partner program is continued at all (the last planet partner has been announced in 2010) or whether MindArk discontinued it in favor of marketing partnerships similar to the Monria one. There are 2 former Entropia Universe players who became Planet Partners: [[Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs]] with [[ROCKtropia]] and [[Dave Dobson]] with [[Planet Arkadia]]. Being accepted as a Planet Partner requires an elaborated concept not directly competing with existing planets and enough capital to successfully launch and run a planet, which is supposed to be between 2 Million and 6 Million USD.

==Conclusion==
While it is possible to make money in Entropia Universe doing so needs a lot of starting capital and/or time/dedication and/or knowledge and/or luck or simply all of these. If you don't have 10 thousands of dollars for a high risk investment you probably can earn more in almost any 'regular' job in most parts of the world. Also the total possible revenues players can make from Entropia Universe are limited, and the more people compete for them the harder it is for the individual, in that sense it is somewhat of a self-regulating system. Entropia Universe can be approached from many other perspectives than just the commercial one, for example you can consider it entertainment, the common ground for a social group, a casino type of thing with an MMO interface and much more.

==Links, references, contributors, categories==
* Origin of this guide is this thread: http://www.entropiaplanets.com/threads/considerations-before-joining-entropia-universe-making-money-in-entropia-universe.3596/
* Parts of this guide have been copied from the guide [http://seentropia.com/SoaringEagles/index.php?title=Successful_Non-Depositing Successful Non-Depositing] on the wiki of the Soaring Eagles society, unfortunately not available anymore
* my-entropia-universe-life.blogspot.de: [http://my-entropia-universe-life.blogspot.de/2012/12/concerning-making-ped-in-game.html Concerning Making PED In-Game]
* Wikipedia: [[wikipedia:Virtual_economy|Virtual economy]]
* The other way round: [http://www.entropiaplanets.com/threads/how-to-become-a-pro-on-your-first-day-for-200-active-for-300.4364/ How To Become a Pro on your first day for $200 (Active for $300)], article/guide on EntropiaPlanets.com, 16 Feb 2011
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[[Category:03 Basic Guides]]