The SciFi MMORPG Entropia Universe is known for high real cash transactions. Normally, however, these refer to properties, buildings, weapons, or other in-game investments … and not to the account service from support.
What does the MMORPG want money for? Apparently for the provision of billing information for an account that is more than a year old. Specifically, it is about a case involving the player petscopkid, who reached out to Entropia Universe support because he needs his payment history for tax purposes, dating back to May 2023.
The problem: It seems that only details from the past twelve months can be viewed through one’s own profile. After a brief back-and-forth with support (screenshot of the conversation via Reddit), petscopkid received the information that they have to charge fees for the provision of payment details that go back more than a year.
The cost for this fun is said to be 500 PED per started hour of work, which would translate to 50 US dollars per hour. In other words: The support of Entropia Universe wants to be paid extra by the players for processing a standard support request regarding the provision of basic information about their account.
A look at the world of Entropia Universe:
“I am shocked”
How does the community react to this? Since Entropia Universe enjoys a certain reputation, many commenters are not surprised by petscopkid’s experience report. However, this support policy is sharply criticized nonetheless.
- _generic writes on Reddit: “The company that defrauds players out of hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars is also robbing them of support? I AM SHOCKED!”
- Cold_Associate2213 cannot believe it (via Reddit): “Why is this [game] even still around? Why are people still giving them money? Their product has been and will always be garbage.”
- CantAffordzUsername has a clear opinion on Reddit: “Oh my God, what a scam. Just abandon this crap and let it die.”
However, in the comments, there is also some player who looks (somewhat) positively at Entropia Universe. Kamioni writes on Reddit, for example:
It is an old game and back then, before the era of NFTs and similar monetization scams, this was a huge and unique incentive for an MMO. Personally, I invested over 1,000 dollars in the game more than a decade ago because I thought I could earn it back.
The surprising thing is that my investments actually paid off after all these years, because I had originally invested in properties in the game and got back at least three times my initial deposit.
However, when I tried to withdraw the money, there was a catch. Somehow it takes almost half a year for them to transfer the money through some dubious banking service. While it is not exactly a “scam,” the company is certainly shady and inexplicably holds your money for an unreasonably long time.
What do I need to know about Entropia Universe? The SciFi MMORPG by MindArk was originally called Project Entropia and aimed to provide a virtual experience more than 20 years ago, which today would be marketed with the metaverse and implemented with blockchain technology.
In the planets of the universe, a large part revolves around ownership and real cash trading. Sometimes weapons for 47,000 euros, shares in space stations for 500,000 US dollars or clubs for 635,000 US dollars are traded.
One of the more well-known stories: British actor Jon Jacobs treated himself to a virtual vacation resort in Entropia Universe for the equivalent of 100,000 US dollars. Through the sale of mining and hunting rights as well as the rental of hotel suites, he is said to have made over a million US dollars.
Apart from trading, hunting, and mining, the game also offers MMO activities such as quests or PvP battles in space. And in the past year, the developers had a remarkable idea to lead their game into a golden age: Company implements AI presidents to manage their SF MMORPG.
