Concerning In-Game "Morality"

As many who have played this game have experienced, "morality" is not a very common attribute among the players of Entropia Universe. There are quite certainly those who won't scam you. The problem is, people love trust scams. For example, "trusting" someone to take your 50k crude oil and "refine it real quick" for "free", is not a very good idea. Other kinds of scams, too, happen on a somewhat regular basis. "Pilot" scams, where someone pretends to be a pilot, but as soon as you give them your PED ditches you are perhaps among the most common. Less common scams are easily avoidable for experienced players, but new players must be on the watch. If something appears to be too good to be true, nine times out of ten, it will be.

An issue that can arise over discussing the issue of having "morality" inside of a game, is the point to it all. It is a game, after all. However, the difference with Entropia Universe, is that it is a real cash economy game. This fact turns each in-game dollar into something with a real, and hard to attain. Scamming a person out of 100 PED is like not paying them to a do an entire hour's worth of work in the real World. The problem is, many people don't care about this. They are protected by the "all trades are final" rule MindArk has set up, as well as their computer screens. But things are different when it comes to Entropia Universe, as in order to survive, most people require a place to sell things. You need only attempt to by-pass the line at the "Newb Oil Rig" to find your reputation, as well as your ability to buy and sell things, quickly diminished.

In general, it's profitable, both for your conscience and your reputation, to not play unethically. You may give your PED card a small boost, but in the long run, it's really just better to earn something rather than cheat to get it. Cheating, as it should in any game, makes it less fun. The difficulty to make PED is half the fun, after all. Also, cheating shows down right weakness in a player. If you don't have the patience to play like everyone else, or the ability to work at a real job, you really ought not be playing games with a real cash economy.