Yet another Wirlo post

I thought I’d bring things right up to date with regards to the beloved Wirlo, and his merry little band of auction dwelling alt characters. Previous posts have shown quite clearly that Wirlo uses multiple accounts to sell stuff on the auction. The characters he controls are

• Wirlo Wirlo Wirlete
• King Trym Salima
• Zenon Vito Zoido
• First Capital Master
• Jorge Rodriguez Roman
• Brume Mustela Marine
• Joao Pingao Barroso

Anyone who does any trading on the auction will know the names, I’m sure.

This allows Wirlo to sell up to 210 items at a time. It gives him a huge advantage over other players in that he can sell a wider range and quantity of goods. It also allows him to bid on his own items if it looks as if he’ll lose PED’s on a sale – as shown in this post.

What follows is another batch of screenshots taken recently at the Trade Centre at Cape Rusla, Treasure Island city. Once again, it shows quite clearly the link between all these characters, with Wirlo Wirlo Wirlete firmly in the centre of it all.

The Shady Auctions thread

Edit: Naturally, not long after I posted this, the thread on PCF was locked. The moral of the story, however, is still true. Be careful what you bid on. People will try to scam you. And if it looks too good to be true, it probably will be.

Over on PlanetCalypsoForums, Sunsout Gunsout has a good thread going highlighting the dodgy auction listings that some people like to make. These auction offers tend to be cheap or worthless items being sold for a large markup. The latest offering from a player called slemcheck gnisselseck navkapsell is for TT blueprints being sold at a markup of +30Ped.

But the thread has also highlighted another type of scam, by Kunrad Solo Reez, where the buyout bid for the item is set in such a way that it mimics what looks to be a bargain price, but in fact is ridiculously high. Believe it or not, people do fall for these scams. It wasn’t that long ago that a CLD was sold for 12,000 Ped on the back of one of these offers.

The moral of the story is that you should always double check the price you’re being asked to pay for an item. If it looks too good to be true, it most certainly will be. And keep an eye on the thread over on PCF. It looks like Sunsout Gunsout will be keeping it updated.

Neverdie and the new moon

Over at the excellent EntropiaTrash blog, Mastermesh has added a couple of new posts revealing that Jon ‘Neverdie’ Jacobs has already bought up the internet domain EntropiaMoon.com.

Given that the auction for the new moon hasn’t even started yet, well known egotist Neverdie may be called presumptuous in registering a website before he’s won the auction. But then given his close connections with Mindark, stretching way back to the early days of the game; and given his previous history of buying Entropia related domain names before he has won the auction; and given the dubiety of how he managed to win control of the asteroid; perhaps he knows something that the rest of us don’t.

Head on over to EntropiaTrash to read Mastermesh’s posts. While you’re there, follow the links that will take you back to 2005 on the PCF forum. It all makes interesting reading.

Loss Prevention using Multiple Accounts

Way back in my very first post to the blog I talked about the many advantages gained by players using multiple accounts when ‘playing the auction’ in Entropia Universe. One of these advantages, one which is often ignored, is the players ability to use those multiple avatars to bid on his own auction listings.

That might sounds like a strange idea. Why on earth would a player want to bid on his own items? Read on to find out, and see the latest evidence of Wirlo Wirlo Wirlete doing just this in order to gain an advantage.

More auction shenanigans – Flightspirit Panther Killerbob

I don’t want anyone to think that I’m purely picking on poor Wirlo, and his band of merry auction dwellers. So here is a short post to show what else is going on in the Entropia Auction system.

The Wirlo Connection – The Evidence : Part III

I think I’ve shows fairly comprehensively in Part I and Part II of my evidence that there is, at the very least, good reason to be highly suspicious of the actions of the players who I classify as being part of the Wirlo group. As a quick reminder, I believe the following Entropia Universe characters are all controlled by the same person.

• Wirlo Wirlo Wirlete
• King Trym Salima
• Zenon Vito Zoido
• First Capital Master
• Jorge Rodriguez Roman
• Brume Mustela Marine
• Joao Pingao Barroso

Using so many characters gives this person a massive advantage as a trader in game, and is a clear breach of the rules Mindark have put in place. Part III of the evidence should remove any doubts anyone might still be having.

The Wirlo Connection – The Evidence : Part II

The first post of this series showed a small snippet of the evidence I’ve gathered around the Wirlo group of avatars within Entropia Universe. For anyone who wonders what the hell I’m wittering on about, it might be a good idea to read The Wirlo Connection, one of my earlier posts.

The screenshots which follow were taken in the early hours of 23rd January 2013, EU time. They show all seven avatars of the Wirlo group logging in and doing their stuff. The photos also show what I believe is a clear connection between all seven characters. If no connection exists, it’s one hell of a coincidence.

The Wirlo Connection – The Evidence : Part I

This is the first of many posts which I believe will show that certain people are, illegally, using multiple avatars to help them dominate the Entropia auction system. Bear in mind that each character only has 30 ‘offer’ slots with which to sell items on the auction. By using multiple characters, one person can sell an extra 30 items on the auction for every extra character they control. This gives that person a huge advantage over all those poor suckers who plays by the rules of the game. Undoubtedly, it allows these players to rake in a large amount of PEDs every week. And when PEDs have a real world value that can be withdrawn into the safety of your real world bank account…

Why Wirlo?

Initially, I’ll focus on a player called ‘Wirlo Wirlo Wirlete’. Wirlo is a long time player. He’s been around for as long as I remember. A Google search throws up a mention of him from 2005. That’s a long time in an online game. And for as long as I can remember, Wirlo has played the auction. Placing orders, buying low, selling high. He’s always been very competitive, and I’m sure his name will be familiar to anyone who has played Entropia for long enough.

The Wirlo Connection

If you haven’t already, it would probably be a good idea to read https://eutalk.wordpress.com/2013/01/19/welcome-to-eu-talk/. Things might make a wee bit more sense if you understand what I’m talking about.

I said in that first post that I would come to the people who I believe are using multiple avatars – against the game rules – to enable them to dominate the auction system in EU. If they are doing as I suspect then, potentially, these people could gain a huge advantage over other players, allowing them to work their way to a large, steady stream of PED’s within Entropia. How large a stream of PED’s I can only speculate. But several thousand PED a week isn’t beyond the realms of possibility. And when PED’s have real life value, and can be cashed out for real life money, this breaking of the rules affects everyone who has deposited their own real life money into the game.

So what the hell is a Wirlo anyway?

A Wirlo is one of those people I’m talking about. Who the person behind the avatar is, I have no idea. I believe that he is Spanish. But apart from that? Not got a clue. He’s been around Entropia for a long time, always trading, always buying and selling. He sometimes posts on the PlaneyCalypso forums where he’s regarded as a good, experienced trader.

My take on him is something slightly different. I believe that Wirlo Wirlo Wirlete, to give him his full avatar name, is the main character in a group of avatars who I believe to be controlled by one person. This isn’t a random, put together on the spot, no real evidence to back it up type of theory. This is based on observation, circumstance and common sense. All of which I’ll tell you about now.

Welcome to EU Talk

I’ll be honest upfront. I have no real desire to maintain a blog about Entropia Universe. I’ve no real desire to share what I’ve done in the game, what I think about the game or what I think about the people who run the game. But If taking my concerns public will contribute in some small way to getting something done about them, then great. I’ll maintain a blog.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Entropia Universe (EU) is a MMO ‘game’ created and run by a Swedish company called Mindark. But it’s not just any old MMO. EU is based around a real world economy. That means that it has an in-game currency which is tied to the US Dollar. You buy Project Entropia Dollars (PED’s) by depositing real money into the game. If you make a profit in the game you can take real money back out. Some players have made themselves a hell of a lot of money playing EU. The majority would be as well going to the pub and blowing all their cash on getting pissed. The game is often described as a casino. And, like a casino, the odds are always stacked against you. And the house nearly always wins.