Bank of Arkadia

Dear fellow Entropians,
Although I am new to the Entropia Universe I have thought of a new business opportunity... BANKING!!!
These "Banks" would work similar to real world banking e.g. Savings accounts and Loans.

-Savings: You put in whatever amount of PED you feel comfortable with and earn 5% (subject to change) interest weekly (payouts occur usually Friday evenings). There will be a maximum amount of PED you can deposit as I cannot payout interest unless I'm receiving money from loans.

-Loans: You get to borrow money for short term at a 10% weekly interest. For example you want to borrow 1 PED you own me 1.10 PED by next Friday, if you don't pay you will be charged another 10% on top of what you owe. You can pay any amount at any time. You have 3 weeks to make some attempt to pay otherwise I own your
item(s), which brings me to how I don't get cheated. Say you have an item but don't want to sell it and still need money, you get to borrow that amount of money from me in exchange for an item(s) worth that amount+10%, those items will be returned to you upon full payment.

I am looking for a few partners in business that appreciate my idea.

Feel free to leave plenty of questions and comments I will reply to them all.

Yours truly, Gotabecoolman.

 

http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?272931-Bank-of-Calypso

 

It's not that it's a bad idea, I don't think you will get this past MA given there are already player owned banks in game with supporting game mechanics.

And then there are the trust issues with an avatar that has no reputation to stand on.

 

Yeah. Looking back at the number of people who got scammed out of their PED, it's hard enough to trust people as it is. Even more so for an avatar without any reputation.

 

Banks already exist and were a massive failure, big waste of money for everyone who bought a bank deed. In fact it is also against the TOS to perform banking actions like you propose without holding a bank deed.

 

Clarification about Entropia banking operations
04 June 2007

Since we released news about the virtual banking licenses, several questions regarding loan services and banking affairs within Entropia Universe have been raised. The main concern has been the lending of items for interest. We feel that we need to clarify our policy about this.

Recently MindArk PE AB issued official virtual banking licenses. These licenses comprise a secured bank system for processing loans and securities in the form of items. All transactions made via this official bank system, such as loans, defaults, securities, interest etc., are safe and as such guaranteed by MindArk.

By contrast, loan services offered outside this official bank system cannot be guaranteed by MindArk. If an item is exchanged between avatars, this transaction will be logged as a regular TRADE. And as all trades are final, MindArk will not investigate claims if a loan giving avatar refuses to return items or money. Many people do not fully understand the true value of their virtual items until they are lost. They will then contact MindArk PE AB for assistance and will realize that we cannot help them; this can cause a lot of unnecessary grief and frustration.

We do not wish to discourage entrepreneurship within Entropia Universe, but based on experiences from community feedback and support case history, unfortunately not all entrepreneurs offering loaning services are trustworthy members of the Entropia Universe and therefore we need to be strict in our policies in order to protect the community from scams and cheating.

Therefore, any loan services offered outside the approved bank system will be considered by MindArk as scam attempts and the avatar offering such services risk a permanent lockdown of his/her account.

 

But services are still out there... lots pf em

 

Doesn't mean they are legal, if those services were reported to MA they could get the can, wouldn't be the first time someone was banned for violating this.

 

Well IMHO, I believe this services could be done with a system like the mentors, with a reputation system, as this people would make their loaning services they would receive positive or negative rep and people could check if they are trustworthy or not and everything would be fine and dandy.
The Virtual banks from MA makes things to restrictive and what probably happens is that the people that have this licenses charge outrageous % for loans.

My 2 pec.

 

In real life pawn shops (because with the collateral system I find this to be a much better reference to RL than a bank) succeed because they offer you a considerably lower amount of money than the value of collateral items, though making sure that in 99% of cases you will return to recover said items, since you wouldn't be happy to end up "selling" a $500 item for $100 which you got from the pawn shop and, worst case scenario, for the 1% that don't return, they would have no problem selling said collateral items for the money they paid for + the interest. On the other hand, you, as a customer, have a certain guarantee - there's a company (which you can eventually track down), a brick and mortar location where they do their business and where you can go, so is not like that there's any realistic chance that they'll just pack up and run in the sunset with your items.

In game, problem is that you have to take a leap of faith... and when such leaps of faith are required, there's only a matter of time 'till scammers will show up. Now yeah, if that would be done by a highly reputable person, like a land owner with 10 years of trusted transactions under his belt, guess that this could be a fair equivalent with the brick and mortar pawn shop from across the IRL police station. But when this is done by someone without such a reputation or in-game investments, and under the protection of anonymity, there's nothing much you can do if he just decides to fly away with your items valuing considerably more than what you get for. And a simple reputation system won't do much... I bet I can get 20 "likes" to any post on the forum, even one just saying "poo", just by asking for a favor from people I already know in game... and really, saw a lot of e-bay clones where people were just "trading reputation"... as in create a fake auction, make a fake bid, and both parties get a positive vote - one as buyer, one as seller.

And reason why "all trades are final" is probably because MindArk doesn't have the resources to act as a police force - investigate and judge every complain, especially if the scammer is smart enough to move the things in the grey area... that's why it's easier for them to just ask us to be smart and protect ourselves. Now, of course, there will always be people still doing that within their friends group, within their society. I did it too once or twice when I needed some fast cash, asked a friend for help, left some collateral and offered a small tip when I returned the money. But I can totally understand how doing this public, with total strangers, can be risky and not smart, and though not allowed by MA.

 

When it's not through the Banks with a deed, "all trades are final".
If anything should go wrong: neither party has a leg to stand on. A reputation system doesn't help with any of that.

So personally I wouldn't use such a service in-game, especially not from someone who is unknown and has no reputation.
Like IRL I wouldn't use any random pawnshop, but only the one run by the city itself (which here happens to be a very good and reputable one).
(As for money loans: "neither a lender or a borrower be" could have prevented a lot of problems, for a lot of people, the world over. )

More practically: you seem to offer a lot of different services, some of which require a lot of ped and time investments.
When looking at the longtime successful entrepreneurs in EU: most are quite specialized.
Do you have such a big ped and time reserve that you can spread yourself thin?
If not, then perhaps it's a good idea to first focus on the area that has the biggest demand/chance of success?
And only later on branch out, when you have accumulated more ped, reputation and experience?
GL with your endeavors.

 

Thank you for all the comments. First off MA can screw themselves for being so over controlling. Secondly the idea is that no matter what your rep is everyone is guaranteed to not get ripped off.

 

Yes I am still trying to find a job until then I'm offering multiple services. Do you have any idea of a good business to join?

 

I think you should just play the game while exploring what you fancy and one day you will find your future career.
Banking is NOT something to go for, for reasons already stated (my alarm bells started their choir as soon as I read your OP).

 

Thanks for the help but also shut up. whose to say what will be a good business until it's tried by many

 

My alarm bells sounded when you reposted the very same thread here after it got shot down by moderator on PCF. I didn't mean to insinuate bad intent, it can also be a sign of stubbornness which is a good thing to have if you ever want to pursue anything. But you've seen that this particular project raises a few red flags easily and you'll have to decide how to work with that. Good luck!

 

Thats just the point though.....

There were player run banking/loan type businesses in EU before the official banks came on line and they were all explicitly told that they have to shut down their business or risk having their account locked.

No one here is trying to shut you down just for the fun of it and the best way to get ahead here is to come up with a unique service that hasnt been done before but this has.
The advice poeple are giving here isnt just their opinions or specualtion,they are speaking from experience and stating the facts surrounding such a business.

Now if you want to do it on the quiet then no one can stop you but just be aware of the very real risks,people are actually trying to do you a favour here and save you from losing your account.

The other side of this of course is from the customers pov.
Anyone who is aware of the rules surrounding this type of business is not going to risk putting their collateral on to an account that in all likely hood will be locked.


No one is going to stop you from trying to come up with something unique to ease your way through entropia ,most will encourage it unless they know its something that could -and most likely will-get you shut down and so are warning you for your own good.

 

Thanks all for your help. I do understand it's an illegal service without the permission of MA. I haven't actually pursued it and am currently just trading for my money. I originally intended to make money off the impatient players by offering them money (with a fee). Whether I go after this business and fight the system will largely depend on the players I meet and what career I actually start earn good PED with.