Aug 22 2006,
Recently, the membership of e-pec.info had the unique opportunity of participating in a Question and Answer session with Marco Behrmann, Chief Information Officer at MindArk. What follows is the transcript of that discussion.
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e-pec.info: How are things in the land of MindArk and Entropia Universe?
Marco|MindArk: It is coming along nicely, thank you. Entropia is growing and is being recognized by more and more people and media, which is nice. We get media interviews and requests for conferences and as keynote speakers all the time nowadays.
e-pec.info: With your new position of Chief Information Officer, what are your primary responsibilities and how do you envision your role with the Entropia Universe Community changing, if at all?
Marco|MindArk: I have a supervising role as to what information is supplied to all external parties, like the media, PR, press releases, websites, forums, community feedback, etc. My main area is still in the community though, as I like the feedback and sense of belonging it brings, also the frustration and frenzy sometimes. It is like the real world in many senses, and I am much happier about there being passion rather than apathy. One thing that is very important to understand is that Entropia is like a journey. Some people will stay for the entire duration, some make a guest appearance and than fade out, all this creates a truly vibrant sensation few people outside the community can understand.
Today we are four or five people handling the external communication, not including our CEO and MindArk's founder Jan Welter Timkrans, and those are; Carl Uggla, CMO, David Simmonds, Business Development Manager, Hans Lundholm, AD and Frank Campbell, writer and events. So now, instead of doing all those jobs myself, I get more time to focus on the things I like to focus on – the community and relaying information and feedback to and from it and MindArk.
e-pec.info: What areas do you believe Entropia Universe needs to strengthen in order to compete with games such as Second Life, which also utilize a real world economy?
Marco|MindArk: Second Life is a great system and will attract a lot of people, but their (Linden Lab) vision is not ours. We will continue to enhance the elements that make Entropia Universe what it is and make those the best there is. Our vision is clear and has a very long-term commitment. Basically, we will stick to our plan. It would be a huge mistake to imitate others, as you will always end up being behind. We will add more activities, deepen the ones already in place and add more of an in world sense of history, celebrity, and being part of a new world. I would not be surprised if Omegaton, Genesis and Chikara become more active in their roles, as counterparts of the massive Imperial government. ,-)
e-pec.info: Is there any concern about speculation and the volatility of some markets within game?
Marco|MindArk: The market will always rise and fall and rise again. What is important to understand is that we need an economy that caters to every level in Entropia Universe. From the participants with a budget of a few PED's, to those with millions of PED's on their PED Cards. We also need to address some imbalances in the economy, like the lack of a BLP and Plasma Opalo counterpart. The mining system needs ways to expand the amount of ore and EnMatters available over time, the crafting system needs more options – maybe add-ons that reduce the time per attempt and the ability to automate some manufacturing. We have a lot of exciting ideas (actually, we have an Idea-file which has several thousand entries). Taming, Mindforce and Beauty need attention. New backbone systems in Entropia Universe like the new physics engine will go live shortly, which enables us to add vehicles. Who will own the first auto manufacturing plant? ,-).
e-pec.info: Many have been very excited about a certain craftable armor line for a very, very long time! Can Necromancer, Litch and Reaper Blueprints be looted and have the designs been completed?
Marco|MindArk: Yes, they can. They are however, very hard to obtain. All items can be obtained in Entropia Universe, even Imp Mk.II's and Mod FAPs.
e-pec.info: After the introduction of some new professions (Taming, Land Management, Carpentry), should we expect to see additional professions within the coming year? If so, what lines?
Marco|MindArk: Industrialists and bankers. Maybe politicians, we have to see.
e-pec.info: Is there discussion on adding functionality that would enable players to develop and deliver teaching resources to fellow players (ie. the ability to record and replay video, the ability for the students/ lecturer to post chunks of text to a shared area, the ability to post PDF's, etc)? And how about unique items and/or artwork?
Marco|MindArk: We are investigating it. The problem with it is twofold; one is copyright and infringements. Entropia Universe cannot be used as a platform for illegal delivery of such materials. The other is the security and integrity of the system. Entropia Universe is built from the ground up to be as secure as possible. To open the system up to dynamically allow for additions is a great risk. But we embrace the idea, we are just examining how to do it right.
e-pec.info: Apart from the ideas of co-ownership and lending, has there been discussion on the possibility of temporary jobs within the space flight industry? For instance, the ability for a hangar owner to list one or more people as co-pilots who may fly and maintain the ship in addition to the deed owner? Any other flight related updates planned?
Marco|MindArk: It is an idea that is being discussed as well. The economy of Entropia is designed around the concept of one owner of items, meaning we need a workaround in the suggested case.
e-pec.info: Due to large numbers of new participants, Eudoria is very populated and many low-end hunting grounds are no longer sufficient to sustain the population. Will there be development of new area's, larger spawns and/or new creatures featuring low-end mobs in the coming year?
Marco|MindArk: Yes. As said before, we need to cater to all levels of participation.
e-pec.info: Are there any upcoming tradeshows and/or other major marketing avenues that MindArk anticipates partaking in the near future?
Marco|MindArk: We are attending the Games Convention 2006 in Leipzig, Germany (it is like the European E3), where we will introduce our newest payment solution, Paysafecard. We are presenting in China with the East India ship "Götheborg", together with companies like Volvo and Ericsson, and high-level politicians and Swedish royalty. We will also deliver a keynote for a couple of hundred VIPs. And we have some very interesting meetings afterwards. A few days ago we were in Holland, at a festival. Earlier we were in Los Angeles, and so on and so forth. Next year I foresee MindArk and Entropia Universe going on a big tour around the world.
e-pec.info: Finally, from a personal perspective, what is the one thing that you are most excited to see come to fruition in the coming months?
Marco|MindArk: I really like the concept behind the factories and the ability to actually employ other people to work for you. It is really cool. There is no ETA on it yet though.
e-pec.info: Thank you for taking the time to do this. We all appreciate it very much.
Interview courtesy of e-pec.info. Please feel free to link directly to this article. However, we respectfully request that it not be duplicated on other websites.