AMA Ask Me Anything Compilation

theProphet

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Prophet the Prophet from Planet Zen
[h=3]Letter from the CEO[/h]


Entropians,
When I was announced as the new CEO of MindArk I stated that one of my priorities would be improved communication between MindArk and the community. As you may have noticed, there has not yet been so much communication from my side.
...
We now have a solid plan in place to implement that vision.
I realized the incredible potential of Entropia Universe immediately upon creating my avatar and logging in for the first time. It has now become my job to ensure that MindArk achieves that potential. There are many things that we can improve in Entropia Universe, including the relationship and communication with the community.
...
Finally, I am planning to do an AMA (Ask Me Anything) sometime in the near future, either on the Entropia Universe subreddit or on PlanetCalypsoForum.com. More detailed info to come soon!

Kind regards,
Henrik Nel
CEO, MindArk PE AB

Originally Posted Here

Hi Henrik and thanks for reaching out to us finally. It really sounds too good to be true, so let's move on and use this nice momentum, before it enlightens into Nirvana.

This shall be the thread to compile your Ask-Me-Anything-Questions, so people, please keep it civil and clean, and rather start separate threads for any discussions. Feel very welcome to lean back, think a few minutes, and then your shoot your most important question(s) @CEO right here...

Maybe it would also help Henrik if you classify your viewpoint, like it's a newbie, nondepo, funhunter, sozializer, investor/stakeholder, ubergrinder or whatever else point of view, in your own humble opinion.

I'll keep my Q for a later reply. Good think takes time... :silly2:
 
Someone have McCormicks email address? Please forward url to this thread. Thank you

Edit: :popcorn:
 
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Let's start with already asked questions that were never answered yet... https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?270-Ask-MindArk (hint to improve customer communication: Some of those unanswered threads already have over 2 k views. Also look at emissary facebook thing that still has a live page, etc if I remember correctly)...

Next q... what about that affiliate program that's been mentioned over and over but never implemented yet? (you do know something like that, which was promised for compets but never delivered could have made it more profitable than it was...?)

Next q... going back to 2007 answers... etc. When are the new estates broker still holds for omegaton, etc being released?


At last check a Lot of apartments and estates have broker name still, and many don't even have working estate terminals that can get you that much info so I don't think there was ever deeds made for em yet despite the 2007 promise and a bunch of new planets being created



Probably a lot more in that 2007 thread to address that still isn't here if anyone wants to do some digging.

Regarding McCormick this is on e.p. too. Give him a few hours... oh, and Mr. CEO, please look at McCormick's blog for another listing of unfinished things.. actually his list is probably THE MOST comprehensive list created thus far...
http://content-of-oblivion.blogspot.com/

and believe it or not THAT LIST ORIGINALLY STARTED HERE IN THE FORUMS!! (most likely as a way to communicate with previous devs/CEO, etc.)!... https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...-of-Oblivion&p=2663924&viewfull=1#post2663924
 
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We invested in a stable, when will we actually have more than just a claim marker?
 
Ya know... there's probably 1001 questions people would love to ask MA but I think about 95%+ of all the questions that people are going to ask will revolve around one simple word... "WHEN?"

Over the years there have been A LOT of promises made - more than can even be listed here. More than Blizzard could keep up with if they had promised the same amount of stuff to be added to WoW.

I think if you could just answer these 2 questions everyone would be happy with the results of the AMA:

1. When are you actually going to accomplish/complete/fix all the countless things you've promised to us over the years? Please be specific going item by item with firm dates.

2. What are you ACTUALLY working on right now with at least 40 man hours per week? Thinking about something for 5 minutes while taking a shit doens't count as "working on it" neither does having something written on a whiteboard under the heading of "plans for the future". What is actually having lines of code written for it this minute?


I think as part of this new "open communication" policy the first order of business should be to do what Atrax suggested and have a list of all the proposed development tasks with a status as to where it is in the development process. To take this a step further I think it would be nice to implement the promised voting as part of CLD to vote on which of those items gets priority in development.

Having a defined firm timeline / roadmap for each item would go a long way to rebuilding the community trust which has been absolutely destroyed over the years. Of course, you also need to actually stick to that roadmap and stop getting side tracked with every shiny new trend you want to try to capitalize on. Sure, delays in development can happen but keep us updated as to why there are delays and the progress - we can be quite understanding if you don't patronize or lie to us.
 
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When you gone fix Chat bug, it been reported over 1000 times in last 6 month
 
... "WHEN?" ...

Different people have different priorities right now. But so many of the questions all start with this word.

Not "what", not "how", not even "why" (although that may be number 2).

When?

  • statues
  • prize plots
  • space missions
  • space mining
  • stables
  • chat bugs
  • loot bugs
  • I DON'T KNOW THERE ARE TOO MANY

It's just the one question, over and over, before anybody really cares about the new stuff. Maybe 100 or 150 times.

Not about new systems.

Not about new features.

Not about new hardware interfaces.

Not about new content or new activities - even the most jaded and bored of players would like to start seeing some things checked off a very long list of items that are obviously (sometimes shamefully) broken and ignored.

Not wishlist items either. Things that have been held out to us, sometimes for years while MA blathers on to the press about VR and technological advancements and repeatedly failed attempts to move into the banking world. The whole time grinding EU for cash.

Why don't you finish what you've started first? It's time to feed the cow.

Just fix one or two bugs that daily grind at the players comfort and immersion in your game. Deliver the statues and land plots that were promised years ago. Deliver ONE promised system before you publish another press release about how you're off chasing another new technological innovation, or another pseudo-banking system.

Or FFS offering another "investment opportunity" to the EU players.

When?
 
When do you

  • CONCENTRATE ON THE GAME?
  • FIX THE BUGS before adding new bugs?
 
This is like the 5th time we receive a communication promise? Why will this be different from the other failed attempts?

Will be able to sit down again after so many years?
 
* Are you going to trim payroll? I left Entropia when they went on a hiring spree and turned out compet trash app.

* Who hired this "creative team" and are they still with the company???

* If they are still with the company why have they not been fired yet?

* Loot 2.0 seems that it only guarantees losing PED's hunting. With loot 1.0 after reading and learning for 6 months I was net positive hunter, which is not possible with the current system (you could hunt naked, never heal with eco weapon it was very easy). I was also net positive gun crafter.

* Entropia was exciting and alive in the past. That old magic for me was a belief that I could build a small online business and make long lasting friendships.

*** I highly recommend finding out ***What the magic was*** for your long time players.

My Two-Cents
Grandmaster Dreamryder Mage
 
Are there any plans on future development that might revitalize PVP activity?
 
Guys we have to stay positive and make sure that the questions we ask reflect our love for the game (if you don’t love the game, why are you playing)

If the atmosphere is toxic or questions worded with a level of hostility it won’t benifit anyone. Ideally we want the CEO to enjoy talking to the community as much as possible, which inturn will benifit the regular player base.

Keep in mind the CEO has no commitment to answer anything but is doing so anyway, me personally am thankful

The questions I have is as a mentor I see new players joining everyday:

1. I am limited to only mentoring 20 people at a time, would it be possible for this to be increased? I hate the idea of sometimes removing people who’s been offline a bit but sometimes I need the space.

2. Is there any planned marketing to ensure a certain level of active players? If so What would trigger this marketing (example: active players below a certain amount) and what marketing channels do you think you would likely use?
 
Can I message you directly?
 
Guys we have to stay positive and make sure that the questions we ask reflect our love for the game (if you don’t love the game, why are you playing)

If the atmosphere is toxic or questions worded with a level of hostility it won’t benifit anyone. Ideally we want the CEO to enjoy talking to the community as much as possible, which inturn will benifit the regular player base.

..

No TBH.

If he wants to send a message he needs to pick a broadcast platform. Reddit is an open, interactive platform and if he's not ready to roll with what's likely to show up he shouldn't go there.

AMAs are popular when they go well because normal people can ask the questions that they want to ask. Not scripted talking points or pre-approved interviewer questions.

If "when are you going to deliver this promised item/features/system you promised (in some cases) half a decade ago" is seen as a hostile question, a reddit AMA is not anyplace to be.

IF he wants to publish a polished statement he has channels. Hosting an "Ask Me Anything" event where you hope to avoid questions is not good news.

I literally paid hard cash on a promise that's not here yet. How long ago? I sold those deeds and got myself an entire building on Arkadia during a good time and so I'm not crying every day. I play the game and I love it.

Who ever got a land plot for 9 CLDs? Glad I didn't hold out for that. And I mean I may have missed it being added (not), but that was supposed to be funding a voting system too, right? Old problems are still a little bit ahead to improvements for the entropia universe camera system that quite frankly nobody who even plays entropia universe ever probably heard of until that announcement.

But you know what I'd like to ask the CEO of mindark in an AMA?

Why is there still a freaking mushroom growing through the floor of my apartment building since 2011?

Oh crap, while we're talking about floors ... :eyecrazy:

I'm not going to talk about floors right now. Maybe he should get some sort of back and forth going before he just jumps right into a live reddit AMA.

The very first promises. From the very first investment deeds ever sold to EU players directly as a class.

Also get ready for "mindark doesn't address planet-partner specific issues". This includes calypso no matter how PCF feels. We don't need an "I'm not here to answer your questions" AMA.

You either reddit or you don't I guess. You can google the woody harrelson AMA and see what happens when someone mistakes "AMA" for a press platform. And those WERE his loving fans just trying to have some positive interaction.

People will make new reddit accounts if they have to. People who dislike reddit will do it. Just for the chance to type out their years old angst onto a platform that actually provides a 50% chance that the CEO of mindark might read the words they type.

So maybe expect him to touch on some of those other avenues first.
 
No TBH.

If he wants to send a message he needs to pick a broadcast platform. Reddit is an open, interactive platform and if he's not ready to roll with what's likely to show up he shouldn't go there.
agreed. This forum is way more moderated than anything reddit. If he cannot take a flame or two here, which really is where those of us that love the game are, no way in hell he should look in to reddit where the real trolls of the internet live...
 
* Are you going to trim payroll? I left Entropia when they went on a hiring spree and turned out compet trash app.

* Who hired this "creative team" and are they still with the company???

* If they are still with the company why have they not been fired yet?
Those are hard but fair questions. I would like to know the answer to that as well.

I realize now we have a different CEO who can say No when his team comes up with the next stupid idea. Fair enough, maybe this will make a difference... or maybe not. Either way, we would like to know more about the aftermath of this latest failure. Latest, because there were similar failures before that one. You can probably understand our desire to not make these things a habit.

So, what about some details? Any lessons learned? Any further changes in the dev team? Any other relevant details you could share maybe?

Many thanx in advance.

* Loot 2.0 seems that it only guarantees losing PED's hunting. With loot 1.0 after reading and learning for 6 months I was net positive hunter, which is not possible with the current system (you could hunt naked, never heal with eco weapon it was very easy).
Don't you think answer to these questions is already contained in the question?
Money doesn't grow on trees. If anyone can take eco weapon and earn stable profit day in day out simply by hunting mobs, were would the money come from?
I think the key is this "eco weapon". Must be something most people can't afford to buy. Other element that's not clearly spelled out but seems to be lurking in the context is skills. I'm assuming extremely high skills for (relatively) low level mobs? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I'll go with those assumptions for now.

So, in principle we're talking about investment. You invest in skills and gear, it pays out for a while, and then things change. Why's that, you ask?
If that's your question, it's a fair question.

I don't think you'll get a straight answer to that. I mean, c'mon, you don't expect MA to describe the exact loot algorithm in detail on the public forum?
Here's the good news though. MA's CEO already has answered your question. Here it is, if you can read it properly:
With Loot 2.0 we revamped the hunting loot formula in order to achieve a more flexible, balanced, and rewarding system. Those changes have led to significantly improved loot returns for the vast majority of players and an overall better loot balance.
Translation: We're moving towards equity. We will make the outcome more equal to all. I'm sure they can also add: Because, that's what majority of players wanted. And I have no doubt that'd be the truth.

Yea, I know it's stupid, but it is what it is. Welcome to 2018.
 
Evry single reddit discussion It's not what you know, it's what you can prove.
 
AMA Questions:
When will i get the statue i payed for 1 year and 8 months ago ?
When will mothership owners get the features which where sold to us as part of the deal 7 years ago ?
When will we get this years state of the universe ?
How much money did Mindark earn from the deeptoken sale so far ?
Since you have taken 8 months to talk to employees and hopefully analyse and restructure responsibilities to streamline processes to allow for an efficient internal and external communication and feedback process. Have you taken steps to utilize the vast treasure trove of customer feedback that has been submitted over the last 8+years and not been acted uppon yet ? Or are you looking forward to receive from us a collection of all the suggestions/improvements that could still be performed ?
Which of the promised features from the last 10years is mindark actually currently working on and has ressources allocated to ?
How many employees are working exclusively on space (eg. turning entropia in an actual universe) ?
How many employees are working exclusively on 'quickfixes' (improvements to the game that each take less then an hour of worktime from an experienced dev who knows the code) ?
When do you include a dev blog on your website so your developers can engage with the community and actively inform as well as seek community feedback on actual issues ?
When will it be mandatory for each employee to spent 1 hour per week actively communicating with the players and discussing improvements to the game and exchanging points of view ?
When will you fix your support case system so cases with open issues no longer get closed or put on the backburner ?
When will you prioritize dev ressources based on potential for the game and adressing root causes instead of symptoms (eg. spending dozends of hours in support to deal with not working revive and relocating players when servers are out of sync in space or otherwise instead of spending a few hours of development to implement an emergency revive for such situations and have it fixed forever) ?
Do you have a monitoring system for all income streams in place that allows you to decide how much standard development ressources you should keep in that respective sector of the game (eg. space, planetname, hunting, mining, crafting, taming, trading, property, etc.) ?
Have you considered how important it is to keep development ongoing continuously in all sectors while at the same time prioritizing exess ressources on focus sections ?
When will you allow players to earn incentives from promoting the game as well as from teaching new players successfully ?
Have you considered outsourcing parts of the development which are not directly related to the RCE functions of the game to your players (eg. graphics design of a new monster, design of a section of a planet, design of a new vehicle, design of a custom interface) ?
And are you aware of the large number of your playerbase who do have considerable experience in development,design,logistics,economics,etc. who could provide an enormous development boost to the game if engaged ?
Have you considered to add an development terminal (event terminal) to the game where players could create a project which then can be funded through purchase of tickets with the ressources locked down in the project till you / your devs decide to work on such a player project and earn those funds ?
 
Some of you may have noticed that we are inviting a group of participants to MindArk headquarters to help test and provide feedback for some of the upcoming improvements to the client camera system. These changes are something we believe will benefit newcomers and veterans alike.

Soo, who got invited?
 
Why don't you hire a proper agency to do publicity and PR? It's clearly something that you are not good at which is not a bad thing. But not being good at it and still doing it, that is bad.
 
But not being good at it and still doing it, that is bad.

depends on point of view ... i must honestly admit i really love such fellow players :ahh:
 
This is like the 5th time we receive a communication promise? Why will this be different from the other failed attempts?

Will be able to sit down again after so many years?

Seconded! For all three questions, especially the one about being able to sit down on the ground again. Just re-use the old pose, it was great!

attachment.php


Why is there still a freaking mushroom growing through the floor of my apartment building since 2011?

I like this question too. It symbolises so much about the general level of poor, quality control that goes on with the game content. It's rife with stuff that smacks of "it'll do" syndrome. This said, I have noticed that some stuff like that is getting fixed now. There is definitely someone holding a can of polish and a duster.

I dunno what I'd ask... maybe, "After 14 years of Mindark, why do you think I feel like there is little point in asking you anything anymore? I'd appreciate your insight on this one"

edit: When looking at the camera system (as you plan to), would you mind considering the following? https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...-Test-Workshop&p=3665783&posted=1#post3665783
 
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First, to all the others. The moaning questions won't be answered. Also flood questions won't. I also prefer a long lasting AMA that gives everyone the chance to ask. This thread may be it, but I fear CEO does not have time to answer many of them and I expect him to cherrypick the ones he can give a good answer to.

My Q's to CEO:
-Did MA learn anything from the failed investments in compet, deeptoken and ingame features (stables, statues, partially space,...)? I dont really want my deposits to be used on anything else than THIS game to boost my experience and make the deposit worth it. I realize some of my deposits have to go to player investors to make them part of the game experience.

-The game is pretty "grindy". Can we get some (more or less rare) randomness? Like for example meeting random NPC's at random places giving random missions and/or trades? Of course they can be recycled, but if the gossip makes everyone do the same at the same loc, gets a bit boring.

Good luck forward :)
 
I only have two questions:

1. When will you start enforcing your own rules?

We have botters (recorded, on youtube, reported and still around)
We have multi-accounters (reported, some temp-banned and all at it again)
We have uber avatars bought and sold like nothing (with sudden changes in english proficiency... ahem...)
We have known scammers running around, reported a million times and still around (and can't be named here...)
We have repeated exploit abusers, reported to hell and still around too...

I could go on, this stuff is the most damaging thing of all to the game. period.


2. When will you actually focus on the game and quit the crowdfunding delusions?

Invisible armor? Compet? deep token?
Resource gathering? avatar statues?
Moon deeds? more deeds? more deeds?

You know someone has to actually play for the stupid deeds to pay out right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
Can you just answer to this question?
When you will fix the lag in this game?
thank you
 
Don't you think answer to these questions is already contained in the question?
Money doesn't grow on trees. If anyone can take eco weapon and earn stable profit day in day out simply by hunting mobs, were would the money come from?
I think the key is this "eco weapon". Must be something most people can't afford to buy. Other element that's not clearly spelled out but seems to be lurking in the context is skills. I'm assuming extremely high skills for (relatively) low level mobs? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I'll go with those assumptions for now.

So, in principle we're talking about investment. You invest in skills and gear, it pays out for a while, and then things change. Why's that, you ask?
If that's your question, it's a fair question.

To answer this:

* Skill SHOULD/NEEDS TO matter

* Loot can be a win, win situation. With out getting into a huge wall of text the answer is in the mark up. TT+ "mark-up." Only tt matters to Mind arks bottom line. The old system of hunter or miner -to- crafter -to- hunter or miner was a good system. If MA wants a more help in this area I would be glad to offer it (for some peds of course)

Best Regards,
Grandmaster Dreamryder Mage
 
...First, to all the others. The moaning questions won't be answered. Also flood questions won't...

It's AMA or it isn't. I will point that out every time someone posts this.

If it isn't an obviously solid effort to address the concerns presented then AMA is the wrong channel. I can't imagine why he would even mention an AMA in the context of the current EU atmosphere.

If he posts a legit scheduled AMA to the community and then leaves in frustration after refusing to address the real questions that the actual long time PLAYING AND PAYING customers of this game put forward it will be worse than staying silent.

I understand the excitement at the notion of an AMA, and the notion that some sort of collective promise to keep it clean and scripted might encourage him to do it, but it doesn't matter.

If you're not prepared for McCormick, don't engage on a public, unmoderated 2-way platform.

I'm well aware that there are certain moderation capabilities on reddit. I know that someone can see a time to shine. I don't think though, that anyone wants to be caught between the EU community and the CEO of Mindark.

There are literally thousand of questions here on this forum that someone can cherry pick for a press release or an interview-style event. Great lead ins to long speeches about visions of the future and the direction of MindArk and Virtual Reality, or Virtual Banking.

I've been pretty clear and I have no need to make even longer lists here or anything. But this is 100% a real sore spot and for him to even mention an AMA at this point in things is silly. I know he's young but I wonder if he didn't just want to drop a "hip" buzzword in there.

Because unless they have a "surprise" ama and a few shill accounts to post leading questions for 5-10 minutes before "having to close" it's 90% or better predictable exactly what will happen at reddit. And again, a faked out AMA is going to cause a lot more grief with the actual interested community than it would ever help.

The whole thing is a bad idea. It's such a terribly bad idea for a "first step" right now I can only imagine it was put forth as a distraction. There's got to be a literal novel of me trying to be positive and encourage forward looking discussion with this community on more than one forum.

I don't really want to be a super downer about this but hey - don't start preaching at me or anyone else right now. He cracked open the door. People are being perfectly honest about what's on the other side of it. He can pull it shut again for a minute (because nobody would expect anything else) and decide about how to proceed.

I'm sorry for not being sorry. And that's true, both parts of it. Have some hope I guess. There's no need going around telling people to "be nice" because it makes a lie of the whole thing. How about hey fix the floors that cost me thousands of NOT VIRTUAL dollars before they get on making some more freaking "Randomness" into the game.

Think how a player who has invested tens of thousand of dollars into durable virtual goods on the back of Mindarks promises regarding space over the last 5 - 7 years feels before you start gatekeeping or white knighting there, good redditor. Do you really want to be telling him to be quiet so that you can try and get a nod to a question about random free crap?

IDGAF I guess I'm just wasting my own time stressing. But I sort of got slapped in the face again today as I went to play with my toys and enjoy my morning coffee. Then come here (and arkadia forum) to this sort of thing. Just another day in EU. Remember MindArk does not comment on planet-partner specific issues. Fungus infecting the buldings is not one of my more serious complaints. It's also off topic, I guess, to a mindark specific "AMA".

I may not even go log in for it, tbh. Maybe it would be hilarious if he did it and nobody who cares even showed up so a couple guy can sit around and fluff him for half an hour with scripted lead-ins for quotable posts.

This is silly. Maybe he can find a platform to host a AMNQIRWTATBNIOH. Dunno who does that.

Ask Me Nice Questions I Really Want To Answer Today But Nothing Important Or Hard


Edit (sort of):

This post has sat unposted for nearly 20 minutes. I've had a smoke and thought about how much I care. I feel much more strongly on this point than I do about possibly being rude to another community member. This post is not for Osten just a matter of timing and situation that he was the last person with a post like this.

I don't care if someone doesn't have the level of involvement to understand where all of this comes from, when the frustration and the long lists of questions come back out and the hurt and angry players come here to relieve just a tiny fraction of their stress.

The fact that he put that out about having considered an AMA is not out of line. But it happening is not realistic. And if that drives a wedge further in between "new " and "old" players or "free" and "paying" players it's a real shame.

Express yourself. 100%. Don't take one second telling me what I should or should not have to say. Then I can offer you the same respect.
 
Henrik Nel?
Whos Henrik Nel?
Where ya from?
What experience do you have?
Why and how did you become "CEO" of Mindark?
Besides making money, what are you're goals with this company?
 
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