Thank You MindArk Team for the AMA!

MsPudding

Elite
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Posts
4,339
Location
Salt Lake City, USA
Avatar Name
Rachel MsPudding Hawkins
Hey,

I realize I didn't actively participate in the AMA -- but I was there reading along as a silent observer. I know others have said it, and I simply wanted to echo the sentiment that we appreciate the communication and effort you guys put forward to handle this AMA. It seems like we've got a good team over there right now dedicated to making things better for EU. You stayed late and continued answering questions beyond the allotted time, that was awesome guys.

I know there were many questions that were answered in a vague way, and I sorta expected that. I have to remind myself that with an RCE you guys need to be careful in what information is divulged because of the real world consequences and unfair advantage it could have on the state of the game and players.

Je Jak Bam asked a question about the "Game Priorities" and the response you gave ignited a lot of hope in me. It was in my opinion the best response of the day, I really liked reading it and I'll explain why I liked it so much below. But here's what was said:

There are many areas that we want to improve.

In 2018 we had a lot of discussions about which areas of Entropia Universe that we want to prioritize, and why. At this time our priority is to focus on systems and features which will benefit the greatest number of participants. That is one of the reasons that we started with the Camera and Interaction system, as it’s something that affects all participants, new and old alike.

We have also been working extensively on improving the stability of the product, minimizing lag etc. With that being said, we have for the past few months devoted a larger portion of the releases to bug fixing and other smaller issues that have been reported. This is something we will continue to do for the foreseeable future.

Rather than making promises or projections on specific systems or features, I believe it is better to present such information to the community only once we feel confident in our ability to deliver. Hopefully this will increase your trust in us.


1. Focusing on systems and features which will benefit the greatest number of participants
2. Working to stabilize the product (bug fixes and small issues)
3. Not making promises and projections before feeling confident in your ability to deliver
4. Desire to increase the communities trust in MA/EU


Warning, small Pudding rant below:

Let me start off by saying you have the success formula for winning back community trust right there. Those 4 things will earn back trust from just about anyone.

We don't want illusions of grandeur and promises that never get fulfilled. We've already dealt with that too much in the past. Sometimes we may react like an abused animal, lashing out at you before ever giving you a chance. Please understand that over the many years previous MA leadership squandered the community's trust in the product by doing just that. They would often make promises of really cool shit, and then never deliver. Sooner or later you start to think you're just being sold wolf tickets. I won't list all of the unfulfilled promises here, you've heard it all before. We just want to see shit work how it was intended. We want continue playing EU for the next 40 years!

I think when MindArk starts going off and launching mobile phone games and coming late to the scene on digital currency you're going to lose trust. Me, as a consumer of your product, sits here and thinks... Hmmm EU must not be working out for them because they keep trying all these radical ideas and trying to 'pivot' their company and offer some new product. I'm not saying that taking your profit and investing it in something else is a bad idea. I'm saying that when the first product is half-broken, the profit from the first product should go towards fixing what's broken before venturing off on more unknown costs and untested waters. To us, it looks like we're just being milked until you guys hit your next 'Get Rich Quick Scheme'. That may not be your intention, but that sentiment is felt by many I've spoken with. I'll state the obvious, there's no other game like Entropia Universe. And that's a good thing!

I say stick what what you have, work to make it better, and work to grow the user base. As long as you're current focus is to improve the product by stabilizing it, and continue to follow through on promises, you're going to earn back a hell of a lot of trust from the community. Which I think this current team is already doing just that, so props to you guys' effort, keep it up!

We may have a small community, but we're a dedicated bunch. There's so many nice and helpful people in this game that you don't meet in other gaming communities. This is a resource you should not overlook. This may even be a resource many of us overlook :p

I just want to say to you guys: Never let the few disgruntled participants with only negative things to say get you guys down. They do not speak for the community as a whole. Just because a few unhappy and loud customers had a bad experience, it doesn't mean the rest of us aren't enjoying the game. By that same token, please continue to listen to the constructive feedback, which from the sounds of it you're doing that now.

My observation from looking at CLD returns is that they are higher in 2018 than in 2017 and 2016, so for the moment it seems we've curbed the downward trend we were seeing for so many years.

I really like this new CEO, and the team backing him. It seems like you guys are on the right path. It also seems like you've got the right talent over there, and it was great to hear you're looking to hire more staff rather than lay off. I am glad I was able to be a fly on the wall today, and I hope to see great things from this team. You've got your work cut out for you, but I'm sure you're aware of that. I just wanted to say that I love those 4 priorities listed above, and I hope you continue to stick to them.

Once again, thank you for taking time out of your day to hold this AMA. It was refreshing.

Best of luck to the MindArk Team

-MsPudding
 
I concur! This AMA was a huge step in the right direction! Effort is what the Mindark team needs to help this game reach full potential. Yesterday was a fantastic example of commitment and follow through. Mindark, please take note of the community response. Build it and they will come.
 
I concur! This AMA was a huge step in the right direction! Effort is what the Mindark team needs to help this game reach full potential. Yesterday was a fantastic example of commitment and follow through. Mindark, please take note of the community response. Build it and they will come.

Agree, keep up the great ongoing communication MA (improvements), and thank you!
 
Hey,

I realize I didn't actively participate in the AMA -- but I was there reading along as a silent observer. I know others have said it, and I simply wanted to echo the sentiment that we appreciate the communication and effort you guys put forward to handle this AMA. It seems like we've got a good team over there right now dedicated to making things better for EU. You stayed late and continued answering questions beyond the allotted time, that was awesome guys.

I know there were many questions that were answered in a vague way, and I sorta expected that. I have to remind myself that with an RCE you guys need to be careful in what information is divulged because of the real world consequences and unfair advantage it could have on the state of the game and players.

Je Jak Bam asked a question about the "Game Priorities" and the response you gave ignited a lot of hope in me. It was in my opinion the best response of the day, I really liked reading it and I'll explain why I liked it so much below. But here's what was said:




1. Focusing on systems and features which will benefit the greatest number of participants
2. Working to stabilize the product (bug fixes and small issues)
3. Not making promises and projections before feeling confident in your ability to deliver
4. Desire to increase the communities trust in MA/EU


Warning, small Pudding rant below:

Let me start off by saying you have the success formula for winning back community trust right there. Those 4 things will earn back trust from just about anyone.

We don't want illusions of grandeur and promises that never get fulfilled. We've already dealt with that too much in the past. Sometimes we may react like an abused animal, lashing out at you before ever giving you a chance. Please understand that over the many years previous MA leadership squandered the community's trust in the product by doing just that. They would often make promises of really cool shit, and then never deliver. Sooner or later you start to think you're just being sold wolf tickets. I won't list all of the unfulfilled promises here, you've heard it all before. We just want to see shit work how it was intended. We want continue playing EU for the next 40 years!

I think when MindArk starts going off and launching mobile phone games and coming late to the scene on digital currency you're going to lose trust. Me, as a consumer of your product, sits here and thinks... Hmmm EU must not be working out for them because they keep trying all these radical ideas and trying to 'pivot' their company and offer some new product. I'm not saying that taking your profit and investing it in something else is a bad idea. I'm saying that when the first product is half-broken, the profit from the first product should go towards fixing what's broken before venturing off on more unknown costs and untested waters. To us, it looks like we're just being milked until you guys hit your next 'Get Rich Quick Scheme'. That may not be your intention, but that sentiment is felt by many I've spoken with. I'll state the obvious, there's no other game like Entropia Universe. And that's a good thing!

I say stick what what you have, work to make it better, and work to grow the user base. As long as you're current focus is to improve the product by stabilizing it, and continue to follow through on promises, you're going to earn back a hell of a lot of trust from the community. Which I think this current team is already doing just that, so props to you guys' effort, keep it up!

We may have a small community, but we're a dedicated bunch. There's so many nice and helpful people in this game that you don't meet in other gaming communities. This is a resource you should not overlook. This may even be a resource many of us overlook :p

I just want to say to you guys: Never let the few disgruntled participants with only negative things to say get you guys down. They do not speak for the community as a whole. Just because a few unhappy and loud customers had a bad experience, it doesn't mean the rest of us aren't enjoying the game. By that same token, please continue to listen to the constructive feedback, which from the sounds of it you're doing that now.

My observation from looking at CLD returns is that they are higher in 2018 than in 2017 and 2016, so for the moment it seems we've curbed the downward trend we were seeing for so many years.

I really like this new CEO, and the team backing him. It seems like you guys are on the right path. It also seems like you've got the right talent over there, and it was great to hear you're looking to hire more staff rather than lay off. I am glad I was able to be a fly on the wall today, and I hope to see great things from this team. You've got your work cut out for you, but I'm sure you're aware of that. I just wanted to say that I love those 4 priorities listed above, and I hope you continue to stick to them.

Once again, thank you for taking time out of your day to hold this AMA. It was refreshing.

Best of luck to the MindArk Team

-MsPudding

Got to agree here and well put Ms Pudding:wtg::wise:
 
How about next AMA you guys can do an actual livestream i.e on Twitch with Camera at the office?

Since you guys want to keep ultimate control for obvious reasons, you guys can still have it and can still do a livestream on twitch with camera at the office if enough planning is involved.

Basically do something along these lines below.
Announce 1-2 weeks earlier there's going to be an AMA and how it's going to work and what type of questions will be addressed.

Give examples on what types of questions you guys can answer, and those that won't be answered or will only get a generic response.
Example we now know that regarding space suggestions/improvements or pipeline questions in general i.e when something is going to be released. Has basically already been answered.
Development of space in Entropia Universe has certainly progressed much slower than we have wished or anticipated in the past, which led to premature announcement surrounding potential space features or other design plans.

We understand that this has led to frustration within the community, and we apologize for that.

At the same, we want to avoid making similar mistake by revealing plans before we are certain that they will be implemented in a certain way. As with all of our design decision, it always comes down to a question of allocating our limited resources and manpower to the most important projects that benefit the greatest number of participants.
List in the AMA thread what your current priorities are, so people can ask more about them etc.

Give at least one whole weekend Friday 00:01 to Sunday 23:59 for people to post their questions.

After that all threads are locked. You guys will then take as long as necessary to sort through all questions and decide which ones are important or not when you guys do the live stream (do prepare for potential follow-up questions on these questions as well). Reply to all unimportant questions on forum or things that can't be answered except with a generic response before the livestream.

Announce 1 week in advance with time and link to when the livestream is going to start. Set enough time aside for the livestream to answer all important questions, and still have time for follow-up questions from twitch users/forum posts on said questions.

If not enough time is available to answer all important questions, don't rush it. And simply plan another AMA livestream part 2 session another time.


This would help in increasing AMA's quality over quantity, more efficient, more professional, less stressful for all and more fun for the people involved.
 
Last edited:
I concur with the thanks for doing this and I hope we see lots more of them in future!

I see there are AMA's everywhere at the moment, lots of companies making it a weekly thing, which would hopefully reduce the deluge of questions!

How about next AMA you guys can do an actual livestream i.e on Twitch with Camera at the office?

Since you guys want to keep ultimate control for obvious reasons, you guys can still have it and can still do a livestream on twitch with camera at the office if enough planning is involved.

I don't know if you remember the Kim interviews I did a good few years ago now? (Essentially me asking Kim questions that players had submitted, him replying, live on air - later transcribed due to our accents :laugh:). I really enjoyed speaking directly with a member of the MA team, having a bit of conversation around the answers rather than typed responses - so yes I would also love to have a sort of "real chat" AMA session.

But this is a good start an I think has already done wonders for the player trust, long may it continue and develop.
 
Back
Top