Hello, these are some good questions and I will do my best to answer them.
1)
-Do you have to pay for your PED yourselves even though you can't withdraw it? Does it come out of your pay-cheque?
No, we are given PEDs now and then, these PEDs come from estates and motherships etc that have been sold through the auction.
-Do you have a set 'allowance' per week/month/etc that is automatically deposited into the account based on what MA considers the average deposit?
Yes its about 500 to 1000 PED per month.
-What happens when you run out of PED (if you do)? Do you grab a vse-mk1 and sweat to get the full 'eco' experience?
I have never gathered sweat.
-Some mobs are more profitable than others (in terms of markup at least) and by working at Mindark, the staff surely know this. Do you hunt/mine/craft only things that would be 'smart', or do you 'play stupid' on purpose?
Well all we know is when and which items are introduced but we never go after those items intentionally once they are released. In terms of markup and deciding what to hunt I often just use Entropedia, I like liver and pancreas oil
2)
Another part of 'The Entropian Experience' is grinding. It is not easy to reach the higher levels - and as the first and second quotes above show, at least Kim reached his levels the way the rest of us have had to.
What I'd like to know is if you routinely limit yourself (in terms of gear/skills/etc and maybe even knowledge) to get a peak into what the newer players might be experiencing (having to hunt sabakuma/punies for hours on end without armour or in something like pixie to just max the opalo).
-Do you also try and hunt above your level to experience what most mid-level players try to do?
I can only speak for myself but I usually do all kinds of things such as grind my favourite mobs, iron challenges, pvp and mining. I don't do crafting though, never liked it. I play on my spare time because I enjoy it and I do what I feel like doing.
3)
Since as far as I know, your play avatars are on the production server, you must have to interact with other participants. Whether it be trading, teaming, hiring a service, etc - PED will probably change hands. Your actions will directly or indirectly influence the economy.
Are there any policies in place to make sure that MA staff do not place preference on certain avatars - allowing them to have an indirect edge or free ride (say paying 200 PED for a fapping service while the normal rate is 50 PED, etc).
I don't think there are any specific rules but generally speaking we are to play as regular avatars. We are obviously prohibited from just giving cash to other avatars for them to cash out.. Thats embezzlement and its illegal.
-Also, say you loot an uber item (modfap, etc) and you don't plan on using it. Do you have to tt it? Do you have to toss it on auction? What if the item was looted in team - how would you go about splitting it?
We play like regular avatars, its up to the employee in question to make that determination
What's your favourite mob? Would you rather have more stable loot or bigger hofs - with a lower return on every day activities? Do you intentionally try to do things the game doesn't intend (in order to find the bugs/exploits to squish them of course)?
My favourite mob is probably the Gokibusagi, I really like the sounds it makes when I fill it with lead. I also like the Allophyl and the Pop Dragon.
And yes I do try to find bugs and exploits whenever I can.
Hope you were happy with the answers, cheers!