Question: Mindark Owned Personal Avatars

[Hijacker27]

Hi, as 'some' players have been bugging the MA staff about this topic, I've decided to create a proper thread where the issue can politely be discussed.

As most players know, most (if not all) MA staff have their own personal play avatars which are owned by Mindark. These avatars (if I believe correctly), work exactly the same as ours - in that they can hof, join societies, trade, PK, etc. They can fully enjoy the game experience, other than the fact that they cannot withdraw.

From just searching the first page of the dev posts (not even going through old threads by marco/etc on the other forums), I've found these quotes.

Originally Posted by Kim|MindArk

I play the game myself and im at 170hp and 140k total skills which could hardly be considered uber. I fully expect to be enjoying alot of new content in the coming updates.

Originally Posted by Kim|MindArk

I actually played my avatar to its current level, no cheating.

Originally Posted by Kim|MindArk

The avatars we can play on belong to MindArk and we can never have personal avatars.

What I (and others) might be wondering are a few things.

1.) In order to fully appreciate 'The Entropian Experience', an avatar must have a limited amount of funds - and have to fight and work hard to survive in this harsh environment. Half the fun in the game is trying to 'profit' and get 'the big one'.
What measures are in place to ensure that the MA staff playing these avatars can fully appreciate our concerns with loot, balancing, and availability of items?
-Do you have to pay for your PED yourselves even though you can't withdraw it? Does it come out of your pay-cheque?
-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?
-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?
-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?

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?

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).
-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?

And I've also got some easier - and more personal questions.

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)?

And I'm sure I'll think of more questions later, and if you can't answer any of the questions (NDA, don't know, etc) I fully understand. Thanks for your time, it is VERY much appreciated. I know that I have more confidence in the platform being able to actually interact with those that run it, and I'm sure almost everybody else does too.

[Amber Knightley]

Well put questions, not the usual is this allowed I don't like it, kinda crap questions.

I hope some of this will be answered, really interesting. Especially about what "has" to be done with stuff that they loot/craft/mine. I wonder if they just cycle it into the TT machine...

[starfinder]

I predict.. no answers...

[Kim|Calypso]

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!

[Sheina]

good to know, I just wonder ...

What is your best item?

What is your best loot?

and in the worst case (unhappy answers to the above questions), you feel as frustrated as most of us?

[Hijacker27]

Wow, that was a very quick and thorough response! I'd give ya a thousand +reps if I could :P

Looks like starfinders prediction came out false

[Grez]

Very interesting and finally answers a lot of what I've suspected and mostly think this is a good thing.

For all we know, some of our societies could be infiltrated with MA employees!

[starfinder]

Originally Posted by Kim|MindArk

....
Yes its about 500 to 1000 PED per month.
....

Good answers!

Nice to get some "facts", and its good to see what MA considers a normal amount to spend on the game each month.
50-100 USD / month is what you should expect to pay accordingly to MA then..

[Amber Knightley]

Originally Posted by Kim|MindArk

I have never gathered sweat.

lol.

thanks a lot for the answers, now I wonder when I killed you last time!
give me few days and I should know who your avatar is.

and a question about that, is there a policy if you're allowed or not to tell your fellow entropians that you work at MA?!

Originally Posted by Hijacker27

Looks like starfinders prediction came out false

He never really been any good at predictions, I'd say

[Hijacker27]

Originally Posted by starfinder

50-100 USD / month is what you should expect to pay accordingly to MA then..

Well, when you consider their $1/hour figure (not sure if that's valid any more though) and the fact that lots of us play 20-40 hours a week, that's lowballing it :P