Q & A with David|Mindark
Hi,

Thank you MorbidX, well here goes





Pinky: With the MA share floatation, are there any plans to offer your customers the chance to buy shares at a reduced floatation price like other companies have done in the past?

David: All IPO information will be released at the appropriate time when available, Credit Suisse advise us on all rules and regulations, there is no more information available at this time.

Fredythepenquin: With the IPO being announced and eventually the shareholders asking how can we make more profit, will there be a full focus on Limited items and the phase out of non-Limited items?

David: The economics and balancing of Entropia Universe are not my department, but I believe we will always have non-limited items.

Aridash: Is there any liklyhood of "paper" being implmented, allowing ingame manuals, flyers, newsletter etc to be produced (cheaply) since EU has a loyal and keen fanbase and offers a great advertising medium?

David: An answer for Marco I believe,.-)

Redstar: Can we expect to see more ingame advertising regarding 3rd party companies since this is something that lacks in EU and could after all bring in the reveneue to make the universe a greater place?

David: We use a company called Massive Incorporate for "in-game" advertising,, most adverts are localized, so each country will see different adverts,,unfortunately some countries see very few,, this is being reviewed at the moment.

Caoryn: With the arrival of functioning Banks, will Mindark persue some users desire to hold REAL bank accounts with their functionality or have banks reached their desired Aim?

David: As the banks evolve with Entropia Universe we hope more functions will be available, certain functions/services will require "real world" banking licences though .-)

Sentenz: What is the first priority to develop?Investments,services,user interaction....etc.....from your bussines view...ofcourse.

David:For me, an Entropia player I would like to see development and user interaction .-)

Blackhawk: With the impending release of the chinese planet have mindark considered the effects on current Universe assets if so what is their expected change.

David: Again this is a economic & balancing question,, but same as the real world,, different countries have different economies and usually have only a small effect or none on the whole!,

T3h_Plonker: With EU going public isn't there a danger that share holders with no feel for the unverse be demanding/pressuring changes that result in a negative effect to Entropias USers e.g Financially.


David: I cannot comment more on the IPO but I think you will find most of your answers in the relevant threads,, we have some smart EU player who understand the process and advantages of an IPO.

Nightwolfaa2k5: Any plans for attending gaming conferences in Australia? Like eGames, Go3, etc and tapping a wider User market.

David.We expect to attend 4 or 5 exhibitions a year, we do have to look at the economical side of taking the 60 square metre stand around the world,, many factors, but mainly attendees figures at he exhibitions etc etc. If our users would like to suggest an exhibition please send a pm to me with the e-mail address and I will take a look!

GlyphanSince paintings and videos as personal content are such a success among the community and created an outburst of creativity: Will we be able to upload self-made music as Personal Content easier as this seems a relativly untapped market for MA.

David: I would expect to see something like this in the future .-) cant say when though, so don't hold me on that one lol.

Ironheart:We hear that a rival company is going to build a 'world' inside EU, we also see that EU is increasingly described as a platform in MindArk's publicity releases. Have MA taken a decision to retreat from front-line content provision to concentrate on the platform itself? If so, how will this affect Entropia in the short and long term?

David: The announcement for the new planet owner/designer/builder will come during CES in Vegas 7th - 10th January, this is a VERY exciting worldwide company, take a look at some of the fantastic projects they are involved in! .-)), Entropia Universe has always been heading towards the "platform", we have wanted to give users the opportunity to experience many different styles of games/virtual worlds inside Entropia Universe and this would not be possible coming from one company,, soon you will be able to travel to another planet and it will feel like a new game/world,,,, because it was designed and developed by a different company .-)).
Expect to see some very exciting partnerships over the coming months that will give fantastic content and depth.

Centech: The press release about the IPO mentioned funds for future acquisitions. I'm curious what sort of companies you think would be a good fit for MA to acquire.

David: To help growth in design / development / programming and support etc

Centech: The IPO, China+Brazil, it all sounds great for MA. Ever company knows its customers are the most important thing. At the risk of sounding greedy, whats in it for me, the player/customer as MA expands and becomes more successful?

David: We (you) are pioneers on this amazing journey, being here from the beginning can only be a good thing .-)

Centech: Chance to brag - China chose MA over Linden Labs, which to be honest surprised many people. Why do you think MA succeeded?

David: The secure real cash economy platform was obviously the main advantage, but our policy of no pornography or gambling was also involved in their decision

Oleg: Marco recently stated that the typical 'lifespan' of an EU player is 6-12 months. IS this a predicted life span if so is there a problem with customer retention. What are you doing to address this problem?

David: Marco I believe was talking about games/virtual worlds as a whole, a recent study mentioned these figures, As more content and different worlds are added I would expect users to keep their EU accounts open & active.

Immortal: What is the projected impact that MA going public will have on the inniverse experience for the players?

David: There are many advantages in Mindark going public, as mentioned above, funds will be used for development across the company, it can only make the Entropia Universe players experience better ))))


sorry the answers took so long,

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

David

That is an ever-interesting question. We are aware that the initial experience in Entropia, arriving as a new colonist, is not the smoothest or most exciting entry point. We have made some studies and used focus groups, the data is being collected, assessed and compiled. I believe that with the release of the CryENGINE2 version of Entropia, the starting-out sequence of Entropia will change quite a bit, in order to better show what Entropia is, bring excitment and decrease the various thresholds that are in there.

Entropia is in constant development and evolution.

CryENGINE2

Hi,

Unfortunately the official announcement of the company that will be building one of the new planets has been postponed and will now be in February before the Games developer Conference in San Francisco, the final terms & conditions of the agreement were not finished in time by our respective lawyers!
(but would you expect anything different

But! They will be attending our party tonight and maybe one of our fantastic hard working ambassadors just might leak to the forums later who knows!!

David