Mechscape Post #4 - 28 March 2009, Editorial: Gerhard’s Influence on MechScape and Jagex Options

[mike470]

Issue #4 - 28 March 2009

Gerhard's Influence on MechScape and Jagex
Written by mike470


Hello reader! My name is Mike, and I am the Editor in Chief and a Senior Moderator here on MechScape World. In my editorial I will be discussing how Mark Gerhard, the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jagex, will have an impact on MechScape and the future of Jagex.

MechScape:

Throughout the entire Iddison (the previous Jagex CEO) era, Jagex hardly, if ever, confirmed that MechScape was even a game. Rumors were ignored; all we had was Ren's research, the E3 video, and a few articles to guide us. Then, longer than a year and a half after MechScape was first discovered, Gerhard became the CEO of Jagex. Since then, their views on fansites have changed dramatically; to quote Mod Mark H on a post he made on the RuneScape Official Forums, As for Fansites... It's true that in the past we treated these sites like a potential danger. As times change, so have we and thanks to Mark Gerhard's approach and enthusiasm we've come to realise that just because we had done something one way in the past didn't make it the *right* way. Fansites are full of extreme dedicated, loyal players who really love RuneScape. Same as the people here on the RuneScape Forums are. We already communicate (well, we try!) with player's here but we've neglected the fansite community for a long time. Now we want to extend a hand of friendship. I hope that can explain why we've been doing all these things. " (link to thread)

As we have already seen, Gerhard's influence on the growing MechScape fan base has been huge; he has generously given MechScape World concept art, answered some questions, and more! Even before the game is released he is playing a large role by interacting with MechScape World. This both increased the number of MechScape fans and led to a lot of excitement for MechScape.

Behind the scenes I assume that Gerhard is doing many things to ensure that MechScape fulfills its claim to be aimed towards a more mature audience. Before Gerhard came, RuneScape was drifting deeper and deeper into the ?€œchild zone", with many RS updates aimed towards attracting a younger audience. Upon Gerhard's arrival, he clarified that RuneScape is not a game just for young kids (although he did realize that Iddison was moving in that direction). To prove his point, he loosened the chat system's censor and removed several security tips which could be seen as patronizing for older kids.

One thing we know about MechScape is that it will have a membership system similar to RuneScape's, meaning that both free to play and pay to play players will have a chance to play the game. As Gerhard said in his first post as CEO: ?€œWe will continue to improve the free game and, crucially, make it as fun as possible because we know that this is the way that everyone first discovers RuneScape;?€? he is discussing how they plan to improve the free to play gameplay of RuneScape.


Now, a lot of people seem to assume that just because RuneScape has thousands of hours of free to play content then so will MechScape. While we do know that MechScape will have free content for users, I do not expect there to be a mass amount of free content like there is in RuneScape. This would be bad for Jagex, as it would take away from their profits by driving their subscribed RuneScape members to come and play the free version of MechScape, thus making them in competition with themselves. Too much free content also leaves many opportunities for gold farmers as well (Jagex claimed that they have solved real world trading problems, although I have my doubts).

I also expect more in-game events taking place between staff and players, just like we are beginning to see with RuneScape. Things such as Mod Wars (moderators vs. normal players), events taking place at minigames, etc. are things I hope to see in MechScape. As well as this, I assume Jagex will be taking advantage of the many social networking sites out there (such as Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and use them more often to post events, updates, and other things related to them.

Another area for speculation is how and when they plan to release MechScape. Gerhard obviously realizes the growing problem in today's gaming industry: incomplete releases of both games and updates. Game releases that are rushed are usually buggy and do not reach their maximum potential; whereas releases that are taken slowly and are released when ready are usually smooth and have few to no bugs. As Gerhard said, he will release the game when it's ready, and that is much more reassuring than to hear a date that may be rushed.


Jagex:

As the new CEO, Gerhard will clearly have an influence on how Jagex develops over the next few years. Currently, not even two months after he was announced CEO, we have already seen many changes in how Jagex is being ran.

For one, Jagex has evidently been more in contact with the fan base (of both MechScape and RuneScape) than Jagex has been in years. Since Gerhard became CEO they have generously taken part in an interview with MechScape World, a Q&A session, answered questions in Mod MMG's clan chat (although the chat currently suspended due to it being considered too exclusive), and given us never-before-seen MechScape concept art. In addition to that, the RuneScape staff has also answered hundreds of questions that were asked on the RuneScape Official Forums. In the future, I see Jagex being very interactive with their community by having more in-game events, talking with fansites, etc. While Iddison firmly believed that Jagex's infrastructure was more important than the game itself, Gerhard can see that the community is the most important part of any game.

Iddison constantly focused on how the media thought of Jagex - always being involved with developer conferences and interviews with game sites and making sure Jagex was always in the spotlight somewhere. While there is nothing wrong with that, there were many problems with the community interaction. Many people did not know Iddison was even the CEO for a long time, they still believed Andrew was still in charge (he was, and still is, the lead developer). Jagex hardly spoke out to their community and the fan base seemed unnoticed; especially after the trading updates back in December, I believe some of the community was beginning to feel invisible.

One of the significant aspects of RuneScape is its legacy, as it has gone through numerous major changes in its gameplay, while the initial content largely remains unchanged. In order to combat real world trading they have had to make difficult compromises. Many people, me included, feel that they made a compromise too many in terms of the changes to the Wilderness and free trade, and I am yet to feel that the measures they have taken to redress these losses are nearly sufficient (although they have announced some interesting plans for Bounty Hunter).

Jagex now have more support staff than ever, but they also have far more players. With two brands on the go and a third soon to be released they need to improve their staff-to-player ratio to ensure that players get the level of customer service which they expect and deserve, and unfortunately, considering the some of the complaints that there are, this does not seem to be the case.

While unhappy about their past decisions, I still remain hopeful about the future of Jagex and MechScape. I hope that Jagex can work on their issues and turn them into strong aspects of their company.

What kind of affect do you expect Gerhard to have on MechScape? What do you expect of Jagex's future now that Gerhard is in charge? Share your opinions!

-mike470
-MechScape World Staff



MechScape and Community News


MechScape World Interview With Jagex's Head of PR:
On Monday the 23rd, Adam Tuckwell (Head of PR), and two other PR agents from Jagex met for an interview with our lead administrator PoultryChamp. In this interview they answered some burning questions that had been submitted and gave us a better understanding of the game. (Read and discuss the interview)

MechScape Poster:
In addition to the interview with Jagex, they were also kind enough to give us a poster containing a piece of MechScape concept art. Not only was this never-before-seen artwork, but it was also signed by all the employees of Jagex working on MechScape! (See poster)

Higher System Requirements for MechScape:
Due to a higher polygon count, MechScape is likely to have higher system requirements than RuneScape. (Read more)

Jagex Press Release:
Jagex officially announces Mechscape in a press release noting that the game will be released in 2009. In addition to this, they will also be releasing a Brazilian localization of RuneScape. (Read more)

Jagex Named Company of the Year:
Two days ago, Jagex was named company of the year in Business Excellence Awards 2009. (Read more)


Footnotes
Make sure to read MechScape Post #1, MechScape Post #2 and MechScape Post #3.
Contributors: Ren, Ed5, Brenden (Content Research Team); mike470, zepherusbane, Xela, Max, Oscar, Pipinowns (Writing & Editing Team).
Disclaimer: The views expressed by members of staff do not necessarily represent the view of MechScape World.

[Syphzar]

I don't know if we can assume Gerhard is entirely responsible for Jagex's now more openness to fan sites of their games.

I do not expect there to be a mass amount of free content like there is in RuneScape.

Well, as we know the MechScape world map is basically as large as RuneScapes, and they do need to give people enough time to become used to their game and to not expect them to become members with little to do before hand... Mod Mmg stated that there would be a free to play section, I don't see why it would be any less than RuneScapes. My guess would be that it is larger than RuneScape's free to play abilities.

Too much free content also leaves many opportunities for gold farmers

This depends on how items are transferred to players - maybe players cannot trade with another? They have a few ways to deal with this.

As Gerhard said, he will release the game when it’s ready, and that is much more reassuring than to hear a date that may be rushed.

I'd still like to hear around when we might possibly be able to expect it, like between one month and another and including possibly sooner or later to expect. I know it's hard for them to give us approximations, but anything going in depth more than Q1 2009 would be good.

I see Jagex being very interactive with their community by having more in-game events, talking with fansites, etc.

As Jagex increases in size this becomes more of a reality, but they do have a job to finish before they can get to this. However, is has gotten quite a bit better than before.

One thing I'm hoping Jagex will do sooner or later is to add more videos to YouTube - future updates, as they've done with FunOrb earlier. Gerhard seems to be very focused on aspects of Jagex's games rather than media as you have stated, which makes me think that he will provide the changes that the public wants to see in MechScape.

This post has been edited by Syphzar: Mar 28 2009, 05:49 PM

[jmb]

Don't agree - Gerhards real changes appear to be in making f2p more accepted, in that vein surely his influence is likely to make the f2p portion of Mechscape more substantial?

[Topunit]

A good read. Mark will be flattered, I'm sure!

I believe he did once say that the free version of the game is the full version and the member version is just an expansion, so I think he will bring a few updates for free players.

This post has been edited by Topunit: Mar 28 2009, 05:37 PM

[Ren]

I don't know if we can assume Gerhard is entirely responsible for Jagex's now more openness to fan sites of their games.

Well, Mod Mark H attributes the change in stance to Mark Gerhard being CEO and within days of him getting the job I was contacted by them, so I don't think it's a coincidence. He isn't entirely responsible since of course people at Jagex need to buy into it, but he was pivotal it seems in getting them to change their views on fan sites.

I don't see why it would be any less than RuneScapes.

I've stated various reasons why I've come to the same conclusion as Mike on this thread. It may make perfect sense for Gerhard to expand free-to-play on RuneScape as they have turned the "weakness" of the free content into a "strength" as they can better claim that RuneScape F2P is a "full game" which is a great pitch, and the more players of RuneScape they have the higher its profile. But that doesn't mean that they will then go for the same approach with MechScape, and there are various reasons for them not to do so (as outlined below)

Thanks to interviews we already know that their plan is to give people some content for free and if they want more than make them pay a subscription, so it will be like RuneScape in that respect. However, when RuneScape added P2P it already had a full game up and running. They pretty much kept the existing game and made P2P an expansion to it, meaning you could play for years without having to become a subscriber - as stated this is pretty unique in the games industry. This time around they know it will be using the subscription model from the beginning, so they can plan it differently if they wanted to. From a purely business perspective I don't see any killer justification in having the same level of free content that RuneScape has considering Jagex only earns 7% of their turnover from ads (and that was BEFORE the recession and recent advertising downturn).

The risk of existing and potential RuneScape members becoming free-to-play MechScape members is quite high, and Iddison reckoned people were unlikely to play both. If that happened to a great extent then that could mean that after investing all that money in MechScape it could lose them money, because people were playing F2P MechScape when otherwise they'd be playing P2P RuneScape. The most effective way to mitigate this risk is to have less free-to-play content on MechScape, and this is therefore their safest route even if it means they have less overall players and the associated benefits which that brings.

The reduction in quantity of F2P content can of course be somewhat counterbalanced by an increase in QUALITY. Because while the F2P RuneScape content is the early stuff which is lovable but not as good, the F2P MechScape content can kick ass from the first moment and give people a richer if not longer gameplay experience. Giving people an awesome experience and leaving them begging for more is an excellent strategy, and will benefit P2Pers too because it means they won't have to play through a relatively sub-par F2P bit before getting to the "good stuff"..

[Topunit]

"We'd also like to clear up a few issues surrounding the free game. RuneScape is different from all other MMOs in that the free game has an epic amount of content (we'd estimate over 2,000 hours worth to get all your skills up to 99 and complete all the quests) and isn't merely a demo for the members’ version. If anything, we see the members’ version as an expansion pack for those that really love the game and we feel both games are substantive in their own right. I want to apologise for habitually over-promoting the benefits of membership to our free players. I strongly believe if you love the free game you will equally love the members’ content and that is sufficient promotion to me. If you can't enjoy the free game in its own right then we're not doing our jobs properly. We will continue to improve the free game and, crucially, make it as fun as possible because we know that this is the way that everyone first discovers RuneScape." - Mark Gerhard.

http://news.runescape.com/newsitem.ws?id=1648

[Max]

Nice work Mike! Without Gerhard here we would still know practically nothing about MechScape and not have all these cool concepts arts and as bright of future.

[Ren]

Topunit: Remember that quote is about RuneScape not MechScape.

[Almin]

Amazing report.

[Topunit]

Topunit: Remember that quote is about RuneScape not MechScape.

Yes, but it does reflect Mark's view of free players.

(Edit: 100th post! Woohoo!)

This post has been edited by Topunit: Mar 28 2009, 06:10 PM

[PoultryChamp]

Great Job, Mike! We sure have some talented writers.

Many people, me included, feel that they made a compromise too many in terms of the changes to the Wilderness and free trade, and I am yet to feel that the measures they have taken to redress these losses are nearly sufficient

I TOTALLY agree. The day they took away my only reason to play (drop parties, giveaways) was the day I quit. I don't think they'll ever go back to free trade now that most people are accustom to the communist way of doing things. They can say it's slowed down or stopped RWTing all they want, but they haven't, it's still alive and well.

I think some of the reason a lot of Runescapers are hopeful for MechScape is that Jagex doesn't make the same mistakes in MechScape (restricting trade between friends, being too censored).

[SuperStevee]

Jagex had to take away the trade limits, wildy, etc. It's not like they took them out for no reason. I was also completely bummed out about it but I know they had to.

But back on the Mark subject, I just have to like him because if it wasn't for him we would still be looking in the dark for clues about MechScape.

[Man]

Now, a lot of people seem to assume that just because RuneScape has thousands of hours of free to play content then so will MechScape. While we do know that MechScape will have free content for users, I do not expect there to be a mass amount of free content like there is in RuneScape. This would be bad for Jagex, as it would take away from their profits by driving their subscribed RuneScape members to come and play the free version of MechScape, thus making them in competition with themselves. Too much free content also leaves many opportunities for gold farmers as well (Jagex claimed that they have solved real world trading problems, although I have my doubts).

Although Jagex did say that Mechscape will be the largest game they have ever released, it will still be relatively small in comparison to Runescape. In my opinion ratio of f2p to p2p content will be same for both runescape and mechscape. F2p is crucial in helping to promote the game to potential future subscribers. I'm sure some people will leave runescape and play the free version of mechscape, but I don't think it will cause any major drop in their revenue.

[Almin]

Great Job, Mike! We sure have some talented writers.

Many people, me included, feel that they made a compromise too many in terms of the changes to the Wilderness and free trade, and I am yet to feel that the measures they have taken to redress these losses are nearly sufficient

I TOTALLY agree. The day they took away my only reason to play (drop parties, giveaways) was the day I quit. I don't think they'll ever go back to free trade now that most people are accustom to the communist way of doing things. They can say it's slowed down or stopped RWTing all they want, but they haven't, it's still alive and well.

I think some of the reason a lot of Runescapers are hopeful for MechScape is that Jagex doesn't make the same mistakes in MechScape (restricting trade between friends, being too censored).

I sold 90mil, for 5$ each the day before Balanced trade came out.

Good times, good times.

PC, they did stop 98% of RWT. The day after balanced trades, there were no more bots. Everything was empty, especially the first week LOL.

Sure, theres still RWT, but you can't really stop power leveling or gold farming on accounts. It's impossible. But, they indeed cut the head off the snake so to speak.

They will restrict trade. If they don't, they WILL be back, like in every major game. 95% of the people that said "OMG I Give friends free $, wtf jagex, wtf"
These were the same people who were selling over 300million willow logs. I was disappointed because I couldnt sell anymore gold. I quit too because thats when Runescape stopped being a profit for me.

Jeez, all these people saying they gave their friends free stuff, I've never had any of these friends that did it for me.

[Topunit]

Great Job, Mike! We sure have some talented writers.

Many people, me included, feel that they made a compromise too many in terms of the changes to the Wilderness and free trade, and I am yet to feel that the measures they have taken to redress these losses are nearly sufficient

I TOTALLY agree. The day they took away my only reason to play (drop parties, giveaways) was the day I quit. I don't think they'll ever go back to free trade now that most people are accustom to the communist way of doing things. They can say it's slowed down or stopped RWTing all they want, but they haven't, it's still alive and well.

I think some of the reason a lot of Runescapers are hopeful for MechScape is that Jagex doesn't make the same mistakes in MechScape (restricting trade between friends, being too censored).

I sold 90mil, for 5$ each the day before Balanced trade came out.

Good times, good times.

PC, they did stop 98% of RWT. The day after balanced trades, there were no more bots. Everything was empty, especially the first week LOL.

Sure, theres still RWT, but you can't really stop power leveling or gold farming on accounts. It's impossible. But, they indeed cut the head off the snake so to speak.

They will restrict trade. If they don't, they WILL be back, like in every major game. 95% of the people that said "OMG I Give friends free $, wtf jagex, wtf"
These were the same people who were selling over 300million willow logs. I was disappointed because I couldnt sell anymore gold. I quit too because thats when Runescape stopped being a profit for me.

Jeez, all these people saying they gave their friends free stuff, I've never had any of these friends that did it for me.

Are you proud of the fact that you contibuted to ruining the whole game?

[Syphzar]

They will restrict trade. If they don't, they WILL be back

I agree. I think that restricting the trades has prevented me from making careless mistakes and I probably have a lot more money than I would of ended up with; hopefully they'll do the same in MechScape.

In RuneScape, only thing I'm not very happy with is item lending - rare items, specifically. With the ability to lend rares they've eliminated the point in buying one for yourself. Other than that, the updates have been good.

This post has been edited by Syphzar: Mar 28 2009, 06:35 PM

[Almin]

Are you proud of the fact that you contibuted to ruining the whole game?

Well, I earned my gold.
And, the people that bought the gold from me, are contributing to ruining the game.
I'm just a merchant. i'd be out of business if no one bought from me, but that isn't the case, is it.

[Pliigi]

(although the chat currently suspended due to it being considered too exclusive)

What did you mean by that? All players are still able to join and talk in the chat.

Very interesting points, and very well written

Am I the only one seeing this:

Gerhard�€™s

?

[Ed5]

(although the chat currently suspended due to it being considered too exclusive)

What did you mean by that? All players are still able to join and talk in the chat.

Very interesting points, and very well written

Am I the only one seeing this:

Gerhard�€™s

?

I see it, he has something extra what we don't. :P (I guess)
And I think he won't be answering questions on there for awhile.

[Ren]

What did you mean by that? All players are still able to join and talk in the chat.

Players complained that the chat was an "overcrowded clique" giving a select few "exclusive first-hand info from the CEO himself", and argued that it meant that "separating fact and fiction will be at exuberant highs. Which definitely, and inevitably, leads to disparity amongst all Runescapians".

The complaints weren't about the clan chat per se, but about it's use for Q&As by Mod MMG. If nobody posted screenshots then only those in the room would know of what he said, and if people DO post screenshots then players have to TRUST that they aren't faked. I think if everyone could read an official transcript afterwards there wouldn't as much of a problem, although players would of course be annoyed if they didn't have the opportunity to ask their question. Mod MMG was using it as a genuine way to communicate with fans and I applaud him for trying to do that, especially considering he did it in his own time. However, I can completely understand why players would feel it was unfair.