ZAM Interviews New EQ2 Producer, Dave Georgeson

EQII's New Producer Brings 20 Years Experience

ZAM:  The last two producers made public commitments to increased communications with the players.  They've been using the forums, dev chats, and the various other tools that SOE Community provides.  Are you going to renew this commitment?

Dave:  I have been extremely active in the forums from my previous games.  I will probably be at least somewhat active in this one.  We do already have Community Managers and stuff, so probably a lot of times I'll work through them.  I'll be honest, sometimes it doesn't work out so well for me.  I'll be going in there and trying to explain stuff  and lets just say that not everybody's rational on the forums.  Sometimes I feel like I'm not really being productive for the project when I go in there.  But I will definitely go in there from time to time, I do like to participate in back-and-forth with the players.  And I will stay in those conversations as long as they stay productive.  But if they turn into flame bait then I'll just quietly go to a different thread. 

I love talking to the players because even when somebody is completely “flame on,” and they look like they're completely insane and they don't know what they're talking about, the fact of the matter is they're extremely emotional about something and something really really upset them.  And if you pick apart at the posts carefully enough you can almost always find the underlying reason and that reason is always legitimate.  So it's just a matter of having a really thick skin getting into the forums and trying to figure out exactly what's going on. 

But there's also the other trick that forums are only a certain percentage of our user base.  So you take all the feedback you can from the forums but you also try to find out other information through data mining and polls and user labs all kinds of different things you can do.  And then you have to take all of that stuff together and create your real decisions from it.

I'm also a big fan of teasing the hell out of the players (laughs), we'll see whether or not they like that.  I dribble information out until we're really really 100% sure that it's going to come out, and then I'll start telling people about it.

ZAM: I have to ask because I'd be doing our readers a disservice if I didn't:  What's the theme of the next EQII expansion, and can you give us an ETA?

Dave:  I know what it is, I've read the design docs; no, I can't talk about it right now.   I saw the scope of what they're trying to do, I think they're being extremely ambitious, which is great because passion is what games are all about.  But I want to make sure that a large chunk of it is actually doable before I start talking about it publicly.  Because there's nothing that anybody hates more than saying something's going to come out and then saying it's not later on.  I will say this:  if we do what's being planned people are going to go nuts, they're really going to like it (laughs).  I won't tease you too much, but I will say that wow, yeah, it's going to be extraordinarily loved.

ZAM:  We look forward to hearing more about it.  Thanks very much for your time!

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Spin
# Apr 20 2010 at 9:05 PM Rating: Decent
How did you make the leap to............
I don't think it was in the best interest of the new Lead Producer of EQII to basically tell the world if you want to actually play around other people, play on AB...
from
I wanted to be around people so I was on AB......


Dunno, but all I take from that statement is that he wanted to be around some players and AB was the server he happened to choose. Anyway, the guy has a solid background in RPG's. I especially like that he was on some of the early D&D projects which were the cobblestones that paved the way for games like this one.
Likes and Dislikes
# Apr 20 2010 at 1:29 PM Rating: Good
32 posts
I like this guy's approach. He seems level-headed and reasonable. I like that he left that one company because they weren't actually interested in making a good game. I don't like that he has only stayed 2-3 years at any given project. But maybe that's just the nature of most of those projects, I dunno.

I do NOT like his focus on micro-transactions. I paid an up-front cost plus I pay a recurring monthly fee. I should get the whole game. I begrudge the existing micro-transaction system (SC) and the similar indirect model of LoN loot cards. I have at least been assuaged by the free monthly LoN packs (for a chance at items that have a non-appearance game-play impact like void portals and repair cloaks) and the various promotions giving out free station cash (I have 1500 SC and never bought any) plus the only items that are not already in game in some form are the appearance ones (e.g. xp potions as vet rewards). I don't mind things like character transfer on SC as that was a fee-based service anyway, and it's a "meta-game" service, if you will. I would like to see the prices on those meta-game services come down further, however, since they are automated now.

The Station Exchange servers are another matter. I hate that they were ever created in the first place, but I'm fine with them being separate and characters not being transferrable between them and normal servers. I'd be curious to see the player turnover statistics on the exchange servers. I bet it's high (indicating that attachment to the game is low), because there's little sense of accomplishment with gear that you just buy. It would also seem like a big hassle if you have to "keep up with the Joneses" to compete for group / raid slots. Maybe that's just me though.

Edited, Apr 20th 2010 3:32pm by Xaritus
We should all play on AB ?
# Apr 20 2010 at 11:45 AM Rating: Default
I don't think it was in the best interest of the new Lead Producer of EQII to basically tell the world if you want to actually play around other people, play on AB...

EQ2 server populations are in a bad state. This comment just solidifies that fact.
We should all play on AB ?
# Apr 20 2010 at 12:56 PM Rating: Good
32 posts
Spinning his words to promote your own agenda: Check.
We should all play on AB ?
# Apr 20 2010 at 2:36 PM Rating: Decent
Yes, my agenda for world domination...

There is no spinning of his words. "I wanted to be around people so I was on AB." His exact words.

I am not saying I don't like the guy. In fact I liked his interview. I like is approach. I don't agree with everything said in the interview but after reading it I think the game will be in good hands.
We should all play on AB ?
# Apr 21 2010 at 1:32 PM Rating: Good
32 posts
You turned his personal choice magically into a suggestion to the player base. Plus, if you actually read the context of his statement, a better paraphrase would be that he wanted to observe player interactions, so he went to the highest population server.

I don't deny that the population issue is an important one for some servers; just calling out the obvious spin. I mean, I've done it before too when I was upset over something important to me. Just sayin'.
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