虚拟交易价值

最近，MindArk宣布，他们正在与一间中国公司合作，要把《安特罗皮亚世界》带入中国。他们声明合作的目标是吸引1.5亿来自全世界的玩家。于是MMO GAMER邀请MindArk的CIO坐在一起讨论这项合作计划和他们的目标。

The MMO Gamer：您好，我要感谢您百忙之中抽出时间接受我们的网络采访，在正式采访前，您能够先介绍一下自己和在MindArk的职责吗？

Marco Behrmann：非常感谢您给我这个机会。我是MindArk的CIO　Marco Behrmann。我的工作主要是负责社区管理，公关，设计和制定公司战略计划。我在公司大约呆了5年，我很喜欢这里。

The MMO Gamer：《安特罗皮亚世界》以前叫做《安特罗皮亚计划》，自2003年以来直到现在，它从一开始就与真实货币经济挂钩，您可以告诉我们它最初是怎么开始的吗？

Marco Behrmann：《安特罗皮亚世界》的客户端软件可以从互联网免费下载，玩家不用支付任何费用。《安特罗皮亚世界》利用真实货币经济意味着《安特罗皮亚世界》的内部经济是与现实世界经济紧密联系的。

这种联系通过《安特罗皮亚世界》的虚拟货币Project Entropia Dollar（PED）实现。PED与美元之间有固定的汇率：10PED=1dollar，MindArk负责保证汇率的稳定。通过这种货币之间的兑换，任何进出安特罗皮亚世界的参与者都有机会通过游戏赚取现金。

现金进入安特罗皮亚世界的主要方式是信用卡或预付费卡。虚拟PED货币换回真实货币可以通过直接银行转账或者使用安特罗皮亚世界现金卡提取，这种卡是一种可以在全世界100多万台ATM机上使用，能够在安特罗皮亚世界存入PED元，然后按照上面提到的兑换率即时兑换现金的卡。

The MMO Gamer：《安特罗皮亚世界》现在有多少注册用户，有多少用户把现金投进游戏进行交易活动？

Marco Behrmann：现在有大约595000注册账号，几乎每个人都参与了各种经济活动以弥补物品的损耗。虽然存款居民与非存款居民的比率这个具体数字是商业秘密，但是，我可以告诉你的是去年安特罗皮亚世界大约有存款110,000,000 PEDs(约合$11 Million)。

The MMO Gamer：公司如何从虚拟经济中获利？

Marco Behrmann：安特罗皮亚世界主要的消耗来自道具使用后的损耗。工具，武器，铠甲等等这些东西使用后都会损失一小部分价值，这部分价值可以按照MindArk的规定从MindArk重新购买。

The MMO Gamer：MindArk是否从玩家之间的交易中收取交易费？

Marco Behrmann：我们不收取任何形式的交易费。

The MMO Gamer：MindArk已经与中国的北京数字娱乐发展有限公司(CRD)展开了合作，开发一个看起来与《安特罗皮亚世界》完全不同的虚拟世界，就我们所知，这个世界更加关注文化，教育，真实生活工作而不仅仅是玩游戏。与欧洲现在的《安特罗皮亚世界》比起来新项目到底有多大的不同呢？

Marco Behrmann：这次合作将会带来一个更加多样的宇宙空间，里面有许多的星球可供探索。不同的星球有不同的计划或者是关注点，像购物，文化，游戏，电子商务，教育等等。但是所有这些都基于一个共同的概念那就是：安特罗皮亚世界。

The MMO Gamer：新项目是否将代替《安特罗皮亚世界》当前的版本或者二者共生？

Marco Behrmann：新项目是一个补充。让来自不同领域和世界不同地方的合作伙伴拥有他们自己的星球是MindArk战略计划的一部分。有的较侧重于游戏娱乐，而有的又具有完全不同的基调。

The MMO Gamer：我明白了。还有，他们都使用单一账号登陆系统吗？

Marco Behrmann：当然，因为他们都是同一宇宙空间的一部分。

The MMO Gamer：这个项目开发了多长时间了，预计什么时候完成？

Marco Behrmann：2006年夏末开始合作，预计第一个合作伙伴系统在2008年中期面世。

The MMO Gamer：安特罗皮亚世界唯一记录的平均同时在线玩家的数目是近60万，刚才谈到新的合作系统一个服务器可同时容纳700万用户。跨度相当的大，这个目标现实吗？您觉得MindArk和CRD需要多长时间达到这个目标？您期望新项目实施一年后能容纳的平均同时在线人数达到多少呢？

Marco Behrmann：刚才谈到的数字是2005年统计的，过时了。您要求的这个数字，我们认为属于商业秘密。许多的公司在密切监视着我们的一举一动，因为我们是这个领域的排头兵。

The MMO Gamer：我理解。但是，你们要在一个服务器里面同时容纳700万用户，这种可能性有多大呢？像《EVE ONLINE》，《第二人生》这样的游戏所记录的数字是30000到35000，而《魔兽世界》总的来说每个服务器是4000到5000的玩家。

Marco Behrmann：对不起，我不能详细介绍我们所开发的技术平台的具体细节。但是可以肯定地说，我们和我们的合作伙伴非常有信心赢得这次冒险。

The MMO Gamer：非常清楚了。我们继续谈谈注册用户数。官方站点声明《安特罗皮亚世界》注册用户数现在大约是50多万，而新闻媒体宣布合作的目标是1.5亿。这是大约30000%的增长率，MindArk计划如何完成这个目标？怎么让游戏吸引如此多的玩家？

Marco Behrmann：我想主要的原因是中国这个巨大的市场进驻安特罗皮亚世界。MindArk与CRD双赢合作计划包括了市场与品牌意识的培育。CRD在这方面做得非常好，因为他们对中国大市场，公共关系，产品市场都非常了解。

The MMO Gamer：西方的企业进入中国市场，他们对中国的审查制度都有担心。按照中国的政策《安特罗皮亚世界》会被过滤和审查吗？我们知道，像Google和Yahoo这样的搜索引擎巨头，一些敏感的关键字是要被审查过滤的。

Marco Behrmann：我们没有来自CRD这方面的要求。

The MMO Gamer：CRD的CEO大卫刘在新闻发布会上说大约能产生10000个有条件的职位。这些人将干些什么呢？

Marco Behrmann：确切的答案您可以联系大卫刘。可以预见的是在安特罗皮亚世界里您可以从事电子商务，做生意，游戏，从事教育和文化方面的活动。这些活动都可以带来工作机会。而且，站在外部客观的角度来看，建设安特罗皮亚行星创造新的的东西也是可以预见的。

The MMO Gamer：按照新闻发布会上的说法，新的《安特罗皮亚世界》将对全世界的玩家开放，而不仅仅服务于中国玩家。游戏的运营和服务器单单会放在中国吗？

Marco Behrmann：为了保证最高的性能和可靠性，主要的部分将放在中国。

The MMO Gamer：好，谢谢您。采访的最后一个问题，对于这次采访或者是这次采访可能没有提到的内容您还要补充告诉我们的读者些什么吗？

Marco Behrmann：也谢谢你，我希望我们能够在《安特罗皮亚世界》相见，捕杀虚拟怪物，在虚拟酒吧闲聊。坚持虚拟！

4U翻译：HAO

July 26, 2007

附原文，

Recently, MindArk announced they were partnering with a Chinese company and expanding Entropia Universe into China. They stated their goal is to get 150 million users from around the world. The MMO Gamer sat down with MindArk CIO to discuss this partnership and those goals.

The MMO Gamer: Hello and welcome. I’d like to thank you for taking the time to let us interview you live over IMs. Could you begin by introducing yourself and what you do at MindArk, please?

Marco Behrmann: Thank you for this opportunity. I am Marco Behrmann, CIO at MindArk. My job description includes community management, PR, design and strategic decision making. I have been with MindArk some five years and enjoy it immensely.

The MMO Gamer: Entropia Universe, known previously as Project Entropia, has been around since 2003 and has been marketed as a Real Cash Economy from the start. Could you tell us how that works?

Marco Behrmann: The Entropia Universe client software is free to download over the Internet and doesn’t involve any subscription fees what so ever. Entropia Universe utilizes a “real cash economy”, which means that the internal Entropia Universe economy is linked to the real world economy.

This is achieved using a virtual currency called the Project Entropia Dollar (PED), which has a fixed exchange rate, guaranteed by MindArk, to the US Dollar, where 10 PED equals 1 USD. By enabling this kind of currency exchange, both to and from Entropia Universe, a participant has the opportunity to earn real money while in essence partaking in an online computer game.

Real currency is entered into Entropia Universe using mainly credit cards and pre-paid cards. The virtual PED currency may then be exchanged back into real world currency using either a direct bank transfer, or the Entropia Universe Cash Card, which essentially is an ATM card that can be loaded with PED from inside
the Entropia Universe and used to instantaneously withdraw real funds according to the exchange rate mentioned above, from over 1 million ATM machines worldwide.

The MMO Gamer: How many registered users does Entropia Universe have now and how many of them take an active part in the RCE by investing real money into the game?

Marco Behrmann: Entropia has some 595 000 registered account. Almost everyone takes part in the economy as many activities have some cost associated, usually decay of item value when used. The number of people depositing compared to the non-depositors is a business secret. However, some 110,000,000 PEDs were deposited last year into Entropia Universe.

The MMO Gamer: How does MindArk profit from this type of virtual economy?

Marco Behrmann: The main drain in Entropia Universe is the decay of items when used. Tools, weapons, armor, etc all lose a small fraction of its MindArk-guaranteed re-purchase value every time it is used.

The MMO Gamer: Does MindArk take a transaction fee when players trade with each other?

Marco Behrmann: No. We also don’t take any transaction fees converting real-virtual currency.

The MMO Gamer: MindArk has gone into partnership with Cyber Recreation Development Corp in China to develop what seems like an entirely different virtual world than Entropia Universe with seemingly an increased focus on culture, education and real life work than just playing a game. How different will the new project be from what EU looks like today?

Marco Behrmann: The partnership will create a more varied and diverse universe, with a lot of planets to explore. Various planets will have various themes or focus, like shopping, culture, gaming, e-commerce, education, etc. But it will all be under the same concept that is Entropia Universe.

The MMO Gamer:Will this new project replace the current version of Entropia Universe or will it be an alternative to it?

Marco Behrmann: An addition. It is part of MindArk’s strategic plan to have partners in various fields and from various parts of the real world, to have planet(s). Some will be very much game-like, while other will have a completely different tone.

The MMO Gamer: I see. Will they all use single account/login system?

Marco Behrmann: Yes, as it is part of the same universe.

The MMO Gamer: How long has this project been in development and when do you expect it to be completed?

Marco Behrmann: Negotiations started late summer 2006 and we expect the first partner system to be ready mid 2008.

The MMO Gamer: The only recorded measuring of the number of average concurrent players online in Entropia Universe is 600. This new partnership talks about a server allowing 7 million concurrent users. That is quite a huge leap, is it a realistic goal? How long do you think it will take for MindArk and CRD to reach that goal and how many average simultaneous users are you expecting to have a year after the launch of the new project?

Marco Behrmann: The number referred to is from 2005 and is obsolete. The requested data is considered business secrets. A lot of companies are closely watching what MindArk does as we are pioneers in our field.

The MMO Gamer: I understand, but how plausible is it that you’ll reach 7 million simultaneous users online on a single server? Games such as EVE Online and Second Life have recorded numbers between 30,000 and 35,000 and World of Warcraft servers generally hold about 4,000 to 5,000 people per server.

Marco Behrmann: I cannot go into the specifics of the technical platform we have developed, I am sorry. But sufficiently said, we and our partners have great trust in this venture.

The MMO Gamer: Fair enough. Moving on to registered users. The official website states that Entropia Universe has ca 500 000 registered users now and the press release announcing the partnership states the aim to reach 150 million registered users. That is about a 30 000% increase, how is MindArk planning on reaching this goal? What will be done to the game to attract this increase?

Marco Behrmann: The main thing is that the huge Chinese market gets access to Entropia and the win-win partnership between MindArk and CRD includes a plan for marketing and brand awareness. CRD is perfect for this as they have a terrific knowledge of the China market, PR and marketing of products.

The MMO Gamer: When western companies expand into China, there are worries about censorship. Will Entropia Universe be filtered and censored according to Chinese policies? Stories of giants such as Google and Yahoo filtering web searches of keywords such as democracy or falun gong comes to mind.

Marco Behrmann: There have been no such demands from CRD.

The MMO Gamer: Will CRD have the ability to impose such restrictions? Will Chinese players in Entropia Universe be able to express opinions without fear of their private information such as IP address being forwarded to Chinese government agencies?

Marco Behrmann: You have to ask CRD about their abilities. Entropia Universe is set to be one unified universe.

The MMO Gamer: David Liu, the CEO of CRD, said in the press release that some 10,000 qualified jobs will be generated. What will these people be doing?

Marco Behrmann: For a specific answer you need to contact Mr. Liu. The vision is to have e-commerce, trading, gaming, education and culture in place in Entropia. These are activities that can create work. Also, building Entropia planets and content creation from an outside perspective is also not unforeseeable.

The MMO Gamer: According to the press release, the new Entropia Universe will be open to a worldwide audience and not just for the Chinese. Will the operation of the game and its servers be located in China alone?

Marco Behrmann: The main part will be on Chinese soil, for maximum performance and accessibility.

The MMO Gamer: Thank you, that was my last question for this interview. Is there anything you’d like to add, something you’d like to tell our readers that maybe this interview didn’t cover?

Marco Behrmann: Thank you yourself and I hope we all can meet up in Entropia and hunt some virtual prey and lounge in a virtual bar. Stay virtual!