Also known as something to read while the long maintenance goes on - hey, a girl can dream, yeah?)
During a brief lull in the action of Pioneers' Reconnaissance (details here), I was able to put together a quick little chat with the new Philippines Community Manager, Veya.
Me and pCM Veya.
NineMoons: Your full name and current position?
Veya: My name is Bea Navarrete, and I'm the Philippines Community Manager for Granado Espada. I'm also the Assistant Product Manager for Granado Espada for IP-Interactive.
I answer both to Hrin (and therefore to IAH) as a country community manager, and to IP-Interactive as assistant product manager.
NineMoons: Any plans for the community?
Veya: As I've only been pCM for about 1 1/2 weeks, my first priority is really to interact with the local players and get a feel for the Philippine community, not so much in terms of major events but more of actual conversation through the forums, my blog, and in-game chatting.
When I talk to players, I've been telling them to let me know if they plan to hold gatherings and EBs (eye-balls - or real-life meet-ups) so that IP-Interactive can contribute to their events.
I've been focusing on the Pioneers' Reconnaissance tournament at present, as it was the most immediate thing that was happening in the community at the time that I took my post.
NineMoons: Do you have anything to say about the current problem of keyloggers and real-money trading (RMT) in GE?
Veya: As Community Managers, one of our tasks is to relay our communities' concerns back to IAH through Hrin every week.
Regarding the RMT and the keyloggers, I might suggest to IAH that it come up with an official statement regarding its stand on these activities. And we can ask the community to come up with evidence should it be needed, such as screenshots and website addresses, to help IAH formulate that statement.
That statement would be needed, as this is an issue that affects all the countries in which IAH is releasing GE.
NineMoons: So what is going to be done about GE's business model? I know that there was going to be a statement recently, and then it got postponed.
Veya: Yes, about that, there are still no details from IAH regarding the business model, no official statement. And here in the Philippines, IP-Interactive cannot also make any statements until IAH does so.
So we all just have to wait right now.
NineMoons: I remember that the first time Pioneers' Reconnaissance was announced, players from both Cervantes and Carracci servers could participate - and then after it got postponed to June 6, the rules were revised to say that only Filipinos on Cervantes were eligible to play. What happened there? Why the change?
Veya: The change was partly because we felt we needed to live up to the spirit of Cervantes being the first PK-enabled server. I know that it was unfair to Carracci, and I even apologized to the Pinoys in Carracci on the forums.
The thing is, Pioneers' Reconnaissance is only the first of such tournaments, and there will be a lot of other tourneys and events coming in the future, so it's not necessary for anyone to feel left out.
There were also problems with staging a tournament involving all four servers: how would the bracketing work, for one? How can the Carracci players, say, match up with the Cervantes players? We could not really find a way to do that at this point in time.
We even asked IAH about having the players in the Philippines fight the PvP matches using pre-made accounts, but they told us that format was reserved for the finals, which are to be held in Singapore.
NineMoons: Have you made any estimates as to which servers the Filipino players are on?
Veya: Right now I'd say that the majority of Pinoys playing GE can be found on Cervantes and Carracci, not so much on Caravaggio or Pachelbel.
NineMoons: Lessons learned from Pioneers' Reconnaissance?
Veya: We need to better inform the Philippine community about events like this, so that more players and families can participate.
We have yet to come up with a solution for holding inter-server PvP matches, so we also have to work on that.
And perhaps it might be better in the short run if the next events were more of EB-types, instead of competitions like this.
NineMoons: Thank you for answering these few quick questions, especially as you're busy right now ^^
***
To reach pCM Veya, contact her via the following:
- PM the Esthesia family (on all servers)
- visit her blog: Lady Veya's Musings
- email her at veya@granadoespada.com.ph
- contact her on the forums (her name there is Veya)
- YM her at bea_sakura18@yahoo.com or at bea.celestia@hotmail.com [make sure you say you're a GE player when you PM her!]
2 comments:
sublime and solid^^ i liked both posts very very much^^ i was picturing it all on my head. wow so fancy furniture lol, wanting badly to have events in the same way
cheers^^ and thanks for the mighty news
Jacquot Alastor
@Jac
glad you liked the interview, it all came about because my partner and I were waiting on the regionals, and he suggested I do the interview with Veya.
*grins* you're welcome.
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