Shane Discord Chat (2nd Mar'22)

Post the announcement concerning the CM exits, Shane stayed back to interact with discord users

Courtesy : Earth2.Cards

Key Take-aways

• In talks with an MNC to create a 'Social Media Playbook'

• Working on a tech to stream the world without using satellite data

• Locked countries rewards (Essence drop) post working out final economics model and using backdated averages

• EggHunt winner announcement could be delayed a bit

• E2 inclined to list Essence on a DEX first

• Eggs could potentially spawn 'something' in future and at least some 'utility'

• A full-blown social media app to be launched by E2 (possibly a revamped version of XYZ that Shane had worked on even before E2)

• Additional Essence drops can be expected in future

• Shane reiterates better long-term value of larger properties

• New UI design in pipeline

• Holo-building marketplace may arrive before EPL marketplace, culminating into a 'Mega-Market' by end of 2022

• Shane wants to be more involved in the product/ creative side

• One properties are minted as NFTs they could be traded on external third party marketplaces (e.g.:- opensea)

• Players will have to collaborate to 'better' process Essence

• No timeline commitment yet for Drone launch

• E2's ambition includes supporting external AR projects deploy to E2

• PvP likely to be opt-in

• First version of digitalized Earth 2 hoping to be released in 2022

Full Transcript

Shane continues post his announcement which you can find here

"Delay (vlog) because of Ukraine" Sure buddy. Social media thing sounds alright though

Shane(S) - I won't take that one. The video is of tech we developed last year and has been ready for months. We just wanted to release it after the draft paper was out and then kick off more regular dev vlogs. That is the genuine reason it was delayed

How does the Ukraine conflict in any way effect Earth 2 releasing a video It's ok to admit you had to delay it for some other reason , transparency isn't a sign of weakness

S- I have explained above. It doesn't feel right and we have developers caught up in the conflict

Agreed doesn't seem right to release given current events and I'm sure you all have several eastern European/impacted devs. That said, am I reading this correctly, the video itself is old state of E2 engine?

S- no - it's new tech we've been working on to stream the entire world without using satellite data. Just showcasing a first version of that

Hope all Russian and Ukrainian devs are safe and well.. just a suggestion, if things get worst E2 could offer them the opportunity to move to Australia with a work visa

S- yes, we have already discussed that with a few team members. We have enough space in one of our Brisbane offices

I can't imagine Ukrainian Earth 2 developers would be on the hitlist for the KGB

S- there are no people in the video. It's just that I didn't feel right releasing something positive like that considering the situation in Ukraine and especially considering we have team members caught up there. I will say that we have Russian and Ukrainian developers and some of our key Russian developers reached out to make sure we're supporting our Ukrainian developers. Everyone is upset from what is taking place and it didn't feel right to push out positive content so close to all of this taking place

True True However with the companies reneging with "deals" I wouldn't be surprised if that was just an excuse

S- please feel free to believe as you wish. I have provided my answer

I mean the risks would be high if it was found out they were lying

S- I am not playing any card here. I mentioned it casually in a Discord chat .. we didn't even promise an exact date on the video being released. I was simply sharing some details with the community more to point out that we have developers caught up in the conflict and we should be thinking of them

How will rewards in locked countries work?

S- once we have our final economics worked out we will be able to reward with accurate backdated averages

I thought no sleep November was tough, but "no sleep forever cause we don't know when countries drop" is even tougher

S- sorry about that but we're hoping for some new players to get a chance to buy tiles early on when countries are released

Egg winners when

S- it's on my agenda to review later today. My EA started maternity leave recently and there's been a little transition period with the person filling in so it was missed during the regular schedule

I own "Earth2.dao" (Unstoppable Domains) is your team interested in negotiating a deal?

Well, it should probably be owned by the community ?

Is Omar in charge of listing Essence? Could I be so forward as to expect a Binance listing? That would be exciting

S- we have opportunities but the general feel is we should list on a DEX first

Will eggs hatch into in-game pets?

S- certainly have not ruled anything out with eggs!

Almost all egg releases and country releases have been give or take a couple hours, around the same time. 13 hours from now. Why you don't make it fair for all time zones and all people around the world and release some eggs in times exactly like this one right now? For some people it is literally impossible to catch an egg. 5/5 last egg releases are all around the same time. Which by the way just happens to be around 10pm Korea time

S- I agree and pointed that out to the person in charge of this area

I thought that was you

S- I cant do everything lol

When is the essence listing scheduled to happened. November-December 2022?

S- I'd like to see it happen a lot sooner, if even just to get it live so it can start trading

Can I make a t-shirt that says “I went all the way to the metaverse and all I got was these crummy jewels” with e2 logo? Or not funny

S- it will be funny one day

That said, actually the best scenario for E2 would be essence to get listed at an all time low for cryptos/bitcoin. Most people expect that to be around end of 2022 (with maybe btc having 20k price). If essence was listed close to that, it can only go up from there. I mean it would always go up, but x100 is better than x10

S- Interesting point

Shane, I thought you were working out earlier in the year?!?! Don't let your health slip!

S- Worked out then caught up in work .. cannot find time to balance but I am trying

Will the resource production be linked with the class of a property?

S- I can't say exactly. There may be benefits on class but I am not sure so not saying anything for certain

I wanna suggest E2 to give egg NFTs utilities and not just make them another jpeg. Utility NFTs are the future. That could be something like giving the owner a specific boost. Like a jewel boosts a specific attribute in a property. So an egg NFT could boost a specific attribute in someone's profile. E2 decides what. and of course that would pass from owner to owner, from profile to profile. and that egg icon winners have in their profiles too next to their name.

S- that has always been the plan, we have just not confirmed the exact benefits yet. (the plan for them to have SOME utility, even if it's for a bit of fun)

Since the paper brilliants are going up in value can you hint at what more they do besides a small increase in resources...its still unclear why they are so rare

S- I can't comment on that sorry. It's part of game design that is a WIP and I don't know enough to give a good enough answer

Can we get another essence airdrop pls. I’ll send you choccies and flowers

S- there will be more don't worry

If you were playing the game right now, what would you be concentrating on doing?

S- creating a guild to conquer and try to control territories for as long as possible to get a % of production. Or .. huge defense systems on my properties lol

What excited me the most about the draft paper was the player types!! So much depth to the vision! Was that your vision all along?

S- yes, I wrote that

2000 single t2 tiles produce more jewels than my portfolio of total 2k tiles of t1 properties. (was an example) That doesn't sound balanced/fair to me. Why is jewel production based on number of properties and not number of tiles?

S- I know the team is aware of things related to single tiles but I am not sure it's as advantageous as it seems and while 1 tile properties won't be useless, larger properties will have more utility longer term

Hey Shane, any particular reason the mention of a "1:1 scale of the earth" isn't in the draft paper? was it just left out on accident?

S- that hasn't changed, probably and oversight

Could you set a referral code which collect money for Ukraine?

S- we thought about it early on but legal are reviewing whether we're allowed to do that or not

Is Earth 2 getting a new UI design soon?

S- yes, it's in the pipeline

Love to hear it. Please focus on a better "landing page"

S- I looked at it the other day and was pretty frustrated to be honest. There are a number of changes I would like to make quickly and I am trying to spend more time on product / features these days. Hopefully 8 weeks or so it should be updated (don't hold me)

Is the essence required to upgrade the quality of a jewel going to remain the same? or its subject to change? (right now its a flat number. for example 10 essence to upgrade a common t1 to a clear t1)

S- it may change depending on some of the economics we work out. We want to create an environment where people also want to spend their Essence, not just hold and wait for the price to go up

Shane there is an app a lot of people don't know that you made many years ago are you going to use that for earth 2 ?

S- a completely revamped version is coming

Assuming EPLs will play a big part in navigation. Any idea on EPL marketplace timeline ?

S- HB marketplace is coming and EPLs will follow. by the end of the year I want to have one of plans implemented for a Megamarket (more details will come)

Will you improve the holo-buildings' editor or you're thinking of implementing an external software to make it more user friendly and make it possible to use more tools and features?

S- we have plans to improve all of our features and the editor is one of those. People are still creating amazing things with the one we have now

This would be interesting to know! As a 3D artist I would love to be able to implement my assets somehow

S- I am not sure whether updated versions will support this but we want to encourage creativity everywhere possible

Holo-building editor on Chrome is buggy

S- we are constantly releasing fixes for various browsers. Maybe try a different browser for now until we release a fix for Chrome

I hope you just play like a player with some random account somewhere sometimes, a lot of easy fixes/ insights to be had from using the website day to day

S- yes, I agree. I stepped back from doing that around mid last year and I regret it. I am jumping back into it this year and making a point to be heavily involved with the creative / product side again. That's where I like to be

What essence prices does your economic team project about short term after the listing? are we talking about 20 cents or 2$. can u disclose what your team thinks will happen?

S- we are not committing to any figures on the value of Essence. It will be player traded and determined. I have pointed out in the past that I don't see an issue with a low price - we are just focused on building things for E2

Once our tiles are minted as NFTs on eth can we sell them on opensea?

S- you should be able to sell them anywhere

I hope e2 doesn't become ad and billboards simulator

S- me too - but advertising is part of life. Our team is designing around this anyway

Was wondering if it would be a possibility to have exchanges themselves to be involved within the gameplay of Earth2. In the sense that; for example, let's say Binance wants 20 million Essence to sell on their exchange, instead of allocating that amount to them manually, they'd have to purchase land that has guaranteed Essence within Earth2, then mine it from the land tiles like every user, but for them on a larger scale. So, let's say they want 20 million Essence; they would purchase land administratively, let's say in this case they pay an estimation of $10 million and then Earth2 allocates for example 500 000 tiles, then unlocks the 20 million essence on that specific land then Binance would be mining on that land, and transferring their Essence gain to their exchange and selling there. That way this benefits Earth2 and the users.

S- I am not responding to Binance's involvement in this case but just to your concept. If something like this were to happen, in my ideal solution they would need to collaborate with EcoSim Players who would then work their land to generate / claim the Essence. Moving forward there may be more Essence available but it will be more difficult to process meaning big players should collaborate with smaller players for mutual gain

Given how quickly prices increase on a country opening, do you see a situation where you suddenly have to reset prices again to entice new players or you think that's done now ? Many people paid high prices for tiles that got reset to 10 c shortly after

S- We have not confirmed T3 but not ruled it out either. IF (and big IF) we did release T3 at any more it would be part of the EcoSim and play to earn in order to reach those higher tier properties with better performance

Do you have plans to create and sell your own VR Headset(s) or VR Equipment?

S- I think we have enough ambitions right now lol

Will the drone be left this year as mentioned in the YouTube video? in the draft whitepaper there is no reference to which quarter Drone will be released

S- we are not committing to a time just yet

Is PVP still opt in? If someone doesn't want to deal with raids, and defense and such, can they? Or are the raids a free for all for any property?

S- ideally we will have a system where players can benefit from opting in. We have not decided yet

I've already been talking with some players about managing my properties, I think that was a great idea, good way to spread the wealth.

S- 100% ! I want to implement v1 for this solution sooner than later

Any word on AR? that's the whole purpose of having a platform linked to the real world

S- we need to set foundations first. The social media app will have elements of AR but we want to provide a platform where external AR projects can also deploy to E2

Will E2 themselves build an official city (starting zone, official events) or will every tile be player owned?

S- if we did and we opted in for PvP .. can you imagine how many Players would attack (and maybe defend?) us lol

How the heck are jewels going to go into the 1,000s of tiers...when getting to T3 is wiping people out of jewels?

S- not sure where I mentioned 1000s of tiers for Jewels? Thousands of recipes .. yes

It makes no sense to leave PvP on all properties, if I want to create a museum or a shopping center why should I be attacked?

S- yes, we are reviewing this. I said it will likely be opt in AND even with opt in, it would be for control of a territory not to destroy a building. There will be filters

How can a new city get added to the E2 pop up

S- there will be a system to get added later. Is done manually for now

Are there any eggs in the draft update pictures?

S- I can't comment on that otherwise people will expect an answer to every area

I know more info will be in the official white paper but is there more you can say on the mods with the allocation with essence

S- I can't say more right now. I just added that because I think you all do a great job and wanted to reward your effort

All mods and CMs deserve a great reward

S- I agree. I am the one who added it in there lol

Will a revamped UI still include the Mapbox partnership for interaction with E2 land or something else in the pipeline? Website for foreseeable, or application for PC/mobile...?

S- we are hoping to release the first version of Earth 2 digitalized this year. Will include a LOT more to do !

Inter player messaging system sooner would be fab ?

S- entire social media app coming

Does that include current website stuff like buying tiles and bidding on properties? Or totally separate app?

S- it won't include functions on the website. It's a communication tool so parts will be connected. we are working on a launcher for other parts

Don't forget the anti cheats on pvp please

S- lol - an anti cheat guy reached out to me on LinkedIn the other day.

How long until I can strap a VR headset on and go lose myself in the VR world?

S- well that is a longer term goal, I cannot say when exactly

Are there currently any recipes live that haven't yet been discovered?

S- I am not sure actually. I was considering that the other day and forget to check the db

What is going to happen to properties buy by player not verified who don't play anymore like the Eiffel tower

S- I am sure they will come back at some point. It's their property though .. we can't take it from them

Any essence for former MODs or CMs? Im fine either way just thought I'd ask lol. I was a MOD for over a year.

S- lol - it will be vested and released periodically so that we're rewarding not only people who are on the project but who stay with the project

Please add a way to make your profile transfer to another’s like a will

S- it's on the cards

We all going be dead in 100 years, E2 is going to be dead too ?

S- I surely hope not! Most people don't get this opportunity in their lifetime and I'd love to build something that can live on forever. I'd like to work out ways for E2 to function inside of Web3 but baby steps, we have other things we need to work out first

He wont comment on the 8k$ jewel selling

S- I answered a lot of your questions I believe. I can't answer everything and I'm not going to comment on whether I think something was valued correctly. People buy things for different reasons. When I play games I want to get the rarest things, people have different reasons to buy things and I'm not going to question what someone else values over someone else

A lot of use would like to know why jewels have time stamped dates.

S- I can't comment on that now

Do you start feeling like James Donovan Halliday a bit already or not yet

S- I certainly do not think I deserve that comparison lol

Any animals planned for E2?

S- definitely - but into the future

What is your fav thing you have accomplished with E2

S- the community and the likeminded people we have managed to bring together. If we can keep building tools and features and maintain this type of community we are bound for big things

Shane(S) - I have to get back to work guys. Was great catching up and keep safe !