Earlier today, Shane joined the Official Discord chat facing hours worth of puzzled and irritated users - after EPLs were set to release with E$ as their payment method, instead of Essence as previously announced. Find the FULL dev chat below!
Shane's answers in bold indigo
Q: I thought we were always going to have to pay for epl? Due to domain registration fees. We also have a choice to not buy one.
exactly. EPLs are optional people, it’s your choice to purchase one or not. It gives you better exposure and makes your property easier to find. You can buy one or you can opt not to buy one. @hazy – mynameishumanpod.com – ironically you were talking about our business model continually giving everything away for free and how that was not sustainable, yet you’re now in here promoting the exact opposite...
Q: Shane what happened to buying epls with essence?
seeing as though Essence, which is generated by properties, will be user to user traded now our game design team thought there should be a user determined price for Essence once it starts trading. So you can use Essence to purchase EPLs once that goes live
Q: you know I have mad respect for you @Shane but you can’t communicate one thing and just reverse it. People made purchases based on this promise.
right – and user to user Essence trading is coming .. plus a lot more. A much better result that using Essence to purchase EPLs .. yet that is completely overlooked
Q: Then why not add something like this so the community understands. Future purchases with essence?
because we’ve not posted it yet! We just ran the countdown a few hours ago and ensured all is working
Q: Why not add it to the announcement then? It seems like E2 panicked agree saying the outrage and changed their mind
no – I have not changed anything. it’s simple guys – if you want an EPL for your property, buy it .. if you don’t want one then don’t buy it. Do Epic get this much backlash when releasing a SKIN? You buy it or you don’t ..
(Reply from Hazy which I thought was particularly effective: to be fair though EPIC did not say "Skins will be able to be purchased with Essence" and then go "Nah, just kidding")
Q: So yet another “give us cash now, we promise more is coming”…? I know it’s optional to buy an EPL, but if we wait until we can use the essence we PURCHASED mentars early for because we were told we could buy EPLs with them, all the good ones will be taken… once again screwing the players who don’t continuously fork out cash to you to use the land we already purchased….. sorry Shane but this is too much… you can only say “better things are coming” so many times
continuing to screw people for money ? Did we twist people’s arm to purchase land? I don’t get it .. how are we continuously screwing people to spend money?
Q: because we bought mentars with the idea that EPLs would cost essence.
and you have user to user Essence trading coming and Essence will serve a key utility role inside e2 .. it’s not for nothing
Q: A skin doesnt provide an advantage to gameplay LOL
neither does an EPL .. it’s a decision .. if you want to buy a domain name .. buy one .. if you want to setup a free social account .. do that
Q: “It will cost Essence to register an EPL and all properties will automatically created Essence. Users will be able to wait for their properties to create enough Essence and register their EPL for their properties or will also have the ability to purchase Essence for those that want to get EPLs for their properties sooner.” /endquote
game design changed that based on the fact user to user Essence is planned.
no problem. You guys can continue to attack me, I am quite used to it. Sorry you’re upset because we’re charging for something and working out long term sustainability. We have so many things we’re working on that will benefit users long term on the platform, yet as soon as we charge for anything it’s mayhem
Q: People are asking since you said there’s a huge advantage in owning them with Essence. If they then bought Mentars before they became free to be able to generate enough Essence in time for EPL’s they now feel screwed over as they paid for Mentars to get ahead based on what was communicated and put on all pages officially and now has to pay again anyway. That’s why they feel deceived.
yes, I realise that. It was my plan but as I said game design thought differently after the more advantageous change to allow Essence to be user to user traded
also wanted to point out, for Nathaniel’s sake, that he is not involved with game design. So tagging him and messaging him with complaints is a massive distraction. He has nothing to do with game design, he is focused on building out Phase 3 so would appreciate if people consider this
Q: who do we tag?
Community management
Q: It’s not just hazy that’s annoyed. Check twitter. Most of us are. You said and the website still says EPLs will be bought with essence. Going back on that is a kick in the teeth. Most of us have already put way more money in than we ever would a standard pay to win game. Which this seems to be turning into. You’re making essence saleable right? Sure the cut from that would more than cover any fees. Not to mention continued tile sales.
I have already pointed this out but was advised against it. If we set a price on Essence to EPLs, then Essence begins user to user trading .. and the price differs too significantly from those EPL charges (which is likely) we’re going to have thousands of angry people 10x worse than this carrying on
so yeah .. I can easily say hey .. you can buy EPLs with Essence and it’s going to be X amount of Essence for an EPL and Essence will equal E$0.01 or whatever. Then user to user Essence trades and will likely go up in value and users who spent their Essence on EPLs when they probably should have held onto their Essence will come out in force .. we wanted to avoid that
Q: But if we can’t use essence for anything it’s worthless then! The essence market will just be another jewels market where we dump everything every day.
who said Essence serves no purpose? Just because you cannot use it right now ?
Q: I think shane is not divulging more information then needed because there are other company’s trying to do the same type of game. Divulge to soon lose your user base. Tight rope he has to walk imo
this and other reasons I cannot disclose
Q: Dear Shane, I believed in the project from the start, I was enthusiastic and continue to be. what is not clear to me and I don’t like is the poor communication … do you want me to spend 5 dollars for the EPL? ok, I’m not a visionary like you, I need you to explain to me what the advantage is !!! Thank you
You don’t need to buy an EPL Luckas – it’s just optional for those that wish to reserve a name for their property earlier
Q: 1. anything on blockchain ? 2. Luck resources country. 3. Nathaniel gameplay video?
all of these are in progress
Q: we do not want exact dates but an approximate plan would be helpful – This Year?
yes we are definitely aiming for this year
Q: Don’t you think that this whole situation is easily avoidable with a public Roadmap? I’m not talking about revealing everything you will do on each date and phase. But if a general vision from the forest that allows us to see some light… I understand the possible internal strategies, but many users may not understand the magnitude of the project in terms of success. We simply need some guidance in the world of the blind.
and you have seen what happens if one thing changes from a tweet I created? Then game design opted to alter something .. this happens. Imagine what releasing our road map would do when we change or miss a date?
Q: Well, it may be modifiable in a roadmap, as long as you don’t change literally everything in it.
then it’s open for interpretation. What you might find acceptable the next person may not
Q: can i choose coca cola and be assured i dont hv to give it back? Is there any guidelines?
I would say not .. as much as I would love the idea of Earth 1 governance being non-existent inside Earth 2 I imagine IP / Trademarks will be enforceable
Q: So you wouldn’t recommend buying company names and stuff incase of copyright issues?
I would say it’s a risk – I can’t really recommend anything to you
Q: are adult/xxx names/words allowed?
I can’t say but I don’t see a problem with it personally. I mean if it’s legal I would not stop it.
Q: So in EPL we cannot acquire company names and then get rich. Well, then we have it clear
people made fortunes of domain names .. I am sure they had some kind of strategy. I actually reduced the initial price significantly to E$4.95 as I thought it would be better for Players
I’m also looking to open a public board soon where users can submit bugs, vote on those bugs and submit feature requests etc
Q: this will be fine in the long run IF the potential you envision is actually put to reality. There’s a LOT of competition in this space right now. Not just from rip offs. I know you’ve stated you’re not worried about competition, but you should be.
if we all don’t share the same vision then what are we doing here?
Q: Why do you think you need to establish long term sustainability funding at this point? Surely your projected cash burn rate takes you out a few years… ya think these types of renewable generators could wait?
I’m not building this to last a few years ..
Q: Any official stance on running scripts?
personally I think most scripts are cool .. I want Earth 2 to be a kind of Player hacky type place
Q: I see the news! I think it is right that no one can put the name of the companies! so when they enter e2 they will be able to pay to have their name … protecting those who will move the business in the future is an excellent move!
yes they will be able to pay . As I said buying those names is probably a calculated risk .. we would just need to follow whatever the legals rules are for inside that country I would imagine
Q: In any case, could you publish a list of what kind of EPL names are not allowed ? It is clear to me that topics related to forbidden words and others…and now from what you have said, names like Coca Cola, Pepsi, Lamborghini…. are not allowed either. Then they should be names invented by ourselves or without copyright right?
is like domain names .. you can register whatever you like from what I understand. You may get away with it or you may not
Q: do you think we will be able to join properties this year?
that’s harder to answer because we already have an intense road map to complete in 2021 .. but have not forgotten about it
after EPLs I wanted to revisit sub dividing properties
Q: Who decides if I get away with it? My country’s copyright law?
I am not legally qualified to answer that question unfortunately .. you’d probably have to spend a little time studying up yourself
Q: when we have companies then I hope you will provide a commercial department that we can contact to introduce our investors to e2 …
yes, I am well aware of this commercial requirement. There are so many areas we need to work on in parallel with others I am not sure everyone gets that
Q: Can we get more discord chats with you guys? Most people would be VERY happy for once a week only…
well I came in here knowing I would be attacked so I’m not shy. I have just been very busy these days .. specifically interviewing new staff for another office we’re opening
Q: I do find it concerning that part of a long term funding strategy includes a planned rush for $5 EPLs… like the ill planned/thought out mentar purchase vs visit strategy. It gives the appearance that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing and whomever is working with the finance team is either giving poor instruction or incorrect strategic goals..
it’s not a rush, it’s just pushing out a feature that was ready for some time and we need to get it rolled out before other things can follow
Q: I hope you don’t feel too attacked, it’s a mixture of frustration and passion from most. Everyone wants this project to succeed and when we see constant communication errors, it’s frustrating.
it’s ok – I get it. It’s frustrating though because there are things I cannot talk about
Q: I want to ask you a question, if I had a large company interested now how can I do? do I contact you privately? or do you think it is better to wait a little longer for these investors?
I cannot tell you how many companies approached us for investment .. we’re just not ready (nor need it) yet. As ironic as it may sound I do want to ensure we deliver something that will benefit Players based on what my plans are .. investors can change that
Q: Yea if u dont need it fair enough… but may have to think in the backdrop of whether more resources can accelerate the development or help scale this faster in the race to Metaverse
am completely aware of that I am constantly using our networks to push that forward
Q: I know this doesn’t have anything to do with the discussed topic atm, but @Shane can you give any information on locked countries? The ones that have been locked for a long time, as well as the recently locked ones.
I cannot expand further on this one at present. Some countries are getting locked for a reason.
Q: Great that you appear here again. thank you for that. It would be very good if something more precise is known beforehand. I do not yet understand the benefits of epls. What are the advantages of an epls? Why not register a normal domain like e2myproperty.com?
e2.me is a premium domain name and I have bigger plans for it in addition to EPLs
Q: well and I want to give my opinion to everyone !! @Shane is protecting us! is giving us permission to make money when these big companies come in .. now we have to work without bothering and trusting this huge and fantastic project! I am an entrepreneur .. and it is just like the e2 team is doing that you have to do at the beginning of a great business !!
Realise people are bagging in the reactions but I wouldn’t be so fast to discount this comment
Q: I have a very important question for you and I think many would love to know. Who designed the shape of the mentars
Ferran created a list of options based on Wolfgang’s description then we voted
Q: will epls be able to be switched between properties
good question. I would imagine so but game design would need to confirm
Q: Will HoloBuildings be able to cover mentars? Same tile?
I actually discussed this the other day and decided it needed to be filtered. So Mentars will not block the view for HBs
Q: But where will mentars be on our property when phase 3 rolls around? Will they be visible while on our property?
I want filters / toggles on e2 .. so you can swap to different views .. like a multiverse
Q: Would love a toggle off button for mentars, i have created on map games that cant be viewed now, trying to create some community engagement
that is already coming .. I asked for it to be implemented the other weekly – it’s just not live yet
Q: I don’t care about the 5$ epls. What’s disconcerting is the broken promises that tarnish the brand. Eventually no one will believe a word e2 says anymore because they’ve gone back so many times. Pivoting is fine, companies do it all the time. But when they do, if it’s a good company, they’ll offer the users something better or equivalent. Right now and often the pivots have been: you now have the privilege to give us money. I’m calling it as it is. New land sales tanking, most won’t read this chat. But the 5$ epl move from free, will annoy the silent majority and you’ll see new sales down to 0. The reputation of the company is valuable. Abuse it at your own detriment
yeah you also look at the things we are doing and are delivered. We can only move so fast without excessively breaking things. many things are still in the pipeline .. not abandoned at all
Q: “We can only move so fast without excessively breaking things” = need better team, wont admit it
or maybe is already working on that .. ?
Q: when can we see tiles for sale on the grid (map) instead of the marketplace. This would help a lot.
I believe it’s sitting there as a ticket
Q: I do hope we can see you in here regularly – I understand it can be….hostile….lol but your presence definitely de-escalates, as well as reinforcing transparency/authenticity and providing reassurance. Understand you are busy of course and the community can be a bit…needy
I love dropping in as well, will try to drop in more often .. just by the end of each day I am ready to crash
Q: u can tell something about crafting jewels … some planed details ?
tbh I am not sure about these details. Game design is handling that. I can’t keep across everything ..
Q: What is the specific reason why mass marketing campaigns have not arrived? Is it because you don’t need them at the moment? Is it because the servers are not ready to receive more players? I would like to know these details if possible.
we’re working on the right partner and solution here
Q: What do you think of the recent mentions of E2 by Daymond John?
I do not know the full details but obviously really cool he sees the reasoning behind e2
Q: PLAY TO EARN is one of the key elements of the Metaverse platform, will Earth2 also add various P2E contents?
of course .. you can already see elements of us doing this
Q: What would happen if, for example, any user decides to name his property after a well-known megacity? Would it be “legal” in Earth 2? Or will you use some way for the megacities to keep their name in EPL?
we would be governed by E1 laws ..
Q: You said that you want E2 to be a central point/platform of the metaverses. Does that mean that we are allowed to use the site as platform for apps and games too? (before P3 and the terrain/ 3d platform)
that one of the key goals I want to accomplish
After his chat, Shane came back in the channel to inform users that he'd removed the countdown from the main site. More info coming later.