Entropia Planets Presents: ROCKtropia interview with NEVERDIE

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Hi again, NEVERDIE Thank you for a pleasant interview regarding the Next Island planet earlier, which led to quite a lot of really positive and enthusiastic replies from the community. This time we will shift our attention to ROCKtropia, which we believe is due to be released into Beta stage any moment now. We've once again gathered input from our users, who are most likely burning with anticipation to start exploring ROCKtropia. Part of the questions this time will also be follow-ups to the interview you did with Zac Simpson for ThatGamingSite.

First of all, we'd be interested to find out who "owns" ROCKtropia as a planet and/or Project, and how the business model for it is set up?

ROCKtropia is owned by Virtual Music Worlds llc, more info about that company and its structure will be available in due course. For now all emphasis is on ROCKtropia.

On the ROCKtropia website, there's a lot of music flavored "-tropia" names floating around (FunkTropia, DanceTropia, etc.) Could you tell us some more about the plans for those? Is every major music stream going to get its own specific sub world (or continent) within ROCKtropia? If so, will you approach it by signing up artists for new areas, or will you wait for artists to sign up and have them ask for the areas?

The big picture is to encompass all genres of music and pop culture. Rock is a great genre to start with, and a lot of other genres can find their home under that banner. ROCKtropia is the name of the first planet but other genres may indeed find themselves as sub continents on the ROCKtropia planet or on a future POPtropia planet.

We are both approaching artists and have artists approaching us. Also we want it to be possible for new artists to build up their presence in a grass roots fashion on ROCktropia. First we will test the destinations for Motorhead, Lemmy and Kevin Rudolf during the Beta phase, before we start on the next major destination. It's a huge amount of work and we want to do justice to each artist. At the same time, we want to put the foundation in place for new artists to get a foothold, so that ROCKtropia can be a land of opportunity for all, and not just an exclusive club for established artists.

In the interview you conducted with Zac Simpson you mentioned studios that will be available within ROCKtropia, and that they are fully customizable. Could you elaborate on the concept, and how the studios can be customized? Since you said they are similar to Houses on Calypso, what would there be to customize exactly? Are we talking about furniture only, or will owners also have the ability to add, say, their own wallpaper, complete interior architecture, and add streaming content at will?

In order for it to be an "artist" space, it needs to be as customizable as possible, so the studios will be quite lofty on the inside with exteriors suitable for branding. We will be creating all kinds of blueprints to enable them to be personalized.

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Will you be offering in-game studio equipment for artists to use? (Think drum computers, synthesizers, advanced mixing panels, and all that good stuff). If so, are there plans on cooperating with the big names in the business (Roland, Korg, etc) and possibly generate revenue that way for the planet?

As different music related systems are added to the Entropia Universe platform, it will enable us to work on a more meaningful level with the big name equipment brands. For the time being, it will be more from a cross promotional standpoint.

What about professional musicians offering services in virtual reality? Will they generate money purely by taxable hunting- and mining grounds, or would I for instance be able to get attend an in game seminar offering guitar lessons from Slash (could be an interesting spin-off to raise money for charity and promote the planet a bit more that way)?

ROCKtropia will gradually introduce some really "amazing new systems" to the Entropia Universe platform providing entirely new ways to make money, also as it really becomes established as a hub for musicians I would expect people to figure out their own ways to promote services.

Apart from the names you already signed up, and the mysterious meeting you had earlier this week (as announced on your Twitter account), are you planning on actively going out to sign up well-known artists, or will you wait for them to approach you? Any already confirmed names we are allowed to reveal to our users?

For now the emphasis is on our existing artists. The fact that they are excited about it and have something to bring to the table is really fantastic for the platform. Lemmy and Motorhead are simply huge rock icons and there is so much fun to be had just getting Lemmy's castle and the stadium really rocking. We have a mountain of mobs designed by Lemmy that we will introduce one by one.

Furthermore, once we go live, we have the full support of the Motorhead management to promote in some really innovative ways. Motorhead fans have been signing up for ROCKtropia for over a year and I want to make it rewarding for them.

Then there is Kevin Rudolf, who is a phenomenal artist and producer. This year, besides his monster hit "Let it rock" with lil Wayne, he also had a smash hit with Cobra Starship "Good girls go bad". He has new tracks hitting the airwaves right now with Lifehouse, Leona Lewis and American Idol star Allison Iraheta. We are working very closely with Kevin to promote his next album and it is going to be a lot of Fun to let his influences infect Zomhattan.

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Also in the interview for TGS, you shared with the public that Lemmy has been really actively involved in producing his piece of ROCKtropia. Is that the standard level of influence an artist will have when you sign them (or they sign you), or is it up to the discretion of the artist themselves, and you tailor to their specific needs?

With every artist it will be different, but ultimately it is a creative collaboration. Virtual Reality is a new medium that can be extremely creative. The Entropia Universe platform is an incredible platform and ROCKtropia is going to be the number one choice for Artists to have a presence. Working with us, they will be able to realize their videogame/virtual fantasies, interact with their fans in a whole new way, and discover new revenue streams.

How is ROCKtropia planning on dealing with the ephemeral nature of popular music? (As an example, suppose Kevin Rudolf will not manage to make another hit single, what will happen to Kevin's Wasteland?)

Between his own “Let it rock” and “Good girls go bad”, Kevin sold about 5 million Records in the last year. Not only is he being featured as an artist on other peoples songs, he is in huge demand as a producer and will be for years to come, so we are very confident, that there will be interesting content he can add to Zomhattan to keep it connected to pop culture for years to come.

But to Answer your question in a broader sense, if we are going to invest in building an artist destination, we absolutely need to feel we can create a destination that will stand alone on its own merit, so even if the artist moves on, the destination will always have a fan base, just like a great album.

Considering the entertainment focus of ROCKtropia, how will you weave that into the Planet's story, and will the content offered by the artists be on a pay-to-listen/view basis, free, or using other solutions?

The story behind ROCKtropia is based on reality: The recording industry is changing and artists are gravitating towards Virtual Reality, and they are bringing their dreams and demons with them. The moment they arrive in ROCKtropia they are in the realm of the imagination, and whatever one wishes to be true can be true. Stories will be born like songs. As far as paying to listen is concerned, that is not the Business model at all. In general I expect the content in ROCktropia to be mostly free to enjoy, since it is the Economy of the planet that will be the primary business model.

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You referred to the ability to "control the streets" within ROCKtropia by battling gangs and rivaling factions for control of neighborhoods. Many people are interested in the model behind this. Is this comparable to a Landgrab event on Calypso, where once control has been claimed, that will generate a constant revenue for the winners for 6 months, or is this a constant battle for power, where control of an area will be ensured only for as long as the area can be defended against constant attacks from other factions?

If you want to take land by Force in ROCKtropia you will need to be prepared to defend it around the clock. It will of course depend on how profitable the land is to justify maintaining a 24hr watch.

Speaking of those factions, will a single player be able to be a member of more than one group at a time, or is it a model like on Calypso, where you can only join one society at a time? The former would most likely allow for far more interesting strategies to develop, we think. What's your take on this?

We are working mostly with existing Entropia systems and functionality, but as those systems evolve, things will certainly become far more interesting.

For the See planets, the idea is participants would be able to encounter famous movie characters or actors as NPCs in their explorations. Will something similar happen in ROCKtropia? I.e. will we be able to virtually jam with Jimi, eat banana/peanut butter sandwiches with Elvis, or will the walkway to the entrance of Lemmy's castle perhaps be illuminated by small Michael Jackson figures with their hair on fire?

Uh. Not really. The plan is for you to be able to be able to knock on the castle door, and if Lemmys dragon doesn’t eat you, maybe Lemmy himself will. Although, you will need to be rich to be eaten by Lemmy. Perhaps if he is in a good mood, he might just tell you to piss off!

But the general idea is for you to meet the stars themselves. I personally plan to show them how to login and chat.


As for transportation to the planet, you mentioned space travel (with pirates) or teleporters. What about the obvious, though? Get MindArk to build you a Stairway to Heaven!

Who needs heaven when you can live forever in ROCKtropia? Join the immortals baby. Come NEVER DIE with me!

Do you think we missed any obvious questions, or would you like to add anything yourself?

Remember, it’s still just the beginning. There are always opportunities. To see them you must be vigilant, and you have to know patience. We are building worlds. Perhaps it only takes 7 days to add the basic ingredients, but it takes longer for them to evolve. Perhaps not millions of years, but it does take time. NEVERDIE is eight years old now. I still get excited about every VU, and I reckon I will feel the same way when NEVERDIE is 18 years old. I just hope by that time EU has a system in place so I can get him really drunk.

Thank you once again, Jon, for sharing with the entropiaplanets.com community, and like everyone, we are looking forward to the public Beta for ROCKTropia. Until then, we'll keep our guitars plugged in, our amps humming, and the TR-909 oiled and ready.


Rock on!

 

Ty George :) Well, the guitar is actually not from the game - but one I thought fit perfectly in there :D It WOULD be quite awesome though, if it would be possible to get Rock Guitars and maybe even hit some tunes which you would look like playing :D (brings some hope to noobish guitarplayers like VF ... )

hehe :)