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Topic: Quixotic Press |
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Quote ( David Andrewartha @ November 6th 2016,13:08:52 ) Try to stay out of prison mate, the place isn't the same without you.
You mean jail right? The guys surely miss him in there.
Quote ( Jensen Owens @ November 6th 2016,15:35:35 ) I feel like I'm famous LOL
You have to borrow JD's glasses first
Quote ( Jensen Owens @ November 6th 2016,15:35:35 ) Its really nice to here good things thank you :0
Well, kudos for one of the guys who spends more time in here to make sure forums remain active. You are more than just a player in this game.
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Finally Jensen!!!!! hi !!
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Quote ( Ivan Silva @ November 6th 2016,16:46:11 ) You mean jail right? The guys surely miss him in there.
My Ass has never been the same :(
Quote ( Juan Pereyra @ November 7th 2016,12:37:26 ) Finally Jensen!!!!! hi !!
Or wright Juan mate :)
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since i've been loving you girl...
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Oh... Y'know what would be amazing?
A James Keeble interview.
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The objective of this topic is to get people to read it i assume.
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Haha I swear people would read the interview... Maybe just to trash the lad & his opinions. But at the end of the day, they would read it, right? :P
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Greetings, comrades. It's only been three days since our last feature, but I can sense you're ready for some more top-quality interview material! (Especially Doru!) Our respondent today is a talented young Hungarian manager, for whom this season was the first in elite.
Üdvözlünk, Patrik. Tell us about yourself and your hobbies outside GPRO.
Hello Max and everyone who reads this fantastic (I hope) interview. I’m Patrik Balogh, 19 years old, and this is my first semester at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, specialization of chemical engineering. I do many sports like orienteering, cycling, go-karting, playing tennis and football. I love board games, for example Catan, BANG and Risk. I want to watch every F1 race since 2005 Suzuka (that was the first I’ve watched), and as a Ferrari fan, nowadays I find most of races too boring. But never give up the hope that the next one will be more exciting.
You live in the great city of Budapest. Tell us a bit about what it's like, fun things to do there, and give some advice to any would-be tourists.
I consider the life in the cities so good. Here are better facilities to learn, more well-paying jobs, more people to make friends, better medical service and quicker internet connection. Speaking about touristical attractions, it’s worth visiting our Parliament, the Heroes’ Square and climbing the Gellért Hill to reach the Citadella. Besides, it’s fantastic when you walk in the Castle or in the City Park in May, while having an ice cream or two. And after sunset, the city seems to be more beautiful. We have a prosper nightlife, by the way. The bad thing for me is that almost every club plays mainstream ’music’ (trap or dirty house). So, when I wish to listen my favourite genre (techno), I go to the Internet.
Tell us how you found GPRO. The game seems very popular in Hungary; why do you think this is?
Sincerely, one friend who participated in 5 races, told me about GPRO, because he knew I liked car racing. First, I played without knowledge and team, and without any success. Then I retired for a few seasons, because of another computer game, F1-2012. When I restarted GPRO, I had more patience (and more knowledge which I collected during many seasons).
I don’t know the exact reason why GPRO is so popular here. My hypothesis is that Hungarian people are a bit lazier than others, therefore we could have more free time. Personally, I think as well that there are more important things in life than money.
You joined your current team, Hungarian Crown 9, in S42. How important was the advice, information and encouragement you received from your team mates in your success?
I didn't join just HC9 because we collaborate with other Hungarian Crown teams.
In my opinion, you cannot retain in Pro and above if you don’t belong to a top team (depending on manager skills and free time). For this reason, I advise every Amateur manager to look for a professional team. We are regurarly recruiting Hungarian managers as well.
In a well-performing team, members can get such amount of information which seems incredible in Rookie and Ama. For approximately three seasons, I just read what was going on our team forum, then I started giving advices for everyone. I received a lot of encouragements and gave them away. Furthermore, I think everyone needs some practice and time before he/she becomes a high-value manager.
You recently accomplished the impressive feat of promoting three seasons in a row. Was this always your goal, or did you seize an opportunity to get to elite at some point and alter your plan?
The chance of promotion to Elite has motivated me for a long time, but this was not my initial plan. Genuinely, I planned to override just on Pro. Master and Elite were too far for me in S52, but I saw some examples which told me it’s feasible.
After I got to Master, certainly wanted to get the best driver on the market. And mamma mía, I succeed! But the chance for this was approximately ¼, because of other market hyenas. Then choosing Michi was the easiest decision of my season. Then I had to schedule sponsors, not to go to bankruptcy. And then, luck still needed, because of an accidental competition for promo places. But fortunately, there was no competition, and I could promote in peace.
Do you think you could have completed the old 'Elit1st challenge' (promoting in consecutive seasons from rookie to elite), or was the money you earnt in amateur a vital ingredient?
I went back to Ama especially for the money, and needed it so much during my way upwards. I didn’t want to be Mr. Edwin Silva who wasted all of his money in Master, without any step forwards. I think I could have done better job, but luck also supported me. And needed some untrainable staff skills. Without them, it could be much harder to promote to the highest division. And if we accept that title equals the definition of ’promotion from Elite’, there is a long distance for me to complete this challenge, because I won’t be champion this season (unfortunately), so I won’t have 4 consecutive promo seasons.
Nowadays, we can see some other examples that Elit1st achievement is practically impossible, or at least, inmense quantity of luck what is needed. Tyres are important but not everything.
You have had a lot of drivers in your career, particularly in S53. Tell us about your objectives during that season; did you plan to use so many different drivers from the start, or were you still experimenting to find the perfect driver?
S53 was in the middle of my consecutive promotion seasons, and I believe to have prepared for it appropriately in Ama. Right after reset, I tried to convince my groupmates to ally and pick Pipis everyone. If they had chosen Pipis, I would have picked them too. Without denying it, there were my selfish interests in the picture, because I wanted to preserve more money to the upper leagues. Nobody supported my idea, so I chose Dunno, but once it would be so beautiful, seeing 40 Pro managers on Pipis, in the same group! Plus, I’m sure that general resistance affected the future of all S53-P17 managers negatively.
The prime problems began with the drivers market. There were 2 strong pilots, with one of them I could have easily made my one-season promotion. I offered them well-paying contracts but two managers overbid me and took the drivers. The first manager finished her season as 14th in Pro, which was the best during her career. The second one promoted from Pro in the first place that season, and then he almost followed me to Elite in S54.
So, first market was gone. Then I thought maybe I could promote with a not so good driver if I succeeded to build a high motivation. First race was FT, but…start crash! (Adore it!) The second race started with a bad quali, and it’s hard to overtake in Ahvenisto. The third was a surprise win, but the 4th was also ruined by a random and some blocking. The motivation didn’t increase; time to find a new driver. But a rainy race came and Dunnos are not working so well in rain. Ultimately, I planned to hire FT drivers before each race. Probably I would buy none of them for longer time, because of lacking some skills. It was a catastrophe in money-wise aspects, but I suppose that one more Pro season would have harmed more my economy. I pushed till the end, and promoted. But it was one of my toughest seasons since playing this game.
I don’t recommend this strategy for everyone, because if only 2 people choose the FT-driver-strat from all Pro classes, then it’s more than needed. Even my teammates didn’t support my FT-drivers too much, because they like to think in long term drivers. One teammate once said me that I had had more pilots during my career than the number of his underpants.
Tell us about your feelings upon promoting to elite. Has your first season there lived up to your expectations?
In general, I’m happy with my results. My runs for points were unexpectedly succesful, and will never forget those 2 laps when I led the full game. And when you defeat most of Bridges at their peak temperature, it’s maybe a great achievement. But I could easily get more points with more optimism in driver- and CT-strategy. Nevertheless, if we watch the full season, I have been an optimist and it worked.
You chose Contimentals – a tyre with which you had no previous experience – in your first elite season. Are you happy with your choice? Do you think a tweak to the tyre attributes would provide more balance to the higher tiers?
Conti was the best option in my situation. In certain conditions, it is much quicker than its price would require. And in my opinion, I would have gone to bankrupt earlier with each other supplier. Conti supports driver development in the spa training era (because you don’t have to push every race), testing, and there is less money punishment after a start crash. What this tyre doesn’t support is the driver’s motivation, and it’s very costly to maintain high car parts and facility level when you finish at 30th place too many times.
But you will never persuade the top guys to choose Conti. Once I estimated that, for example, Pavlicek could get approximately 14 millions sponsor income, per race! It’s incredibly much for my budget as well, to race with him. And, until they will get such amounts, they can easily afford themselves the fastest tyre. One solution that we make the fastest tyre cheaper, to be available for everyone. Lots of money remaining for S&F doesn’t count so much than lots of money for tyres.
Second solution is trying to balance the tyres. But I don’t fully understand the logic of Postle&Company, because there were some cases in S43-S49 when they decided to pick a cheaper tyre to spare money (but why). It’s hard to predict when this moment of cheaper tyres will come again, but I bet it to the next season (or never). If not, I would bring the pace of Hankook, Michi and Bridge closer to each other.
Give us your view on the new driver energy feature. Do you think this has/will improve the game? How has the feature impacted on your season?
This feature impacted my season quite positively. Watching first race had a big impression on me. Then I risked at the drivers market before second race, and it worked well. And generally: problems with tyres, car parts and etc were forced back. Otherwise I expected more drastic changes. So, I like this new feature, but have two problems with it:
First is unrealisticity. I can accept that GPRO logic is not equal with real-world logic. But this is too much. You cannot see slowering laptimes in the real F1 in this measure, except one race, 2010 Yeongheam but those conditions were quite extreme.
Second is that the top guys can adapt these changes better. They can afford lower CT to train their drivers normally, because of having too much money. In addition, it increases the gap between top and midfield, because of existing a very few drivers who are really good at energy. The solution can be if we abolish spa training.
There has been much conversation over the past few months about new player retention. What, in your opinion, needs to be done in order to make the game as attractive as possible to new players?
I think driver energy harms them the most, because one plus thing they have to learn. But it’s a natural consecuence of history that newcomers have to learn more than their ancestors. We need a simpler game instead of more complexity, if we consider this. Therefore, I don’t support the idea of fuel suppliers as well.
Moreover, if a newcomer sees that the championship winner is a member of a (practically) closed circle – let’s say top5 – his/her motivation can be lost easily. I don’t know how about you, but I would like to see a new title winner every season, or at least, in every second season. If the top guys cooperate (thank to sponsor system), everyone else have to join a second coalition which can brake the power of top guys. Otherwise, I afraid that more and more people will abandon playing.
Tell us about your plans for the future. Do you see yourself playing GPRO for a long time to come?
I’m an addict to this game, so I’ll play GPRO until it’s possible, and probably will try more, extreme things. I like making experiments because of my orientation to chemistry. By the way, university will hinder me in playing, but I want to cope with this.
Any final words for the admins or community?
In my opinion, this is the best chance to speak about the future of the whole world, after speaking about future of GPRO.
So, do you think that scientists didn’t calculate when our civilisation will collapse? But yes, they did! They estimate it to 2040-2050; if countries aim more economical development (and why not to do this, otherwise they would fall behind others). The first problem of the world is we exploit our non-renewable resources. The second is pollution. Our world is growing exponentially, but this is not maintenable. You can see the ominous graphics: http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/0...
The scientists calculated it in 1972 but they kept watching the model until 2000 and the estimations were right. If anyone is still interested, I recommend the book ‘The limits to growth’ (author: Denis Meadows).
So, prepare for the collapse, and love people in other countries, to avoid war! And still, I wish that once everyone could have a chance to fight for the gold cup in GPRO!
Always good to leave an interview on a positive note! Thank you very much for your time, Patrik, and the very best of luck in your future endeavours.
Interviewer:
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"Always good to leave an interview on a positive note! Thank you very much for your time, Patrik, and the very best of luck in your future endeavours."
Irony, irony. :D
Best of luck for You too!
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Very good read Ty Max and Patrik :)
So your saying the world is going to end ?
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who are all these people? :D
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Quote ( Jensen Owens @ November 9th 2016,11:32:47 ) So your saying the world is going to end ?
I say we are on the best way to return to the Middle Ages. And probably the inequality in richness will intensify.
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Quote ( Dmitry Shevel @ November 9th 2016,11:32:51 ) who are all these people? :D
Examples?
Joan Centellas, Jan Velske, Andrian Naidenov, Istrate Mihaita. Special thanks to them. :D
My rivals on the drivers market?
Veronica Cisneros, Maxim Stroganoff and some Polish people, if i remember well. ;)
Top guys?
We know them, they win everything.
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Patrik your 19 My advice to you mate would be'
Don't worry about the world you wont live longer enough to see these changes.
Enjoy life to its fullest mate with out a care in the world. If you got a GF then this is not for you. But at 19 you should be banging everything with a pulse lol Till Mrs wright finds you ;)
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Nice interview. I admire this sort of managers who play differently to what we're used to see. Its also nice to see he pays attention to my group's forum :)
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Quote ( Max Watson @ November 9th 2016,11:11:00 ) So, do you think that scientists didn’t calculate when our civilisation will collapse? But yes, they did! They estimate it to 2040-2050
At least I'll die young-ish. :P
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Quote ( Jensen Owens @ November 9th 2016,11:54:12 ) Don't worry about the world you wont live longer enough to see these changes.
And then, what will happen with my children? :D
Nevertheless, I'm searching a GF.
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Quote ( Patrik Balogh @ November 9th 2016,17:04:03 ) And then, what will happen with my children? :D
Its OK you wont know :)
Quote ( Patrik Balogh @ November 9th 2016,17:04:03 ) Nevertheless, I'm searching a GF.
Never look for them, she will find you, Its mad thing LOVE !
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Quote ( Jensen Owens @ November 9th 2016,17:07:16 ) Never look for them, she will find you, Its mad thing LOVE !
Don't listen to this. In Jensens world love is the colour golden
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Quote ( Ivan Silva @ November 9th 2016,15:30:36 ) Its also nice to see he pays attention to my group's forum :)
Elite managers like watching others (especially me), at most we don't reveal it. :)
Quote ( Richard Robin Paukson @ November 9th 2016,15:58:18 ) At least I'll die young-ish. :P
Do you wanna live forever young? ^^
I think games can help. :)
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A nice but different segment again....
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""If the top guys cooperate (thank to sponsor system), everyone else have to join a second coalition which can brake the power of top guys."
Here I thought about Pro and Master managers who have to unite in the aim of higher targets. But first they have to prove their ability to cooperate. If anyone is interested, send me a pm please, and i will tell about details. :)
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Happy weekend, comrades. It's time for another Quixotic Spotlight, this time centred on a man who has seen his name in the press before (but not too many times, as it takes quite a lot of ink to print). That's right, it is he of Big Red Button fame, the one and only...
Hi Stefan. Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your life beyond GPRO.
Well, that is now already my third interview. Will be hard to tell some new things :)
By now I am in the mid forties. The urge for sitting all evening and night in front of the PC, after I did that already the whole day at work, became very less to non-existent. Now I really enjoy the time with my family, but of course with a very bad remorse that Vlad is now almost on his own.
About my non-computer activities not so much has changed, karting is still my favourite. But lately I also started climbing. Although not outside, just in a climbing hall. But still fun enough and good for my back (you remember, I am in the mid-forties :D ). And I enjoy a lot role playing, we are using Midgard for it. Of course also not on the net, but at a table with friends. For me having a fun evening with my friends has highest priority over playing the game. For the others it is the same, I think we just spend 30% to 40% playing on such an evening. Most time we have just fun and get lost in silly discussions. Our master of ceremonies is of course not that happy with it though :)
You've been involved with the game since its inception. Tell us about how you met Vlad, and how you worked together on the game in its early stages.
I've met him at another online manager game. At that time, we didn't get along well together. But as I told in another interview, that was a story about sex and crime. And usually we tell that story at a meeting. So if you are interested in it, come to the next meeting. If you fear that the next meeting won't happen like the one from this year: feel free to organise it and therefore make sure that it will happen ;-)
About working together in its early stages: I would not say that the way we work together has changed with the years. Some discussions how the game should work still happen on the team forum, but as all other admins have already retired, it is now more on Skype. But lately only if there are really major things where Vlad wants to hear my opinion. In the early stages we had a chat almost every day. And that is something I really miss.
Did you ever envision GRPO becoming large enough to bring you financial rewards for your efforts, or did you think of it more like a hobby? How does the game's current level of size/development compare to your original projections?
For me it was always just a hobby. I never thought in long terms and about financial rewards that are more than is needed to pay the server etc. But that has also something to do with my personal approach. I seldom make plans for the future, I live for today. Therefore I can't answer your question about my original projections as I never made some. And I never asked Vlad whether he did :)
How were the first 'generation' of GPRO players drawn in to the game, and how would you summarise their attitude towards it?
The first generation were 90% players of another online manager game (the same where I met Vlad). We were just all unhappy with the other game and wanted to have fun together in a new, fair game. That was the one thing that united us and at that time I would say we were more than just a community. Therefore also the attitude was a complete different one. And maybe it is my fault to compare the current community with the early stages.
In his own interview, Vlad mentioned that a 'complaining culture' has developed on the game forum. Do you think this is inevitable when a community expands past a certain size, or is there another reason for this phenomenon?
When I think about it - maybe what we describe here as 'complaining culture of the current community' is rather normal and should not be compared with the culture of the community we had in the early stage. We got so many new players who didn't suffer the old game that united us. It seems to be logical that it is now completely different than it was before. Too many old players retired, mostly new players remained. So I would say it does not necessarily have something to do with the size, but rather with what we experienced before we started with GPRO.
It's been suggested by some that the problem lies in distorted expectations: of Vlad and what he is capable of; of the other admins and the time they can put in to the game; of ambiguous roles like community manager; of users themselves who aren't sure where the line is drawn between complaint and constructive criticism. Do you think more regular communication between admins and managers could change the forum environment? Where is the line drawn, for you, between complaining and constructively criticising?
Puuuhh... long question and hard to answer...
About more and regular communication between admins and managers: I am not sure sure that it would change for the better then. We have to see that there is now only Vlad left as admin. Beside the fact that he is maybe not as communicative like me, every discussion distracts him from doing something "useful". That means less time for coding, therefore also less improvements. But even with more communication, less improvements is not what the players want :)
And about constructively criticising: I will tell you just what I would like to see (as ideal case) - factual pointing out what is wrong in the opinion of the one who gives us the feedback. Maybe also what can be done to solve the problem. Without bad language, without insults. If you don't stay with the facts but concentrate on your rant, it doesn't matter any more whether you are completely right or not - it always triggers some antipathy on the side of the one the critic is aimed for. That is at least how I try to give feedback and most of the time it works :)
You've previously admitted that your time for the game has significantly diminished in latter seasons, due to both the attitude on the forum and your personal circumstances. Without wishing to pry, what circumstances would have to change in order for you to once again spend more time on the game? Do you see this happening any time soon?
I am just not that young any more where I can spend 18 or more hours per day in front of the monitor. So, basically there are three things that could change it: 1.) I will discover a youth fountain. 2.) I get divorced and therefore I get bored in the evening. 3.) I will lose my job - then of course I have again plenty of time.
All three things are highly unlikely and hopefully won't ever happen (okay, except of the youth fountain maybe :P ). I don't think that I will contribute again in a similar way as I did in the early stage. Sorry.
There's been much talk over the years of you pushing the 'Big Red Button', but it's safe to assume that each season reset requires more work than that. Could you briefly explain what you and Vlad have to do in order to smoothly usher in a new GPRO season?
All the stupid things we did several seasons ago manually are now covered by scripts. If you get annoyed by the same boring task season after season, then you make sooner or later a script for that. :) Now we have just to see whether we have some changes in the update script that needs implementation and testing. Only two dull tasks remained: deleting the retired managers to open the spots again and setting up the scheduled tasks so that everything runs smoothly and automated (race script, market script, update script, several email reminders).
You got the impression that there is maybe far more to do because the reset takes too long in your opinion? Well, most of the time we wait for the backup script to finish :) Two backups are done before we start and two are done once we are ready. As the database grows and grows, it takes of course some time :)
The official GPRO meetings have been a source of great entertainment and have kindled new friendships. Do you feel they are still just as much fun today as they were in the beginning? Do you still intend to attend these meetings going forwards?
Basically yes, as answer to both questions :) But lately I got the impression that a good meeting for the ppl is when they find a good pub that serves cheap booze and offers a pool table. Honestly, for that I don't need meet every time in another city. Then we could stay in the same city that is best for all to reach. But that is not what I like. I really like to spend a huge time also for sightseeing as I am very interested in different cultures. Therefore I hope that the next meeting will be again a meeting outside of the pubs :)
What are your hopes for the future of GPRO?
Back to question #3 :P I don't really think about the future, but I hope that it still will earn Vlad a living so that he can bring GPRO to the next level. Will be interesting to see how it develops :)
Any final words for the community?
Oh, I will be extremely cheeky and just copy here the answer of my last interview:
Buh! I don’t like "open questions" :) I'm not creative at all, so such questions are very difficult for me. But of course I like to thank all the people outside playing GPRO and helping us to become still better all the time. So I wont distinguish between the people who like the game a lot or the moaners - we need both to become better :)
Thanks very much for your time, Stefan. We'll let you get back to that peculiar thing called 'life' now! Best of luck in all that you do.
Interviewer:
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Rock climbing is good for back ache? - I might try it :)
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Quote ( Phil Maunder @ November 19th 2016,11:23:09 ) Rock climbing is good for back ache?
When you dont do it, yes :D
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Awesome interview guys, one well worth the read.
Quote ( Stefan Voggenreither @ November 19th 2016,11:06:59 ) Only two dull tasks remained: deleting the retired managers to open the spots again
See everyone? Stop retiring, it's boring ;)
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Nice Stefan, nice.
I believe, did we get in anytime on a Pub??? I don't recall... ;)
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Great interview Max and Stefan thank you :)
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