Interview with Famine (October 2011)

JeuxOnLine : Who are you and what is your fonction?

Glen « Famine » Swan : My name is Glen “Famine” Swan. I’m the Senior Assistant Community Manager for Funcom. I’ve been working for Funcom for 6 years and have worked on Dreamfall, Age of Conan and Anarchy Online. I’ve worked on all the major Funcom titles and I’m now working on The Secret World to help build the community.

 

In which languages will be the game for its release in April 2012?

In French, English and I believe German.

 

 

It is the Week of the Dragon. Can you talk about it?

I don’t know too much about the Week of the Dragon because I have been over in London and France for the past week and I believe they just announced it the other day. You know, of course, that the Dragon is a secret society in The Secret World who is all about instigating change through quiet violence and trying to gain power within the world. Dragon's are also based in one of three major society cities called 'Seoul', which is based on the modern city in the real world, Seoul Korea.

 

Which faction do you belong to?

I can’t say really. We make it our policy not to advertise which secret society we belong to. I definitely have my favorite but I will never reveal it!

 

At the GamesCom, there was an announcement for The Secret War and we have been able to subscribe with the “Phase 1”. Do you know when the “Phase 2” will begin?

All I can say is it is coming. That is all I can say about The Secret War. It is coming and you have to be patient!

 

 

Can we expect it before Christmas?

Haha, I can’t say.

 

I Tried.
The massive PvP have been announced. Do you know how many maps there will be for this?

Right now, I do not know how many maps will be revealed in the future, but of course we did announce that we will have various types of PvP. One is a persistent zone and it’s similar to where the societies can fight over strategic points and gain control over pieces of the world. And as they gain control of the various points, they get bonuses for their society. It is very similar to the traditional ways of the PvP that many love and enjoy where you battle over points and you get bonuses for everyone like champions. So, we are trying to direct our epic PvP toward that direction in The Secret World.
And of course, we also have mini-games where you fight over iconic locations like Stonehenge and El Dorado for rewards in PvP.

 

 

Will there be others mini-game PvP areas?

Of course, there will definitely be more over time. Right now we've only released 3 locations.

 

Can you talk about the crafting?

All I can say, there will be and ideally the developers are pushing to make a very awesome crafting system.

 

Role-play is an important question for a part of the community. Is the role-play an important factor for The Secret World?

Role-play is definitely an important factor. That’s why we say it is a massively multiplayer online "role-playing game". I don’t know if you guys noticed it but, you know, a lot of people say they are just MMOGs or MMOs. We definitely want to emphasize "role-playing" when we talk about The Secret World. We are an RPG. Through the story line that we tell and through the tools we give to player to role-play in game. For example, the current demo we are showing here, we are showing a London pub, one of the local bars where you can go into and have a drink with other players and socialize. And of course we have lots and lots of vanity articles. We have a lot of clothing that is vanity - which means they are social. And you can switch them all. You can really pimp your character to the way you feel that immerses you into the game and really embraces the role-playing aspect of The Secret World. It’s a very big thing.

 

 

What kind of character do you like to play in The Secret World?

I’ve always been a PvP type guy. I’m not so much role-player in MMOs where engage in-game role-playing activity. But, I’m definitely a role-playing fan when it comes to the genre of games.
But, when it comes to MMOs, I’m also very competitive like a lot of players out there. So for me I love just going into a game and getting a really good story online, trying to progress to the top and playing a lot of competitive PvP. In The Secret World, I’m going to be all about fighting for my secret society and jumping into the persistent PvP because that is pretty awesome for players like me. I mean I come from games that are mostly all PvP like Dark Age of Camelot, EVE Online and so forth.
So for me, fighting over control of the world for my secret society is pretty badass. That’s something that not many people are not doing right now. It’s very much about mini-games that are not as persistent (always changing), and we try to offer something a little different or unique with three faction PvP where you can control over something and get that bonus for your Secret Society. And that is something that is pretty awesome.
That type of gameplay makes me excited to play a lot more, like every day. I could play The Secret World now of course. I could go on my computer and play, but for me it is all about playing online when you launch and when you have all of these players filling out the persistent playfields trying to battle for their Secret Society and the bonuses therefore after.
It’s like back in the days when my friends and I were playing, we would sit up all night, get our teams together, go and raid, and try to take over the playfield to get rewards for everyone. Now, all this is going to be back and reborn through The Secret World. It is like a game I’ve always loved to play all over again. At least for me, because the PvP is definitely a serious part of what I like to play. That’s what excites me as a player. Of course, this is me. A lot of people are different when it comes to what excites them the most when they play a game.

 

 

Role-play is very important in France but not really in the USA…

Yeah, in the USA it’s very competitive. I’m American, of course. Ideally, I’m fitting the stereotype right there when I talk a lot about the PvP in what I like to play. We have a lot of role-players too. But I definitely understand how important role-playing is all over, especially in Germany and in France where it’s very much about the role-play aspect of the game and what tools we can provide to role-play in our game the best way possible. It’s what we’re trying to do.
We’re trying to look at what the other games have done and not have done successfully and maybe not so successfully in role-playing and try to incorporate those to The Secret World. Like with the option to wear different clothing, the option to go into bars and dance – I believe we even have dance games in our bars too. We’re thinking about the small things like that, small little systems that are really good tools for the role-playing crowd. They can just go in pubs with their guild, their friends and socialize, to maybe have a party or just go in there and act out something for there society; anything. We also have other elements outside of the game that tie into the game (ARG’s, clues, etc).

 

Anything you might want to add for the French speaking community?

Sure. The Secret World is a level-less and class-less system that means you basically can get to be anything you might want to be and play the way you want to play, which is something totally different than what is out there right now. We have over 500 unique abilities so you get to create your own role. That’s something that’s pretty crazy. You can equip 7 abilities and you create and follow a path that is not just a set path, but many paths that you can choose to follow.
The reason why this style is cool is because you go into a guild for example, and if they need something like a healer role that you can’t fill. All you have to do is switch the abilities and then you can fill the role, or continue playing a similar role while gaining new abilities to fill a newer role while still having an impact on the game world. That’s very awesome, and that’s not something you see every day because it appeals to all types of players from all around the world, German, French, English... everyone.
I’m also definitely excited about the French community and working with them because our company just opened up a studio in Montreal, Canada, and of course that’s more Canadian-French, but we’re definitely looking forward moving the game more toward the French community as well. That means we are trying to develop the French community and make something the French language players, Canada, France or wherever, would definitely enjoy playing. Of course, that’s why we’re here!