Fragging with Kwari Founder Eddie Gill Options

[King Buzzo]

What follows are excerpts from an interview I conducted with Kwari founder and creator Eddie Gill. Eddie and the Kwari team are in the process of creating the first Real Cash Economy First-Person Shooter. Based upon the no-subscription free download concept and a sort of "arms dealer" business model, Kwari has built a strong underground following even though it isyet to launch Beta.

Nate (mindhive): For those who are not familiar, what is the overall concept of Kwari?

Eddie (Kwari): Kwari is a First-Person-Shooter game, much like Quake, Unreal, or Halo, where someone places a stake to enter a multiplayer game of skill - effectively wagering on their own performance in the arenas, rather than betting on a chance outcome that you have with something like online poker. It’s much more gladiatorial and immersive, but thrill of winning money is comparable to online gambling, with the luck factor removed.

Player’s win or lose money with every exchange of fire in real time, so we have to track every shot fired as a possible financial transaction. There are several other ways to win money outside of pure combat, and we I think that this gives the game a broader appeal. For example, players can unlock cash prizes or jackpots by collecting a series of keys, and there’s a penultimate 64-player show-down level called the Killing Floor, which ends in a mad cash grab as players are knocked out. Kwari isn’t just about combat!

Most importantly; Kwari is a Zero Sum game. We don’t take any of the player’s winnings or tax them. Kwari makes its money only by selling virtual ammo to the players. All money put into the game by players in form of stakes is ultimately paid out to players.

Nate (mindhive): It's quite a unique concept. Where did the idea and inspiration come from?

Eddie (Kwari): When I visited E3 in 2002, Peter McDougall (V.P. Marketing for Nintendo), stated, the ‘From the standpoint of the player online gaming is thrilling, but from the bottom line of a business plan, it’s somewhat more chilling’.

I realised that Nintendo and other games publishers were struggling for a viable business model for online gaming, and many games companies publishing online games were still working to a retail business model. To create something viable I needed to meet a series of objectives; an ongoing revenue stream, rapid distribution at very low cost, zero piracy, effective low cost marketing, integration with existing with new and emerging online marketing strategies, and of course, a thrilling and compelling customer experience.

Nate (mindhive): What type of participants are you hoping/expecting to attract?

Eddie (Kwari): Initially, we hope to attract people who are currently playing FPS multiplayer games, and maybe some of the MMORPG players who are looking for something fast-paced, quick to get into, but don’t want to open up another monthly subscription.

Players will very quickly adapt to Kwari and realize that the game requires a very different strategy to that of existing shooters. Kwari introduces a totally different psychological approach to an extremely popular genre of games, with real consequences.

Kwari’s player balancing ensures the new players are equally matched to their opponents, so we expect the sort of player the game attracts to expand quickly to those playing poker online, lunch time gamers looking for blow off some steam, and generally people that might really enjoy this simple style of game, but haven’t yet ventured online to play against other people – particularly when it’s not necessary to have superb combat skills in order to win cash prizes, or, even the jackpot prize.

Nate (mindhive): What time frame for engagement do you plan? If so, how?

Eddie (Kwari): This is one for the management, so I can’t answer it, but we hope to be in open beta testing within a couple of months, and hopefully launching the full product for free download by the end of the year.

Nate (mindhive): What is your long term vision for Kwari?

Eddie (Kwari): At Kwari, we like to innovate. Firstly, we will expand the game, not by adding endless new maps that do the exactly the same thing as the previous maps, but by adding new and innovative features that make the game more compelling. Like MMOs, we can continually inject new elements and novel ways of winning money into the game at any time. In the longer term, Kwari will create a series of new games covering different genres but operating under Kwari rules. We have already outlined games rules for several new products, so we are ahead of schedule in this area.

Nate (mindhive): You used the term Zero Sum earlier, how does the developer make money within this system?

Eddie (Kwari): If by the developer you mean Kwari, then we sell ammo for the game. Ammo is required to play the game – a lot like paintballing in many respects. Every other penny the players put into the game goes back to the players.

As a business, Kwari will design, own and operate its own games, but will use established software studios to develop new titles. We’ve built a strong relationship with BigWorld and Micro-Forte and I expect that we will be working together long into the future.

Nate (mindhive): At first glance it appears that Kwari will not have a true "economy". How do you see this?

Eddie (Kwari): I don’t really think of Kwari having an in-game economy, although it does have a sophisticated global financial system to manage all of the finances involved in the game. Every shot is a potential financial transaction, and all self-inflicted damage has to resolve itself in money terms via complex algorithms to feed the jackpots across all games being played.

Players will approach the game with different economic agendas. For example, some will simply want to shoot others and win that way, others will be looking for the big wins. Kwari operates more like highly sophisticated coin-op machine as found in a video games arcade, or, new generation casino slot machine the different is that highly entertaining game in its own right (even with out money).

What is unique about Kwari is that combines the thrilling entertainment experience of a first-person-shooter with the compelling psychological drivers similar to those found gambling games in a game of skill.

Nate (mindhive): Is everyone on a level playing field gear and skills wise?

Eddie (Kwari): Yes, the player balancing ensures that players are as evenly matched as possible. Many factors are taken into consideration, including hit ratio and profit and loss to ensure a well balanced playfield. The weapons are designed so that the are quite evenly matched in terms of the damage they inflict, but different weapon types have different abilities, for example, some weapons might hit more than one player simultaneously, or fire around corners, but will only do limited damage.

Nate (mindhive): As we have seen in past RCE worlds, when real money is involved people approach the games in a different light. What systems do you have in place to ensure cheating does not occur?

Eddie (Kwari): We spent a huge amount of time researching this area. Kwari is designed from the ground up to be played for money, so it was not developed in the same way that a typical FPS would be. Of course, I cannot give away trade secrets, but I can say that Kwari uses the same technologies as used the gambling industry, and very sophisticated cheat detection software. If we detect people cheating in the game, then they’re out. It’s as simple as that. If they try to come back, they’ll be identified and blocked.

The game engine was specially modified to integrate with security and backup technologies developed for us by Laverock von Schoultz. LVS technologies handle billions of dollars worth of bets every year for some of the largest online gambling companies in the business and have proved to be extremely solid and reliable.

Kwari is accepting Beta signups now. Get yours, but watch your back, I'll be waiting for you...

[RexDameon]

a realy good concept how much things will actually cost though will be a big deciding factor if this will be a hit or not. Defintly a good thing for the casual gamer.

[Dino]

[i]Eddie (Kwari): At Kwari, we like to innovate. Firstly, we will expand the game, not by adding endless new maps that do the exactly the same thing as the previous maps, but by adding new and innovative features that make the game more compelling.

Hmmm... What an interesting concept *cough* Amethera *cough*

Wow Buzzo, Sveta is definitely wearing off on you. Nice interview! Unless it was really Sveta that did the interview and you just put replaced her name with yours.

I agree with Rex though, this sounds great for short term play sessions but I think their key to success will be all about cost of play.

[Svetlana]

While I'd like to take credit for getting the interview Dino, I must concede that to Buzzo.

I am left wondering one rather minute thing: what kind of funds withdrawal process might we expect?
Otherwise, nice answers that did clarify a few things for me. This Kwari will definitely be one to watch.

[Dino]

You know, I do tease too much. :(

It really was a good job Buzzo ,-)

[King Buzzo]

:hides:

Thanks!

[Guest_Guest_nvck_*_*]

I am curious how the game handles latency issues. Ping is THE deciding technical factor in any FPS game. You can ping 50 and be more skilled than others but any BBB Swede with a ping of 5 will simply outaim you with hitscan (instant hit, no projectiles) weapons. Considering the game wants to attract a global audience, servers will have to be placed all over the world and the matchmaking system will need to try and select players who ping approximately the same. There is also an option of performing most of the calculations on client side to ease the net traffic but I doubt it will happen here because it results into increased hack vulnerability.

[Dino]

That really is an excellent point. I live an hour drive from Silicon Valley and am constantly amazed at how my net connection is literally 1/100 the performance of people in other countries.

[Guest_Guest_*]

Ya, it'll be a good game. Beta already started. For more current info visit my fansite
http://www.kwaricash.com/

[King Buzzo]

Ya, it'll be a good game. Beta already started. For more current info visit my fansite
http://www.kwaricash.com/

Thanks for the link "6uest". We'll be keeping an eye on your site!