Multiplex Explained

7/24/2019 Multiplex Explained

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Multiplex Project ProposalTable of Contents

Multiplex: Concept………………………………………………pg. 2

The Multiplex Gun……………………………………………….pg. 2

Activities……………………………………………………………...pg. 2

Gang Activities……………………………………………...pg. 3

Duo Spar / Gang Spar / Gang TTS / Base Battle

Individual Activities………………………………………..pg. 4

1v1 Spar / LMS / Spar Tournament

Post-Release…………………………………………………..pg.4

GST 2016 / PK Arena

Scoring….……………………………………………………………...pg. 5

Rewards..……………………………………………………………...pg. 6

Marketing / Pricing .……………………………………………...pg. 7



Multiplex: Concept

Essentially, the idea behind Multiplex (MPX) is to give gangs a place to challenge one-another in an

environment that rewards skill-based play. We plan on accomplishing this by eliminating the variable of

weapon advantage, and disabling all non-MPX weapons from MPX activities.

The Multiplex Gun

The only gun that players will be able to use in all Multiplex levels is the Multiplex Gun. With this gun,

players will be able to customize the following stats: Damage, Freeze, Rate of Fire, and Spread. The plan

is to have a terminal in the MPX lobby (similar to the

Arcade games), where a GUI is populated that enables

them to customize their guns, activated upon grabbing the

terminal. In this GUI, they will make their customizations.

They will have 10 points to distribute into theaforementioned stat categories to enhance them, in

whatever combination they wish. Each stat category will

have a scale from 0 to 10 which will indicate the level of

that particular stat. Given the limitation of 10 points, they

will have to make a choice on what stats they want

enhanced, and which ones they want to forego. Testing

has been done, and the stat benefits have been tweaked

to where no stat combination will yield an “overpowered”

gun.

Players will also be able to choose whether they want tohold the gun in the left hand, or the right hand.

Activities

Once players have the MPX gun, they’ll be able to engage in the activities offered at the Multiplex. An

increasing number of players have been wishing for skill-based play to resurface, and Multiplex aims to

satisfy this inquiry. Our goal is to offer players both gang and individual activities in an environment freeof weapon advantage.

Given that a purchase is necessary to compete in MPX, boosting should decrease tremendously, as

“burner” accounts will likely not be supplied with the gun.

First rough draft of the GUI. Does not include

hand preference, and all stats are now based on a

0-10 scale instead o variable costs .



Gang Activities

While it may instantly be appealing to gang sparrers who seek skill-based play, we intend on attracting

gangs geared towards PKing and Basing as well. The gang activities currently in process are:

Gang Activities: Duo Spar

Brought by popular demand, players will be able to team up with a buddy and engage in 2v2 combat. It

is essentially a gang spar that is limited to 2 players per gang.

Question: Would it be possible to have players chose their teammate; instead of randomly picking two

gang members within the level?

Gang Activities: Gang Spar

Same popular gang spar concept adopted from the Spar Complex; except the added Multiplex gun

limitation.

We have multiple themed arenas to accommodate different player tastes: In addition to the classic

(open) arena with no obstacles, there will be a base-themed arena, and possibly an outdoors themed

arena. Same Ol’ gang sparring concept, though. Two gangs go head-to-head, 2-5 members per each

gang.

Gang Activities: Gang TTS (Tag Team Spar)

Same concept as the TTS Event; except gangs will join a queue, and be paired up in a first come, first

served basis (similar to the current GS queue).

In each match, two gangs will go against one-another in a tag-team fashion. Each gang will have 2-4members per match, and only one member for each gang will go in at a time to fight; the rest will be in a

spectating box outside of the arena.

Instead of having a “grab the block and your next teammate will be screwed over” tagging system, we’re

going to see about making a “TAG” GUI button that you will tap (or click) to tag your teammate in.

Also, the Gang TTS Arena is larger than that in the event. Players complain about the small size of the

TTS Event arena.

Gang Activities: Base Battle

Long story short: Up to four gangs join in and fight it out in a large base-themed arena.

**NOTE: In beta testing, I found that the match turned into a game of cat-and-mouse after about 9

minutes. To address this, I propose that, 8 minutes after the round starts, a 30-second timer appears.

Once this timer reaches 0, all remaining players are warped into a smaller obstacle-free ‘cage’ arena to

finish the fight.***

Last gang standing wins.

Snk – you know what this is—you helped create it about a year and a half ago – Meph



Individual Activities

In addition to offering gangs a skill-based environment free of weapon advantage, we’ve decided to also

extend this to individual activities as well.

Individual Activities: 1v1 spar

Simple 1v1 spar, with the MPX Gun limitation.

Individual Activities: Last Man Standing (LMS)

Basic Last Man Standing concept, except with the multiplex gun limitation. Individuals join in and fight

to see who can be the last man standing.

Could be auto-hosted on a schedule, or hosted by Admins.

Individual Activities: Spar Tournament

Individual players compete with one-another in randomized 1v1 brackets, and the game advances

accordingly until there is 1 player remaining.

Could be auto-hosted on a schedule, or hosted by admins.

The above activities are near completion and scheduled to be released January 30, 2016.

Post-Release (After January 30, 2016)

GST 2016:

After January 30, we will divert our attention to GST 2016, which is planned to have the Multiplex Gun

limitation to enforce the skill-based play.

We typically have Gang Spar as a part of the qualifiers, and this year we plan on this as well; the

difference is that the only gang spars counted will be those recorded in the Multiplex Gang Spar arenas.

This is for two reasons:

1) Last year, we had a lot of controversy surrounding a couple of the qualifying gangs, with the

accusation of boosting their wins to qualify. With the gun limitation imposed by the multiplex, boosting

will most certainly be nonexistent, because players are unlikely to purchase the Multiplex Gun on theburner accounts typically used for boosting.

2) Since the non-multiplex guns will be disabled in the actual GST, it does not make sense to allow gangs

to qualify with them. Obviously we cannot impose this on the basing and PKing qualifiers, but we could

certainly do it with gang sparring.



After GST 2016 finishes, we will go back to developing Multiplex activities. As of right now, the

activities planned are:

Individual Activities: PK Arena

My attempt at breathing some life into a great concept that currently has no incentive to attract players.

Instead of having an arena that offers nothing more than kills, this PK Arena will be auto-hosted in 10-

minute rounds. There will also be 4-6 different arenas, which will be cycled through (either random, or

voted by participants at the beginning of each round).

For crowd control, there will be a “maximum players” join limit, depending on the size of the arena. So,

say that our join limit is 30, and Player # 31 opts to join. They would be put in the queue, and when

somebody from the original 30 dies, player # 31 will join in (assuming they’ve not left the PK Arena

Lobby).

Scoring:Since our playerbase is highly scoreboard-driven, I’d recommend having a scoreboard for some of these

activities, that cycles between top 5 scores DAILY, WEEKLY, and ALL-TIME.

Scoring for 1v1 Sparring

For 1v1 spar, I would recommend scoring based on “WINS – LOSSES = SCORE”, so that people have

incentive to maintain a good ratio, instead of just going for wins. Each WIN would yield +3 points, and

each LOSS would yield -2 points; this way, somebody’s losses would have to be significantly greater than

their wins (150%) to begin losing points.

1v1’s scoreboard would show the individual with the highest score,

Scoring for Duo Spar*1, Gang Spar, Gang TTS, Base Battle

For these gang activities, I would apply the same scoring method explained above (in 1v1 sparring),

except for the gangs. For example, in the diagram below, (Meph’s Monks) won 2/7 rounds, yielding 1

point; while (Snk’s Slugs) won 5/7 rounds, yielding 6 points. In this event, (Snk’s Slugs) is in the lead for

this particular gang activity, so they would be placed 1ST on the score board for that activity.

*1 For Duo Spar, we may want to score based on individual performance, rather than gang performance;

since 2 players is more an individual effort than a group effort.



Scoring for PK Arena:

The ultimate goal of PK Arena is to rack up as many kills over deaths (KILLS – DEATHS = SCORE). For each

round, I believe the best thing to do is reward points to the top three performers as such:

1st Place: 5 points

2nd Place: 3 points

3rd Place: 1 point.

Then we could generate DAILY/WEEKLY/ALL-TIME scoreboards based on these accumulated PK Arena

points.

Rewards

For the time being, we could stick to scoreboards, but it would be very easy to lay out some sort of

reward system for those who place 1st in each respective activity (On a weekly or monthly basis).

Gang Rewards

Gang Spar, Gang TTS, Base Battle

For gangs, we have previously talked about the idea of “gang points”, and with the introduction of this

and other gang activities on the horizon (John’s Gang Wars, for example), it wouldn’ t be a bad idea to

revisit this in the near future.

I’ve noticed a recent spark of interest in the Gang Admin position, which is a great thing considering the

release of these new gang activities. iEra has been fortunate enough to have created automated gang

systems that do not require staff intervention or oversight, so the title Gang Admin has not been as

necessary as it was in the PC Era days. The unfortunate casualty of this is the relationship that the gangcommunity had with the Gang Admin. It would be nice for gangs to have a dedicated liaison of whom

they could direct their inquiries, and who could host events that add some spark to the Gang

communities. I theorize this is the direction we’re wanting to go, and the reason behind the recent new

hires into the Gang Admin position.

Given its nature, Multiplex could provide such a medium for these events, and it can be treated as

somewhat of a Gang Event house in addition to the activities it is already planning to offer, highlighted

above. This would add further utility of the Gang Admin position, and strengthen the gang community’s

relationship with them, as well as enhance the overall gaming experience for all parties involved.

Individual Rewards

Duo Spar, 1v1 Spar, LMS, Spar Tournament

For individuals, we could offer some sort of cash bonus for placing high on the scoreboard. The amount

can be in proportion with the effort involved in the activity, similar to how individuals receive cash

bonuses when their gang has taken over a base for a considerable amount of time.

Another potential reward could be Event Coins (in the case of LMS or Spar Tournaments).



Marketing / Pricing

The elephant in the room here is, “How much will it cost?” after all, let’s see what players are

getting out of this:

A customizable gun Increased walk speed inside activities (to add more focus on bullet dodging)

New activities (gang and individual)

A controlled environment that gives players no reason to make another purchase

outside of Multiplex, ever again.

This latter point cannot be ignored when considering the price. I must play devil’s advocate,

because, while I’m not fond of the idea of forcing players to continually make a purchase in

order to have “skill-based play”, at the end of the day, the server needs funding.

Fortunately, Multiplex will not appeal to every player. I’d like to draw attention to the players

that Multiplex will not appeal to, who will continue pumping the server with revenue as it

always has been.

For every player that advocates “skill-based play”, there is a player who is on the other side of

the fence; who loves winning by the handicap of a superior gun. These players will outright

avoid Multiplex like the plague, because they simply came here to have fun, not “learn a skill”.

These players will continue to play the server as if Multiplex had never existed.

Also, we cannot replicate the basing experience that many players enjoy. While we have

activities that offer the synthetic feeling of PKing in a base, the critical aspect of capturing the

base will not be replicated here. Frankly, the concept of hiding behind a wall, spamming ahallway, and calling it “holding a base” is not something that is conducive to skill-based play, so

Multiplex has no interest in adopting this aspect. The Gang Fort activities will also not be

simulated here, so those who enjoy Gang Fort will continue to rush to those bases when the

event is going on.

The event house is another experience that cannot be effectively simulated by Multiplex. While

we are going to offer LMS, Spar Tourney, and other similar events, they will have the MPX Gun

limitation. Players will still seek out the Events House to use their non-MPX weapons, and play

other events not offered at Multiplex.

Long story short, we are simply dividing the players who want a challenge from those who

prefer a handicap. We are providing a safe haven to those players who want the experience of

applying their raw talent to the game, and continuously work on perfecting it without worrying

about the variable of “OP Guns”. In my experience, I’ve found that this breed of players is the

easiest to retain, so long as you continue to provide them the medium to perfect their abilities,

free of change.



When change is introduced that invalidates the work they have put into this talent, these

players invariably resign, and we lose a valuable member of the community. This has been the

case lately, as we’ve been losing many of our first generation iEra natives because the game

experience they came for—that which added emphasis on skill—has been heavily diluted. The

realization that a less-talented player can now compete on their level simply because of his gun

purchase, has turned away many players who have invested their time and energy into learning

the art of PKing, sparring, and the like.

Multiplex aims to preserve the raw experience that this game offers, and as a result retain

those players who would otherwise quit due to environmental change.

Since this is new territory for us, pricing will be difficult to predict. We do not know at this

point exactly how many players will merge over to Multiplex, or what kind of activity there will

be after the initial boom of introduction. The challenge is that we want to offer the gun at a

price which will be in direct proportion to the benefits highlighted above, but not so high that it

will discourage players.

The following proposals have been raised in the discussion of charging the player for the gun:

Add Multiplex membership as a part of VIP.

One-time purchase

Have the gun as a “rental”

Below is my commentary on these proposals:

“Add Multiplex membership as a part of VIP.”

Of the suggested proposals, I believe this one would require the most elaborate planning. Itmakes sense to me because of the following criteria:

A speed boost will be present in Multiplex. This feature is already captured by VIP

Membership.

VIP already offers full repairs.

Those purchasing VIP specifically for Multiplex will also reap the other benefits offered by

VIP.

The good thing about VIP is that, if players realize that they do not want to play Multiplex, they

can discontinue their membership. This may serve as a breath of fresh air for those players

who have recently been jumping on the “I have xyz in my inventory and its useless!”bandwagon.



“One-Time Purchase.”

Another proposal I’ve heard is to just treat it like another gun; and offer it for a one-time

purchase in the Multiplex shop.

The price range I’ve heard is between $70k and $100k.

If this is the method chosen, I foresee players complaining about having to make a hefty

purchase in order to try it out; which may discourage some players from even playing in the

first place.

Also, if this method is chosen, we would also have to remember to add a repair station, for

when the gun deteriorates.

“Have the gun as a rental.”

This is my least favorite of the proposals, because VIP can offer the players practically the same

thing; plus more.

“Meph’s recommendation”

After weighing out the above proposals, my recommendation would be to offer both #1, and #2

proposals highlighted above.

If we offer it as a VIP item, we will certainly make the money necessary to equal the activities

offered. For each player that converts to the VIP because of the Multiplex, we will gain a

revenue stream of 7500 gralats each month.

It’s also a smaller chunk of change, which is easier for the players to digest and accept; giving

the feel of a rental. Additionally, it will be an added benefit for those who already have VIPmemberships.

As mentioned earlier, this will also allow players to try the Multiplex out before making a large-

scale commitment. If they decide that it isn’t for them, they can simply discontinue their

membership. If they decide they love it, they can keep it.

I also believe in giving players the option to make a permanent commitment. For those players

who just want to purchase the gun outright, we can offer it at around $75,000 (10 months

worth of VIP).

This variant of the gun will decay over time, and will hence require repair (anotherregular stream of revenue for us).

Multiplex Explained

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