In the second of a series of interviews with players (first one can be found here), I’ve interviewed a player who is one of Iron Realms’ biggest customers and famous for a rather unique playing style. The player’s character, Ottis, who lives in the world of Achaea, eschews combat for the most part, yet has an enviable selection of combat equipment. Instead, Ottis is interested largely in providing merchant services for other characters: engraving, tailoring, selling food, and so on. He’s one of the richest property owners and probably the most legendary merchant ever.

What I want you to take from this interview is the virtual asset sales model from the perspective of a major customer. He isn’t a teenager who has been hoodwinked. He’s not some desperate malcontent. He’s a normal, successful person who finds fulfillment in a virtual environment. As always, the context is everything.

You say, “Could you tell us a bit about yourself? How old are you, where do you live, what do you do for a living, that kind of thing. Only what you’re comfortable sharing of course.”

Ottis says, “I am 34 years old. I live in Barcelona where I was born and raised and I am an IT and telecom Consultant for a firm I founded myself early 2003.”

You say, “Do you remember how long you’ve been playing Achaea for?”

Ottis says, “I started playing in January. I think it was 2002.”

You say, “So, what got you into Achaea?”

You say, “Were you a text MUDer previously?”

Ottis says, “I started playing as a result of a search on Yahoo! Which brought me to TopMudSites. I had been in other Muds before Aardenwold and smaller one. I was also invited to be a developer on a MOO. Terribly hard work. Lots of fun.”

Ottis says, “When I first came into Achaea what appealed me most was the political system.”

You say, “When you started, did you think you’d ever buy any credits?”

Ottis says, “The history and especially the playerbase. I had never encountered such a large community of people that was nice and welcoming.”

Ottis says, “No.”

Ottis utters a deep, rumbling laugh.

Ottis says, “I thought I’d never be able to afford any.”

You say, “And yet you’ve become one of our biggest customers ever.”

Ottis says, “And I believed it was better to earn the gold by on character efforts.”

You say, “What changed your mind?”

Ottis says, “I started buying credits for my skills. I wanted a bit of help improving my abilities.”

You say, “Do you remember how big your first purchase of credits was?”

Ottis says, “Then I realized I was getting lost all the time so I bought the wand. Later came my shops. And I experienced two kind of growth: as a person and as a player.”

Ottis says, “I think I’d be able to recall the order in which I purchased them all. Because it has a lot to do with how Ottis has grown old.”

Ottis says, “As I said I statrted playing in 2002 fresh out of college. Penniless. My aspirations were modest: Be as good a figher as Harrold, my mentor, And a good Sentaari as our Guildmaster. Best one ever. Anoisha.”

Ottis says, “But I realized fighting is not in me. I haggle, I negotiate, I solve issues. I don’t kill or like to be killed. So I went into business.”

Ottis says, “I started selling portal services and I bought a quill of engraving.”

You say, “Selling portal services as in charging people to portal them around?”

Ottis says, “Yes, for 10 gold a trip.”

You say, “Did you make much from that?”

Ottis says, “Yes a fortune. Not the gold itself, but everyone in Sapience knew of this monk who wanted to sell items.”

Ottis says, “Fabulous publicity.”

You say, “So by selling items you mean that you used the quill of engraving to create engraved items that you sold?”

Ottis says, “And I made a great deal of friends. I met people I have always respected such as Yig. And I have seen many many then kids, now full men, grow up.”

Ottis says, “Now I own 3 shops in Delos. [Priciest place to have a shop in the entire game. Only a couple dozen shops there, and because they are also free of player government interference, they are highly valued.]”

You say, “Shops in Delos tend to be worth more than in the cities right?”

Ottis says, “Yes. Cities have terribly high taxes and are limited to non-enemied individuals, so the customer base is smaller.”

Ottis says, “Then you have to remember each city’s different laws regarding stocks and items sold.”

Ottis says, “I used to have one in Shallam. In fact I had two, but I don’t deal well with governments.”

You say, “What was the trouble you had in Shallam?”

You say, “Can you give us an example of how the laws differ?”

Ottis says, “I was robbed blind several times. So I wrote a note on my shop’s board something along the lines of: “Beware of thieves. They act unpunished while Pericles drinks his bottles empty.”" [Pericles is the NPC captain of the Shallamese guard.]

You say, “You believe that government officials were involved in your robberies?”

Ottis says, “The Shallamese government took great offense and we never reached an agreement on how to solve the issue. So I sold and left.”

Ottis says, “They felt insulting Pericles wasn’t a solution for my problems.”

Ottis says, “My reply was that Pericles should do a better job and take life with more humour. Just as I was doing.”

You say, “Did you turn a profit on the sale of your shop?”

Ottis says, “No I usually sell shops at the price I buy them. My goal is to make money from the services I provide.”

You say, “Really? So you haven’t seen appreciation on your Delos shops, for instance?”

Ottis says, “I want to sell jewelry, fix it, engrave it… the whole nine yards. I want to offer a full service. But its really hard.”

Ottis exclaims, “Oh I have!!”

You say, “Can you quantify that? As in, how much appreciation have you seen would you estimate?”

Ottis says, “I bought my first shop at 1 million gold. Sold it back to the owner, Orina…. well, her daughter, at the same price, then later repurchased it back from her at 2.5 million gold.”

Ottis says, “And I have been robbed a few times.”

Ottis says, “That’s when I decided to arm myself and learn how to fight.”

Ottis says, “But there are no good teachers around. You need a guild or a house for that.”

You say, “You couldn’t pay someone to teach you?”

Ottis says, “Many of my artifacts are offensive, but most are defensive. That is another of Ottis’s growth. Teachers have no patience. All they are willing to do is trade credits for what they call a system.”

Ottis says, “But once a system is made there countless ways to make it useless. So it’s a bad investment.”

You say, “What are your long-term goals with your shops?”

Ottis says, “The good investment is learn how to fight. And for that you don’t need a teacher. You need one from each class.”

Ottis says, “I want to have theme oriented shops. One dedicated exclusively to food. One to weapons, one to herbs, one to clothing one to jewelry.”

Ottis says, “I am especially excited about the food shop.”

Ottis says, “It involves traveling, meeting people, tasting food and dishes it also forces me to stay unenemied from everybody. Quite a difficult task nowadays.”

Ottis says, “Only keeping the store stocked up would mean having a good explorer’s rank.”

You say, “Do you run into problems with any cities in particular?”

You say, “I understand if you don’t want to create ill will.”

Ottis says, “I used to have a lot of problems in Hashan and Mhaldor. I was accused of raiding Mhaldor. Me! Who can’t even stance without hurting my legs or hold a knife without cutting my fingers off.”

Ottis says, “One night I lost 5 levels - from 79 to 74.

You say, “Who was it that came after you?”

Ottis says, “I honestly do not remember. I clearly remember dying to Gaul’s arrows at least twice. but that just comes to show you I didn’t even know how to hide.”

Ottis says, “Maybe it wasn’t him wasn’t he a Naga?”

Ottis says, “I remember who fixed it all. Harrold and Yig. Somehow one managed to prove to the other I just couldn’t have done it.”

You say, “Was it Hashanites or Mhaldorians?”

Ottis says, “This was in Mhaldor. Hashan was more political. Having a self proclaimed rogue mingling in their town wasn’t of their liking. Especially when I was selling Items they could sell as well and had to pay taxes for it.”

You say, “So, let me turn the conversation for a minute.”

You say, “I’ve been told that you are famous for buying artifacts that you can’t actually use.”

Ottis utters a deep, rumbling laugh.

Ottis says, “That’s not quite accurate.”

You say, “No?”

Ottis says, “Only have one that I cannot use.”

Ottis waves about silver fangs energetically.

You say, “Why did you buy them? Haven’t you always been a monk?”

Ottis says, “The thing is I buy them once I can no longer use.”

Ottis says, “For instance I want to turn Level 80 to buy the sustenance ring.”

You say, “Wait, you will purchase a sustenance ring only after turning level 80?” [Being level 80 gives the exact same effects as a sustenance ring.]

Ottis says, “Yes. Because I do not want the service thanks to the item. If ever I drop below it [level 80] I will take advantage of it. But I will earn the right to own now.”

You say, “Interesting.”

You say, “So why the fangs?”

Ottis says, “It’s a self-imposed discipline. Or else visiting Sapience will not be fun. it will be too easy.”

Ottis says, “I bought the fangs thinking they would increase the power of the venoms in my scorpion tail.” [The fangs are only useful for the Serpentlord class. Ottis is of the monk class.]

Ottis says, “I talked to this to someone but obviously I misread the reply.”

Ottis says, “So I keep it as a reminder of my mistake.”

You say, “You purposefully don’t trade it in then?”

Ottis says, “Yes I keep it and every time I see it, I read the artifacts list very slowly and carefully.”

You say, “How many artifacts have you bought? Any idea?”

Ottis says, “I have about 20 I guess. Not counting 2 of each vials and pipes.”

You say, “So do you have an estimate of how much you’ve spent on Achaea, in total?”

Ottis says, “Must be close to $9000 USD.”

You say, “So, let me ask you this.”

You say, “And keep in mind I’m just asking what other people are going to want to ask.”

You say, “Why would you spend 9 thousand dollars on a single game, even spread across 6 years. That’s $1500/year! Doesn’t it seem somewhat crazy to spend that kind of money on virtual things?”

Ottis says, “If we are going to quantify the investment, then we need to think of a substitute. A movie costs close to 7 dollars. If a movie lasts 2 hours that’s 3.50 per hour. Multiply that by the amount of time I spend here and I am saving money, let alone [compared to] a club, or other expensive forms of leisure.”

Ottis says, “But no it’s not about the money.”

Ottis says, “It’s the satisfaction of having a project. It is also the people I have met. And the people I will meet. I am sure in that regard, the best is yet to come.”

You say, “Well Ottis, I don’t want to take up any more of your time, so thank you very much for the interview.”

Ottis says, “You are very welcome the pleasure is mine.”