Mercutio, a Cipsoft member, was interviewed by our ex-staff member Zanko.

TibiaNews: Hello Mercutio, and thank you for taking this interview with TibiaNews.

Mercutio: Hello. Thanks for the invitation.

TibiaNews: To get things started, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Mercutio: Sure. My real name is Andreas, but Mercutio will do just fine. I am 32 years old, single, no children, no pets. I come from a small town near Regensburg. I studied International Marketing and already worked for some other companies in all kinds of industries before I came to CipSoft.

TibiaNews: What kind of things do you like to do in your free time?

Mercutio: Well, I read a lot, all sorts of books. Can be history, can be poems, classical or modern literature, marketing books, you name it. There is hardly a topic I am not interested in at all. I also like to go out and have fun with friends and colleagues. Well, of course I like to play computer games. My favourite games are adventures like the Myst series or stuff like Oblivion. By the way, talking about Oblivion, if anybody could tell me how to get rid of this damn vampirism thing, I would really be grateful. It drives me ~gnrglft~. Another hobby I just discovered lately is Poker. I just love to say “I’m All-in”. It just sounds too cool. Could be one of the reasons, why I hardly ever win. When I was younger – much younger, I played the drums in a Heavy Metal band. I grew older and shifted to Jazz. Unfortunately, I don’t play the drums anymore, but I am thinking about starting again. Who knows, maybe I will start a CipSoft band and we will call ourselves “Ulderek’s Rock”. Craban will play the guitar, Judigator piano – and no, Guido will not sing.

TibiaNews: Had you ever heard or played Tibia before you began working on the CipSoft team?

Mercutio: Yes. My first experience with Tibia dates back to 1998. I created my first account together with a close RL friend, who you might know under the name Craban. At that time, there was just one world, Thais was somehow smaller, Kazordoon hasn’t been discovered yet and dying was even more expensive than nowadays. I remember, when I first logged in, I got so excited, because I just loved the idea that those funny looking characters were actually controlled by real people.

TibiaNews: What was your first day at work like?

Mercutio: I started this year on January 2nd. The first day is quite the same in all companies, I guess. You get introduced to your co-workers, try to set up your PC, learn how to use the coffee maker. In general you try not to make a complete fool out of yourself on your very first day.

TibiaNews: Could you explain about what you do at work, and what a typical day has in store for you?

Mercutio: I am the Marketing Manager for CipSoft. This means, I am focusing on our markets, so to speak on our players and their needs. Many people think of marketing as the advertisement department. That’s just one part of the deal, and if you ask me, the most boring part. Actually, I hate advertising, as to me it has an undertone of persuading the customer. I prefer persuading my own company in order to achieve the best solution possible.

To be quite honest, I hardly have typical days. I spend most of my time on projects. Currently, I am analysing the Tibia website with regards to usability.

TibiaNews: "He calls himself the "advocate of our customers" as he is the one who normally takes the side of our players in internal discussions." That is an extract from a recent article on http://www.tibia.com. Would you agree with it, if so why do you usually decide to take the players sides?

Mercutio: Why I try to take the players side? Because it’s my job. I get paid for it. In general, a product is good if the customer likes it, not the manufacturer. Quality is defined by the customer. So it’s my job to find out what the customer wants or might want and translate the results into a strategy. Wow, just realized how cool that sounds. Honestly, sometimes I just write a press release or browse through the forums.

TibiaNews: What are your daily work times? When do you go to work and when do you get back home?

Mercutio: This is a very personal question which I will not answer, as you might get a totally wrong impression of me if I admitted that I usually come to the office around noon.

Craban: Ooops! ... That early???? ...

TibiaNews: What is it like in the Cipsoft office just before an update?

Mercutio: Business as usual. We are all professionals, specialists, and the best of their kind. Delays hardly ever occur. We nefer mak misstackes, so everything runs smooth and easy. A well oiled machine, that’s what we are,

TibiaNews: If you had to pick one aspect of your job, which one would you say is your most favourite?

Mercutio: There is no single aspect. I know it sounds cheesy, but the best part of my job is that I can work for a product I love with colleagues I respect.

TibiaNews:: Was it you who first came up with the idea of TibiaShop?

Mercutio: Nope, this idea has been around for ages. I was just the first person who had the time to do it.

TibiaNews: Do you enjoy working on Tibia?

Mercutio: Nope, not at all.

TibiaNews: Do you ever read the proposal boards, if so how often?

Mercutio: Of course I do, but not on a regular basis. For me it is some kind of an inspirational source. Guido and Craban read it a lot more than I do.

TibiaNews: A lot of people have been asking if premium accounts will ever be sold on game cards like other games. Do you know if there are any plans for something like this in the future?

Mercutio: Yes of course we are thinking about that. Game time cards are a good alternative to the payment methods we are currently offering. This is an idea we are playing around with for quite some time now. We haven’t made a final decision yet but we are already gathering information about possible manufacturers, distribution methods and such.

TibiaNews: You work on Tibia a lot, but do you ever leisurely play Tibia? If so how much?

Mercutio: I guess I am not different to any other Tibia player. There are times when I play every day for several hours and then there are weeks or even months when I hardly ever log in. But a lot of CipSoft members actually do play on a regular basis – even the gods.

TibiaNews: Since you first began working with CipSoft, have you had any funny, special or memorable moments which you would like to share?

Mercutio: I just had one a few weeks ago. Stephan and I went to a trade show to represent CipSoft and its products. Of course we wanted to be prepared if someone wanted to get a life demonstration of Tibia. So I logged in to my private player account and had to realise that I obviously had logged out in the centre of a monster spawn. As I was not using my normal laptop, none of my hotkeys were working. In the end Stephan was directing my escape with the touchpad and I kept typing healing spells at the same time.

After the trade show we came back to the office and told Craban the story. His reaction: “You are both banned for account sharing”. As Jsomeone said: “He can be such an ~*+# if you break the rules”

TibiaNews: What about the other members of Cipsoft, what are they like?

Mercutio: Lovely, sexy, intelligent, bright, funny, clever, handsome. You name it.

Craban: Note: The answer was given to the question about the OTHER members ...

TibiaNews: Is there anything in Tibia which you would like to add, change or remove?

Mercutio: I would like to add more exp to my knight.

TibiaNews: The test server has made a lot of Tibians not wanting the new update, will there be any changes?

Mercutio: I am not too involved into product management. However, I can tell that there is a reason why this server is called test server. Sorry, but I have to say this: I cannot remember a single update, where you couldn’t find hundreds of posts in our forums saying: “Worst update ever!” “You kill Tibia” and stuff like that. This always happens before having even tried it out. Another thing which can be read a lot of times is: “We want the old Tibia back”. We really thought about putting up a really old server just to show that Tibia is much better now. We have to realize that Tibia and its community is thrice as old as WoW. In order to keep a game interesting for such a long time, we have to make some adjustments here and there. Believe me, you would hate the old Tibia nowadays.

TibiaNews: What do you think about account sharers, macro users, botters, OT servers, etc.

Mercutio: I don’t understand them. Why not? I’ll give you an example. When I played Call of Duty I chose the Veteran mode. This is bloody hard. It took me about 4 hours to complete some mission. After I did it, I felt awesome. I made it. Great. After I had completed all missions I tried to do it again in Greenhorn mode, just for fun. That’s no fun at all. You can basically stroll through the battlefield as you accidentally step into so many medi packs that you cannot get killed, even if you intentionally tried it. I stopped after 15 minutes.

TibiaNews: Which type of server do you like to play the most, Non-Pvp, Pvp or Pvp-E?

Mercutio: I know that Non-PvP are the most famous servers nowadays. Me personally, I like the idea of a constant, subtle threat. I wouldn’t like to play on a Non-PvP server. But that’s just my personal opinion. I never tried PvP-E, so I cannot say anything about it.

TibiaNews: What is your opinion on roleplaying in Tibia?

Mercutio: I come from pen and paper RPGs, so personally I love role playing. Besides, if you have that lame skills as I have, you basically have no other option than to role play if you want to impress the girl.

Craban: Oh yes, I can tell from numerous experiences that Mercutio is indeed very skilled in doing just that.

TibiaNews: Do you read TibiaNews? If so, what do you think of it?

Mercutio: My browser bookmarks contain a folder named “Check this daily!!!”. First entry to this folder is Tibianews.net.

TibiaNews: OK, ready for some fast paced questions?

Mercutio: Shoot!

TibiaNews: Favourite vocation?

Mercutio: I am too stupid to play anything else than a knight.

TibiaNews: Favourite Tibia client?

Mercutio: The one where I have all my hotkeys right.

TibiaNews: Favourite outfit?

Mercutio: Not implemented yet. Someone said, “Lederhosen” just don’t fit into Tibia.

TibiaNews: Favourite monster?

Mercutio: Craban, when he is mad.

TibiaNews: Favourite item?

Mercutio: Our coffee machine

TibiaNews: Any last words for all the readers out there?

Mercutio: Hmmm, okay, to all of you out there: Enjoy the update and Merry Xmas. And especially to the staff of TibiaNews: I wish you all the best and thanks a lot for all the hard work you’re putting into this project.

Craban: Famous last words: "Hey look! That skeleton is pink! How cute ...

TibiaNews: Thank you once again for the interview Mercutio.

Mercutio: Thanks for having me here.