TenTonHammer.com - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

First and foremost it’s my job to ensure that people will have a great time when they log into LEGO Universe. I’m crafting the game’s features on a high level with a focus on the kinds of experiences players will have. I also guide the entire design team.

I’ve played with LEGO since I was a kid. My current favorites are the Castle and Star Wars sets… Do I get a free death Death Star for doing this interview?

I love playing all kinds of sports - most recently roller hockey and basketball. I enjoy exploring the mountains and traveling. I’m also a fan of science fiction, fantasy, metaphysics and the “unknown."

(Laughs) I'm totally a hardcore gamer! I've been into role-playing games and board games since I was 10 years old. Back then, my friends and I would go to the local library to play the original Dungeons and Dragons game. I also played the very first video games, like Pong and Space Invaders, and the very first MMOG’s. I’ve never stopped gaming since I was a kid, and I've been designing games for about as long as I’ve been playing them.

It’s just very powerful to develop an idea into reality. I can also be creative and tell a story, and hopefully my work allows thousands of people to have fun and enjoy themselves. So to me, it's an ideal way to spend my time.

No, my team’s responsibility is the gameplay.

By providing entertaining answers to questions like these: When you create your minifig and enter LEGO Universe, what do you see? What point of view do you have in the game? What can you do as your minifig? What’s the story of the game; what’s the fiction behind it? What kinds of social interactions can players have with each other? How do players interact with the game from a control standpoint?

“Gameplay” is the experience that results from my team bringing all of these elements together-- and it’s our primary concern that it be a fun experience!

(Laughs) I like that! In fact I might start wearing a little law enforcement badge that says “FUN” on it!

Yes, that’s part of my team’s responsibility.

Yes! My team has collaborated on an overarching epic storyline about the origins of LEGO Universe and the minifigs that inhabit it.

I can’t tell everything about the game just yet, but maybe I can give you some hints… Aside from just playing games or trading and socializing, the story allows minifigs to team up—and that’s when the real adventuring begins. If the teams of little LEGO people are successful in their endeavors, they’ll uncover new zones where they can have new and different experiences…

That’s all I can say for now, but I’m really excited for the time when I can share more details with everyone!

I’d say the systems that allow users to generate their own content—things like original, highly customizable creatures as well as static models. It’s just amazing to be able to build your own creation, deploy it and have it come to life in the game world, and then show it off to your friends.

Players’ imaginations are the only limit on how big LEGO Universe can grow. Over time, it will be entirely possible for teams of minifigs to keep opening new areas, or even entirely new worlds…

But an individual minifig may have to scale back their dreams if they haven’t collected or earned enough bricks to build their creations. There’s an economy at play in LEGO Universe, so you’ll want to make friends and work together!

OK. Essentially, new minifigs enter LEGO Universe with nothing: no money, no bricks, no stuff. Then they go through the world completing challenges, defeating enemies, gathering goods, discovering treasures and unlocking secrets. Along the way, the minifigs find bricks and collect a highly valuable currency— plastic.

Using plastic, you can buy and sell goods to do things like customize your minifig; all the shops and vendors in LEGO Universe take plastic!

Since LEGO bricks are actually made of plastic, your minifig can also use it to create the bricks they need for their models or pets. But you could also trade with other minifigs for the bricks you need —so you can conserve your currency by cooperating!

That’s an outline of the economic forces at play in LEGO Universe… I’d love to divulge more details as the game develops!