Hey all - I met up with Chedburn in person for the third year in a row (super nice down to earth guy from the UK) at Torncon Boston in the US and have some inside info straight from the man himself!
(This might seem obvious, but for the new players... Yours Truly is on left, Chedburn on the right)
First, I'm answering three questions that were repeated several times and either made me blush red with embarrassment or laugh out loud.
1.) The shotglass items that come from Torncon (in my display case for reference) don't have an in-game effect. For some reason many players are under the impression the shotglasses increase alcohol-related-nerve. I have no idea where that rumor came from. (It's similar to when L4suicide started a rumor years ago that having all the different types of coins gave a +5% gym gains boost so he could scam-sell more coins that he didn't want lol.) The shotglasses are just commemorative items. You can obtain a shotglass of your own by attending a future Torncon dinner. (Vienna 2027 and Denver in 2027)
2.) Yes, PrincessJulie actually did dump me. No we were not married irl. Yes, Evaline dumped me too after Chedburn slid into her dm's. No, we were not married irl.
3.) Yes, several players actually have gotten Torn tattoos paid for by Ched and were awarded the Champion merit for that ink.
I started off my conversation with Ched congratulating him on passing the 100,000 active daily user mark. I asked rather pointed questions related to what his plan was to scale alongside the substantial player growth of the game and asked how he envisioned administration of the game should it grow to 200,000 active daily users and beyond. [Bonus content toward the end of this post where I asked bogie and PrincessJulie the same question!]
Ched answered the scalability question succinctly noting he feels like Torn is positioned well infrastructure-wise, is in good shape development-wise, and as for the rest... "that's bogie's problem." Ched is super excited about Jack-o getting fully up to speed and engaging the community with updates in a more constructive and consistent manner so he [Ched] can focus more on development.
Note: I'm paraphrasing the following, as I didn't record the conversation and [like a solid 30% of my threads] I'm typing this on my phone at an airport because I can't afford a private island and plane irl.
Andyman: Did you soft ban the deadeye + expose combo from spawning on red meta rifles like the armalite/enfield/sig552/tavor?
Chedburn: "If the combo spawns on rifles, it spawns on all rifles [regardless of color and rifles species.]"
Andyman: Do the rock, paper, scissors numbers in player profiles have some hidden purpose that we should be working toward finding out? Same with praying in church, anything the players should know?
Chedburn: "I released Rock Paper Scissors to see what the players would do with it. I also like having the freedom to just randomly add stuff. As for the church praying, no comment; you're going to have to get me way more drunk to get me to say anything about that."
Andyman: You've mentioned in the past that you don't like Sports Sneakers and definitely have no interest in allowing them to be added to an armory or expanding enhancers to the other battlestat types. Any more thoughts on that? Perhaps account-locking them or buying them back?
Chedburn: "It's true I don't like the sports sneakers item, that item was created a very long time ago in a much different Torn than exists today. I'm open to the concept of implementing a way to buy them back or perhaps removing them from the game in another manner, but I have absolutely no interest quadrupling down on creating new enhancers for strength, defense, and dexterity."
Andyman: A few years back in New Orleans you were quoted as saying "The Gold Plated AK47 has had it's day" any more thoughts on that? bogie mentioned he thought it would be cool to add a warlord bonus to the GAK, I mean... it's a gold-plated AK47 after all, isn't that the ultimate warlord weapon base?
Chedburn: "Not much has changed on that front, I still feel GAKs have had their time to be the best. Though, we are considering a travel update that may impact GAKs" [I later clarified that it would not simply be a $25b UAE buyback or anything of that nature]
Andyman: Any thoughts on doing official termed ranked wars where only certain weapons are incentivized? (Ie. triple score when a trout is used on the finishing hit or Spears and Desert Eagles only? It would be a neat way to extend the life of caches and potentially make wars more interesting than the overwhelming amount of termed matchups we have today.
Chedburn: "Not to that degree, though we are spending quite a bit of developer time/resources exploring different types of ranked competition. Potentially something like a "capture the flag." I also currently feel ranked wars are providing too much income to factions. The exact direction we move toward is still undecided, but keep an eye out for updates from Jack-o. I can't stress enough how excited I am with Jack-o coming onto the team, it supercharges our communication."
Andyman: There's currently a lot of demand for unlocking another mission giver, any word on another mission giver?
Chedburn: "We actually spent a considerable amount of time developing new content related to that [ie. the Amanda NPC that has existed for years] but ultimately decided Torn was not ready for the release. There simply isn't enough diverse content and something like a periodic crimes mission giver really relies on more crimes 2.0 having been released."
Andyman: Speaking of crimes 2.0,
last year we got some developer insight into the arson crime and it was released shortly after Torncon. It was an instant hit among us players who are thirsty for new content. Can we expect any hints on the next crime?
Chedburn: "No, though I'm toying with the notion of releasing TWO new crimes at the same time in the next crimes 2.0 release. The process for creating the content is tough to rush and the way I do it, well, it's frankly the only way I know how. I am the bottleneck throttling the release, but you have to understand Torn is my baby and it's difficult to walk back from content once it's released. I am very, very careful with these releases, and careful takes time."
Andyman: At one point, I believe there was a suggestion about creating a crime experience HOF. Any thoughts on that, and/or has any progress been made on a crime experience hall of fame?
Chedburn: "I'm open to the concept, though it's a fairly involved development change and again, one I can't easily walk back from once released. I like mystery, and am also keen on giving players the ability to see how far they drop after a critical failure. I think it would replace the current Offense [count] hall of fame category if we move forward." I [Andyman] asked Heasley4Hemp who was listening in on the conversation to chime in and he agreed that the underlying mystery is fun and compelling. Ched requested Heasley bring it up as a committee topic for further discussion.
Andyman: The looting community are curious if any additional changes are going to be made to the Easter Bunny activation time in future years given that Easter isn't the same day each year.
Chedburn: "I'll have to get back to you about that."
Andyman: Anything you'd like to share about territories and how you envision the map looking as the playerbase grows?
Chedburn: "I don't think expanding the map is something we'd do and faction sizes capped at 100 seem right to me. Honestly, my original intent [which was quite unpopular] was for there to be fewer territories and less intra-faction movement."
Andyman: Do you feel raids are due for a buff?
Chedburn: "Yes... and to add to that, I'd like to see more faction-led extortion come about."
Andyman: The relatively new dirty bomb changes seem well received, any more thoughts on changes to dirty bombs?
Chedburn: "Not at the moment, but we're open to suggestions."
[End of interview with Ched]
Bonus content: This year I also had the chance to sit down and separately "conversationally interview" both bogie and PrincessJulie about how they envision the future of Torn.
(Sorry Julie, no smile, still hurting from being dumped)
bogie focused his answer around what a future Torn organization chart would look like. Namely, bogie sees his role evolving into a internally-focused role with job responsibilities that align more with the title "Chief Operating Officer" vs. the "Community Manger" title bogie has had for the past 8 years. He would continue to oversee the community albeit with additional support/resources as the game scales up. bogie noted he has business management education and a keen interest in the legal/HR/compliance side of running a business. I learned that Only 20-25% of the tasks bogie does today are directly related to the traditional community manager responsibilities and that bogie would like to reshape staff roles to where the "moderator" role goes away. It's always fun talking to bogie about Torn; he gets very passionate when talking about the game and tries to give context behind what he says. Not so much in a defensive/justification way, but in a "we tried doing X many years ago, learned from it, and most importantly let that guide us into not repeating similar mistakes" way.
PrincessJulie approached the "how are ya'll going to manage ANOTHER 100,000 players?" question from a different angle. She noted scaling has been easier with higher staff retention which she attributes to better training documentation, staff competitions that build the staff community, and an increased focus on clearer definitions of staff roles and responsibilities that align with staff personality types. (Citing examples such as Cloudjumper being the "bug guy." In terms of a future org chart, PrincessJulie sees her future as Chief of [volunteer] Staff while continuing to cross-train and focus on ensuring staff have what they need to be happy and productive as they carry out their responsibilities.
A few other things I learned during the conversation with bogie and PrincessJulie were that the dreaded fed reason "staff see notes" can be for a plethora of reasons ranging from multiple citations that are too long to list, to selling nude pictures. They also tend to use this fed reason when there is a legal-related incident where authorities are involved. Staff are currently getting hit with an astounding 4,500 player driven reports per month which are manually reviewed. They're working to automate the initial review to summarize and ensure the report is for something that is actually against the rules. (Apparently a huge number of reports are from new players who are getting bullied with hospital time lol)
bogie and PrincessJulie mentioned they're looking to consolidate a few things like merging the chat and mail ban to simply an "all comms ban."
We ended the conversation with me asking "how did you think Boston Torncon went? Is there anything you would have liked to have seen done differently?
Julie chimed in saying there were zero disappointments, and that the upcoming "TornCan" event in Montreal is going to have the roadmap to success outlined for them by Evaline and all her and OrganicMechanic's hard work. Julie did note a slight worry about different cultures, and potential language barriers. She cited the example of how in Amsterdam many of the European players couldn't stay off their phone during trivia and cost their team points, whereas the Americans are pretty serious about trivia penalties and lost points. [In fairness, as an American, I can confidently say we're all about winning / scoring more points and will absolutely shun those who stand in the way of us getting points!] She also cited all of the "underlying support" the US Torncons have gotten from veterans with years or practice, which the TornCan event will not have initially. Players like Mr. Nines and LilahBryant running Karaoke events, Untouchable and MrsUntouchable seeking out local concerts and boat tours, JDWV showing proper casino etiquette to folks who have never gambled in a real life casino and are nervous to take the first step in a casino, etc.
She did agree the hotel lobby was a bit small and no pool was a slight bummer (I'm pretty sure she just wants to see more of Sealion's ass in that red thong, I know I do...), but thought the event was very well run.
Both bogie and Ched noted they had a fantastic Boston experience and are excited to see more player-run events pop-up in the future.
Thanks to Cheesus, Queen Bee, Evaline, Crysta (+1), Heasley4Hemp, and Chedburn for taking time to join me for dinner.
An extra special thanks to 2025 M'aol spawner, fearless leader of the warbirds, community event master, and future-keepsake-frontrunner Heasley4Hemp for actively listening in on the interview and serving as the independent "public witness" necessary to ensure I'm not just making stuff up and presenting it as official word!
(Cheesus was also there, though he was at the other end of the table teasing the local street-mice with cheese scraps)
Thanks for reading,
Mentions: My Wife Left me For Chedburn
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