PowerPlay Magazine

Dear managers! I bring you an exclusive interview with maybe the most interesting person on PPM. It is the translators' supervisor vlady. Let us start then!

Please introduce yourself to the readers first.

-My name is Vlado, I am 25 years old, currently living in both Bratislava and Dulovce. Dulovce is a small Slovak village in the Komarno district. It is worth noting that our developer Mike22 also has some relatives in this village. I work full-time for PPM and therefore I spend the workdays in Bratislava.

What do you mean by full-time? What do you do for PPM?

-In fact I am a entrepreneur and PPM pays me first and foremost for taking care of the translations here but I have plenty of other responsibilities too. I am getting more and more responsibilities with time. Actually I can't even name all the things that I do. I collaborate closely with the developers, communicate with the captains, I am some kind of a PR person for the international community on PPM and you could say I run PP Magazine. Besides that I try to help with propagation and negotiate some partnerships. And of course, I address the whole community by means of the Hockey News.

Looks like you have the most demanding and the most interesting job on PPM! How do you manage it time wise?

-Don't know if it's the most demanding job. I can manage it time wise because, as I have mentioned, I work for PPM full-time. If I had to do all these things right from the start I probably wouldn't have managed it. But after a time some things become automatic and you do them faster. And then you have time to add something else to your agenda.

What is currently being worked on at PPM and how does it look like with the game overall?

-I wouldn't like to give something away in advance. I don't ask much about the nearest plans because these often change. We are slowly advancing though. A bit slower than we would have liked but advancing anyway. We cannot rely so much on Mysho and Mike anymore due to their school assignments. We are slowly turning our attention to soccer but before that we have to finish some important things in hockey. National teams for instance.

Probably everybody is looking forward to the national teams. Could you give us a hint what is planned and how they should look like?

-The plan is that World Championships and Olympic Games will be played at the end of the season and exhibition and qualification games will be played in the meantime. All countries with their own league will have their national team. The Olympics will be played every 4 seasons and the Worlds every non-olympic season.

How does it look like with player loans? How should it work and when could it be launched?

-I can't say much about player loans. It is designed in theory but we haven't got to it yet and we won't for a while. I really don't know much more.

Let's get to managing. How are you doing in the league? You are in the top 8 for the moment and holding on to a playoff spot. What are your goals for the second half of the season?

-I have played in league III last year so I would like to return there. I was a bit unlucky because I have finished in 13th place and lost the relegation round in 3 games. I would certainly like to finish the regular season in the top 3 and then battle for promotion. The ambitions are high although I don't know if I will manage to fulfill them.

You say you have been relegated from league III in the first season. Do you think you have made a mistake that caused this?

-I have started with poor goalie and so I had a slow start to the season. I was almost at the bottom of the table. Maybe I should have tried buying someone from the market but I have waited until I got a decent goalie from the academy. The goalie came but it was too late to get into the top 8. Then all it takes is a bit of bad luck and you can be relegated. I decided to invest into the facilities and hoped that I will avoid relegation but it didn't work.

So it was not a mistake. You are playing a high quality tournament called WHL-World Hockey League. You have been drawn into a difficult group. Which is the strongest team in this very closely matched group? How are you doing there and what are your goals?

-I have to admit that I don't put too much emphasis on it. I am saving my players for the league so that they are fresh in the battle for promotion. I don't have any ambitions in the tournament and I only take it as something extra. I think HC Šunka, the group leader, is the hardest opponent but all teams have their strengths and those who take the tournaments most seriously will advance.

You have already won one testing tournament! Was that satisfying?

-That was incredibly lucky. Gioel had withdrawn from the tournament because he wanted to sign up for a different one. Therefore I have advanced from the group instead. But we don't do these kinds of things normally so please don't ask us to do something similar. It was only testing. And so the playoff berth fell in my lap. But then I won deservedly and earned bragging rights in our office ;-)!

Congrats. How do you like the credit tournaments? I heard they took a lot of work. So what is your overall impression of them?:)

-Thank you. I think the main thing is that they work as they should. We are still catching out some bugs and adding new small features. I think that even now they look pretty good and I am satisfied with them. It looks like they are popular and growing in numbers nicely and that's the most important thing.

Are you planning any other improvements for the credit tournaments?

-We would like to add a short guide so that everything is clear to everybody. Then modify the system in such a way that more teams will be able to share prizes. This is needed for tournaments with a lot of participants. Maybe some other small things. Time will tell, who knows what we will come up with.

Do you have any ideas on improvements that you would like to see implemented into the game?

-Of course. I have a lot of ideas. Some are implemented, others not. For example we plan to create a page with team statistics of all teams in the league in the near future. I will be designing that. I would also like to see wins, losses stats for goalies or game winning goals for players. My goal is to have the game as close to reality as possible and I try to get through such ideas that help with this.

What kind of sports do you like?

-Hockey is number one for me but I follow almost every sport. I like to watch canoe slalom, cycling, tennis, skiing, biathlon and others. I play ball hockey with friends and sometimes tennis. I like to ride a bike and skate.

Is there any message you have for the managers? Or an advice for newbies?

-I would like them to take the losses more sportsmanlike. It is only a game and there is no need to get angry. Some take it too seriously. They should have fun playing the game. To the newbies I would like to advise to read the guide carefully so that they don't ask the same questions over and over again.

Thank you for the interview and good luck in the game and in real life!:-)