Mark Gerhard
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| Born | 13 July 1976<ref name="fbprofile">Gerhard, Mark. ProFile: Mark Gerhard. Facebook. Retrieved on 2009-11-02. “Birthday: 13 July 1976, Children: Alexander, Relationship Status: Married to Tracey Gerhard, Religious views: Christian ... Location: Cambridge, United Kingdom” [profile is not publicly available, but is visible to friends of friends]</ref> | ||
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| Residence | Cambridge, United Kingdom<ref name="fbprofile" /> | ||
| Other names | Mod MMG, MMG | ||
| Employer | Jagex | ||
| Occupation | Chief Executive (CEO) | ||
| Predecessor | Geoff Iddison | ||
| Relatives | Tracey Gerhard (wife), Alexander Gerhard (son)<ref name="fbprofile" /> | ||
| Website | http://www.jagex.com/ | ||
Mark Michael Gerhard (born 13 July 1976),<ref name="fbprofile" /> also known as Mod MMG and Mark Gerhard, is the current CEO of Jagex. His appointment to the position was announced on the 30 January 2009, though he was in the position officially from 1 February 2009.<ref>Jagex Appoints Mark Gerhard as Chief Executive Officer. Press Releases. Jagex Ltd (2009-01-30). Archived from the original on 2009-08-14. Retrieved on 2009-08-14. “UK, Cambridge, 30th January, 2009 – Jagex today announced the appointment of Mark Gerhard as the new Chief Executive Officer following the resignation of Geoff Iddison earlier this month. Mark Gerhard, who currently serves as the Chief Technical Officer at Jagex, has been appointed to lead the company from 1st February.”</ref>
Before taking over the role as CEO, Gerhard joined Jagex as the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) from 1 February 2008.<ref>Gerhard, Mark (2009-02-16). Answers from Mark Gerhard. News & Announcements, Runescape Forums. Jagex Ltd. Archived from the original on 2009-08-24. Retrieved on 2009-08-24. “Q) Tommy Z9 - How long have you worked for Jagex? A) I joined Jagex as their Chief Technical Officer (CTO) on 1st February 2008.”</ref>
On 9 February 2009, soon after his appointment to the position of CEO, Gerhard released an update called The Future of RuneScape. In it he stated that he is "an active RuneScape player," and gave his age as "ever so slightly over 21," which he followed with a smiley.<ref>Gerhard, Mark (2009-02-09). The Future of RuneScape. Behind the Scenes. Jagex Ltd. Archived from the original on 2009-08-14. Retrieved on 2009-08-14. “I’m an active RuneScape player and I’m ever so slightly over 21 :)”</ref> He confirmed that this was a joke a week later, saying he is "definitely well over 21," and that he was actually in his thirties.<ref name="evenmoreanswers">Gerhard, Mark (2009-02-16). Even more answers....... News & Announcements, RuneScape Forums. Jagex Ltd. Archived from the original on 2009-08-14. Retrieved on 2009-08-14. “Q) System Man56 - Are you really "ever so slightly over 21"? A) Yes, definitely well over 21; the "slightly" comment was an exaggeration. ... Q) Poli0776260- I'd like to ask you if you are realy [sic] 21 years old? If so, are you the youngest worker in Jagex or maybe the youngest CEO of all time? A) No, I'm not really 21, I had a lot of hair when I was 21. I'm in my thirties now.”</ref> According to his date of birth, he was 32 years old at the time.
Before Jagex
Gerhard has held many executive positions and he has over 14 years of experience working in many companies in the technology sector.<ref>Mark M. Gerhard's public profile in LinkedIn</ref> Previously he worked as:
- Security Architect at GTECH, where he served as the Principal Security Architect for the National Lottery
- Chief Technical Officer at Ministry of Data
- Group Systems Manager at Sterling Relocation
- Chief Operating Officer at Serious
- Principal Consultant at Chromasonic Computer Centre Ltd
- IT Director at Hospital I.T. Solutions (Pty) Ltd
- Security Consultant at Rand Merchant Bank
Employment with Jagex
As Chief Technical Officer (CTO)
Gerhard gave a short account on the RuneScape Forums about how he came to join Jagex as CTO.
| “ | I heard about the vacancy for a CTO (Chief Technical Officer) at Jagex, but I was also looking at other roles around that time. I tried the game to better understand what Jagex did and was really impressed with the technology and game – the more I found out about Jagex like the platform, proprietary in-house tools, languages and systems, the more I was intrigued. I had a 3 hour interview with Andrew [Gower] which ended up being a being an in-depth IT Security debate and suffice to say I was blown away to learn that Jagex’s approach to IT Security was more rigorous than some of the banks I had consulted for or even the lottery systems we had architected. I instantly realised this was an incredible company with so many high calibre staff at the very cutting edge of so many technology fronts - I just simply had to work for Jagex. | ” |
— Mark Gerhard
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As Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
However, since Mark Gerhard became CEO of Jagex, he has stated that non-members will also receive updates in the future. For example, as of April 2009, non-members were permitted access to the RuneScape Forums provided they had 12.5 million total experience.<ref>Mod Kelvin (2009-04-09). Free player forum access. Website updates. Jagex Ltd. Archived from the original on 2009-08-14. Retrieved on 2009-08-14. “Today, we have opened up the forums for high level free players to be able to post! All free players who have earned over 12.5 million XP (that roughly equates to someone having all F2P skills on level 72) are now able to post.”</ref> In August 2009, Gerhard confirmed that RuneScape's next skill will be for all players (non-members and members).<ref>Gerhard, Mark (2009-08-06). Mark Gerhard's Answers. Developer Blogs. Jagex Games Studio. Archived from the original on 2009-08-06. Retrieved on 2009-11-04. “We are working hard on a new skill, which will be available to free-to-play and members and which shows our continued commitment to the free game. We are also looking to improve some of the free quests as well as early graphics.”</ref>
Mark Gerhard formerly had a public friends chat called "Mod Mmg" where anyone could join and talk. When he went online and joined the chat, he would change the settings so that only ranked players could ask him questions. He later decided to close his friends chat due to players abusing it. This is not the case anymore; as in 2009, he re-opened his friends chat, but no longer ranks players. All players can currently talk in the channel.<ref>MMG's Friends Chat Channel - Runescape Forums. Retrieved on 3 September 2011.</ref>
He has announced many things in his clan chat. He explained that Jagex are working on a major "forum rewrite".[source needed] On the RuneScape Forums, Gerhard has also posted that he was considering making Fletching a non-member skill.[source needed]
He promises new content for higher levels and an update for the Magic skill to balance magic (which he believes is underpowered) with other combat skills.[source needed]
Gerhard has made promises saying that he will make sure Jagex will become a less secretive company. The "Rants" forum was reinstated under his leadership in March 2009, along with an apology for removing it at all.<ref>Gerhard, Mark (2009-03-31). Rants forum returns. Website updates. Jagex Ltd. Archived from the original on 2009-08-14. Retrieved on 2009-08-14. “Today we have reinstated the rants section of the forums. ... It was a stupid idea to take it away in the first place; I’m really sorry that we removed an opportunity for players to tell us about the things that they don’t like about the game, and as promised we are working on various ways to improve your ability to talk to us.”</ref> His arrival also led to Jagex being more open with popular fansites for the first time since Andrew Gower's link with tip.it.
In May 2009, Mark Gerhard was in an interview with MMO Hub.org, in which he mentions a very big surprise update on the horizon. This may have been referring to Dungeoneering (released in April 2010), as that fits with everything he said.
| “ | We are actually working on a whole new game mechanic. I can't give much away, but it could be an entire game in its own right, or just a skill, or both, who knows [laughs]. That will be for free and members. But, yeah, that should be this year hopefully, needs to be awesome though. I don't want to give it away though because it's really exciting and no one has done it so we're kind of keeping that one close to our chest. ... But what I realised is that if we hide stuff and then say "Yeah we're going to build this and it's awesome and the most exciting thing we've ever done!" and then launch it and it's like "Eh?," we've almost set ourselves up to fail before we even started. So we don't want to spin it; we want it to be a big surprise. So it will be a skill, and we will introduce a whole new type of gameplay as well, but you'll see it when it's ready. | ” |
— Mark Gerhard, Interview with Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard, Part 2 of 3<ref>Interview with Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard, Part 2 of 3</ref>
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On 30 October 2009, Gerhard collected the Golden Joystick Award on behalf of Jagex,<ref>Golden Joysticks 2009. The Gadget Show videos. Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd (2009-10-30). Retrieved on 2009-11-04. [The relevant section is approximately 3:25 to 3:45]</ref> who had been named Amiqus games UK developer of the year.<ref>Best UK dev named. Golden Joystick Awards 2009. Future Publishing Limited (2009-10-30). Archived from the original on 2009-11-04. Retrieved on 2009-11-04. “One of the surprises of the show was who you lot named Best UK Developer. ... the best UK dev went to Jagex. While the name might not immediately ring any bells, it's the studio behind the incredibly popular free-to-play MMO RuneScape. In fact it hold a Guinness World Record for the world's most popular free MMO.”</ref>
External links
- Interview with Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard
| Preceded by | Title | Succeeded by |
|---|---|---|
| Geoff Iddison | CEO of Jagex | Incumbent |