GameSpy: What steps were taken and what designs were put in place to put players together to facilitate grouping, cooperation, and interaction between players online?
Setsumasa: We offer two different locations for players to interact and communicate. The first is in the lobby, where players can communicate with an unspecified number of players. The second is in My Room, where players can directly communicate with their friends and visit each others' My Rooms.

We believe that closed online communities are difficult for beginning online gamers, and adventuring on quests alone isn't fun in online games. So in Phantasy Star Universe, we've improved user communication tools such as text chat, Lobby actions, cut-in-chat and text boxes with emotions, so that players can better communicate with each other and meet new people. These tools foster live communication amongst players, making it easier to find companions to go on quests with, thus players will never have to adventure alone. Players will also be able to make new friends by trading partner cards and allowing in-game mail communication and inviting them to My Room.
GameSpy: I wonder… what kind of chat will be going on in these private My Room invitations? Don't answer that! Let's get back to the technical stuff. What types of servers will be used for players across the different platforms? Xbox 360 players will be playing on Microsoft's Xbox Live service, but will the experience be similar or the same for those on the PC and PS2?
Setsumasa: User accounts for PS2 and PC are the same and players can play both platforms with the same user account. The Xbox 360 will have a different set-up that allows for unique Xbox Live features.

GameSpy: Right, so essentially, there will be a PC/PS2 community, and another Xbox 360 community. Interesting. You stated earlier that you feel that player communities are important to online role-playing games. Do you expect people to interact outside the game, such as in forums? Will people be able to easily create fixed play groups so that they can always play together easily?
Setsumasa: We consider the online community one of the most important factors in Phantasy Star Universe, and communities built outside of the game are just as important. These are the fans that come together to establish a Phantasy Star community outside of the game. Within the game, players can trade partner cards to communicate with their friends, making it easy to form groups and communicate with each other.
GameSpy: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! Our readers should check in tomorrow for another exciting update on Phantasy Star Universe… keep your eyes peeled!