Behind the Avatar
by AnomalousSilence

Behind every MMORPG is a dedicated team working diligently to perfect their

project. While no MMORPG would be complete without the many people behind the game, there are always several key and well-known individuals within the team. Brad McQuaid, also known as Aradune Mithara, is probably one of the best known people at Sigil who is part of the development team for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Much can be learned from dev posts he makes on the Official Vanguard Forums and various other message boards. Brad even has a personal website from which one can draw a variety of information.
           
One of the most interesting things I found out about Brad McQuaid came from his personal website. I must say, I have an all new appreciation and understanding for Brad McQuaid. I have to admit, I was a bit surprised when I discovered his three “biggie” interests: God, family, and friends. Aside from the big three and his professional goals and ambitions, which are largely well-publicized (though I did learn that a goal of his is to become the one of the ‘founding fathers’ of interactive entertainment, and I must add, he is doing a heck of a job at it!), Brad has a wide array of personal hobbies and interests.

One of his important hobbies, which he admits could be classified as more of an obsession, involves sports cars. If there is a sports car in the world of automotive design, history, or production, Brad McQuaid is interested in it.  He prefers automobiles of the former axis-powers, including German, Italian, and Japanese sports cars. “And it's not just their looks and definitely not their prestige... I enjoy the speed, especially the handling... pulling G's is what it's all about.” This quote is just an example taken from Brad’s personal website.

He has also been lucky enough to drive many cars on a staggering array of well-known tracks, including a Ferrari F40 on the Nurburgring (Nordschleife) in Germany, which he says is one of a couple “dream come true events” in his life thus far.

Another related interest is motocross. He has owned a dirt bike since he was only 7 years of age. While he isn’t particularly good, he does enjoy riding around in the desert.

As a child, Brad’s mother pushed his reading ability, and he grew up reading books such as the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Currently he is a great fan of the Elric books by Michael Moorcock, the Amber series by Roger Zelazny, the Swords Trilogy by Fred Saberhagen, the Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind, the Earthsea books by Ursula K. LeGuin, and numerous others.

While science fiction doesn’t consume his entire literary or video collection, he does enjoy seeing a good sci-fi movie. A few of his favorite movies include Lord of the Rings, Star Trek II, A Time to Kill, and others.
           
Brad is also drawn to comic books, and his been collecting them from an early age. He even got a chance to work with Jim Lee of Wildstorm Comics, who was a big fan EverQuest. The met up, became friends, and ended up working on a comic together for EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark. It was another one of Brad McQuaid’s dreams come true to be able to work on a comic with one of the industry’s best artists.
           
Another fact, of interest to many, regarding Brad McQuaid concerns his musical tastes. His taste in music hasn’t changed with age, but rather expanded. The two types of music he says he is most drawn to, however, would be progressive metal and neo-classical fusion.

According to Brad’s personal website, he is also quite the collector of many things, including comics, books, and more. “One day I was looking at toys I owned as a kid, found some Micronauts, then found out they are really a subset of a huge Japanese toy line called Micromen, started ordering them, found others that collect them, and before I knew it I'd spent stupid money and amassed quite a collection.”
           
Brad maintains that the reason he has watched more television, of late, has been due to the astounding inventions of TiVo and ReplayTV. He’s an avid fan of these types of technological wonders, and encourages everyone go out and buy one. His favorite shows include Alisa, Smallville, Stargate SG1, and 24.

           
Much can be learned about the many individuals employed as part of the team at Sigil, not least of which is that they are all doing an absolutely fantastic job on our upcoming “home”. By doing just a little research online, I was able to find out quite a bit about Brad McQuaid: aside from his professional goals and ambitions, I learned a great deal from his personal hobbies and interests. There are so many other developers working at Sigil: perhaps if you take a little time online you can find out more about the individuals who are creating a whole new realm for all of us who are fans of MMORPGs.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Karen is H.D.i.C. (Head Druid in Charge) at EQHammer. She likes chocolate chip pancakes, warm hugs, gaming so late that it's early, and rooting things and covering them with bees. Don't read her Ten Ton Hammer column every Tuesday. Or the EQHammer one every Thursday, either.

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