Kheldon: The Boy Wonder Of Vanguard
Stratics


by Raya

One
of the most familiar names in the Vanguard Community is one that has been
around since Vanguard was merely a twinkle in Brad
McQuaid's
eye. You might wonder indeed about the title and why I label
this person as a boy wonder, but this comes from my first meeting with
Kheldon.

A relative newcomer to the Vanguard scene, I had seen Kheldon's name
associated with Stratics since I became aware that Vanguard was a game
and not a type of armored truck. Even when I was playing A Tale in the
Desert, I had heard of Kheldon. However, I knew nothing about him. It
wasn't until I arrived at Silky Venom, nearly a year later that I found,
much to my surprise, the boy wonder himself as an advisor for the news
staff of the fledgling fansite.

The rumor I had heard was that he was only 15 or so, and it blew my mind
that such a young person was so capable of all the deeds attributed to
him (good things, Kheldon). In an untypically, unnewsie-like way, I didn't
check out the facts on this, however, until I went to interview him as
a staffer at Silky Venom. I found out that he was, well, at the time,
20. That did not diminish his stature in my eyes.

Kheldon, the current site administrator for Vanguard
Stratics
, is a business-like young man, who seems to handle with ease
the stressful business of overseeing a large fansite that is also part
of a big network. The Vanguard portion is only one of 27 MMOs and other
games covered by Stratics. And Kheldon has been with the network since
well before Affiliate Vanguard fansites were even heard of.

Kheldon became interested after Tabrizia, later to become the site administrator
of VG Stratics, and the Stratics Central news lady told him about it.
At that point, there was no Vanguard, just Sigil. Kheldon became interested
in the ideas put forth regarding Vanguard, and he liked the people in
the infant VG Stratics team, so he jumped on board. Vanguard Stratics
was officially launched on March 16, 2004.

"I helped with small stuff then, while there were still only two
of us working on the site," Kheldon said.

When Tabrizia ran into the same problem that many fansite aficionados
run into, i.e. too much RL and not enough time, Kheldon stepped into the
vacancy. By then the site was up and on its feet, and Vanguard was emerging
into the world as more than just a dream. It was taking its first steps
to becoming a reality.

Kheldon worked hard to make VG Stratics one of the brightest gems in
the Affiliate crown. However, in early 2005, he was hit by RL as well;
college studies are no respecter of extracurricular activities.

"Things started to get way too busy for me last year, so, after
New Years, I left the fansite world to concentrate on my studies,"

Kheldon explained.

He talked about his brief staffing presence at Vanguard Silky Venom.
"I popped into SV to help out in terms of advice and suggestions,
thinking that I'd have more than enough time to do that. As it turned
out, I didn't have time to do that either."

He reluctantly bade farewell to Silky Venom as well and left the fansite
part of the Community, for what he thought would be years.

Apparently, Cindy Bowens,
Community Relations Manager at Sigil, thought otherwise. "Cindy
actually foresaw me coming back,"
Kheldon said.

I wanted to know what she had said. Kheldon replied, "That I
had it in my blood and she'd probably see me soon. I told her not to hold
her breath."
Kheldon grinned ruefully. "She had the last
laugh."

To his surprise, the semester right after his busy period was so slow
and dull that he simply had to get busy with fansite stuff again.
He wanted to "do at least something productive that had goals."
He added, "Sitting around at home gets boring fast."

He
hadn't wanted to return to VG Stratics, simply because his shoes had been
filled by Valeria, who, according to Kheldon, was doing a tremendous job.
However, after Valeria had been bitten by the RL monster and was forced
to step down from her duties, Stratics invited Kheldon to join them again.
He obliged, not at all disappointed to have proven Cindy right.

Kheldon described his part in the VG Stratics team: "I see my
main role as a coordinator, to make sure that things work as smoothly
as possible and that our staffers get the push they need to motivate them.
I set up content schedules, which work as deadlines for us, and also handle
most of the day to day updating of the site. Since I've taken on a second
news poster, TKarrde, I can now focus more on the stuff that needs more
work and uploading, such as fan art or fan fiction/editorials. Same goes
for synching our galleries with the official screenshot and concept art
gallery."

He added with the typical Kheldon mischievous wink and grin, "And
of course, I try and get juicy bits from SGO."

I asked Kheldon to talk about the goal of VG Stratics.

"The goal of the Vanguard Stratics site is to provide the community
with news. But not stopping there, we want the place to be more like a
gathering place. To discuss the game, to find editorials to agree or disagree
with and equally importantly; to build on the game world with fan art
and fiction. Our core is to provide information - but we don't aim to
stop just there."

Being a newsie, I couldn't let it rest. "What other things have
you got planned for VG Stratics? Or is that sekrit sauce?
" I
asked him.

"More of what we got, plus to turn our attention towards our
forums now that we have gotten our IRC channel to be the most active and
most populated. We want to make the forums much more active as well,"

he replied, then added with the Kheldon wink and grin, "The rest
is sekrit sauce."

When asked to talk about the people who make up the VG Stratics site,
Kheldon was enthusiastic.

"We have zedin and Mashesta working on writing content for the
site, although both are currently on leave due to RL. We have TKarrde
posting most of our news. Hijinks provides most of our beautiful fan art,
although we've had guest pieces from several other talented artists as
well. Mdar is helping us gather and compile information for the content
and we have Brand Cygian who recently started as our editorialist. Biggo
also joined as an editorialist but is on leave due to RL as well. And
of course Kaeltyk, who provides us with our fan fiction."

"Sounds like a great staff," I remarked.

"They are amazing," Kheldon said. "Really good
people."

Asked if he were looking for more staff, Kheldon replied, "Right
now I'm not actively looking for staff, but if anybody's interested in
any of the positions we have listed on our site, we welcome them to apply."

Since Vanguard Ten Ton Hammer is a fan site specializing in the classes
of Vanguard, I had to ask him what his favorite class is.

"Rogue or warrior, I almost always play damage-dealing
classes," he replied. "I can never seem to feel truly immersed
with the class unless it's melee and damage dealing. I can't really explain
it. Just something I've grown used to, although I do try out every class
in the games I play, I find some classes that I always feel comfortable
with."

In Vanguard, true to form, Kheldon believes he will play a rogue or a
warrior, since both classes are available in the game. "Melee
damage dealers for certain,"
he added.

He also explained his interest in the Vanguard Inquisitor class. I asked
why.

"A class focused on anti magic seems nice. In an RPG I used to
play ages ago there was a similar class. Their purpose was to catch illegal
magic users."

"What do you foresee with the Inquisitor for Vanguard?"
I asked him.

He smiled. "Well...I don't remember all the details, but I hope
that they are a class that doesn't use any magic themselves. At least
nothing offensive, but instead focused on countering or negating the effects
of magic used by others."

I asked, "Why do you hope that? What advantage do you think they
will gain?"

"It'll put an interesting spin on gameplay I think. Especially
in pvp servers,"
Kheldon said with that mischievous grin.

So where does this energetic fella come from? What kind of a background
contributed to his energy and enthusiasm that have helped to create and
build VG Stratics?

"I'm a 21-year-old student in Sweden, studying economics and
IT in the Stockholm area. I live in a suburb of Stockholm with my parents
and my sister. I actually live on the bottom floor while the rest lives
upstairs...so I guess I fit into the profile of the nerd who lives in
his mother's basement."
He frowned. "Never really saw
it that way until now."

I didn't mention that some of my best friends, okay, most of them, are
nerds. However, I found it amazing that this student from Sweden wrote
so well in something that was not his first language. I asked him how
many languages he spoke altogether.

"I don't really speak that many. I speak Bangladeshi, because both
my parents are from Bangladesh and we have strong family ties to the country,
Swedish, English and a little bit of German," he replied.

I goggled. "It's at least one more language than I speak, and
two more than most North Americans."

Kheldon chuckled.

What about his current and future plans and what he did for entertainment
if he ever had time?

"I'm
planning on starting up my own business, either very soon or after I've
graduated. I'm working on the business plan right now so I can't say much
about it, I'm afraid. Currently, writing this business plan takes up most
of my free time…along with playing games and reading fantasy books."

This of course led to the next question. How did he originally get involved
in gaming and fantasy?

"Well, as did many others, I got into MMORPGs after trying out
MUDs. I actually still play the MUDs while MMOs come and go,"

he said.

I agreed. "As many others have said, MMOs were a natural progression
from MUDs."

Kheldon nodded and continued, "What got me interested in MUDs
were fantasy books. My first author was David Eddings, even before I read
Tolkien's books.

[Due to my fantasy background] in some ways I feel that MUDs are still
the true form of MMOs. Where RP is really fun and where almost every feature
in current MMOs have been done in MUDs.
"

I was interested in this line of thought and pursued it. "Do
you think it is sort of along the same lines as a movie being made from
the book?"

"I do, actually," he said. "Because when you
roleplay (RP) in MUDs, or do just about anything...your mind does the
work. Your imagination makes the RP seem real, and the combat feel immersive.
Whereas in MMOs...it's harder to RP because graphics put a stop to the
freedom your mind had in MUDs."

"Would you say you still prefer MUDs?" I asked him.

"When it comes to RP, I still do. No doubt about it," he
said. "(However), when it comes to exploration and combat, I think
it's just more fun in a graphical world."

I thanked Kheldon for the great interview and invited him to add anything
he wanted.

"Just that it's been a great ride so far with this great community
and I hope that it'll last for years to come."

Having people like Kheldon around certainly make that hope one step closer
to being realized.

Photo Credits: All photos taken by or for Kheldon and
used with permission. Photo #2 shows Kheldon on a Roman holiday.



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Last Updated: Mar 13, 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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