A Couple of Diplomats
Gerec and ChrisChairs of Vanguard
Tact
Interview by AnomalousSilence
Diplomacy
is the art of saying Nice doggie until you can find a rock.
Will Rogers
|
We all know how interesting the Vanguard Community is, so today Ill be
presenting two interviews. The first interviewee is Gerec from
VGTact.com. Lets see what he has to say.
AnomalousSilence
style="font-style: italic;">: How did you get started in the MMOG
world?
Gerec: Well, it was
around...1999, I guess. I played Asherons Call on a number of servers,
with more characters than I remember. I didn't know what I was doing at
the time, but it was fun.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: What made you want to continue playing
MMOGs?
Gerec: They were just plain
fun, and as I did more of them the fun continued. The next two were
EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot, two great MMOGs in my opinion. And
so I kept having a ton of fun. I didnt see a reason to stop.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: What MMOGs have you played in total?
Gerec: Not sure if I remember
them all... but besides what I already mentioned: Anarchy Online,
EverQuest II, World of Warcraft, many expansions for most of these of
course.. beta Ragnarok Online, City of Heroes, Star Wars Galaxies until
right after the Combat Update. I cant remember them all.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: What MMOG genre do you prefer?
Gerec: It varies. I love my
sword n sorcery, but then when I see a nice automatic rifle and
powered space armor or whatever, my eyes get all shiny and I want to
shoot stuff! It really depends. I like almost everything.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: What character do you usually play?
Gerec: I haven't really had
anything consistent worth mentioning.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: So you don't get attached to characters
I presume?
Gerec: Oh, no--I do! I just
play the whole spectrum of classes and whatnot; finger wigglers and
warriors, healer types and crowd control, humans, twilek, iksar,
whatever. I like it all. It usually comes down to the specific game
before I can decide [on a race and class], and even then it's hard.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: How'd you get started at VGTact.com?
Gerec: We began as
Diplomatters, and the team there was already rolling along with some of
the guys you see now. I had been active in the Official Vanguard Forums
for a couple months, I suppose. After getting interested in the sphere
of diplomacy, I joined up with the team and we hit it from there, later
re-launching as VGTact. I do the news mostly, but nothing is out of the
question. I have done a lot of work on the FAQ, plan to do some
articles soon, etc.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: Planning on playing in diplomacy sphere,
then?
Gerec: Most likely, yeah
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: What about the crafting and adventuring
spheres?
Gerec: Probably a little of
both, though I haven't traditionally been into crafting, but if it
looks good enough I'll give it a shot. Adventuring fo' sho'.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: Thanks for your time!
Many know of ChrisChairs of the Official Vanguard Forums. Thats right,
the guy who posts spam
er
meaningful, coherent posts. Lets get some
insight into him, shall we?
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: How did you get started in the MMOG
world?
Chris: I got started in 2001
because, at that time, I was finished with high school, starting
college, and I had absolutely no social life at all. Because of this, I
had to find some source of excitement that I could do while doing
homework. Enter EQ!
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: How long did you play EQ? What as your
MMOG progression after EQ?
Chris: I stuck with EQ for over
two years, but things began to get incredibly boring for me, and my
goals in life became clearer, so I took a bit of a hiatus from MMOGs
for about half of a year. (I can tell the reader that half a year
without MMOGs is quite possibly the worst thing ever.) Then I picked up
World of Warcraft. To be totally honest, I liked WoW. Sure, I used the
filter a whole lot, but it was a nice, easy game and I wasn't looking
for a huge challenge. I leveled to the top of that game and I quit
shortly before joining the Vanguard community in July 2005. I played
EQ2 for a couple of weeks, but let's just say that it wasn't my cup of
tea.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: How did you learn of Vanguard: Saga of
Heroes?
Chris: I heard about it by
chance. I was looking at some stuff for EQ because I was pining for it
pretty badly. I Googled EQ, and a few pages back I got a result that
mentioned Brad McQuaid, who had worked for Verant designing the
original EQ. Now, I'm not a huge fan of Sony Online Entertainment, so I
thought that a new MMO made by the people who made EQ sounded
absolutely fabulous.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: What character do you usually play?
Chris: I'm really into
arcane-caster type characters, if that's what you mean. I'm also into
role-playing quite a bit (I was on Firiona Vie in EQ); I usually play
an elf of some capacity.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: And particular character name you stick
with?
Chris: Generally
something with "Chris" in it; I'm currently hoping that Chris Chairs
will be usable for my character in Vanguard.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: If you're into role-playing, wouldn't
the surname of "Chairs" be a little awkward, or does it tie in somehow?
Chris: Well, that's come up
several times. I just tell people when I'm roleplaying that I was
abandoned by family/tribe/whatever and took a new surname, and that I
couldn't come up with one, so I decided that it'd be Chairs, since I
enjoy sitting in them. So, no, it really doesn't tie in at all. Oh,
well. At least people know who I am.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: So
do you plan on playing in multiple
spheres or only a single sphere?
href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album04&id=qaliamap&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">
alt="Idara and map of Qalia"
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album04/qaliamap.thumb.gif"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 150px; height: 92px;" align="left"
hspace="4" vspace="2">Chris: That's really difficult to say
at this point, but from what I gather from what the devs say, it will
be very difficult and or inconvenient to play a one-sphere character.
For the most part, I think that I'll be taking part in a lot of
adventuring; setting stuff on fire and blowing things up holds great
appeal for me. I'll also be doing a lot of diplomacy because it's a
new, innovative idea and it increases the overall playability of the
world. Also, Idara is a diplomat and who doesn't want to be like Idara?
[Editors Note: Learn more about Idara
href="http://vanguardsoh.com/idara001.php">here.]
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: True, true. How long have you worked at
VGTact.com, and how did you get started?
Chris: Whew, long story. When I
first joined, there was a group of people on the Diplomacy Section of
the Forums (That would be Gerec, Traldan, and me). We were all really
interested in Diplomacy as a sphere and wanted to raise awareness about
it because, at the time, nobody had a clue what it was about unless you
paid attention to the Diplomacy Board. So we started a fan site called
Diplomatters. Things got off to a good start, but we didn't have much
information, and there was a small problem with a few of the other
staff members. At one point, things were looking pretty bad. Then,
Traldan decided to make a new site. Someone else from the OVF
graciously hosted the sight, and VGTact was born. So, all in all, I've
been with VGTact for about half of a year now. I write the occasional
article and I moderate the Forums there.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: I have to ask, whats it like to be a
very well known Vanguard Community member?
Chris: Well-known? Really?
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: Of course. Anyone who is anyone knows of
ChrisChairs if they read the Off Topic forum.
Chris: I think it's just about
the same as being part of a community in any other way. I post a lot, I
try to contribute, and I really enjoy the personalities in the
community. Sometimes, there are little snafus, but generally, I love
the community. One more thing, I think that there are really cool
people on the Official Vanguard Forum (OVF) who don't get a lot of
credit--people like Ominous, King, Orlun, Oloh, Sunwolf, Havelock,
etc.--who have been there much longer than me and contribute so much
more. [Editors note: Cool people, all of them. And we shall hunt them
down...and interview them, too!]
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: Lastly, how do you do it? You have more
posts than anyone on the OVF.
Chris: For better or worse, I
always say what's on my mind. I'm a very social person, I've been told,
and I really think that it's good when people talk about things in a
forum because it helps people to understand other people's points of
view. Of course, if the reader regularly sees my posts on the OVF,
they're currently saying, "Oh, bull. Everyone knows that all of Chris's
stories are off-color personal experiences or +1's." I've tried to be a
little more serious lately, though. It's also important to post
everywhere in the Forums. I'm not going to lie; my favorite section is
Off Topic. Gameplay has some good things in it; Arts and Graphics is
also worth a look.
AS
style="font-style: italic;">: Thanks for your time!
Chris: Thanks for interviewing
me.
There you have it - insight into the lives of fellow Vanguardians!
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/site_images/footer_share.jpg"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 500px; height: 45px;">
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Game Page.
