Post by Layla Littlenymph on Oct 6, 2015 22:00:13 GMT -5
The Ardent Weekly Ledger
Vol. 04
This weeks highlight is an interview with EU-1 and Forums Moderator, Majenta.
The average player visiting this site is either on US-1 or 2. As a result, those of you that do not frequent the V&H Official Forums may not be familiar with Majenta. While I myself have never met Majenta in-game, I see them on the forum so often that I sometimes forget that is our only contact. I have always regarded Majenta as an interesting individual, and it is nice to get this little inside look at one of V&H's better known moderators.
~LL
Name: Majenta
Position: Moderator on EU 1 and forums
Q: How is it that you became a game moderator, and what made you want to do it in the first place?
A: I really enjoy the game, and when it launched on Steam, there was a post on the forums asking experienced players to log onto the new US2 server to help new players. I wasn’t working at the time, so I created a char called Tindal on US2 and stood around in Oak Valley answering questions. The first night there was a glitch that meant the sheep in Oak didn’t give any fleece, so I spent the time making fleece from wool and giving it out to chars who couldn’t complete the quest from Laurken.
In time I joined a guild (Neverwinter) and it was fun being able to help the new players – my guildies even nicknamed me “Wiki-Tin.” I wasn’t really bothered about levelling, so mostly I hung around Ardent answering questions. I guess it seemed like I knew the game really well, but actually it was just that I had done most of the quests quite recently (all three of my chars on EU were around lvl 30 to 40). Either way, the existing moderators noticed me, and when Mad Otter decided to recruit moderators for all the servers, including the EU1 server where I normally play, they suggested I should apply. I did, and here I am.
Q: In real life, you are a teacher. What subject(s) do you teach, and do your students have any idea that you are an avid gamer? Have you ever bumped into a student in the game?
A: My main subject is Physics, but I also teach Maths and even some Chemistry. For about 25 years I taught in a Secondary school (ages 11 -18) in Scotland, but now I mainly do private tutoring.
Do my pupils know I am a gamer? Yes, many of them do. In fact, at one stage I gained minor cult status since (I believe) I was the first person in the school to complete Final Fantasy 8, and for a while I had kids regularly coming up to my room to ask how to get past a particular boss. As a teacher I have always found that shared interests in things like computer games are a huge boost, especially with boys, and many times I found it useful to be able to chat to kids on their level about something they were good at and interested in. That said, when kids asked to know my gamertag on Xbox I always refused. Prior to playing Villagers and Heroes I mostly played single player games anyway. I have met one of my students in V and H, but I don’t think he is still playing.
Q: As a moderator who frequently assists new players, you are probably asked a lot of the same questions. In your opinion, what are the top two or three questions that you hear most often from new players?
A: There are a few here. Most experienced players will recognize them. One of the most common is “How do I gain Scruffles trust?” usually followed by “Where is Greenhaven?” Variations on “What are zogs for?” “Where is the zog redeemer?” and “ How do I get to trader’s refuge?” are also common. “Where do I get/buy potatoes?” is another common one. Since Reborn, two other often heard questions are “Does anyone know where to find Arcadius’ pickaxe?” and “How do I get to my house?”
Q: What aspects about Villagers & Heroes first drew you to the game, and what is it that keeps you playing?
A: OK, so the thing you have to remember here is I’m Scottish, so this is not as bad as it sounds – we Scots are careful about spending money (that’s how we like to describe it – others usually just say mean). The truly honest answer about what first drew me to the game is the words “Free to Play,” and funnily enough the description of the game as “casual.” Once I started playing, I knew almost immediately that this was a game I was prepared to spend money in, and that I would be playing a lot, not just as a casual player. There were so many funny, quirky touches to it. I still remember laughing out loud the first time I collected eggs from my chicken Hortense and she gave this horrified cluck and sped across the pen with feathers flying.
There are really two sides to what keeps me in the game. I love the fact that I can log in and just do whatever I want, whether that is crafting, gathering, exploring, hunting or just chatting and joking with guildies. I’m not into power levelling – quite the reverse, in fact, but I love that I can always be doing something that gets me further into the game. I love that I can play solo sometimes, or party up and have a blast running zones with friends. And when I’m tired, I can just spend an hour or so fishing or collecting wood etc. The second thing that keeps me playing is, of course, the community. I have made so many real friends in the game that I would hate to leave.
Q: In addition to being a moderator, you are also a tester for the game. What is testing like? Do you enjoy it?
A: Testing is obviously a different sort of challenge. You aren’t playing the game, you’re trying to break it (Well, find bugs that break it). Sometimes it can be frustrating, but at least you know that every bug that is found in testing is one less problem that players will have when the build goes live. Plus I’m one of those (sad) people who actually likes accumulating lots of data and analyzing it, and I even enjoy number crunching, so I enjoy the testing.
Q: Do you have a favorite class of character to play, and, if so, what aspects do you find most appealing about it?
A: I play all four classes across the various different servers, and I enjoy playing all of them. It really just depends on my mood which one I will play on any particular day. Sometimes I feel like getting right into the middle of the mobs slugging it out with my warrior, whilst on other days I like to freeze foes with my ice spells, but I still think of my priest as my “main” character. She is built as a pure holy priest, and can solo well above level (though boy is it slow) but by far the most fun I have had in the game has been hunting with her in a party.
I love the fact that she can strengthen a party, even when the other chars are well above her level, or can escort a lower level through zones they would find difficult to survive otherwise. The other really cool thing about a priest has got to be divine hammer. You gotta love the hammer. It still makes me smile every time I use it. I also like to think she is quite a good priest. Sadly, although I do enjoy playing a hunter as well, I have to admit I don’t think I’m such a good hunter, and my hunter is my most neglected character.
Q: When you’re not teaching or playing V&H, what other activities do you enjoy?
A: I play (field) hockey, though not so much now since the effect of the heavy impact running on Astro turf pitches is beginning to tell on my knees, and I go hill walking when I can. I also read a lot, and I have always had a fascination for History – one consequence of which is that the names of all my characters in V and H are in some way or other related to Napoleon or his sister Pauline.
Q: Your Skype picture is of a rather elegant looking dog. Please tell us a little about him/her.
A: That’s Brucie, who was my family’s dog when I was growing up. He was a total mongrel – his mother was a collie, and from his colouring his father was most likely a Jack Russell – but a he was an ideal pet for a family
Q: What feature would you most like to see added to Villagers & Heroes?
A: I’d like to be able to go into your house, and decorate it with items you’d gained, hang armour and weapons on the walls, have chests etc to place items …
Q: What is one of the most memorable (i.e amusing, bizarre, etc.) experiences that you’ve had in V&H?
A: One slightly strange experience was when a fellow guildie asked if any of the guild were good at Physics. He had some homework to do. What made it more peculiar was that he isn’t an English speaker, so he was having to translate the questions using Google Translate, which of course wasn’t really much good for what was essentially technical vocabulary, and I was also having to try to work out what level of study he was doing so I didn’t get him in trouble by giving him a solution he hadn’t been taught. Still, when I started playing I never thought I‘d be helping guildies with their Physics homework. He never asked me again, so I’ve always been a little worried that I got it wrong anyway!
Q: Everyone has a favorite quote, be it from a book, movie, writer, historical figure, etc. What is yours?
A: Just one? That’s hard. I could give dozens, but I’ll settle for this one, mainly because it sort of fits with moderating as well.
“To teach is to learn twice over”
– Joseph Joubert
Also In This Edition:
* Pets: Item Shop Makeover
* Fan Works: Player Created Websites
The Ardent Weekly Ledger is a weekly publication from Mad Otter. New editions available every Friday.
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