Moderator interviews/Soul
From RelicWiki
- This interview is transcribed from the original thread.
Hello Company of Heroes forum, and anyone else who might have wandered past, and welcome to the sixth in the series of The Moderator Interviews. These interviews, the remainder of which can be found in my forum signature at the bottom of the post, are designed to help the members of this fine forum known as Relic News get to know their moderators (or in this case Super Moderators) just that little bit better. This interview is with Soulblighter, known and feared galaxywide for his gnashy fangs and furry exterior.
Thanks to Dimension for his help with researching the interview, as well as Squid for his help and for chaperoning Soul for the interview
Let's uncover the man behind the mystery and the mystery behind the man, or, say, the man behind the mystery behind the legend.
(Blame Squid for that, it's entirely not my fault)
If you have any comments or (constructive) criticism I'm all ears. Hope you enjoy the interview.
Obtuse: Okay, obligitary bio if you would, Mr. Soul
Soul: My name is Greg, I am 28, I live in Oregon and work at a software company owned by a larger company based out of England.
Contents |
Soul and 'the work'
Obtuse: Well, as I like to work from the wide world down to the board, could you tell me a little bit about what you do in your profession?
Soul: I work in tech support assisting our clients installing and fixing their software
Obtuse: Is it a particular kind of software? Guidance for nukes, automated battlebots, that kind of thing? :o
Soul: That would be a trip if it was. We do accounting and estimating software
SquidDNA: ..for defense contractors.
Obtuse: Cool, how long've you been doing that kinda thing?
Soul: For about 1.5 yrs with the current company. Have always had an interest on the troubleshooting side of things, ie the family/friends tech person, so its nice to get paid for it.
Obtuse: So is this something you're hoping to do as a career, or do you have aspirations in another direction?
Soul: Well I can see myself moving into QA, but I work on a good team and have a good manager so its a toss up. I would say currently I am very happy with what I do and feel that I am compensated for that work. If I do move up it will still be in the same vein of working with the software versus moving into other departments, i.e. accounting, marketing, sales etc.
Getting personal...with strippers! (Maybe :P)
Obtuse: Okay, jumping topic, I'd like to ask a rather personal question, if I may.
Soul: No problem.
SquidDNA: "Why do you hate freedom?"
Obtuse: What's the deal with you and strippers? I heard rumblings there might be something interesting there
Soul: lol, I would have preferred the the 'why do you hate freedom' question
Obtuse: But this one is much more racy
Soul: Nothing interesting, just an inside joke between some IRC friends about a time with former coworkers, former boss, alcohol, and a club
Obtuse: Aw c'mon, couldn't you reveal just a teensy bit more? :o For the majority of us who might never otherwise hear about it.
SquidDNA: You don't have to answer that question, Soul
Soul: ...And I have a tendency to go drinking on fridays... since i am not the driver I am not responsible where the car goes.. bar, club, a 24hr restaurant to have breakfast at 3am. I like to go out after a week of work, I can sleep on Saturday and get other stuff done on Sunday. And then there was this incident in Iowa, but that is not important
Obtuse: Fair enough, I'll leave it tantilisingly hanging there to torment the readers.
Soul: Well, its gotten blown out of proportion over the years
Obtuse: Well, this *could* be your chance to set the record straight
Soul: Wow... you dont give up. I admire that.
Obtuse: I feel it would be a disservice to the readers to do so
Soul: Basically, this store I worked at was being shut down, so they bring in an auditor who comes in puts things up for sale at lower cost. I worked their as an electrics salesman and also helped out on the graveyard crew, the warehouse people etc. So, as the store sells more and gets less in, you need less people.
So the final group went out for dinner. The warehouse supervisor, she always wanted to get me drunk so she switched my order of beer to long island ice teas... I should have realized then and there that beer doesnt come with a straw but well.. hindsight and all. Anyway, her plan worked, I got messed up.. and the auditor who was from Cali, she wanted to see what clubs were like, so she took myself and the store manager and another coworker out to a club...I have to have to leave some up in the air, so the rest is history. FYI, that was about 5-6 years ago, maybe longer. The point is it got blown out of proportion that i have a tendency to go to clubs every night which i dont and its irc so what do you expect, cj only quotes certain things.
Obtuse: Okay, well, the crucial rumour that I heard was that 'you were popular with strippers, and it wasn't due to money', would you care to comment on that, perhaps unfounded statement?
Soul: It's money
Obtuse: Fair enough ^_^
Soul: And, um, next time lets start with the rumor thing first so i dont delve back into my past on other issues
Obtuse: Hey, got more out of you this way :^D
Soul: The rumor you refer to was the Iowa trip, and thats all i will say on that
Obtuse: Fair enough, you're a man of mystery and prefer to remain as such.
Soul: On some things, if people just read the irc quotes they would think i was an alcoholic bar hopping, stripper groupie
Soul, Homeworld and finding the board
Obtuse: I hear that you were one of the earliest members of what would eventually become the forums we all know and love today. Could you tell me a little about how you got into Relic and their games?
Soul: Sure. First time I heard about Homeworld was when they won an award at E3 back in 1998, and I started to follow the game through print mags, the web etc. I tested the demo in 1999 and that was it, I was hooked. I went online, but I really didn't start checking out the boards 'till October of 1999 and reading the strats, GD etc. It seemed like a good place, but a bit chaotic. I found IRC shortly thereafter, and became a moderator in june 2000 of the GD and Homeworld when they upgraded the software to allow for more moderators. Before then you could only have one admin at a time
As for the relic boards people join today, you could say I was one of the earliest. According to my profile I was the 11th person to register, but chalk that up to being staff and testing things out vs being the 11th person in the community, I consider the community to date back to 1998 or 1997, whenever the first fansite page went up. People may consider the community to just be the RB, but its a lot larger then that. On the forums it may appear I was one of the first to join the boards/community, but a lot people were apart of the community before I was and have since left. I've been a fan of Relic and their games ever since Homeworld.
Soul, clans and games
Obtuse: I heard that you were a member of several big clans during the heyday of Homeworld, could you tell me a little about that? 7th sounded particularly interesting.
Soul: I was a bit of a clan "whore", actually, for Homeworld, anyway. I was a member of 101st, DD (Dirty Deeds), 7th (Seventh Rank), and FL (Freelance). 101st and DD you are looking at about less then 6 months combined, I was with 7th for about a year, and FL since 2001. FL is not really a clan, I have not worn a tag in an FL game since Homeworld. A few play CoH, and I convinced a few others with the help from a buddy named wildcard, but I have not played since the beta. 7th is not really around as a group, but the people in that group are still around. I dont really have anything interesting about the groups.. I think all groups have their stories or interesting moments, and then when you tell them in a public setting you realize rather embarrassingly that its more a 'had to be there'. I dont want to get your fanbase bored and think 'God, Obtuse, why this guy'
Obtuse: I have a fanbase? o.O I've been looking through this thread: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=598 which contains all the stories about the old clans and it's really fun It actually sounds like there was a lot more going on then in terms of clans then there has been for Dawn of War.
Soul: Ah, forgot that.. yeah, I think that is an interesting read, but its more of the history aspect vs 'moments in time'. Frst nailed what fl is, by the way; a strong group of friends. A lot of them have met eachother from all around the world. I will make one reunion, at least i keep telling myself that.
(In regard to HW vs DoW clan-wise): Well, Homeworld was a very team game, at least in my opinion - also, not a ton of people played online, 20-50 was considered good, so you see the same folks again and again. You get a very different online community. That's why you look at the different histories and you see the cross reference time and again saying how this group was good, this group was great etc. There was competition. In popular games you get 100's of groups, and maybe the top ten, if that, are recognized. The others are just 'alpha numeric character prefix' before someone's name. With Homeworld, odds are if you played a lot you could name off most of the groups and the people in those groups.
Obtuse: So was it better, back then, would you say?
Soul: Well, I have a biased perspective...it was the first multiplayer game I got in to. A lot of the people I played Homeworld with I am still friends with today, and then since Homeworld was the Relic's first game the whole community in the early days had an interest in hw.. now the forums are huge. I think Dawn of War is a good game, but I never played online. I plan to get back to Company of Heroes, but even then its far more popular then Homeworld was. I would say that Homeworld fans are a bit more rabid than for any game out there. So yeah, it was better.. but not for Relic. Their last few titles have done extremely well - that means revenue and profit, and that means they stay in business and keep making great titles.
Obtuse: I have heard that they intend to add more clan support to Relic Online, which should help somewhat with the community side. I'm also very happy at how well Company of Heroes has been recieved especially, since I myself was a little worried at them straying away from the DoW idea, but it's turned out excellently. Are there any games from other games makers that are currently seeing use with you?
Soul: Oh yeah, I spend way to much money on games. You have your Gears of War from Epic which is great, taking a break before I struggle through co-op on insane. Picked up Rainbow Six: Las Vegas for the 360 and its fun, but thanks to their save system I am almost at the point of letting the terrorists just take the damn city. Also have Medieval 2: Total War sitting on my desk.. I've opened it but have yet to install it, so that will be fun. Looking down the road you have Supreme Commander, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, the list goes on.
As for developers that I follow besides Relic... I have not been let down by Bioware, Blizzard, and Ubisoft.
Like I said.. an avid gamer who mainly who stays on the Single Player side.
Because every interview needs a grot-related question
Obtuse: Have you never been tempted to join in on some of the more off-the-wall shennanagans like Grotfest?
Soul: I love the community stuff that people come up with, but probably wont join in. I like Dawn of War, but I probably wont ever take part. I think the premise and the people who take part in it though are great, and its a fresh way to play DoW online.
[You can find information on Grotfests (here)]
Soul, the 'rep' and moderating the forums
Obtuse: I've heard that in the 'old days' of the board the moderators were somewhat more cruel and callous than they are today, and that's where kind of where your 'reputation' which inspires fear and respect comes from. Any thoughts on that?
Soul: Well, when I first became a mod there were only 4 of us, not counting admins. Sure, the forums had a lot less people.. around 6000, but that didn't really matter. Then you mix in the fact we added a number of rules to a forum that had none. Take away the warning system, the private messaging system, the staff structure we have today, i.e. our own guidelines, more discussion etc. When we first started we had one moderator forum, which is enough for a few people, but we didnt really have a structure, and we didnt really spend time discussing issues.
We came in to clean up a board that had porn, nazi propaganda, flames, sigs that would take up a full internet page etc. and put our foot down to get rid of it all. We didnt have time to say please, or thank you. Without the private messaging service we could not do things quietly, so everyone got warned publically. I would say people respect that from me, because they know where they stand, and know that they will be treated fairly. I am not going to be fake to someone, or beat around the bush.
Obtuse: So you feel your moderating style's been consistent for the full time you've been on the RBs?
Soul: It has changed. The rules have been in place for over 6 years now, those have changed to of course but the core of the guidelines date back that far. I would say its changed when we started getting more and more staff about 3-4 yrs ago, where we started having more structure for the moderators - guidelines to follow, discussing issues a lot more etc. I am still straight forward i would say, but maybe not as 'cruel'. I attribute that fact to not seeing threads as much that try to get me "fired" or have people demand I refund their money for the Relic game they bought because I ruined it for them.
Obtuse: Are there any acts of 'cruelty' that particularly stick out in your mind from what you did in the past that you wouldn't do now?
Soul: Well see, I never saw myself as cruel, that is the thing. I think I fill a role that the staff need. I did not become a moderator to make friends, I am not power hungry or have a need to tell people what to do. Think of most of the forums out there... they are crap. People insult each other, post anything they want.
I want a place for people to have a place where if they post in a reasonable manner and post their opinions ideas in a constructive manner they should reap the benefits of that. They should not have to read through half the posts in their thread to find substance, or look through 3 pages of spam to find the thread they created an hour ago.
As for the role I mentioned earlier, I find that 99% of our forum membership is fantastic, in my opinion anyway. They might need a little warning here, or a friendly heads up about a guideline or a rule, but that is it. However, that last 1% is a different story. Oftentimes I am tasked with letting that 1% "understand" what the guidelines mean.
Not really a straight-forward answer to your question, but I wanted people to understand, that I dont do things to be cruel or mean... but at the same time I am not their teacher, their mother, or their babysitter... to register for these forums you agree to our guidelines and once you enter a forum that I moderate I assume that you truly agree to those.
Obtuse: For those who are reading this who may be relatively new to the forums, is there a piece of advice that you think might keep them out of trouble short of reading the guidelines and listening to moderators?
Soul: That is the best advice .
Obtuse: Fair enough
Soul: I would say to that the staff as a whole do want them to enjoy their time here. Does that mean they can do whatever or say whatever they want? Of course not. But I think a counter point of that is the odds are they wont get flamed here. They wont get belittled, they wont get trash talked, their threads wont get highjacked. If they are... the people responsible will be taken care of. And if they ever have a question about what the staff does or why we have a certain rule.. that is why we have a forum issues, Where not only they will hear from admins and super mods (the only staff that are allowed to post there), but also senior members and their peers. I would say what this forum offers greatly outweighs the guidelines we have in place.
Obtuse: Aye, I know personally I hang around because it's a really nice forum to be around without all the crap that you get virtually everywhere else on the 'net. OK, is there anything you'd like to add before we go to audience questions?
Soul: I hope I have not bored them.
Obtuse: Fair enough. To #homeworld!
Audience questions
Mirehn_Bielann: What do you do, Soul?
Soul: Not really sure I know what you want Mire.. as in work, life etc?
Mirehn_Bielann: Oh, I mean at the forums.
Soul: Ah. I am a Super aka section moderator, I look over the Company of Heroes section with a great group of others .
PULSTAR: What's the story behind the "collector guardian" deal?
Soul: Dates back to couple games, one with 7th(before i joined) and another a team game with some DD members. A team mate asked for help and since we synced but I said I was guarding my collectors. Basically in the early days the game would sync, so I said i was guarding my collectors, and to them my collectors were fine. So it became a joke that instead of assisting my team-mates I just guarded my collectors.
The teddy bear with teeth addition was something Dyn said, and it stuck. That was in 1999 or 2000 or something.
Tiresias: You have a bit of a reputation on the boards (perhaps unfairly), if you could wipe it away would you?
Soul: Not a thing, mistakes and scars.. I would keep all of it.
IcecreamLtDan: Do you fully realize how much of a sexy bitch you are?
Soul: I would say I am more of a bitch then I am sexy.
Mirehn_Bielann: So, why did you choose to moderate the CoH forums, as opposed to somewhere else?
Soul: Well, I kind of did moderate elsewhere.. GD, HW, HW:C, HW2, not sure if I did a stint on the Impossible Creatures forum.. I was one of the first couple of mods added to the DoW section.. then decided to take a break, came back and Dyn gave me CoH. I still get tossed intogd here and there if we are short, but it's a last option kind of thing...since I think we have far better people on staff for that forum.
Dyntheos: Soul is the attack dog.
Tiresias: Pirates or Ninjas?
Soul: I would have said ninjas a few years ago.. but Johnny Depp made pirates take the lead. I will be at a cross roads if he ever does a ninja movie.
Tiresias: With you obviously being an old homeworlder, do you think there is much of a generation gap on the boards between the old guard and the new guard, i.e. DoWers. Somethimes I think the oldies are a bit harsh and generalising on newer people
Harmanoff: You got it the wrong way around, Tir, the new ones are idiots and old ones are always right
Soul: Tire: I agree.. DoW people were treated like crap by some of the old guard, and for the most part we stamped that out. What people forget is we got half our staff because of DoW. Dawn of War was a big success.. more copies means more people.. more people means that the 1% of those who disrupt things go up. It's unfair and not right.. plus people tend to forget that Homeworld had the Sierra boards for spam. DoW forums were linked right off the THQ official website.
IcecreamLtDan: I was harsh and generalising?
Tiresias: I wasn't meaning you specifically
PULSTAR: Follow-up to Tire's question: what about the "new-guard" homeworlders? those of us that found the boards just recently?
Soul: Puls - I think its great.. and you will notice the different people that say hi in newcomers threads. You say you are here for Homeworld and you get the 'old guard' saying welcome to ya. Not saying its better then new DoWers.. but its great because hw was released in 1999, 7 yrs later its still pulling in people to our forums, can't beat that
Mirehn: If Relic came out with a new game next year, what would it be and why?
Soul: Forestry sim.. because no matter what medium you are in.. you can only tease your fans so much before you put out.
Tiresias: Do you think the forums have more potential for community gaming events? Personally I tried to organise a regular gaming get-together for a variety of games but it fell flat on it's face. Do you think there is potential there?
Soul: Tir: you mean as for actual meet ups or through the internet?
Tiresias: Through the internet.
Soul: Absolutely, there is potential. If I were you I would not give up. I mean, look at Jal's Homeworld meetups, does one about every 3 months.
IcecreamLtDan: Pole dance or lap dance?
Soul: Giving or receiving?
IcecreamLtDan: BOTH.
Soul: From a monetary standpoint pole over lap for receiving.. but I have cash.. so you always go lap hands down. As for giving, let's go with pole. I think I could do amazing things if I got a metal pole that went from floor to ceiling.
IcecreamLtDan: Can't type, massive hard-on.
Mirehn: Since you moderate CoH now, what do you find to be your best play style and strategy?
Soul: Well, you dont have to play to be a mod.. for instance I never played DoW online, however even though I have not played CoH since beta, when I did play I would go Axis blitz, rush the mg and stug.
Obtuse: Wee! I'm buckling under the strain, so that's all we have time for, folks! 'Till we meet again!
