The Daily Quest : interview

An Interview With: AoCSource.com

Indelible — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:38:52 GMT

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventure has been out now for roughly two weeks and it probably can't have gone better. AoCSource.com has also been around for a good while now and it has been received very well.

Being the first Age of Conan site to appear on the Curse Network, followed by ConanArmory.com, AoCSource.com offers news, forums and an entire community to be a part of. It's creation has been well received, offering limited moderation on PvP forums and a place for people to discuss things away from the official forums.

I sat down with Kevin Van Ness -- Content and Community Manager for the Curse Network -- and spoke to him about what makes AoCSource.com as well as the benefits of official and unofficial forums and asked him a little more about the limited moderation policy.

An Interview With: AoCSource.com

TDQ: Firstly, could you tell us a little bit about yourselves and what you do?

Kody: My name is Kevin Van Ness, and I’m the Content and Community Manager for the entire Curse Network; many will be more familiar with my nickname “Kody,” which I go by on each of our websites. At Curse in general my duties include overseeing the content on a variety of our network websites, including Warhammer Alliance, World of Raids, AionSource, Curse.com, CurseForge, and AoCSource. This includes working directly with each of those websites’ managers.

TDQ: Seeing as the interview is about an MMO fan site, could you tell us a little bit about your past in MMO gaming? How did you get into it? What MMO titles have you played?

Kody: Let’s see... I got started in the genre with EverQuest back in 2000. While most companies frown on account sharing, this is actually how I got into the game; I was watching a roommate (at the time) play the game, and became very intrigued by it. After a while of watching, he asked if I wanted to play it when he was at work – so I did, and quickly became hooked. A month or two later I bought my own copy of the game, and ended up playing EverQuest for close to four years.

I’ve also had stints in Dark Age of Camelot, City of Heroes, Final Fantasy XI, EverQuest II, Tabula Rasa, EVE Online, Lineage 2, World of Warcraft, and of course, Age of Conan.

TDQ: What drew you to Age of Conan? What aspects of the title stand out the most to you?

Kody: To say that the Conan story didn’t play a factor in deciding to purchase the game would be lying – I’ve always thought it would fit fantastically in the MMO genre. That said, I quickly fell in love with the combat system in May ’07 when I participated in my first Hands On event for the game. Even though it’s gone through two or three iterations since then, it’s still one of my favorite things about the game.

I also have to say that the voice-overs are incredibly well done, and rank up there with my favorites amongst the game’s features.

TDQ: What is involved with the creation of a fan site such as AoCSource? How much time and how many people go into the process?

Kody: The number of people involved in a fan site is typically rather small from my experience. That said, even with a small fan site you really do want to make sure you listen heavily to the community’s needs. Obviously you also have to weigh in the factor of time constraints, and whether or not a request fits into the role of the website or not. An example would be requests to add new forums... you have to always keep in mind that while each specific member of the community may want to see different forums, more is not always a good thing.

In terms of the time that’s gone into creating AoCSource, the website’s design itself took quite a while, but luckily we have a very talented graphics designer who created a template style that we can use across a multitude of game fan sites. This template was actually derived from World of Raids, and then modified to fit the theme and needs of other games. AionSource.com also uses the template, and it’s likely we’ll use it for any future fan sites as well.

TDQ: What has the initial reaction to AoCSource been like? Has it met your expectations and are there things you think you could have done better?

Kody: The reaction has been interesting, to say the least. We tried something very different with AoCSource, based on a number of requests from the community: uncensored PvP Discussion and PvP Server forums. Not surprisingly, the community has proven overall to keep things mature, and some of the discussions that have come from no censorship on the forums have been great.

The goal behind no censorship was to harness the competitive nature of the PvP community, and allow it to flourish without being constrained by unneeded moderation.

TDQ: There is a well known topic of debate that crops up now and again in the form of official forums versus unofficial forums. It’s safe to say that you feel unofficial forums have a place otherwise you would not provide them but I’m interested to know where you feel they fit and why?

Kody: I think Sanya Weathers has been a great voice of reason behind the debate of official forums versus unofficial forums, and I agree with her in many cases. What it boils down to inevitably is whether or not the game needs official forums or not: in World of Warcraft’s case, Blizzard obviously feels the game needs official forums.

On the other hand, Dark Age of Camelot was very successful without any official forums, and it looks as if EA Mythic will continue on this route with Warhammer Online.

One advantage of unofficial forums is that developers can interact with the community and not have as much accountability for what they say as they would on an official forum. If you look at the World of Warcraft forums, typically when a developer posts they’re held to their exact word; if they make a mistake in what they say they’re thrown to the jackals and eaten alive. Meanwhile, when you come across a developer post on unofficial forums, the community is very appreciative to see interaction, especially on important issues in the game.

Some great examples of unofficial forums are the old Vault Network during Dark Age of Camelot’s peak, Warhammer Alliance now and the developer activity there, and the Elitist Jerks World of Warcraft guild forums – a place where World of Warcraft developers visit occasionally and post in response to player feedback and questions.

Hopefully with AoCSource we can support our community now and in the future. It’s certainly our goal to make sure there’s a home for the gamer, whether it’s Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Aion: Tower of Eternity, or any other MMO.

TDQ: Again on the forum side of things, AoCSource offers limited moderation of the PvP forums and the FFA PvP server forums. Could you tell us a little about why you have decided to take this approach with these forums in particular?

Kody: As I mentioned earlier, prior to my essay about official versus unofficial, the choice was primarily due to community requests and feedback on what they felt other websites did wrong. Several guild leaders of well-known, historical PvP guilds were adamant about there being limited moderation on the PvP forums, including no censorship.

So far, it’s worked out well – we’ve only had to moderate a single post since the forums launched in late April, and no bannings due to inappropriate content. I don’t really see this changing for the foreseeable future (or at all), as we’ve introduced a plug-in that allows users to enable the censorship for themselves if they so choose.

TDQ: The Curse Network has another fan site with a similar layout and design to AoCSource in AionSource. Could you tell us why you settled for a similar design between the two sites?

Kody: As mentioned earlier, both websites were a derivative of the World of Raids design; we felt World of Raids looked fairly kickass, so we decided to adopt that general layout as our fan site template from here out. For those curious, credit for World of Raids’ design goes to an excellent designer by the name of Justin Uyemura.

TDQ: AoCSource is a young site and so I’m sure you have lots planned for it in the future. Could you tell us a little about your plans for AoCSource in the future?

Kody: It’s honestly hard to give any details about plans for the future other than to say we’ll be offering everything it takes to make sure our community has the best resources and tools available to them. AoCSource is just one piece of the puzzle with regards to Age of Conan; we have a lot of plans for the near-term, as well as long term across the entire network to support the game and its growing community. The Age of Conan Armory will of course be a big player in that, as well Curse.com’s file hosting, but AoCSource is where we plan to foster the actual community for the game.

You can expect to see a lot of syndication on AoCSource between the Conan Armory and Curse.com; video embedding, database tooltips, file embedding, etc.

TDQ: Last but not least, the token question: PvP or PvE and why?

Kody: So... can “both” count as an answer? I obviously have a number of friends from my years of gaming, and of course with that comes the fact that none of them can fully decide on a ruleset for everyone. That rings true with Age of Conan as well, so I’ve created characters on both PvE and PvP servers. Me personally, I’m a very competitive player, and this game just screams PvP for the competitive, passionate gamer.

So yeah, deep down inside I’m definitely more interested in PvP; there’s just something you can’t replicate in PvE about the rush you get from fighting other players (and in my case, owning ;)).

Thanks to Kody for the Interview! Keep an eye out on TDQ for more interviews (and MUCH more content) over the next few weeks!

An Interview With: A'a Netjer - SGW Guild

Indelible — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:12:32 GMT

Earlier this year, we interviewed Kevin Balentine – PR Manager at CME – about the upcoming MMO, Stargate Worlds. He told us a lot about the title, including bits about combat and crafting in the game and also shared with us some exclusive screen shots. What he didn't tell us is that behind the development team at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment is a bustling community of people waiting and watch for Stargate Worlds to be released.

Not only is there a large crowd of people from all sorts of backgrounds contributing ideas and duking it out about the upcoming MMO, there is also a large group of guilds and clans – commands as they will be called in SGW – forming in preparation for the expected release of the MMO later this year.

One such group is the guys at the newly formed multi-gaming guild A'a Netjer. A'a Netjer is currently looking for people wanting to enter three upcoming MMOs – Age of Conan, Stargate Worlds and Earthrise – in order to form a multi-gaming family that has a wide spread over multiple titles. The leaders of A'a Netjer are veteran MMOers having played such titles as Star Wars Galaxies and they have decided to set up shop with this years generation of titles.

Currently, their largest section is their interests in Stargate Worlds and this is reflected by not only the posts on their own forums but also the amount of active members they have on the official SGW forums.

I decided to sit down with the leaders of A'a Netjer and ask them what they were expecting form the upcoming MMO as well as a little about themselves. After all, it's not often that the community get their pre-launch say.

The Daily Quest Interviews A'a Netjer

TDQ: Firstly, could you tell us a little about yourselves as individuals?

Neith - My name is Devon and I live in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho as of now. I was born and raised in Seattle, WA and lived there until I went into the military where I spent 7 years all over the World. Things I do outside of gaming; teach MMA, wake board, snowboard, cliff diving, riding motorcycles and anything that involves adrenaline really. ;)

Desy - My real name is Alex I live in Northern California and I am one of the three leaders of A'a Netjer. I have been playing MMOs hardcore for a while now last one was WoW. In real life I am a soon to be college student starting up at Academy of Art San Fransisco. I like to sail and go to LAN parties.

Shamash - My name is Chris I am also one of the three leaders of A'a Netjer. I am a Game Art and Design Student at the Art Institute or Portland. Been a gamer since Doom!

TDQ: When did the guild form? Where did its roots come from?

A'a Netjer was formed on 14 Jan 2008 for the upcoming MMORPG; Stargate Worlds. We worked on creating a name that would fit not only SGW, but any game we may play in the future together. We started to do some research on the Internet and came to an Egyptian language website. We carefully chose the name of our Guild to have an actual meaning; A'a Netjer means True Gods in the 'old language'.

To gather more attention to the Guild we worked on creating a website, which is currently being improved and overhauled to fit the future expansion of the Guild. We will publish the site in the near future.

We also wanted to make sure our Guild was open to all styles of play. We separated the leadership into the two main functions of any MMORPG; PvP and PvE. We believe that RP is a persons choice and we support RPrs, but because most games do not have any RP functions or support, we decided to leave that off our or Hierarchy. We will perhaps add a RP Council if this style of play gains more interest.

TDQ: Your aim is to be a multi-gaming guild, supporting upcoming MMORPGs. What made you decide to aim for several titles and not just an individual title?

At first, we wanted to create just a Premiere Guild for SGW, but as more members came to the Guild the more we discussed other games. In this discussion we started to talk about playing them together. One of the things we have seen in the past is that people form bonds and friendships, only to leave one another to play other games. We decided to open this up for other games so we could not only get to know one another, but become a gaming family or Syndicate as others call it.

We decided to open up more opportunities to our members and leaders to actually lead in other games as they choose. We put a few requirements out there if they want to gain our support. 1) If a member wants to start a Guild with our support, they just need 5 other people that have an interest in that game. 2) Bring their proposal to the leadership 3) Follow our goals and our Code of Conduct.

We believe by opening this up to our members, there will be no reason for them to leave us if they want to lead their own Guild. They will be the Officer/Mod to their specific game and we will add their game to our list for all A'a Netjer members as well as add it to our website and create a place on our forums for them.

TDQ: What made you chose Stargate Worlds as one of the titles you wanted in on?

Stargate Worlds is one of the best title/story ideas that we have seen in the MMORPG genre. It will bring not only the fans of Stargate, but the ex-fans of Star Wars Galaxies, Sci-Fi fans, and Gaming fans together. We can't think of a better storyline to follow. Using the Stargate in an actual virtual environment leaves us with so many opportunities in-game and we look forward to using those Stargates to stop the oppression of the SGC and take back the power that is rightfully ours.

TDQ: What are your aims, as a group of people, for SGW? Do you have a specific goal or are you playing it by ear until you get into the game?

We wanted to bring together all of the dark aligned species together; Human (Op-Core), Loyal Jaffa, and Goa'uld. To do this, we wanted to make sure we included a reason for them to gather together. We are currently working on a storyline for the Guild but here is what we have so far:

Goa'uld Back-story:

The Gathering

Jacob and Samantha were wrong in their assumptions. They believed they had destroyed the Nameless Queen with C-4, however, Neith knew that if he were able to get the Nameless Queen to safe grounds, that he would be able to use her to create his own army. He gathered forces together and was able to create a 'look-a-like' clone before her destruction. They made the switch and brought her to an unknown place, a place of solitude and safety.

Because of his actions, she now works in collusion with Neith to spawn more symbiots.

In the past, the nameless Queen spawned symbiots for Anubis and she did not pass on genetic memories to its spawn. She felt that leaving them as non-intelligent slaves open for mind-imprinting for Anubis would help him in his battle for power. She assisted Anubis into creating the Kull Warriors which were grown originally from an unknown kind of aqueous material. She believed that they possessed comparatively more powerful musculature. (taken from SGW-Wiki) .

Her downfall was spawning them with no genetic memories. She is now acting in collusion with Neith to spawn more symbiots to create more powerful warriors with their genetic memories attached. They will be even more powerful than before. Although they are not open to mind imprinting, they feel that the destruction of most of the System Lords is enough to attract the Army needed for vengeance.

OP-Core back story:

OP-CORE

Many SGC members used the gates for personal gain. These ex-members of the SGC were tracked down and policed by the SGC for posing as Gods much like the Goa'uld. The abuse of the gates by these members was an illegal offense and as such, these members that were caught, were taken the SGC prison; The Castle. Many of these members believed that they were in the right. They were at times acting as saviors of small villages and their intentions were to help these villages by bringing medicine and cures for common illness. Others did in fact break the law, by using their education to read prophecies given to them by the Goa'uld in the past in order to capitalize on their ignorance and make a profit or gain prestige in these communities. Other Op-Core members were known for pillaging communities and taking over areas by force and enslaving the communities at hand to gain power and control.

Neith knew that if he were able to gain an alliance with the OP-Core that they would be a great addition to his current power. He was able to gather System Lords, the Loyal Jaffa, and now he would work on getting the OP-Core to work with him, This would be a force unheard of by any of the SGC and it would help to have the OP-Core by his side, as they are all ex-SGC members and could reveal their technology and tactics to A'a Netjer.

Neith started sending messages to Desy from inside the prison walls. They planned a break out and Desy gathered all the OP-Core that would remain loyal as favor for their freedom.

Neith sent the Ash'rak to create anarchy around The Castle and freed the OP-Core. Now, willing to serve the Goa'uld in their struggle for power, the OP-Core work together with A'a Netjer.

Loyal Jaffa back story:

Loyal Jaffa

The Jaffa Resistance and the destruction of the System Lords gave birth to the Free Jaffa Nation, with the planet Dakara as its new capital. The new nation immediately became a major power, inheriting part of the fleets of the System Lords, partially filling the power vacuum left by their defeat. In an elaborate ceremony marking the official founding of the Jaffa Nation, Teal'c and Bra'tac were knighted Blood kin to all Jaffa, the highest honor that can be bestowed on any Jaffa.

The nation was initially ruled by the Jaffa High Council, on which votes were appropriated based on unconfirmed military assets, the nation is divided between at least two major political factions: the opposition progressives who support Teal'c and Master Bra'tac's vision of a representative democracy and the ruling traditionalists who support the military oligarchy with Gerak at the head of the High Council.

With the arrival of the Ori, things began to become difficult for the Jaffa Nation. The nation was initially committed to resisting the spread of Origin and its attendant Priors; most Jaffa were horrified at the idea of worshiping false gods once more, as the resistance of the Jaffa of Kallana showed ("Beachhead"). However, Gerak was converted to Origin and as a result the Ori gained a powerful ally in the form of the Jaffa loyal to them.

Other Jaffa however, did not follow Gerak. They felt his conversion to the Ori were signs of weakness and that things were better serving with the Goa'uld. These Goa'uld believed that there should be no power struggle and the Jaffa should remain symbiotic with the Goa'uld. Changing their symbiotic relationship would affect not only the Goa'uld, but the Jaffa that served them. These jaffa were know as Loyal Jaffa. The Loyal Jaffa were lead by ______ and they serve the Goa'uld of the A'a Netjer. To get things back in balance, these Loyal Jaffa are willing servants to A'a Netjer.

To read the full story you will have to visit our forums.

TDQ: What elements of SGW are you most looking forward to? What specific elements that have been announced so far can't you wait to see?

We are looking forward to so many aspects that SGW has to offer so far. One of the key elements that particularly strikes us as original at this point in the creation of SGW is combat and how the classes are not your typical Trinity (Healer, Tank, DPS). They have a different approach and most combat will be ranged combat. According to the SGW Wiki site (http://www.stargateworldswiki.com/wiki/Combat) "Choosing a weapon will no longer be about which has the most DPS (Damage per Second) but will depend more on what you want to do with it." This is a very nice refreshing outlook on Combat.

As any fan of SG-1 or Atlantis (Further expansion) we can't wait to see the storyline and participate in the quests that drive that storyline in SGW. As Stargate Wiki explains "Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment are constructing an elaborate and complex questing environment. Quests will be an essential facet of Stargate Worlds in that they will be the primary vehicle that drives the game's story line. These quests will take place within the storyline that the developers have created around the Stargate SG-1 story and will take characters all over the universe and answer some questions that the show never did."

TDQ: I personally am a little worried about how CME are going to handle personal time lines and maintain an expansive feel to the story as well as continuity. What elements are you dreading or, at least, a little worried about and why?

One of the things we fear is failure to create a game that meets our expectations. We all want a perfect game, but what is perfect for them or you, may not be perfect for us.

One of the discussions we have had lately is about instances. A game that is full of instances is not an immersive game to us. We do not mind instances for certain quests that may take place, but if the World is instanced in areas of the open World then it takes away the meaning of MMO and it becomes a RPG. We want a large land mass and areas to explore and fight in. We do not want to sit in a portion of the land with 12 other people, but we want massive warfare. In order to do this, the land or planets can not be instanced, but more seamless.

We have played games where the land mass in the open world is instanced. We do not want this to take place in SGW. We want planet PX148 to be planet PX148, not Planet PX148 instance A and planet PX148 instance B, etc. We are hoping that planet PX148 will be open for all and that they do not place people in instances of that same planet. (made up planet name)

TDQ: What would you like to see added to the game before it hits release later this year?

I would honestly like to see Command/Guild Structures created before release.

TDQ: Lastly, if you could say one thing to CME right now, what would it be?

A'a Netjer members all want Beta! :D

On a serious note, I would like to thank them for their hard work and staying involved with the community. One of the things this Guild has been working on together is creating official polls (5 so far) for the community of SGW on the official forums. We received a PM from the developer Aruspex asking us to send him the results of the polls.

We actually gave Aruspex the username and password to get the actual results of our polls. So with each new poll, we know that the developers are actually looking at the hard work we are doing in trying to gather information of what the community wants.

It was a serious surprise to receive a PM from a developer asking us to send them the results. It may or may not change the shaping of this game, but we feel we are adding our input and helping the community add their input even if it is just to see what we feel as a whole.

A'a Netjer look like they are resolved to see Stargate Worlds right through to release and beyond and hopefully, in a years time, we will see them going from strength to strength as one of the first guilds to enter the universe of Stargate Worlds.

You can visit A'a Netjer here where you can stake a look at the games they are entering as well as join up to their forums or to one of their sections.

Thanks A'a Netjer and hopefully you'll be back when SGW is out to tell us all what it is like!

An Interview With: World of Raids

Indelible — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:10:50 GMT

Those of you who read TDQ often will know that we are on a never-ending mission to provide you with interviews from all aspects of the MMO world; from development teams to guilds and clans.

In our last interview, we spoke to the guys at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment about the upcoming MMORPG Stargate Worlds and they shared some interesting information into the workings of CME as well as what we can expect from the new MMO. Along with that, we got our hands on some really nice screenshots!

This time around, we decided to get in touch with one of the most popular World of Warcraft fan sites, World of Raids.

We spoke with the man behind the site, Teza, who’s been reporting World of Warcraft news on WoR as well as being at the forefront of raid content with the world famous raiding guild Meet Your Makers (formerly Curse). He kindly told us about the past and present along with what the future holds for World of Raids!

TDQ: Firstly, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Teza: Well, I am a 28-year-old WoW player living in France. I have been playing MMOs since 1998 (Everquest was my first MMO). I am currently playing a level 70 Rogue on EU-Vek'nilash server in the guild Curse/MyM (Meet your Makers).

TDQ: When did you decide to start World of Raids (WoR) and what made you want to do it?

Teza: It was decided around May 2006, when Naxxramas was available on the PTR. I have always been an active raider and I felt like there was a lack of information on high end PvE stuff (such as first kills, PvE progress, guilds and general news). I started writing/reporting about these subjects at least once per day (every evening when coming back from work). That’s how World of Raids was born; as a simple HTML page relating various things about Naxxramas (Sapphiron kill on PTR, loot tables, how the instance was designed etc..).

TDQ: How hard was the initial development of the site? How long did it take you to get it live?

Teza: As said in my previous answer, it started as a very simple and basic HTML page (without forums/sections), so the very first page of WoR took 3-4 days to get it live. Immediately people were interested in what I was reporting, so I looked for help to develop a real site focused on guilds, news and instances.

TDQ: Is it just you at WoR or do you have help to manage the site?

Teza: Since the beginning it always been me (news & moderation & content), another mate from my WoW server and some long time users/followers who contributed on several occasions . With the next version of WoR, the actual WoR team will increase from 2 to 10 members.

TDQ: Is the site easy to manage?

Teza: It was pretty easy at the beginning but the more visitors you get the more time it takes. Having that many visitors puts pressure on you each time you publish something (everything needs to be double checked). The information quickly spread and WoR is often being used as a source. I can't allow myself to make a mistake (although it happens but very rarely). Hopefully by adding new members to the team and splitting tasks we will able to provide more frequent & quality news/info/content/interviews/articles, it will give us more time to improve WoR.

TDQ: How easy was it to expand the site? Where did you get your content ideas?

Teza: The site grew naturally without publicity, a bit like a virus. Players began talking/posting about it on various places. It became a nest for players like me looking for accurate news/info on specific subjects. I am getting my content ideas from various sources (WoR users, my experience, mails, irc, sites) and I have also set up a program tracking 150 sites (from Reuters to blogs) and each time it detect certain keywords (such as World of Warcraft, Blizzard, Jeff Kaplan, Vivendi, etc...) I get a notice with a link, which I quickly read and decide if it’s newsworthy for our users.

TDQ: When you started the site, did you expect it to be as much of a success as it has become?

Teza: Not at all. It started as a hobby I had every evening when coming back from work, once I was done raiding with my guild.

TDQ: What's your most fond memory of your time with WoR? Is there anything that you look back at and laugh about?

Teza: My most fond memory was during TBC beta. WoR was a safe haven for US/EU beta testers (and those who didn’t have a key) where we were able to freely share all the beta info (pictures, description, tips, etc) on forums. It was considered as the best place to ask whatever you wanted about TBC beta without risking a ban. That’s until we received our first Blizzard DMCA (targeted at pictures being posted on WoR homepage/forums).

TDQ: How does it feel to know that thousands of WoW players look to WoR for up-to-date information, community and other content rather than other sites?

Teza: Good? Yes of course. I am delighted to see that WoR is the first stop for many wow players to stay updated on the hot info for WoW. It also became a hub for US/EU players to debate and share info/tips/advices. We plan to make several improvements to ease the process of accessing/sharing the info (i.e. news page for Iphone/Mobile users, improved news system and much more).

TDQ: What can we expect for the future of WoR? Is the site going to stay the same or will there be new features coming in the future?

Teza: We will improve our current features (i.e. mobile page for news, tag system, image tracking, improved archiving system) and add several new services (surprise !). We want to focus anew on what made WoR known to the community: Guilds & Raids.

TDQ: Lastly, if you could give one piece of advice to someone setting up a fan site, what would it be?

Teza: Pick a subject you are fond of, focus on it and it will turn out good. It’s better to be good at one thing than being average at several things.

I’d like to thank Teza on behalf of everyone at Curse.com for sharing his time with us to answer these questions!

Thank you Teza!

An Interview With: SG: Worlds - Questions Needed

Indelible — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:32:15 GMT

The Daily Quest needs your help. After our successful interview with World of Warcraft themed dating site, Datecraft, we decided to head to Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment - the guys behind Stargate Worlds - to ask them if they would mind answering our questions about the upcoming MMO.

They agreed and now we turn to you, the Curse Community.

If you have a question you would like these guys to answer then simply send then here. We don't mind what they are about or who they are from.

You have until January 1st 2008 at which point we will be sending the questions to the guys at CME.

An Interview With: Datecraft.com

Indelible — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:57:19 GMT

Social Networking sites are a massive thing at the moment, spanning right across the hobby range from mere mingling right through to obscure hobbies like fishing. Dating sites are part of the social networking sensation and whilst they are nothing new an innovative gamer has decided that his contribution to the 9.3 million strong World of Warcraft fan base shall be a dating site dedicated to their needs.

Datecraft.com launched on 10th November 2007. It presented itself as a site specifically orientated to World of Warcraft players wanting to meet the perfect WoW player from afar. The reception was mixed with some labelling it as, "pure win," and others labelling it as, "sad and pathetic," and so far, it has survived the initial storm and is going strong; getting stronger.

I sat down with Datecraft founder and WoW-Cupid, John, and talked to him about Datecraft then, now and in the future in the Worlds First interview with the dating site.

An Interview with Datecraft

TDQ: Firstly, who are the people behind Datecraft?

Datecraft: Interesting question. There are a number of people that I would probably include on that list: People who’ve helped me design / code it, people who’ve encouraged me to follow and pursue my creative need to make things out of nothing, and people who have influenced and inspired me to see the need for such a site. All those aside, on the day-to-day, there’s only 2, but we’re looking to build out our team: I do all the coding, design, implementation, management, and general administration, and I like to consult with my wife on the content I put up and marketing strategy (i.e. how much money I’m allowed to spend).

TDQ: Where did the idea come from?

Datecraft: In a nutshell, the idea came from a number of different personal experiences, and a little bit of entrepreneurial spirit.

I first got into MMO’s a couple of years back. In the fall of 2001, I was a college freshman trying to figure out how to spend my time between classes, DAoC (which launched October 10th), Xbox (Nov 15th), GameCube (Nov 18th), and a number of other distractions. It was DAoC that grabbed my attention, because it was unlike anything I had played before (and was the first game I was willing to pay a monthly subscription on!). My Uncle’s sister was an actual level/environ designer for Mythic, which made it all the more attractive. I was hooked and MMORPG’s became a steady favorite time-bandit for me. But, I began to wonder “who are these people I’m playing with?” Was that Midgard Dwarf really a short stubby 40-something year old in his mom’s basement? Or was it a really attractive young female that had some extra time on her hands? In any case, my curiosity led me to begin thinking about ways in which I would be able to meet, or at least “see”, my fellow guildmates (and the random PUG groups) on or offline. And, to be quite honest, the Elf from Hibernia, was she dateable?

Fast forward 3 or 4 years to November 24th, 2004. World of Warcraft hits the shelves and MMORPG fans rejoiced! My friend got me to sign up after he let me create a t00n on his account and that was it. I was addicted. Over time, I began hearing real life stories of people who had met in game, contacted each other in real life, met each other, dated, and then married! It was an amazing phenomenon, and one that I partly intrigued by and at the same time repulsed. But, it sure was fascinating. Graduating from college, I took my first job in what I would call the “bat cave”. I was managing Cisco routers for an collocation and ISP working graveyard shifts, and what’s so funny is that even during the day we kept the lights out. What was so interesting is that out of the 8 or 9 of my fellow cave-dwellers 7 of them were married, and of those 7, 6 of them had gotten married to people they met online (2 mail-order brides from Russia, 1 online from Thailand, and 3 stateside). Online dating was real. And more than that, it appeared to be working, as all of them “seemed” pretty satisfied with their marriages!

TDQ: How much time did it take for you to get the site up and running?

Datecraft: The site from conception to launch: 6 years. The actual development started on November 2nd. It was done and launched 8 days later on November 10th, 2007.

TDQ: Were there any major obstacles in the way of the idea or was it quite easy to go from idea to reality?

Datecraft: Not really. One of my blog posts mentions some of the numerous software platforms that we’re using to manage the site. What’s so amazing is that almost all of the ones mentioned (and more that I haven’t mentioned) are free of charge. Technology is pretty awesome these days and affords even the most lackluster entrepreneur the opportunity to make whatever they’ve got stuck up in their head a reality.

TDQ: Could you tell us about some of the features on Datecraft that members have access to?

Datecraft: Members have access to typical features and functionalities that a number of other “dating” websites have, such as pictures, profiles, and guestbooks. We also have the ability to share music and upload a small (15mb) video of themselves. You remember “Hot or Not”? We’ve got a photo rating feature too. In addition, we’ve got some odds and ends, like “winking” at another member, global and personal chatting / shoutbox, search, events, blogs, and a forum. Finally, we’ve got continual contests running, so our users can win fabulous prizes.

TDQ: What made you think that a dating site was what WoW players needed?

Datecraft: I’m not sure if it’s as much of a need as it is a satisfactory fulfillment of a simple curiosity: Who am I really playing with and what do they look like? I think the question “Are they single and ready to mingle” might be a final afterthought. But, in the context of knowing that a number of lonely WoW players have actually struck gold in finding a real life friend, partner, and spouse, I thought it would be fun to provide an official “medium” by which those relationships might occur.

TDQ: There have been WoW funerals, WoW weddings and a host of other WoW events that have attracted attention. Do you think that Datecraft is opening up the floor for serious internet relationships over World of Warcraft, including WoW dating and perhaps more WoW weddings and even honey moons?

Datecraft: I’d like to think so. But, who knows. The internet is a fickle place. Do something wrong and people won’t use it. Fulfill a need, they love you (until you do something wrong). It’s all about relative interpretation of use as well. What I mean by this is that a number of people have viewed Datecraft as a glorified MMO joke, while others see it the same way we see it: As a legitimate way to build relationships. Time will tell who wins, and really, we’re not in charge of that; the users are.

TDQ: There are a lot of sceptics out there who claim that this idea won't take off because, "80% of WoW players are men," and whilst 80% isn't an exact figure, do you think the larger male player base may hamper the site?

Datecraft: Could or “may” it hamper the growth of the site? Sure. Of course. But, I do believe (and studies show) that the adoption of video games by women is on the rise and there are more women playing MMO’s than ever before. Datecraft may be well before it’s time and it may be too early to be effective. We are a “World’s First” (from the perspective of being a niche-in-a-niche-in-a-niche website, catering to a specific video game, in a specific genre, in the online space).

TDQ: The site has been live now for 4 days and people have shown a genuine interest in the service you have presented. What has the initial reception been like from your perspective?

Datecraft: Mixed. I’ve read probably a 100+ blog posts (gogo http://blogsearch.google.com/) which have responses and reactions spanning the entire emotional spectrum of the human experience. Initial reception? Shock baby.

TDQ: World of Warcraft is just one game out of the many MMOGs that are out there. Do you plan to extend this new e-dating for gamers pitch to other titles such as Tabula Rasa or Guild Wars?

Datecraft:I’ve thought about it. My initial thought is that one should see if this first dive into the deep end here does well and is successful and then move forward with engaging with other games. “Success,” though, can mean a number of different things.

TDQ: Now that the site is live, what plans do you have for Datecraft? Are you working on any new features for the site? What can members look forward to?

Datecraft: We’re currently brainstorming and testing out some different features that some of the members have suggested. We’ve been extremely busy hacking the site to make it more user friendly and to meet the needs of the users. We’re pretty excited about the evolution of the site because we’re taking our member’s suggestions seriously; they are the ones that are going to really make it the best online relationship community! In addition, we’ve got some great Contests that we hope to our members will participate in, one of which I’m particularly excited about: Datecraft.com Homepage Banner Contest!

TDQ: Lastly and most importantly, do you yourself have a profile on Datecraft?

Datecraft: I do. But, I’m definitely not the most popular person… and that’s probably a good thing.

So there you have. Thank you John for a brilliant interview and I'm sure we'll be hearing loads more about Datecraft as the site grows!

Keep an eye out for more interviews on The Daily Quest coming soon!