December 13, 2008

Interview with Ontarious
by Bberke

I had the opportunity to interview Ontarious former King of the Blood Moon Empire and one of the leaders of the clan named Fate, that has itself faded into legend. He currently is a Hero Mage in clan 1 Circle of Power.

Q: 'How long have you been playing text games?'.
A: '12 years 56 days 8 hours 7 minutes 51 seconds since Ontarious was born.'.
Q: 'Wait so this was your first char and you didn't ever play any other muds?'.
A: 'Ontarious was my first experience with a Txt game, and aside from the occasional mud that pops up from some disgruntled player, this was my first mud, and only mud. Yeah, I never really found another that kept my attention. I need to be challenged to be interested. Other games get boring really quick.'.
Q: 'How did you find out about Medievia?'.
A: 'I found out about Med through a few friends, Tacony in particular. They were talking about meeting on Med to run the Vale, and I was taken back wondering what I was missing. So I logged on, and it snowballed from there.'.
Q: 'You've played a long time, but you went incognito for a while, when did you take a break from med? What were the circumstances?'.
A: 'Well, I took quite a few breaks over the years, when Bloodlines came out I heroed Ontare, then a few other characters. My time here was very intense over the years, always involved in some power clan and almost always leading to some effect. When I was a newbie I was in Cradle of Corpses with Curer, Iroc and Tacony. I wanted to 'graduate' to Guardians of Justice and Sontoran said I wasn't good enough. so from that point I went to Fate with the help of Tacony, Zeb and Jeru and it just blew up. I was involved in everything I could be. 7 years of that and I was burnt out. I decided it was time to focus a bit on my future, so I went back to school and tried to make some sort of Life Plan. I had made a ton of friends here, a lot I still keep in contact with. Some more than others. Ironically enough the three of the four groomsmen in my wedding are friends that I played Medievia with.'.
Q: 'So 7yrs burnt out life plan, but you're back now?'.
A: 'heh, I've been asked that a lot recently. Am I back, am I not. When I played before I would be on fourteen hours a day at times. Not good when your married and have an infant son. I do have some downtime now though, where I can play some. What I would like to do, and am doing is gathering some of the old heads from days long gone, and trying to assemble some of them together. It's no secret I didn't think I liked where Medievia was heading. so I stayed away for a bit. I'd keep in contact with bloodline to see whats going on, and started getting intrigued. Then one day it hit me when I was watching the stock market. The market is cyclical. So is Medievia. It needs a correction. It needs to start fresh. When I was a newb, the heros in Fate who knew what they were doing would help. And they didnt have to take any crap from people, because they knew what they were doing. What they would do is teach newbs whats going on. Show the ropes. at that point, when Fate and Legions of the Shadow Knights were the top dogs, they would help tutor newbies, and train them and not coddle them. Then they newbs would take it from there. That is really where I see Medievia at the moment. Its a coming of age time. A rebirth. Oldschool needs to help newschool to get the sails full again. It can be done. with the changes that are going in, and with some player support, this game can kick ass all over again. I have talked to old heros who went to WoW and are bored, even with a new expansion that just came out. now is the time for Med to make its comeback'.
Q: 'Can you think of a moment, a turning point, where you went from observer of the game, to someone who is now trying to 'make things happen' again'.
A: 'I think a week or two ago when I logged on for the first time in months. I logged on and a close friend logged on at the same time out of the clear blue. I had no reason to be on Med, but I logged on anyway. It got me thinking of the good ole days, then I saw newbies asking for help with Skye Temple. I saw that there was a cleaning of useless clans. I threw a few questions out there to some select people, and they like the idea. So here we go.'.
Q: 'What are the most significant ways Medievia has changed throughout your time here?'.
A: 'Progression. Look, not everyone agrees with Vryce. In fact I can tell you no one ever agrees totally with everything he says or does. But the truth is, this master plan he has is coming together. It took me a few years away from it to realize it, but I can see it now. It is all starting to make sense if you look in the larger picture. There is always some sort of progression. If you have no progression, you have a horrible game.'.
Q: 'What are your favorite activities on Medievia?'.
A: 'When I was playing before, it was CPK, Eqrunning, Combing, Ships, towngames. As of late I have really enjoyed Lairs/eq/eggs'.
Q: 'What's your take on the current new features, "be in the story"feature, fae bats, fae orbs etc?'.
A: 'I think the story feature rocks. It is like aningame feature how logs used to be. The other day some guy I never heard of came to me and said he used to read my logs from when I led Fate years ago. History is awesome. Anytime you can be documented as a part of history, is worth it to me. Just think when there is a thousand players online, and they are reading the story about how Bberke led a lair vs the most feared dragon of the era and won. Or how Ontarious, Isigow and Zyduss had a race for eggs and in 30 minutes they each pulled out 800+eggs. What if your grandchildren in a few decades play Medievia, and you can relay stories or adventures. Dare others to do what you did. The use of Fae is amazing, it makes the game that much more interesting.'.
Q: 'How difficult or easy a game would you say Medievia is to master?'.
A: 'How can you master something that is always evolving? I thought I was pretty damned good in my heyday. I was pretty damned good in my heyday. And each and every day I learned something new. Some new way to do things. To master something is a bold statement, I think you can be very skilled at Medievia.'.
Q: 'You mentioned coming back because of a friend logging on at the sametime as you, who among your friends here has kept you wanting to log back in the most?'.
A: 'I can group that to my Bloodline. I took bloodlines very personally. Mainly because I used to be extremely irritable.'.
Q: 'So, during the time you were mostly an observer of med, what went on in your life?'.
A: 'I moved 500 miles from home, got married, had a kid, bought a house and started a career.'.
Q: 'Do you consider Medievia a roleplaying game?'.
A: 'Absolutely. Everyone takes on their own character and makes it their own. If I was a the prick in real life, how I was in the game, I wouldn't have had any friends :P It is a nice stress relief, to be able to be someone you're not and do things you normally wouldn't'.
Q: 'What is one thing you would do to improve the game?'.
A: 'I would like to see more people online at once. Whether it be by marketing or some sort of referral program. Anything. I think a lot of the new features would really take off more than they are now if we had a larger consistent player base. With the economy how it is, and people wanting to save money, now is the time to strike. You can play Medievia for FREE. Even if you want some donation equipment, you can get it via donation deals, or the cost of a video game or two, and every day have new adventures awaiting you.'.
Q: 'What would you say has been the most memorable event in your Medlife?'.
A: 'Meeting the friends I have met, and keeping those friendships for twelve years. hitting 1000 CPK's'. snagging 2k eggs in the combs on 1 trip, cpking Sontoran. Who said I wasn't good enough! One of the highlights is definitely this: King Ontarious (3) says, 'bow down before the one you serve''. When Fate first got a kingdom'.
Q: 'If something happened and you were forced to quit right now, what would you want people to remember about you?'
A: That I enjoyed the game, tried to do my best in every aspect,but most important I valued my friends more than anything. The friends is what helps make this game special and that I would do anything for a clannie or friend.'.
Q: 'If you were to ask anyone a question what would it be and to who?'.
A: 'I really don't have a good answer for that. There are so many who I would want to talk to.'.
Q: 'Name 5 things that people do not know about you!'.
A: 'I was on a board that developed a Alzheimers charity golftourny'. I had two professional baseball tryouts'. I am pretty shy irl at first when I meet someone. My son has me wrapped around his finger and I like beer.'.
Q: 'Age/Location?'.
A: '30 new england'.
Q: 'Ok, Ont, before we conclude what has been for me a very enjoyable interview, is there anything you would like to add?'.
A: '-FIN'.