June 27, 2004
Liyin: Firstly, can you tell me about yourself? How you came to know and play Medievia?
Mandroth: Well, I've been playing RPGs in one form or another for over 20 years, and I've been hooked on the internet for several years as well. I tried to avoid Mudding in general for a long time, knowing I would become hopelessly addicted since it hits on my two favourite things at once. But about a year and a half ago a roommate who's played here before got me into Medievia, and (I) haven’t done anything else since :)'
Quonsie: I started on med in about 1994? (cannot remember exact year). A friend brought me in - he was a god for a while named Mixheal (and another friend Khumbu). We checked out a few muds together and settled on Medievia. We also had played lots of D&D or Rolemaster for years in school, took a long break, got married and had kids, and now play here with my real life wife :)
Liyin: Can you give us some background about your clan?
Mandroth: A little. I've been in this clan since about my second day of playing med, and leader for over a year now. I inherited when the previous leader got purged, and have worked hard rebuilding and getting things going again. Prior to when I started playing I only know a little, I know it was founded by Dragos and is the 2nd oldest (surviving) clan still in the game. But I'm not an old-time player like Quonsie is, so while I've heard a few stories I don't have a detailed history.
Quonsie smiles.
Quonsie: I was in 20 in my old days of playing too - when led by Huxley then by Flapp. I don't have too many stories - but clan has hung on and waxed and waned a lot over the years
Mandroth: At the time I took over, we we're barely hanging in there, with barely half a dozen active players, but I've worked hard and brought us back up to being a ranked clan with a healthy membership. Of course, all my clannies helped with the rebuilding :)
Liyin: What made the two of you decide to join clan 20 when you first started?
Mandroth: I joined on the recommendation of my friend who got me playing Medievia and quickly became great friends with the other people here at the time.
Quonsie: I joined 20 because real-life friends were in the clan as well as friends I had made in the game.
Liyin: Is leading a clan all that you expected it to be? Why or why not?
Mandroth: To be honest, when I first started I didn't have any particular expectations. I had only been playing about six months at the time, and since I didn't know what it would entail I tried to keep my mind open. I can tell you I think it's a great job though, but it's not for everyone. I've seen a lot of other clans falter from leaders who let their egos over owning their own clan get out of control. I try to avoid falling into that trap. I think of myself as a clannie first, and the clan itself belongs to everyone, I'm just the clannie that gets the extra job of doing things only the leader can do, such as editing the clantown, making clanitems, etc. Its funny though, the more I try to avoid "telling people what to do" the more they ask me what they should do :p
Liyin: What do you like/dislike about (co-)leading?
Mandroth: I like that I can make sure that this clan stays the fun and friendly place that I like it to be.
Quonsie: Hmm, I cannot really think of anything I do not like about co - but Mandroth does policy stuff and communications and leader work - I just provide moral support and a few years of knowledge of the game :)
Mandroth: The hardest part has been when good friends start to think we should be doing things differently, which inevitably leads to arguments, and people leaving. It doesn't happen often, but I get upset when one time friends don't get along anymore, that’s the hardest part.
Quonsie nods his head.
Mandroth: But as I said, that rarely happens, most days I can take pride from every accomplishment each clannie makes. Every level gained, every eq run (that is) finished, every dragon slain, every towngame won - whether I am there in person or not, I can say "that was _my_ clan that did that!" That’s the best part.
Liyin: Conflicts that occur within a clan is indeed terrible. Do you mind sharing with the readers how you would normally deal with such problems?
Mandroth: Mostly I just try to talk to people and work it out. Occasionally I have had to put my foot down and have had people leave, or even had to kick someone, but that hasn't happened in a long time now.
Quonsie: I think the thing we try to impart is that everyone's point of view is valuable, but team work comes first, so if people are picking fights, they are not usually on the side which we like to see.
Mandroth: We have a good crop of people now; it’s been several months since the last disagreement of any sort.
Quonsie nods his head.
Liyin: That’s nice to hear :) Do you actively seek out new clan members, do you expect them to come to you, or is it a mixture of both?
Quonsie: Relatively passive I would say.
Mandroth: A little of both.
Quonsie nods his head.
Mandroth: Most of our new enrolees are the result of current clannies bringing their friends in but when there are a few empty slots I go out actively looking for people to get them filled.
Liyin: What do you look for when enrolling a new clan member?
Mandroth: People who say 'yes' lol!
Quonsie laughs.
Mandroth: Mostly I try and find people new to the game. I have found if you take a new player, treat him right, teach him the game and help him become a hero, then he will stick with you forever.
Quonsie: For people we like to see stay - some level of maturity and perspective about the game being a game.
Mandroth: I agree with what Quonsie said as well, we do like to see some level of maturity.
Quonsie: And some level of independence, because the core group of a few heroes do a lot of work to keep ranks swimming.
Liyin: Do you tax your clan members? If so, how much and what do taxes go towards?
Mandroth: If by tax you mean dues, then yes, we ask for one million gold a month from all our members…
Quonsie: To keep up clantown mostly.
Mandroth: … which mostly goes towards paying the tax on clantown rooms and enrolling new members. A few of our richer members sometimes kick in extra too, which helps a lot :)
Liyin: How liberal are you in giving clan members various privileges?
Mandroth: Not very, lol. All the 'core' group has enroll privileges, but only me and Quonsie have remove privileges, and I insist on doing all the ct-editing myself.
Liyin: What is the "core group" that you mentioned?
Mandroth: Well, myself and Quonsie of course.
Quonsie: People who have been in and hung in for a good while :) We have a few very able higher-level contributors who have stuck with clan for a while :)
Mandroth: In addition, Ghoti of course, he's been here longer than just about anyone else I think. Also Tagetes, Krage, Dejaduo and Iroc. I don't want any of my other clannies being offended, though - we have a large number of people who are shaping up very well, and will soon be on that list as well.
Quonsie: Yep - the clan has picked back up in actives, all good folks :) Our best wish is that they all become hero-level core members in time :)
Liyin: Does your town like to participate in town games? Why or why not?
Quonsie: Yes - for points, for sure.
Mandroth: The points help, true. I try to only request towngames when a lot of people are on, and with our varied schedules that doesn't happen all the time. But also for me personally, since I have a family and a lot going on in life they can be challenging, because I can often only log on for a few hours and I may have a few objectives for those few hours. Towngames can help get everyone out working together on something though, that’s the main reason I request them. But once again, the points are nice too
Liyin: Are there any towngames that your clan particularly enjoys?
Mandroth: The xp ones, some people enjoy AQs, and egg ones if the timing is right
Quonsie: and trade :) We are not the most adept pkers, but even CTF is fun on occasion
Mandroth: CTF can be fun, its very dependant on who your opponent is though.
Liyin: What long term goal or plans do you have for your clan?
Mandroth: Not a whole lot beyond to keep things running the way they are, and get all our clannies heroed.
Quonsie: To maintain a friendly, family clan I think... and when possible maintain or raise ranks :)
Mandroth nods his head at Quonsie.
Liyin: If your clan was disbanded today what do you think people would remember
about it?
Quonsie: The friends I made for me.
Mandroth: In order for this clan to be disbanded today Vryce himself would have to pry it from my cold dead fingers lol, but if that did happen I think most of the people in it would remember it being the best clan, that they had a lot of fun in.
Quonsie: and hopefully a place where they learned a lot :)
Liyin: Do you have any words of wisdom or advice for aspiring clanleaders or co-leaders?
Quonsie: Be calm!
Mandroth: Only to sit down and seriously think about what they are doing first
Quonsie: Nods – and be fair to all.
Mandroth: I've seen a lot of people create clans, or take over dying clans, because they have a big sense of self-importance but in the end their clans fail because their egos get in the way, and there are a lot of dead or dying clans out there because of that. Every clan is different, so I can't give anyone specific advice on how they should run *their* clan, but like I said someone thinking about building or taking over a clan needs to realize being a clan leader is a responsibility, not a prize. I think one reason so many people think I'm a good leader is because, as I mentioned earlier, I happened to inherit the clan when the old leader was purged, I never actively set out to "get my own clan", but I accepted the responsibility when it happened.
Quonsie: and you are fair :)
Liyin: Do you have any concluding remarks or anything else you would like to add?
Quonsie: I just want to thank our clannies myself, we have a good crew :)
Mandroth: Just that I know a lot of people outside of our clan don't give us much respect, because we don't CPK or have a high clanranking - but I don't care, and my clannies don't care - we play this game to have fun, and are having a lot of fun with each other in this clan, and thats all that matters to us :)
Quonsie: Agree completely.
Mandroth: The people who criticise us can play the way they want to, and we'll play the way we want to, and honestly not give one whit when they try to put us down because we don't play 'their way'.
Quonsie: There seem to be a lot of players who play the same way though; we have a lot of quality friends outside our clan who share similar viewpoints :) Thanks out to them too.
A Note from Kimetan, MudSlinger Interview Editor:
Is your clan interested in being featured in the Clan Spotlight? Sharing in the limelight is easy! All you have to do is submit a MedWeb Clan Page, if you haven't done so already, and send me (Kimetan) an e-mail expressing your interest in an interview!
Copyright (c) 1992-2018 Medievia.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Mudslinger is a trademark (tm) of Medievia.com, Inc.
No portion of the MudSlinger may be reproduced without the express written consent of Medievia.com, Inc.