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Interview with the King of Zonsense
by Eloria

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing the God Ardothica. Ardothica is a level 35 (total level 142) god who works as a World Object Manager (WOM), Grand Master World Builder, and as an Autoquest Contributor. Below is what he had to say.

Eloria: What got you interested in becoming a god?

Ardothica: I just wanted to build a zone. I've always liked creative writing, so it sounded fun.

Eloria: What was your reaction in becoming a WOM and what does the job entail?

Ardothica: I sort of fell into it really. The game had been without WOMs for a while, zones were starting to pile up a bit, and Taeloch and I were pretty active on the god side of things at the time, and Arethusa had just returned to activity, so they asked us if we all wanted to be WOMs. Honestly, I just wanted to get D'lujik opened more than anything else. My initial reaction to becoming a WOM was surprise and praying I didn't screw things up.

Eloria: Was D'lujik your first zone?

Ardothica: No, but it was taking forever to open. All zones take a while to get open, but this time, the time to get it done was a bit nutty. The WOMs at the time retired when the zone was half-way done with testing, when you are that far, it is really close to opening. The zone had sat a long time. Brookhaven was my first zone.

Eloria: With Brookhaven being your first zone, when did you become a god, and how did you feel when you became one?

Ardothica: Lonely! Builder gods are the loneliest positions, I think. You're cut off from everyone except the other gods. Anyway, being a builder god is not all the fun as far as fun god stuff goes.

Eloria: Do you get to create any really interesting stuff as a builder?

Ardothica: The rules are sort of set when it comes to building, the amount of what you can do is limited, but since I can write objects and add them to the game, we can sort of mess around with things. The reward of being a builder was writing the zone, so I didn't mine much without commands.

Eloria:What does the A-team do together and how does it feel having extra help now?

Ardothica: The stuff we do for our jobs is really cool. We throw ideas out to each other and sometimes all three of us think it sounds good so we go ahead and do it. I've worked with Aewen for a long time, so it's really great to have her on board as a WOM.

Eloria:Where did the origin of the name Ardothica come from?

Ardothica: I don't know how I came up with it. I just stared with A and then added letters. Half of the people in game think I'm a female because of the ending of my name.

Eloria:What was your crowing achievement as a builder and a WOM?

Ardothica: As a builder, I think Yrg has got to be it. I put so much into that zone as far as little details and storyline. D'lujik is probably the most complex to solve - it was as difficult as a puzzle zone as I could make, and it has a lot of procs. Achievements as far as WOM, I think just listening to people really, as we are totally open to player suggestions. There is not one e-mail that we've received to the WOM address that we have not looked into, with more than fifty percent of changes were as suggested or closed to suggested.

Eloria: What has been the coolest thing you've done as a god?

Ardothica: Messing around with the gossip stuff that mobs can do has been sort of fun. It is a challenge because the help files are completely incomprehensible on what to do but you can make the mobs do all sorts of stuff.

Eloria: Is it true that you have be a walking book of knowledge of the game to be a WOM?

Ardothica: Well, I think with three WOMs, it definitely make that not necessarily true and there are lots of people that know much more than me about eq. I think like any job, the other stuff is just as important, and I'm not pretending that I know anymore than I do, so I seldom get myself into trouble with bad screw ups. I think it gets harder and harder to know everything as the game gets bigger.

Eloria: Anything random about yourself or the game to share?

Ardothica: I hide all sorts stuff about myself in my zones or about people I know. I'm a teacher in real life, in Brookhaven that is based on me. The daughter you save is based on my real life daughter.

Eloria: What do you teach?

Ardothica: I teach the fourth grade. Funny thing in Brookhaven, the ogre named Daroctwil is based on three nightmare kids I've had over the years by the names of: Darius, Octavius, and Willy.

Eloria: Do you get any feed back on your works in game?

Ardothica: As a builder, I've talked with a few people who have really taken the time to read stuff, and it's always awesome to hear. Those are the people I'm thinking about when I write zones. Not everyone has the time or even desire to read everything and figure out stuff, which is totally fine - I'm not anti-walkthrough or anything like that. It's just cool to hear that some people do appreciate the small details. I think builders just love getting feedback about their zones. If you find stuff in zone that you think is really cool, funny, well-written, or whatever, if the builder is still active, let them know.

Eloria: What was your favorite thing about Yrg as far as storyline and creating the zone?

Ardothica: Well, the storyline was sort of inspired by "The Wizard of OZ". It was sort of fun making a zone with something to have symbols for. The idea for the proc to get into the zone came first. The udlings are sort of like the hapless beings in oz. Briwe would be more the wicked witch of the east, and the Toto of the zone would be a zmer by the name of Zozo.

Eloria: Is there anything in conclusion you would like to say?

Ardothica: In conclusion - if anything goes rights, it's just pure dumb luck, and if anything goes wrong, it's Arethusa’s fault!

After a journey into the world of Ardothica and the trash known as his office, I would like to thank Ardothica for his time in being interviewed. This is the Mudslinger, out for now.

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