Medievia Mudslinger

January 28, 2001

An Interview with Enignon by Nykaul

The interview took place on January 15th, 2001 in the Comfortable Couch Room, a part of Enignon's office. He is a level 34 (136) God and the co-manager of clantowns, the Client Consultant for Zmud, as well as various other activities. He claims his biggest accomplishment in Medievia has yet to happen, although he admits that he has had plenty of wonderful memories along the way to help him reach that soon-to-be pinnacle. I asked Enignon some questions about Medievia as well as information about his life, this is what he told me.

Nykaul: How long have you been playing Medievia, and what initially got you started?

Enignon: Whew! I've been playing Medievia since, April 1994 as near as I can remember. I can't remember exactly how I got started, I think a friend mentioned it in an IRC channel.

Nykaul: Was Medievia your first Mud?

Enignon: Thinking back, no. It was the first MUD in the current incarnations of MUDs, but the first one I played was on a Genie BBS.

Nykaul: What were your first impressions?

Enignon: Spammy was the first thing that sprang to mind, and there were far less players back then. Took me a while to learn all the commands I needed, and of course to carefuly read the rules.

Nykaul: How long had you played before you became a God?

Enignon: If I'm right about when I started playing, it was almost six years to the day before I became a God. About three years after I eventually reached Hero. April 18th 2000 at 3am GMT. It was a big moment for me. I logged it, but who can blame me for doing that.

Nykaul: So how did you becoming a God come about?

Enignon: Long twisted story that. Somehow I started talking to Gamina in the January of that year, and we became friends I suppose. Sometime in March of that year I started helping her proof help files and CTs, shortly after that I was summoned and asked if I'd like to be an Avatar. I'm not saying that Avatars are destined to get Gods, I certainly didn't think I'd ever get one. Then pretty much out of the blue, for me anyway, I was summoned to the office of Ikuska and offered a God so I take on the role of Clantown Co-Manager. I know now that it was because of all the help I was giving Gamina on the CTs and help files.

Nykaul: What was your initial reaction?

Enignon: My initial reaction was one of fear.

Nykaul: Why?

Enignon: I didn't know what was going on, being summoned by a high ranking Goddess isn't exactly a calming experience for a mortal. I thought I was going to be stripped of my Avatar flag or something, and I was racking my brains trying to figure out what I'd done.

Nykaul: And when she offered you the position of God, how did you feel?

Enignon: Suprised, relieved, shocked. You name it I pretty much felt it right then.

Nykaul: Had you any plans to apply to be a God, or even thought about going in that direction at all?

Enignon: Not seriously, I'd teased Gamina about it a few hundred times I guess. I was only joking around at the time though. Mainly I'd thought about it as a sort of mortals dream, as a great way to get back at horrible players. Much like wanting to be a dragon so you can eat people.

Nykaul: And when you did finally become a God, how did the dream work in reality?

Enignon: It doesn't, but I knew that before I became a God. Abuse of that nature is very easy to find out about and punished very firmly. Though now I do get to see the odd person I'm not terribly fond of gagged, or frozen, or silenced in some other way. I know who I'm not fond of and I refuse to handle them myself so there can be no conflict of interest.

Nykaul: Let's go back in time for a moment, when you were but a mere newbie. Did you have any influences or heroes that you looked up to?

Enignon: I suppose the first player to drag me around at the start was a help, though I didn't follow in his footsteps or I'd have been purged by now. I suppose the leaders and the members of my first clan had the most impact on me. I don't remember if he was a hero at the time, but Helleth was a big influence on me. Except for the vanishing for two years part.

Nykaul: All newbies have embarassing moments, can you tell us one or two of yours?

Enignon: That one is easy, my first class was a bit of a mistake. For some unknown reason I started as a warrior. Of course since Medievia was my first true MUD I didn't know any better. It took me well over a year to multi, 18 months I think it was.

Nykaul: Some would say that any first class is hard because it is just that, your first.

Enignon: I agree, any class has it's challanges to begin with, but warrior in my eyes has a few more disadvantages than say cleric or mage. Not having any spells or anything even remotely resembling stealth makes some areas highly dangerous. Which explains why I probably have one of the higher death counts out there.

Nykaul: When you did eventually hero, I believe you said it took you three years, was it everything you thought it would be?

Enignon: Honestly, reaching Hero was a personal goal. There are some aspects of it I don't personally like. The chatter on imm, the regular barely veiled insults towards other clans or new heros. The extreme competition for equipment. I must admit the insults thing has calmed down a lot in the last two years, though there are a few, urm, expressions that I know have to be insults. I just have to figure them out.

Nykaul: As a player, what would you say have been the most important aspect of Medievia to you?

Enignon: As both a player and a God I'd have to say the friendships I've made here. I've become reasonably close to a lot of good people in my time here. People that if I'd been without would have probably lead me to quit years ago. I'm a social creature by nature, I don't offer much information about myself, but I do enjoy good company.

Nykaul: What would you say where some of your least favourable aspects about Medievia?

Enignon: Least favorite aspects, huh? CPK, I HATE CPK. Never been killed there, never been looted, but I despise it. I accept it, but I personally don't like it at all. I don't like a lot of the infighting I see between the mortal clans either. It can get pretty nasty at times. Makes me feel like a kindergarten teacher at times.

Nykaul: What aspects or ideas do you think Medievia should adopt?

Enignon: There are a lot I'd like to see, some realistic, some outlandish. I've always wanted a two-seater cargo carring dragon in fire engine red, but that isn't likely to happen. I'm looking foward to MFs and dragons doing damage to CTs. That will make my job easier in some respects. I'd like to see some more work done with MXP, but I know that isn't possible at the moment, also a stricter following of AD&D rules concerning character actions would be nice to see. Restrictions of what armor a thief can wear without suffering degradation in skills, that sort of thing.

Nykaul: What would you say was your most memorable even while in Medievia?

Enignon: Meeting Gamina has to be a big moment for me, but the wedding of my mortal was a big one too. I'd say it was a toss-up between those two events and getting my God.

Nykaul: Let's talk about your God again! Can you tell us the things you are currently working on?

Enignon: I'm actually taking a bit of an enforced break from most of my duties at the moment. When I am working though I'm constantly proofing clan town rooms and mobs.

Nykaul: Any advice for people who write clan town rooms or think they could/should?

Enignon: Very often the same room is denied 2-4 times due to corrections being ignored, descriptions being rewritten with errors in them. Total disregard of the rules governing the English language. Seriously though, reading all the help files and understanding them is of GREAT (hint hint) value, getting others clannies to proof your work is a GREAT (hint hint) idea. Writing the descriptions offline and filtering them slowly into the towns works very well.

Nykaul: Any projects for you planned in the future that you can tell us about?

Enignon: Apart from a proposal and possibly a wedding to attend my plans for the future on Med are fairly open right now, I'm toying with a zone idea. I haven't even started getting the basic idea approved yet though.

Nykaul: As a God you must have to answer the same questions over and over, how do you deal with things like that?

Enignon: Patience, aliases and the odd trigger.

Nykaul: Being a God you must have had some interesting experiences. Can you share an interesting/funny story?

Enignon: I suppose the funniest evening was the next to last attempt at Zek, a lot of bets were made and chickened out on and the ASCII dragon was funny.

Nykaul: Now I'd like to ask the person behind the screen a few questions. Hopefully it will give people an opportunity to get to know you better.

Enignon: Fire away, you can ask whatever you wish.

Nykaul: If you were forced to quit Medievia this very second, what would you want people to remember about you?

Enignon: My punny sense of humor, that I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me. That I have a heart that is often bigger than my wallet. I suppose I'd most want to be remembered for who I am more than any one trait.

Nykaul: And what do you think people WILL remember about you?

Enignon: My sometimes extremely painful puns are most likely to be remembered in nightmares.

Nykaul: If you could ask anyone on Medievia a question, what would it be and to who?

Enignon: The person would have to be Vryce, as to what I'd ask him. I'm not sure. It would probably be something daft like "Can I have your autograph?" Knowing me I'd had great questions all ready until I met him, then they'd vanish faster than a mist in the Sahara.

Nykaul: If you could interview anyone in the world, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

Enignon: I honestly don't know but it would probably be the first person who decided to drink rotted fruit juice. I really want to know how mankind discovered alcohol. Rotted grapes and grains don't spring to my mind as a good snack food.

Nykaul: Where did you get the name Enignon from, and what does it mean?

Enignon: I got the name from my CD rack, I've always been a tricky person to figure out and an Enigma CD was looking at me, so I used that as a rough basis for my name. Enigma easily became Enignon, so I got to keep a part of the mystery.

Nykaul: Some players will have specific music playing during CPK, a herobattle or the like. Do you have any rituals or music playing while proofing clan town rooms?

Enignon: Usually I have something relaxing playing, Enigma, Enya, Mike Oldfield, Robert Miles, one of the classical composers things of that nature. Mainly because it can be a very aggravating task at times.

Nykaul: If you could have one of the skills or spells on Medievia in real life, which would you want and why?

Enignon: Now that questions is easy, I want all of them. Especially phase and summon.

Nykaul: Just one!

Enignon: Color spray would be handy for decorating, but summon would have a million uses. Phase would be nearly as useful as summon, but lightning would be such fun. I suppose it would have to be summon though, as long as it worked on objects and people IRL.

Nykaul: If you could describe yourself in just three words, what would they be?

Enignon: urm, ahh...urgh...

Nykaul: What would you say has been your biggest accomplishment in real life, so far?

Enignon: I suppose it is passing my driving test on the first try, well, at least that is the only one I can mention without getting frozen. I'm looking foward to becoming a father one day, that has to be the thing I look foward to most in RL.

Nykaul: If you could have three wishes, and one of them is not to ask for more wishes, what would they be?

Enignon: You had to throw in the no wishing for more wishes thing didn't you? Ok, the first would be for magical powers across the full range of powers known or dreamed of by humans. The second would be for enough regular income to keep my future family and myself comfortable for the rest of our lives. The third, well that's easy, I'd wish for the power to grant my own wishes and those of others. That way world peace would get to be #4'.

Nykaul: If the Jeopardy answer was Enignon, what would be the question?

Enignon: Who don't you know as well as you think you do?

Nykaul: What item would be guaranteed to be found in your fridge?

Enignon: Cheese!! Can't have cheese and syrup or cheese and jam sandwiches without it!

Nykaul: Name 5 things most people dont know about you.

Enignon: Okay, I'm a born klutz, I'm a serious bookworm, I love to make people think, I'm a good listener and I'm supposedly good with intimate stuffs.

Nykaul: Last thing...do you have any final statements, opinions, comments or the like?

Enignon: Munch 'em! Crush 'em! Burn 'em to char! GO ZEKSAGMAK!!!!!

Enignon is Zeks biggest fan


I would like to thank Enignon for his time and honesty in answering my questions.

If you believe you are a 'special' person that should be interviewed then email me at nykaul@medievia.com with the reasons why. Also, if you have a question you have always wanted to ask someone, feel free to email that question and if I ever interview that person I may include your question.

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