***WARNING: DO NOT LOOK AT THE EYES*** Tell us a little about yourself, personally, if you're ok with that (where you live, work, etc).
I've really lived in 3 places over the past 4 years, which I suppose is quite typical for a student, and particularly a language student. My parents live in south west London, and that's where I was born and grew up, but I decided to try and get as far away from that as possible and head up to Edinburgh for university. So those are the 2 places I've spent most of my time, but for a year last year I lived in Brussels as I studied French at university and it was part of my course to choose a place to go for a year, so I picked Brussels where I already had friends, and I worked as an English teacher over there in a university.
Job-wise, I'm kind of in limbo at the moment and I suppose you could call me unemployed, but I don't really like that term as I'm waiting to start work rather than trying to find a job. I only graduated a month ago and I've been doing a couple of summer jobs, one which finished yesterday, which was a summer camp for French kids to come over to the UK and learn a bit of English and just have fun.
So you're no stranger to moving. Do you mind it much or are you used to it by now?
I'm pretty ambivalent towards the whole thing. It's a hassle, but I'm always going somewhere interesting, as when I would be going back to Edinburgh for each new university year, I would be meeting my friends again and going back to a city which I love, and it's the same for when I went to Brussels: I saw people I hadn't seen for about a year, including my sister, and I got to explore a completely new city. It's getting a bit old now, though, as I realise that, having been through a succession of short-term rented flats, it's better to have a more long-term place that you can really personalise and call your own. For my final year at university (the one that's just finished now), I didn't feel like my flat was my home but just a place where I ate and slept. There wasn't anything personal about the place as I knew I would have to tear down any posters or pictures I put up as soon as I moved, and it would just be more stuff to carry around with me.
Another thing that sucks about moving is that I love to cook, and most rented places don't come with a huge range of the necessary utensils, and I feel really resentful about just buying them to use for a year as there would be too much for me to carry when I moved out so I get the feeling that I would like my moving days to begin to draw to a close, or that I could at least spend a little longer than a year in each place that I go. I suppose once I get a more permanent job I'll be able to find a nicer place that I'd be able to stay in more long-term, but I first have to decide which country I want to live in.
Yeah, I know what you mean. If you move much then you'll begin to not really consider the place you live in as yours. It's more of just another place that you pay for every month that you keep your things in, especially for college students who move more frequently to different apartments or houses. And then you might move for a job.
I think it's a fairly straightforward story and probably one that a lot of people can relate to. As you can see from my join date, I set up my account back in June 2007, a significant time in itself as I had just finished school and had a long summer ahead of me before university started, so I decided to play Medieval II again, as I had got bored of it the first time around. Realising that there would probably be some modifications for it to extend its self-life and make the game a little more challenging, I did a quick Google search and came across Darth Vader's mod, which I then installed and tried to run, but my game kept crashing to desktop (CTD is an acronym I learned soon after joining TWC). I wanted to get it working and alleviate some of my boredom so I set up an account to ask why my game wasn't working, a question that was promptly answered by Border Reiver and my game fixed. The purpose of my account being fulfilled, I quickly forgot that the thing ever existed, and I'm not sure what made my miss the Discussion & Debate forums the first time around as I'm sure I would've been interested in them back then, too.
Anyway, if we skip forward a couple of years to when Empire came out, I think I posted a little bit on TWC again just to vent my frustration at how horrible the siege battles were, and to check whether the sprites that appeared if you zoomed out too far really should be there I finally stayed for good in March 2010 around the time when Napoleon came out and I was once again drawn to the forum, finally noticing that there was a Discussion & Debate forum. I felt that I was kind of worldly and pretty well-versed in current affairs so I decided it would be an interesting place to expand my knowledge of what's going on.
My posting really started to take off around mid-April when my job at the university finished, but I still had 2 research projects to finish, so I didn't have any fixed hours for when I was working and when I wasn't, so I would browse on TWC for a while in between reading for and writing the projects, and as I had time to spare sometimes, I was able to tenaciously debate across pages and pages in the Mudpit. Now, it must be said that I can be a bit vain at times and I enjoy recognition for what I think is a job well done, so I actively started to try and become a citizen. I had had a couple of offers but neither of them really appealed to me as I didn't know the proposers on a personal level and didn't really know what their politics were, either so I decided to PM Mongrel to ask if he would be my client. I became a citizen around mid-April, about 3 weeks after I first started posting in the D&D, although I think I already had around 1,000 posts by this time due to my flexible hours. Once my projects were over, I realised that I could do something with the information I had apart from just get myself into my final university year
, so I wrote a short essay that was a condensed version of one of my projects and asked Astaroth, the then-editor of The Helios if he would be interested in publishing it, which it turns out he was and I duly became Content Staff.
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I wrote a couple more articles, one of which was published, and the other was waiting to be published, both of which were on Napoleon's downfall following his campaign of 1812 and the negotiations that then followed at Vienna, when Astaroth was promoted to Hex and decided he needed more time and relinquished his editorship over the Helios. He asked me if I wanted to succeed him, which I must say was a surprise but by no means unwelcome as I had enjoyed writing for the publication (what little I had written at the time), and also liked the whole idea behind it, which is simply to expand people's knowledge a little bit with articles that you wouldn't necessarily expect to find on a gaming site. While it's true that you'd maybe expect to find history articles linked to the periods in which the games are set, we've had ones one a huge range of subjects, and I'm particularly proud of the last issue which saw one on linguistics, although that's just bias on my part as part of my degree is comprised of linguistics.
I wish I could've found the time to write a proper article, but I always try and make my editorial something current affairsy so that there's at least a little to be gleaned from it, although it's a little on the light side and I should've really found time to write something. Anyway, depending on your point of view, we're only really about half-way through my TWC story, as I think that most people see me as a Moderator more than the editor of the Helios, although like I said that may not be true and perhaps depends on the person's point of view. Over the summer, I had a fair amount of time in between jobs to post on TWC, and the weather was awful in Brussels in August so I was largely cooped up inside anyway, or taking shelter in my favourite café. Once again, I felt I was contributing more as editor than before but still felt like I had the time and the ability to take things further and keep up the contributions, albeit in a new direction, hence my application to become a moderator at the beginning of September. I was also one of the most prolific posters in the Mudpit so I saw things that needed moderating but went untouched for quite some time which can be a bit frustrating.
Now to change things up just a bit. You mentioned playing Empire: Total War. Do you have a favorite Total War game? And of course since you're a member of TWC you've got a favorite mod as well.
That's quite a tough one, actually. I've played every Total War game from Rome up to Shogun 2, and I have to say that I like all of them in their own way. For Rome, I think it's its flexibility in terms of how easy it is to mod, but also just the setting, as I'm a big fan of Roman history, but for battles I think that the game that's got it right has to be Medieval II. Empire and Napoleon were still fun but lost something in mainly being shooting game. But having said that, they're different kinds of games. In Rome and Medieval II it was all about pinning with infantry before smashing with cavalry, whereas in Empire and Napoleon in particular it's how to get the widest front of fire and the greatest concentration in one area. Plus clever use of artillery. Shogun 2 is also fun in its own right as I think it's the most well-rounded of all the Total War games, as CA have really learned from all their mistakes and also the feedback that the community have given them over the years. The only disappointment about Shogun 2 is that the sieges could be a little more interesting, but it's easily the most polished (as you'd expect) and it's great fun. Plus I recently bought a new laptop so it runs great on it.
As for a favourite mod, I'll give the obvious answer which is Stainless Steel for Medieval II, and then hopefully a more surprising one which is Napoleon Empire Realism (NER) for Napoleon. I just feel that JaM and DaVinci have breathed new life into a game that I found too easy. With all Total War games except for Shogun 2 perhaps, I felt that things became a bit of a foregone conclusion and that I was guaranteed to win but just had to slog my way through battles that became a chore rather than something interesting. However, NER breathed new life into Napoleon and actually made the battles challenging again, which is especially close to my heart as the Napoleonic period is my absolute favourite. So there you go. I'm actually downloading Napoleon as we speak.
If the members of TWC were not making great mods then the TW series would not have such long-lasting playability. Hell, I'd still play RTW and sometimes i feel like reinstalling STW or MTW that is, if my laptop didn't suck.
Now that is a toughie. Star Wars, but only because of lightsabres.
This interview is officially over!
Actually, scrap that. Not only because of lightsabres but also because the franchise has produced more and better games than Star Trek.I love KOTOR1 and 2.
That's something I won't disagree with. Star trek games, except for a few, have been big disappointments.
Hey, maybe if I actually read your mega-essay on the topic I would come around to the Star Trek way of thinking, but I've never been able to put aside so much time. I enjoyed Star Trek: Armada but it was ultimately a bit simple.
Hahaha! it's definitely a big article! Oh, Star Trek: Armada was...[discussion about the game none of y'all care about]
Coke, but I'll drink Pepsi if no Coke is available. I'm not especially ideological about it.
[By the way, I'm Coca-Cola all the way]
And that's a bit of an odd question, as on a forum you really don't have many options. Either you post, just read, or in my case you can moderate too. I think I enjoy debating a good issue with someone for whom I have respect, especially if it's an issue around which no weird conspiracy theories or idiotic bigotry can exist, which drastically narrows things down already. I think what I enjoy the *most* rather than "I think I enjoy."
[Now, here's where some of you may get a little annoyed. Just deal with it] We totally agree there. Half the time I don't bother with discussing an issue in the EMM or Pit because the debate level is already so degenerated. I think a lot of that could be a result of the noob influx from Shogun 2.
Yes, I never really bother entering a thread if it's above 4 or 5 pages, unless I pick up upon something particularly stupid that needs to be addressed. I find myself posting less and less there, just sticking to moderating instead. I had about 5,000 posts in 5 months last year at my most prolific
It's weird. I used to be very much involved in the pit and EMM in my early years but now I barely peruse those forums. Now that my politics and spiritual beliefs have changed since joining almost six years ago I'm no longer compelled to post anything because I find things too polarizing. [And now a friendly word from Jeff Goldblum...] VIDEO
It's hard to describe, really, as it's just become part of what I do on TWC. I log on, read some reports, react to them if necessary, then wander through threads in the D&D, replying if I feel the need to and checking if anything is a little close to the mark, pruning back some off-topic strand that has taken the thread away from its original purpose. A lot of the debating I used to do in the Mudpit has actually been carried over into the Den, and that's maybe why I don't post as much in the D&D as I would be doing double the debating. I like talking about points of policy and what should be done in a certain situation with the other guys in the Den a hell of a lot more than talking in the D&D as I know I'm always guaranteed a respectful response and that people will take my views into consideration, rather than just push their strange dogmatic beliefs.
Maybe I'm wrong, but is being a mod a pretty thankless job? Your job is to keep discussions civil but it seems like all feedback is negative.
It's not entirely thankless, and I've been thanked for doing things in the past, but I'd say that we make good and easy targets for people's frustrations which is something I can understand, and I think it's something that anyone considering joining moderation should take into consideration. I'm certainly not in it for the glory, because I don't think that there's any to be had, and I doubt any of the other guys are in it for that, either.
So says the evil mod!!!
But if I have the time to improve TWC, I think I should do it; it's the same reason I became editor of the Helios, although as a moderator I can actually have an input into site policy and an overall greater impact.
If you could choose the next TW game, what would it be and why?
Rome 2, because like I said, Shogun 2 shows that CA have really been listening and learning. Rome was a great game, and still is great, but with some features that the later games have which are missing. If these were added in, with a new graphics engine, I would be glued to my laptop.
So, what's next for you in real life and on TWC?
The next big step is moving to France for a year in October, where I'll be teaching, as I've already said, but also I'll be in the same country as my girlfriend for the first time in a year, which will be great. On TWC, I'm not really sure what will come next. I may dip in and out of Curial roles like the CdeC but I suppose things will go on as they are. There's not much more to do.
Speaking of the CdeC, what was it like being a member? I know it's a sort of controversial body and has been a subject of many a lengthy and heated debate. I've often thought of being a member again. It's been awhile.
I got sick of it after a while. There's too much self-importance around the place for such an inconsequential body and I just lost the energy to try and debate as a member of it.
Here's an important question, and one very important to me. What is your favorite beer?
Hmm, now that is a tough one. I think I'll go for Kasteel Rouge.
hmm...I've not had that before but Beeradvocate says it's a fruit beer. A cherry beer?
It's Belgian (of course), and it's made by fermenting dark morello cherries and making a sort of brandy out of them and then adding a brown beer to the mixture. So it's not as sweet as your average cherry beer, and it's a lot stronger at 8% (ABV). But my time in Belgium was spent drinking many wonderful beers, so that's by no means my absolute favourite; it's just the one that came to mind first. In hindsight I should've said Stella Artois or Carling just to see your reaction.
That most likely would have caused a great reaction and a reply of considerable length.
It's the only one I've done so I suppose it's simultaneously the best and the worst.
Fantastic! Alright, that wraps it up! 
Anyway...
Behold the Beard
Helios Interview: Jom
EMPRESS OF ALL THINGS
Dux Limitis
浪人
Protector Domesticus
?
Überrock über alles
), so getting this positive feedback means a lot. I did think it'd be good for TWC members to learn a bit about some of their fellow members. We all sort of know each other here...but do we really? I thought I'd let some stories be known.
Originally Posted by Legio
A Place of Greater Safety
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