I'm your assistant producer. Ask me (almost) anything.

Oleis

I came back from my break and expected to find a thousand forum posts to read! Alas, there was little, and we just can't have that. Here's the deal. You can grill me about anything you like: personal life, Imperian, Aetolia, whatevs. Have at me. I'm not going to disclose character names or talk at all about release dates/timelines for Aetolia, but just about everything else should be fair game.

Basics first:
Riley Pagett
Birthday: July 14th, 1990
Charlotte, NC
1 very fat, emotionally disturbed cat.

Solaria

Why have you not met up with other local Charlotte people? Or, at least, not with me? That's just heartbreaking.

Toz

He met up with me. Maybe I'm just cooler than the rest of you.

Solaria

Toz said:

He met up with me. Maybe I'm just cooler than the rest of you.

You are included in this not meeting business. So, you are just lame. Hmph.

Moirean

Why aren't you full time?

Areka

What instrument do you play?

Damariel

Given the choice between playing every instrument in the world and speaking every language in the world, which would you pick?

Moirean

How does the breakdown of work go between you and Razmael? Are there official areas that are yours to cover? How has the advertised job description compared to the reality? Do you like us better than Imperian? Can I have a pony?

Toz

Are we going to hang out during school? Will you be my friend? Can I have a pony so Moi gets mad?

Moirean

Will you lend me 30k gold?

Oleis

Solaria said:

Why have you not met up with other local Charlotte people? Or, at least, not with me? That's just heartbreaking.

Honestly? I'm just really busy. Working three jobs + freelance and going to school full time makes it hard for me to see my friends and family, so branching out is difficult. I've made it a point to meet up with more people before this year is out.

Moirean said:

Why aren't you full time?

Most IRE employees start part time. From my perspective, I don't think there's a financial reason that Aetolia could not support more contractors (or more hours for me), but I don't have all the cards. All I know is that we pushed very hard to get me hired, so I'm not inclined to argue about my status just yet. I smile, work my 20 hours, and do my best. It would help me significantly to not have to work so many different jobs, but I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am in life if not for the flexibility that working for Aetolia offers me.

Areka said:

What instrument do you play?

I play euphonium for school. In high school, I was a horn/mellophone player. I'm a passable pianist and singer. Sometimes.

Damariel said:

Given the choice between playing every instrument in the world and speaking every language in the world, which would you pick?

Languages by a mile. I enjoy music, but the freedom to wander the world and connect with people on a comfortable level would be so special.

Moirean said:

How does the breakdown of work go between you and Razmael? Are there official areas that are yours to cover? How has the advertised job description compared to the reality? Do you like us better than Imperian? Can I have a pony?

We don't have an official breakdown. I defer to him on anything that doesn't already have a very explicit procedure, especially when credits are involved. I tend to take the lead on customer service and conflict resolution issues, but that's mostly because I really enjoy the process of working through problems. We both code and play a part in designing things, but he tends to code more than I do in terms of volume. There wasn't an advertised job description. The only real description is "part time consultant". I have to say that it's almost exactly what I expected, and that's not a bad thing. Imperian has evolved so significantly from my time there that I'm not sure I can compare. It holds a lot of sentimental value for me, and the volunteers and players there are phenomenal. I have to say that I'm very happy to be on Aetolia, though.

Moirean

(saving the pony as a surprise, I get it wink wink)

Omei

Would you rather fight one hundred Moirean-sized horses or one horse-sized Moirean?

Oleis

Omei said:

Would you rather fight one hundred Moirean-sized horses or one horse-sized Moirean?

A horse-sized Moirean could find even more bugs. Conflicted.

Moirean

But that's a good thing, right?

Auresae

How tall are you? How do you feel about being in charge of people who are older than you (you baby)? What is your favorite part of the day in dealing with Aetolia? Your least favorite? Can we have a non-pie-ridden picture of you?

Aishia

How man Oleisbians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Slyphe

How do you truly feel, in haiku format, about the term Oleisbian?

Ishin

Aishia said:

How man Oleisbians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

As many as can touch the bulb at once, of course.

Oleis

Auresae said:

How tall are you? How do you feel about being in charge of people who are older than you (you baby)? What is your favorite part of the day in dealing with Aetolia? Your least favorite? Can we have a non-pie-ridden picture of you?

I'm 6'1". Because I spent high school and shortly beyond in foodservice, I'm pretty used to directing people older than I am. At this point, I don't much consider the age difference. My favorite part of Aetolia is probably the first moment when I log in to 8 messages, a few issues, 30 new bugs, and a couple news posts. Not to mention the forums, jeepers. There's always a backlog of things to do. My least favorite has to be handing out punishment. I don't feel conflicted about whether it's the right course (we do it so rarely), but it's always a bummer that this is the only way to prevent bad behavior. There are pictures of me in the Pictures thread! I'll post another one sometime soon.

Slyphe said:

How do you truly feel, in haiku format, about the term Oleisbian?

Ladies be crazy.
Barking up the wrong tree, man.
But it's not so bad.

Aishia said:

How man Oleisbians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

One. In her sleep! They're very talented people.

Aarbrok

I need a better word as a male Oleisbian then...

On a more serious note, Ketchup on the fries directly... -or- for dipping?

Oleis

Aarbrok said:

I need a better word as a male Oleisbian then...

On a more serious note, Ketchup on the fries directly... -or- for dipping?

Neither. Salt and malt vinegar.

Aarbrok

... man, best way ever. Now I want some proper fish and chips.

Haven

Where do you see Aetolia 5 years from now?

Oleis

Haven said:

Where do you see Aetolia 5 years from now?

Flourishing. We're kidding ourselves if we suggest that MUDs are in for another boom akin to mainstream MMOs, but there's still a significant population interested in this type of gaming and IRE genuinely does attract newbies on a regular basis. We're continuing to make company-wide improvements to how we attract and retain new players.

Specific to Aetolia, I think we're on the right track. When the Carnifex revamp releases (which won't be long!), we'll have essentially cleared the backlog of things that we're promised that we intend to continue forward with, not including things like Albedos. That "blank slate" feeling is something I've been looking forward to for the year that I've been here. We have really great plans for the future. I just hope we can see them realized.

Ishin

@Oleis - What's it like to be able to play music man? I tried to take band in middle school, but Ma was like, 'Hell no son, instruments cost too much.'. So I had to settle for sports and agriculture classes instead

Reux

This is going to sound stupid, but I actually know nothing of the leadership in Aetolia or IRE. I try not to pay attention to it because focusing so much on the OOC tends to break IC immersion for me. Is there a page on the main IRE site that describes all the breakdowns in leadership?

If you had to pick a race for a new character in Aetolia, what would you pick? If you could use a normally non-player race, what would you prefer?

Do you already have a couple set aside that you're itching for an opportunity to use?

Oleis

Ishin said:

@Oleis - What's it like to be able to play music man? I tried to take band in middle school, but Ma was like, 'Hell no son, instruments cost too much.'. So I had to settle for sports and agriculture classes instead

I've always been pretty uncomfortable performing, but it's wonderful to have comfort with music. I keep a keyboard at my desk all the time where I can poke out tunes or play by ear something I've heard on Pandora. I've found my deepest satisfaction in conducting. Even with bombastic marching band music, knowing that my smallest gesture can elicit an emotional and audible reaction from a group of people, even a hundred people, is so powerful. I'm spoiled to have a really talented group of kids to work with.

Reux said:

This is going to sound stupid, but I actually know nothing of the leadership in Aetolia or IRE. I try not to pay attention to it because focusing so much on the OOC tends to break IC immersion for me. Is there a page on the main IRE site that describes all the breakdowns in leadership?

If you had to pick a race for a new character in Aetolia, what would you pick? If you could use a normally non-player race, what would you prefer?

Do you already have a couple set aside that you're itching for an opportunity to use?

That's not stupid at all. We've actually just started to update that section of our website, which was woefully out of date. http://www.ironrealms.com/about-us

I would be an Atavian. I'm a sucker for wings.

Alexina

Back at the end of 2012 and early 2013, there was a lot of communication going on from the administration to the game directed at the playerbase. When I compare Aetolia to Achaea and other free-to-play, voluntarily ran MUDS, it feels like Aetolia by far has the least amount of communication going on. Whenever I see something on a MUD forum that says 'this is what happened over the last three months and it will lead to the following things', I want to log on and play tons. When I see an admin saying that 'we are releasing these new weapons over the next few weeks', I want to log on and play tons. There is very little of this sort of communication in Aetolia (both compared to other IRE games and to other MUDs in general).

This was supposed to lead up to a question. So.

Any chance we'll see more of this in the future?

Oleis

Sure. Communication is kind of my thing. It's in short supply here, I'd agree. We'll see what we can do to get better about it.

Toz

Black Sands was a game I played for a bit, and they did something on the website where you could see what updates had been done that week. You guys already do a changelog thing, just group it on a week by week basis and post to the main page maybe.