What is your SOE avatar name? Merloc
How did you choose this name? In graduate school I did a lot of research on different sounds in speech, when I started playing my character in Diablo I really wanted something that sounded good coming off the snarling lips of fellow players, so I ended up with "Merlocke", (a bit of a nod to Locke from Final Fantasy 3). When I started my character in EverQuest, the name was rejected, along with "Merlock", but my third attempt with "Merloc" worked like a charm.
What race and class is your SOE avatar? Erudite Wizard, same as my main character...
How long have you worked for SOE? Yesterday was my first day, but feel free to give me credit for any good item changes made in the past few months, credit for bad item changes can be attributed to Zajeer.
What work did you do before coming to SOE? How long have you been in the gaming industry? I just spent the past few months fixing up some old buildings, laying tile floors, sawing, painting, hammering, etc. /whew! Before that, I worked different places doing programming, hosted a radio show, worked for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory doing research on computer network security. Technically, I guess this is the first time I've been paid to develop games, but I've being designing games since I got my C=64 in the early 80s.
Did you need to have any specific education in the gaming industry to get where you are today? No, although my background in computer science and engineering is definitely useful. As far as games go, I'm self taught using various resources.
What does a typical day's work consist of for you? I've always wanted to be a Super Villian, and being a Game Designer isn't too far off... designing elaborate traps, creating cruel monsters, and of course constructing enticing loot to lure the players in.
Did you play EverQuest prior to working on it? Yes, I've been a pretty hardcore EQ player since I started, with a few breaks on one or two expansions.
When did you start playing EQ? I started playing EverQuest about a month after it was released... That is, it took my friend about a month to convince me to play the game.
Was EQ your first online game? No, before EQ I played a lot of MUSH text games, I spent most of my time on the Elendor MUSH, which is still around. Before that, I played games on the single user dial-up BBS, Legend of the Red Dragon was one I remember the most, maybe because Violet was always slapping me.
What got you into gaming and what sort of games do you like the most? I guess Cosmic Cruncher (a Pac-Man knock-off) for the Vic20 somehow gave me the idea that I could make my own games, and led me to my early pitiful attempts at game design... since then, I've been influenced by gaming of all types... I always wanted to be involved in software development... at some point I realized that game design was probably the most fun and interesting direction for that. I like most types of games, especially RTSs, FPSs, and RPGs... Right now I play a lot of Urban Terror (Quake 3 mod), and Defense of the Ancients Allstars (Warcraft 3 custom map).
What other MMO's have you played? I've not really spent a lot of time in other MMOs. I guess the one exception, if it counts as an MMO, would be Puzzle Pirates, Yarr!
Do you play EQ on a laptop or desktop computer? I play only on a desktop.
Do you play on dial-up, cable, or DSL? I started out playing on dial-up, moved to college ethernet, and then to DSL... since my new place has cable, I'm be using that now.
What was your very first play character, both race and class? My first character was an Erudite Wizard, and is still my main character.
Do you prefer to solo or group? Nothing beats a group of skilled players to make the game fun. Although, when I'm distracted and can't devote all my attention to the game, some nice quiet soloing is nice.
How many characters do you have on your main server? Other than my main character, I have 2 alts (an iksar monk and a gnome warrior), and 5 high elf "mules" holding the accumulated phat lewt of the past dozen or so expansions.
Does your main character worship a deity? Nope, I'm agnostic... When I started my character, I had dreams of killing off all the different gods.
What is the most platinum you have ever spent on purchasing a single item for one of your characters? I'm very miserly in game, I still pick up vendor loot and put on +cha items to get the maximum value for my items even though I am nearly a plat millionaire! The one big purchase I can remember making, is the 109,000 plat I paid for a black stallion from the Luclin horse stables.
What is your favorite zone? Plane of Mischief! I love the zone. I've spent hundreds of hours running around in the rat maze, and hundreds more trying to solve the different puzzles... I'm really happy that the original zone is being restored to the game.
What is your favorite npc? Vinny D`Vicci the fisherman mastermind in Plane of Mischief wins by far. I've spent many hours fishing next to him in the castle moat.
Do you have an item you no longer use but keep around for nostalgic reasons? If so what is it and why do you keep it? Thanks to the ever expanding bank space in EverQuest I've managed to hang on to almost all my old items, I still have a full set of carmine armor from Plane of Fear... I guess, if I had to pick one item, it would be Nargon's Staff from the Plane of Sky, the rarity and effort it took my guild to get that item make it quite valuable to me... Second place goes to my Golden Efreeti Breastplate, it never goes out of style.
What is a day in the life of a dev/ career in game development with SoE and EQ REALLY LIKE? Well, I still feel like I'm a player in a lot of ways... I keep waiting for security to show up and toss me out of the building. I've always had my own ideas on how the game should function, and grow. Now that I'm actually in a position to make decisions on some of those ideas, I definitely have a strong sense of responsibility to my fellow players, and I hope that my visions(tm) translate well into the game reality.
