Zatozia's Torture Chamber



Welcome to the first edition of my official Torture Chamber article! This will be a reoccurring feature that gives you a behind the scenes view of the community, amongst whatever else I decide to put in the articles! This first edition is all about Me! Me! Me!


The Torture Cubicle?

Over the course of my employment here at SOE, and Verant Interactive in the past, I have been in 23 work spaces… yes I kept track; either desk spaces, offices, or various cubicles. My most recent move was near the end of January 2007 when I moved over as EQ Community Manager. Here is a look at my current cubicle… over 8 years of clutter.

Underneath the desk there are computers and a bunch of ugly wires that need to be rearranged. Within the file cabinets I have a many things taking up space that the junk on my desk could go into.

To your left you see a stack of extra 2007 SOE Block Party T-Shirts, my favorite monkey K.C. sitting on a tree waiting for me to get done work so we can go home, and a whiteboard that I need to update. In the middle, there are some pretty happy fake flowers that probably don't belong in a place of torture. To the right, there is a shelf full of toys, books, and pictures. Also, on my desk is a TV and PS2, my EQ hat on top of my moving black light lamp that I always forget to turn on, and an EQII monkey climbing a tree. A portrait sits in the back waiting to be placed in a better spot. See below for information about the portrait.

Point of interest:
Back when I was a GM and Lead GM, I use to write down every petition or issue that I addressed in either a spiral notebook or on a notepad. I still have all but one notebook since May 1999. Most are in the file cabinets, others are elsewhere. The one that I don't have anymore I believe I dropped on a parking lot somewhere but couldn't find it afterwards. Here are some interesting things from those notebooks.

When the game first launched, we had some GM tools but things were a bit limited. Also, for players there wasn't a way to change your own last night. Everyone had to petition to get us to change the names for you.

This is when from when I was a Quest Master on the EQ Dev Team. We were creating a revised timeline of history to better connect all of the lore. As you can see my art skills are L33t!

Yes, I know it doesn't really look like a Torture Chamber does it? It's a bit too happy looking. I think that means it's time for a zone Revamp! Since we don't have any revamps scheduled for September, I figured I'd revamp my cube! It will become the Torture Chamber that I've always wanted… unless of course I get moved again. I'll keep you updated on the changes!


Portrait of Zatozia the Torturess

Back in 1999, a great artist from The Rathe Server, Quinne, Order of Polaris guild leader, drew this portrait of my avatar. Thanks again Quinne! The image was based on the screenshot version that was up on the Harpy's Head Tavern profile when that website was live.

Quinne, along with many other notables from The Rathe community, was deeply into roleplaying and I enjoyed interacting with him. As a ranger of Tunare he was destined to be my enemy, however, he never claimed as such and always tried to convince me not to torture and tried to mediate between me and others, especially during the great dark versus light war that took place. For this, he was spared from being tortured himself.

He sent me the artwork long ago and I printed it out. I didn't realize how big the actual size would be. I thought it would print out on an 8 ½ by 11 page. The image ended up printing out spread across nine 8 ½ by 11 pages. Oops!

I could have reprinted it using fit on page option but instead, I taped it together carefully and placed it within Jeff Butler's office, who was the Customer Service Manager at the time. I had planned to take the taped version home to get a frame for it but put it in Jeff's office temporarily to keep it from getting mashed up around my desk.

Later that day, John Smedley went into Jeff's office for a meeting of some sort and happened to see the picture. He came out of his office and asked me to send him the electronic version of the image. He then had someone get it printed out on quality poster paper and had it framed! Thanks again John!

Back in the day, it used to hang up on the wall of my office, however, as you can see, I have a cube now! Yes, I got NERFED! I had it hanging up at home for a while but once I came back working on EverQuest, I felt the need to set the mood for torture!

Okay, that's enough yapping for now…

Oops... sorry! I accidentally snapped a picture while trying to use the mouse.

Well that's about all I have for now. You might say... I tortured you with my ramblings! I'm not promising how often these will be just yet but I do hope to do more. I plan to do another this month and I will say that there will be a video to go along with one in October!

Until next time!

Zatozia the Torturess in the Shadows
Community Relations Manager, EverQuest
The Torture Chamber


*smiles with an evil grin*