Madrox: Current system time is Sunday, November 9th, 2008, 6:28 pm.
Quadrat: BTW. One hand types faster than the other, so I will often juxtapose the last two letters of a word, or carry the last letter into the next word.
Madrox: Ok before we get started here, is there anything you would like to say?
Quadrat: Nope, let's do this thing :)
Madrox: Ok so how long have been playing the MUD Alter Aeon?
Quadrat: 51 hours game time ... I started last weekend.
Madrox: Cool.
Madrox: Have you played any other MUD games before? And if you have, how do they match up to A.A.?
Quadrat: I have indeed. Plenty actually.
Quadrat: I started mudding back in July of 1994.
Quadrat: It was "Rivers of Mud", then Madrom.
Madrox: Why did you quit playing them?
Quadrat: See, I was in Israel at the time I was introduced to mudding.
Quadrat: I lived there for a year (that's where I met Ouch in RL).
Quadrat: After the year, I moved back home (Zimbabwe, Africa) and we didn't have internet access.
Madrox: So what year was that?
Quadrat: 1995.
Quadrat: The year I moved back, I mean.
Quadrat: I moved to the US in 1998 and looked up the old MUD and sure enough it was still up and running.
Quadrat: And through playing and reconnecting with friends, I got involved in a couple of other MUDs.
Quadrat: Involved, at this point, being ... I played.
Quadrat: One thing on the Merc/Diku (and derivative code bases) that I always got a kick out of, was the new and old Thalos.
Madrox: Nice. It's always good to be able to stay connected.
Quadrat: It is! .. And it's amazing how close the friendships you form can be .. without ever physically meeting.
Madrox: So why where you over in Israel and Africa, if I may ask?
Quadrat: I was born and raised in Zimbabwe (it was called Rhodeis when I was born).
Quadrat: I went to Israel after high school.
Quadrat: Oh no, .. Did I just put a date on myself ?
Quadrat: *Chuckle*
Madrox: Heh.
Quadrat: Israel is the "Holy Land" to a number of religions.
Madrox: Oh?
Quadrat: Not many people know that.
Madrox: Indeed, I didn't.
Quadrat: There are "holy places" for Jews, Christians, Muslims and Baha'is.
Madrox: Wow!
Quadrat: Being a member of the Baha'i Faith, I went to Israel on a "gap year" or a "year of service"...
Quadrat: ... Being, a year between high school and college that you take off, to do .. well anything really. In my case it was volunteer work. I was a janitor cleaning floors.
Madrox: Wow. Sounds like you have done a lot of things outside of A.A.
Quadrat: Wait! ... That would imply there is life outside of mudding.
Quadrat: *Chuckle*
Madrox: Heh.
Madrox: So do you know Ouch in real life?
Quadrat: Ouch and I ... we go way back.
Quadrat: We met in Israel, I got there a few months before he did.
Quadrat: We were room-mates in a 7-person flat.
Madrox: Is he always crazy or is it just an A.A. thing?
Quadrat: HEH! I think A.A. keeps him calm :)
Madrox: What do you mean?
Quadrat: You can't see him jumping up and down .. just his words :)
Quadrat: He is very animated.
Quadrat: One of the last words one would ever use to describe him would be monotonous.
Quadrat: He is passionate about things that matter to him, and one cannot help but be touched/inspired by his .... his .. actions, enthusiasms, etc.
Madrox: Oh yes. I can agree with that one.
Madrox: So do you have stories of when you and Ouch where out there?
Quadrat: Do I ever!
Quadrat: We were inseparable, really.
Madrox: Oh?
Quadrat: Not to get overtly religious on you, but sometimes it feel like we were "meant" to know each other.
Quadrat: "Kindred Spirits", we used to call one another.
Madrox: Wow!
Quadrat: I got to tell you the story of how we got reconnected.
Madrox: Please do.
Quadrat: After I moved back to Africa, I lost touch with most people that I had met in the Holy Land, simply by virtue of the fact that I was on the road 24/7 for 3 years (conducting workshops on the performing arts) and had no constant address, etc .. This is before the advent of cell phones in Africa.
Quadrat: Needless to say, Ouch and I lost touch.
Madrox: Wow. That would have sucked.
Quadrat: So that was back in 1995... Fast forward 13 years...
Quadrat: I get to travel for my job, to great tourist locations around the western world.
Quadrat: And people think it is great. But when I am on the road for 20 days out of the month, weeks ends included, I tend to get really tired when I get back to home base (Denver).
Madrox: Oh I could imagine.
Quadrat: So I recently returned from a 9 day stunt in Hawaii, and I have a head cold the size of Texas.
Quadrat: And I am trying to get some sleep.
Quadrat: My little sister who lives with me, walks in, WAKES ME UP... Okay so I was only TRYING to go to sleep, not actually asleep yet.
Quadrat: And she says, "Hey.. I have a friend on the phone with a computer problem. Can you help him??"
Quadrat: So I got on the phone rather irate .. turns out it was Ryan. (Ouch)
Madrox: Heh.
Madrox: Is it true that Ouch broke a priceless Chinese vase in Israel?
Quadrat: Absolutely !
Quadrat: Although "priceless" is hardly the right term.
Quadrat: "Priceless" is like a witty MasterCard commercial.
Quadrat: This Chinese vase was 1) Historic.
Quadrat: 2) A gift.
Quadrat: 3) Completely irreplaceable.
Quadrat: ... and inside a holy place to boot.
Madrox: Wow! What happened to Ouch when that happened?
Quadrat: See here is the CRAZY part. .. as inseparable as Ouchie and I are .. I didn't hear about it until after the fact.
Quadrat: It goes more to the spirit of those serving at the Baha'i "world center" as we call it.
Quadrat: In most other work places, that would have been the gossip of the day. It wasn't until way after the fact that I heard about it in an off-hand comment from Ouch himself.
Quadrat: ... And of course then, I just had to get all of the "dish" on it.
Quadrat: It turns out he was using this mop-like machine to "sweep" the marble ... Which was designed not to scratch the marble floors.
Madrox: Wow.
Quadrat: It turns out he had inadvertently hit this vase.
Quadrat: Ok "vase" sounds so small... It was about waist high.
Madrox: Wow, so it was a good sized vase then?
Quadrat: As I heard the story, he hit it, knocked it over and watched in horror as it fell to the floor.
Quadrat: I am sure we can all relate .. the slow motion thing when you know what is going to happen and you just .. can't to anything to stop it.
Madrox: Oh yes.
Madrox: Yeah it sucks when you see it falling or happening and want to fix it and can't.
Madrox: Do you know if he got into any trouble for it?
Quadrat: Well later I heard our coordinator (volunteer term for boss) advised him that if that were to ever happen again, he should dive! .. I think the comment was, "We can always replace a volunteer but not a historical vase like that."
Madrox: Heh.
Madrox: Well thank you for that story.
Quadrat: .. Tell me, has Ouchie been going around breaking things on the MUD?
Madrox: Oh he is always doing something naughty.
Quadrat: *Chuckle* ... Don't give him shell access or we are all doomed :)
Madrox: I'll keep that in mind and I'll tell Dentin.
Madrox: So does A.A. kind of help you relax and take your frustrations and things out?
Quadrat: A.A.... relaxes. Yes, it does.
Quadrat: More than the relaxation, it brings out the creative, imaginative me.
Quadrat: I am always trying to "figure things out".
Quadrat: We used to build areas for MUDs, and I used to run a MUD (ROM code base with a lot of SMaug ported over).
Quadrat: So I am looking at some neat features on A.A. (of which there are a ton!) and I think to myself... "I wonder how they did that. Here's how I would have got it done."
Madrox: So do you still play the other MUDs or is Alter Aeon your main one right now?
Quadrat: I had stopped playing a long time ago, running a MUD can be a huge demand on your time. And once you "have the keys to the executive bathroom" (a.k.a. shell access), you never really play the mud anymore.
Quadrat: The magic and mystery is gone to a large degree.
Quadrat: So, I haven't played a MUD for a good 2 or 3 years.
Madrox: So did Ouch tell you about this one? Or did you just run across it yourself?
Quadrat: I heard about it from Ouchie, he mentioned playing on a MUD .. and I just HAD to get the info out of him.
Madrox: So what do you think about A.A. so far?
Quadrat: I have got to say, I LOVE it!
Quadrat: Just something simple like the fact that a "nod" tales movement points... I used to code so I can tell you that is not in the stock code.
Quadrat: Someone took the time to add stuff like that, for the realism of it all.
Madrox: Was it easy enough for you to jump back into?
Quadrat: It was easy, yes. Although it was also hard.
Quadrat: I am mostly familiar with ROM's code base, so DIKU is very close.
Quadrat: Having been an imp for 2 years, I added every shortcut and nicety I could think of...
Quadrat: ... And they are not on here. (Sometimes some things are frustrating).
Madrox: What is an imp?
Quadrat: Sorry imp = implementer, coder, guy/gal that pushes the button in the shell to make the MUD breathe.
Madrox: What was the hard part?
Quadrat: The thing that I find hardest...
Quadrat: And I know it sounds kind of lame, but I honestly have quit most nights (as in logged off of A.A.) for this one simple "shortcoming".
Quadrat: The biggest "shortcoming" ... no abbreviations.
Quadrat: I shouldn't say none ... commands are abbreviated as are spells.
Quadrat: But I am a BAD typer, horrible!
Madrox: Yeah, same here.
Quadrat: And if I have to type a command 14 times because "get 3.bracelet backpack" isn't going through ... I get mad.
Quadrat: I am used to a system whereby I could type "ge 3.b b"
Quadrat: And I do, LITERALLY, have to retype things 10, 11, even 12 times sometimes.
Madrox: Yeah, so do I sometimes.
Madrox: Ok one more question and then I'm going to leave the floor open for you.
Quadrat: Ok, shoot.
Madrox: What is your most favorite thing about A.A.? What is unlike the rest of the MUDs you have played and do you think Dentin and the gods did a good job with it or do you think it still needs work?
Quadrat: "Most favorite" .. That would be a toss up. I had a team of three others as admin staff on Hallowed (my mud) and we spent an extra-ordinary amount of time discussing multi class and also experience (xp) ... So I am torn between choosing the multi class system and the multiple exp systems, as favorites on A.A.
Quadrat: I am frustrated when I see areas with something in the description that points to something prior to the break-off into islands, .. but again, I can see where that comes from. I think A.A. is great!
Quadrat: ... Actually, I think I might be stopping by board #9 soon to put in a builder request ... We'll see.
Madrox: Well, I thank you for doing this interview and opening up to me.... Is there anything you would like to say for this conclusion?
Madrox: Or like to add ...
Quadrat: One thing that really caught my attention when Ouchie was describing A.A. to me, was the number of blind mudders. I was floored when I heard that a MUD (in essence a TEXT game) was catering to the visually impaired. I think that is great!
Madrox: Yeah, that is a great thing about A.A.
Madrox: Anything you would like to add that I didn't get to?
Quadrat: .. In some ways I am tempted to get in touch with my old admin staff and bring them over. I know they will enjoy seeing the class and experience systems ... Maybe they will become players for a long term .. not the fly-bys that all MUDs get.
Quadrat: No I think you covered a lot of things. I am just eager to get back to my leveling :)
Quadrat: It was awesome being given the opportunity to be interviewed :) That is a first for me. Thank-you Madrox.
Madrox: Ok then. Well I appreciate the interview....
Quadrat: Thank-YOU.
Madrox: Once again this was Quadrat, current system time is: Sun Nov 9 19:27:30 2008.
As a special note from The Ralnoth Times, to put this article into perspective one has to appreciate the discovery of a newbie who had burned out from being a god of another MUD and who, thanks to our game, has come back to mudding and loves Alter Aeon.
Also, as a comment from Dentin, "Alter Aeon isn't actually based on Diku at all, it's fully custom. It's only Diku-like in that we implemented pretty much the same command set because that was all we knew at the time".
Finally, a statement from Ouch, "So what he said about me breaking the vase was really that inspiring ? Ha ha ha ha aha".