Teammate Interview: Gold Deer

Today's entry is all about Gold Deer -- no, not Golodir, you LOTRO-obsessed people -- the leader of the +INT Extra Life team: me! I'm setting the bar for a few other people who volunteered for interviews, using the same 15 questions I've given them. Ready? Let's rock and roll.

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1.) Where did you grow up? Did you like it or hate it? Are you still there?
I grew up in a little town in Vermont, right along the New York state border. I lived on Cemetery Street, which had a cemetary along one full side of the street. I could watch some of the funerals from my bedroom window (not that I ever did). I did spend a lot of time in the cemetary, though. It had a pond towards the back, and trails behind it through the woods. If you found the right deer run back there, you could get through the swampy area and come out on a long winding road beyond it called Swamp Road.

Growing up, I wasn't overly fond of my town. Most of the people there were 7th generation Vermonters with gobs of family nearby and at least one other sibling. I was an only child, and we'd moved there from Connecticut when I was 3. I didn't fit in with most of them, so I often just kept to myself with my books, art, and music. Small wonder I first went to a college 400+ miles away in upstate New York, then all the way down to Florida and stayed there for over a decade.

Being so far removed from it, both physically and temporally, I can now appreciate some of the quiet pleasantness there was in the town. But I certainly didn't mind being closer to more people and options once I'd left, and I'm not sure I could manage small-town living for my entire life. I'm in a small town again now, in Mississippi, and it's always aggravating knowing the resources and people and places that were less than 5 minutes away in Florida are now hours away if not non-existent in this state.

Tiger Electronics Baseball

2.) What was the first video game you ever played? How old were you? What year was it?
Tiger Electronics Baseball. It was 1989 and I was 5 years old. Why I was given this particular game still baffles me because I wasn't very interested in sports. Sure, I was ushered through the regimen of after-school sports alongside my classmates, but it was never anything I had a passion for. (Ask any of those former classmates and they'll tell you I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a bat if I had my face pressed to it.)

3.) What is your preferred gaming platform and why?
PC, hands down. Not only can I upgrade components of my system to keep up with the demands of newer games, but I can also play the older games even once I've upgraded. I can also talk to friends online while I game, and from the comfort of a keyboard and mouse. As a writer, I've grown very fond of keyboards. Game controllers are still awkward for me since I didn't have any kind of console system growing up, and even now that I've had access to a PS4 for over a year and have my own controller for it -- I still botch up which buttons do what function.

4.) What is your preferred gaming genre and why?
Before I had my own PC games, I borrowed ones belonging to friends. Those games were all adventure games -- gather items you need, create new items from what you have in your inventory, solve puzzles with what you have, and explore the game's world while unraveling a story. That's always resonated with me on a deep level, and I'd say these days I get that kind of enjoyment from RPGs where there's more action and strategy involved. It keeps me thinking and engaged while also guiding me through a great story and landscape.
                                 

Hufflepuff House Crest

5.) What is your favorite fandom?
I'm a Hufflepuff and proud of it! That's right, I'm one of those Harry Potter nerds. You wouldn't know it from all the Tolkien things I discuss, but they don't have a Harry Potter MMO (but they really should - where you make your own wizard and advance through 7 years of school and then go out and be an adult wizard with a chosen profession -- it would be phenomenal). I began reading the Harry Potter series when the first book came out in paperback. I read every book thereafter as soon as it was released, though I still only own the first two books in paperback and would prefer hardcover like the rest of the series. My favorite book (and movie) is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Remus and Sirius (and Buckbeak) remain among my favorite characters. The beginning of the descent into darker days begins in this book, which makes it more compelling. I also enjoyed the musical score for that movie more than others, and have always had a fondness for Gary Oldman in just about any role he's played. My wand, courtesy of Pottermore, is 14 1/2" redwood with a unicorn hair core and slightly yielding flexibility. My patronus, strangely, is a king cobra.

6.) Have you ever attended or wanted to attend a gaming convention?
Have I ever! Every year I tell myself I should enter the Extra Life t-shirt design contest because the winner gets a trip for two to E3, every year I always have something keeping me busy. PAX East has also intrigued me. I've been to an anime convention (Anime Festival Orlando) in the past, and that was amazing beyond my expectations. I can imagine a game convention being equally phenomenal. I'd like to see games that aren't out yet and be among other gamers instead of getting the stink eye from 'normal' people. Oh, and the potential for swag is alluring, too. Mustn't forget the swag.

7.) When did you first consider yourself a gamer?
Not until sometime in college because I was finally able to meet other gamers and broaden my knowledge of games. My laptop in college wasn't capable of running much in the way of games, but I still sought out gamers and game information and basked in the freedom of creativity and enjoyment that games bring to their players. At that time, I was limited to the Myst series, The Longest Journey, the first couple Harry Potter games, and other buggy adventure games.

8.) What do you think defines a gamer?
Someone who enjoys playing games of any type, of any medium or platform, and consciously devotes time to it. I know many would argue that people who poke at their game apps on their smart phones should be considered gamers, too, but I draw the line before that point. That's not a conscious choice -- that's people with a phone addiction needing something to poke at while their other apps are less interesting. But everyone else? Absolutely.
   

To The Moon - Steam Header

9.) What is the best game you've ever played and why?

To The Moon by Freebird Games (Kan Gao). No, it's not a very complex game, but it touches people who play it the way few other games can. It's about people who work for a company that helps dying people have a wish granted by traversing their memories and helping them live out their wish subconsciously. Your feelings go on a very intense ride, but there's also humor, funny references, puzzles, narratives, and one of the best-told stories I've ever experienced. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to its sequel, Finding Paradise, which comes out later this year. I've been waiting a few years for it, having played the Christmas Specials (here and here) and the spin-off game, A Bird Story. To The Moon only takes 4 hours to play through from start to finish, but you'll enjoy every minute of it. Oh, and zombies.

10.) What is the worst game you've ever played and why?
There are a few hardy contestants for this one, so I'm just going to list them: TRAUMA, Dead Mountaineer's Hotel, Dragon's Prophet, Necronomicon: Dawning of Darkness, and Hamlet or the last game without MMORPG features, shaders and product placement (yes, that's the entire title). TRAUMA will aggravate you with it's limited angle photos and the voice actress (Is she confused? Did she never read the script before recording? It's anyone's guess, but you'll want her to shut up). Dead Mountaineer's Hotel looks like someone cut-and-pasted the same visual elements in a different order to create the different scenes, and the voice actors CLEARLY never read the script before it was recorded. Dragon's Prophet is just about one of the worst MMOs you could try to play -- the controls are clunky and it is a pile of false advertisement. Necronomicon just insults everything Lovecraft's work is, avoid it. The Hamlet game... had potential, but its puzzles are extremely convoluted and by the end of the very short game you don't care that you finished.

11.) What fictional character (game, book, movie, etc.) do you relate to most and why?
Talia from Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books. Squashed while growing up, a dreamer and avid reader, sensitive to the emotions of people around her, has to make the best of every situation, she can't mindspeak like other Heralds do which prevents her from communicating herself to them many times, all while having to juggle a multitude of responsibilities and duties -- not to mention feeling like she has to earn her place among her peers.

Lady Katarina, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing series

12.) If you could be any role from any video game, who/what would you be and why? 

Lady Katarina from The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing series. Why? She's adorably and wonderfully snarky, already dead, respected as an aristocrat even though she's dead, and is a force to be reckoned with as she mows down enemies with her various supernatural skills. You wouldn't survive very long in any of the games without her assistance!

13.) What's the meaning behind your color/animal choice for your mascot?
I went by Silver Kirin for a long while, particularly among Second Life friends, so I wanted to pick something mythological in nature for my mascot -- but silver had already been claimed. I sorted through the information in my brain for similar creatures and recalled the Golden Hind from Greek mythology, which was a kind of deer (Japanese kirins are part deer). A Google search revealed that it was also the name of an infamous privateering ship -- in other words, piracy. Having roleplayed as a pirate and pirate captain for many years, this seemed to seal the deal. Not many people know what a hind is, though, so I settled for deer.

14.) What kinds of people should take an interest in your gaming/blogging/streaming?
All people, frankly. Well, except for the hardcore raiders and PvPers. Those are things I'll likely never touch in my blogging here. But I have close to 500 games at my disposal and I like to keep things diverse for Extra Life. I am also in the habit of giving away games (I have a hoard of those, too).

15.) What is your favorite internet meme?

      

The origin of this meme, in all its glory.

 

That's probably a lot more than you ever really cared to know about me, but there you have it. I welcome all comments, questions, followers and Extra Life donations. Stay tuned for more about games and my Extra Life teammates!