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Discuss or give feedback on this interview here.

Why did you choose that name for your char, why a female?

How long have you been playing and was this your first char?
I started playing near the end of C3, this is my first char. A real life friend got me started playing and I've been hooked since then. I love playing this character so much that I never even really developed any alts, save for a Warsmith I levelled to 49 to make some shots and mats for me and a prophet buffbot that I needed when I subbed archer.

What do you do in your real life?
I'm a senior systems engineer for an imaging company. I stepped down from a programming systems manager for a bump in pay and less stress at my old firm (I mean seriously, that was a no brainer "Hey, we'll pay you more and it's less demanding but your title's a bit lower!"...sheesh you can make my title Janitor if I gain a higher quality of life out of it).

What do you like most about the game and what would you change?
I have to say the art direction in Lineage 2 is amazing. One of the first things that caught my eye was how graphically immersive it is. After that the interaction with the other players is what keeps me logging in every day. Without the community and playerbase there's really not much reason to play more than a few months to a year. In terms of changes, I think first and foremost I think there has to be some better way to detect and do away with farmers and bots. They've been a huge impediment to the game, especially for some of the mid level characters in the 50-76 range on Bartz since they pretty much overpopulate all of the 7 signs necropoli/catacombs. Even though newer hunting areas have emerged we have started seeing bots in places like the Pagan Temple and Monastery of Saints...so definitely I think NCSoft should try take a more aggressive stance towards removing all these automated players that monopolize areas for 24 hours a day/7 days a week.

Since you have started a little community of your own how do you feel things like that (websites, chat rooms, forums) affect the gameplay itself?
I'm flattered that you consider my small parking space for my images on blogspot a community :). However, I feel that websites and forums do play a considerable role in gameplay in that since an MMO is such an ongoing thing, in and of itself it is a small world or community and as such benefits from the same resources that a real life community would. That's where the forums and websites come in, you need someplace to go to sort of feed you the "news" about things in the game. Granted that updates and things like don't require the same frequency as real life events, however be presented with such information is nonetheless helpful. Also since it is a game, there are tasks and quests which may at times put the player at a dead end without the means to know how to proceed, so website definitely helps in that manner. I also find that a lot of the non-developer forums allow the players to interact in a much more candid manner, many times the super-moderated/censored forums provided by NCSoft don't allow the players to really voice their opinions or even give true accounts of what is happening in the game (i.e. many of the posts about farmers/bots get locked immediately on the official L2 forums).

When you write about the „politics" of the game does it affect Aleena in game – does she get friends/enemies based on that?
Well...I have to say for the most part writing about the politics of the game has not really gained me any enemies that I already did not have. In general it has gained me a few friends and strengthened the relationships that I have already had with likeminded folk. Any writing about the politics of the game in general has just given my enemies more fodder to heckle me about, but in general it's still just a game and you have to accept that as you would with any other meaningless comment. Only by acknowledging and trash talking back to those types of people do you give their statements any sort of import, and to date I have not seen any reason to empower that sort of pettiness. I can't say I always take the high road, but I try when I can.

What do you think of the threat of getting too involved in game and losing reality?
What do you mean it's a game? Aleena's real!!! ;) There's definitely an addiction factor there that I have to say I've succumbed to at times. So I have to acknowledge that there's definite potential to getting too involved and it's always a balancing act to manage your time between your real life relationships and responsibilities with that time spent in the game. However, I'd have to say that if you totally lose sense of reality that probably your problems would go a bit beyond the constraints of just the game...some professional help might be in order...

What have been your most memorable experience (good or bad) in game?
I've had a lot of each to be honest, but one really memorable experience for me was on October 6, 2006. That was the day I was accepted into my current clan, The Damned. I remember first applying and I was too low level and didn't have the minimum skill set required so it gave me something to work for. A few of my friends in the clan had already vouched for me so some of the groundwork was already done. It took me about 2-3 months of solid grinding before I was able to join, so it was like a really good payoff for the effort put in to it.

Anything you want to tell your fans ?
Umm...I didn't really know I had any fans. But, I would really like to give a shout out to The Furions for getting me started in this crazy game, and The Damned for showing me that everything this game has to offer...and I will close with MOOP!!!!