The Blood: A Vampire Chronicle

Interview with a Vampire:
Ichthys

Interview with Ichthys: August 30, 2002

TB: You're a new player and this is your first character, right?

I: Yeah, I've been playing for a couple months. I created another character before this one, but the elf thief did not make for a happy first character experience. So I'm back in black as a Human Cleric. Kicking asses left and right.

TB: What led you to Mirkwood initially and what made you stay this long?'

I: Well, I decided to start mudding because it would be a good way to not get work done at work. I'm a programmer, so I can hide mud text amongst my other windows of programming text pretty easily. :) Mirkwood was reviewed favorably on some website, and people here are so generous with mudsex that I decided to stick around. I think the review I saw was on mudconnector.com.

TB: What do you think of the tribal system here?

I: Hmm...well to be honest, I've always been more of a solo kind of person in the other online games I've played. Vamps is the first tribe kind of thing I've been involved with. '(I style my life as my idol, Pee Wee Herman. We are both loners, rebels). But I've enjoyed Vamps. Good people. I can't really comment on the other tribes due to lack of experience with them.

TB: Why did you join VAMPS instead of a smaller tribe that could use the members?

I: None of them approached me, and as I mentioned I tend to play with myself. *grin* I'm not the kind of person who would seek out a tribe unless they seemed interested in me. Well, actually Elle asked me if I wanted to join her tribe, but I was not the right alignment.

TB: Do you find people here are pretty clique-ish and in-jokey? or do you feel accepted and part of the fun?

I: Sure, they're are cliques and that kind of thing, but I don't feel excluded. I have lurked in many online communities where the in-jokes and cliques seemed....masturbatory, for lack of a better word. I can't hang out in those places for too long. Mirkwood is very welcoming to new-comers, and I think that it is instrumental in it's popularity.

TB: Why did you choose to be a cleric, and do you identify with that class in an RP way?

I: I can't say I identify with Clerics per se, although I do like to molest little boys....Now that I am of a high enough level, I enjoy gating to random people and giving them spellups, which I guess one could say is priestly in spirit. But I'm not really much of an RP kind of character, aside from my RP quest to join vamps.

TB: Do you ever make assumptions about someone based on their class? Do you have in your mind a 'type' that you imagine for someone who favors for example warriors as opposed to mages?

I: Hmmm... that's an interesting question. I guess I would have to say no, because I tend not to make assumptions about anybody online. Anyone can pretend to be anyone they like, so I take who they appear to be with a grain of salt. I know many thief characters who are helpful and generous, so I don't associate thieves with bad people, for example.

TB: If you could change something about the MUD, what would it be?

I: Ok, this isn't something that I think could be implemented, but I think smell-o-vision would be awesome. If you've checked out my description, I am a beastly, flatulent person, and I would like to have the MUD share in my bodily odors. I mean, it's so hard to accurately convey my stench with mere words. I may be of good alignment, but I reek of something evil.

Ichthys lets off a real rip-roarer ... a greenish cloud envelops Ichthys!

Interview with
an Immortal:
Marge

Interview with Marge: August 22, 2002

TB: When did you become a player/immortal? What are your duties as an imm? What do you spend your time doing up there in heaven?

M: I started playing here as an immortal just after Mirk started, in May 1995. Now, most of my duties involve writing and testing areas and rooms. I also work on help files. I spend my time flirting with Gerrold and looking up room vnums. But in the past I've been Questmaster and I was a Tribe Chief on another mud, so I love to run quests.

TB:You recently posted a note about being kinder and gentler in greetings to people logging on the MUD. I had never noticed anyone snarling… was there something specific you were referring to or do you really see it as a general problem?

M: Yes, I was referring to the occasional (underline occasional) occurance of a jest gone a bit too far or a bit too profane. I don't expect everyone here to get along--it wouldn't be a community if that was the case, but the imms don't like to see blatant hostility right off the bat.

TB: You recently ran an extremely fun and interesting quest for VAMPS, and afterward you said you liked doing quests like that… are you sad that few people seem to be interested in RP type quests? Or is that even the case... to me, it doesn't seem like people are really into RPing within tribes, between tribes, etc. Is that disappointing to the imm staff?

M: Well, from my experience with the Vamps quest, I see that folks like it but don't get so much of it. An RP quest is difficult. It isn't one that can really be planned with the tribe or person or mud. It needs to build and excitement needs to gather. And then, when enough enthusiasm is built, it needs to come to a head and usually end in some kind of combat. One problem is with planning times too much. I find that players will make an effort to be there if the time is announced and if different events take place at different times. I'd really like to take advantage of some on the inner tribe, between tribe rp and do a large quest using that. The imm staff isn't disappointed at all, just sometimes wearied over the time it takes to prepare quests. By the way, I'm waiting to implement prizes for the last big vamps quest if the vamps decide if they want what they've sent me. The rooms are ready to go. Also, Annakie, the Questmaster, and I are looking for other tribes to do rp with.

TB: I talked to someone recently who said that sort of thing (like the intertribal rp) isn't possible 'anymore' because the MUD has turned more into a chat room. Do you see that?

M: I think there's that danger. But I've seen some great activity lately. Several imms have been running nearly a quest a day. The headcount is way up. And we have some things planned that won't let this be a chat room.

TB: Mirkwood has such a bizarre indefinable brand of RP – sort of a blend of medieval D&D stuff leavened heavily with pop culture silliness and fired in a blaze of irony. How did this come about? Was there a grand scheme?

M: Nope, there was no grand scheme, and that's the fun. Four of us played as morts together on another mud (Tomasin, JellO, Gerrold, and I) and Estranged was an imm there. When Tomasin started Mirkwood, JellO wrote the first new areas. JellO writes the goofiest fun areas I've ever seen. Tomasin wrote areas focused on Tolkien, and named the mud as well. Gerrold and I were Tribemaster and Questmaster respectively, adding to the goofy, serious, medieval, odd gothic literary Tolkien flavor. It was an unpredictable, great combo. Then it just fostered more of the same from the excellent players. Many of whom became writers or imms. Fun has always been our central goal here.

TB: It's amazing to me that the flavor has stayed so interesting... and so consistent it seems like... that the original chemistry has filtered through so strongly in such a long time.

M: Well, who knew? We never thought this would become a hangout for so many cool people. Estranged I'm sure came over here to help out in 1995, not because he thought that this would last until 2002.

TB: It’s easy for new players hearing about “the good old days” to feel like they’ve come in to a party that’s dying down. Did Mirkwood have a golden age and is it now over?

M: One could say that there was a golden age, especially for those of us who were there when But I think that's so much nostalgia and should be seen as such. Much of the spirit is here. I think the players and imms that we have now are better than ever before, and some things are coming up will blow what's been done here before away. I think the golden age is in the future.

TB: Valandil in his “goodbye forever” note accused you of being male. Was that a spiteful parting shot? Or was it true? Or are you going to turn me into a donkey for asking?

M: First, I'm glad you brought up the Valandil issue. I was the vehicle for an imm decision, that's all. Whether any comments were parting shots isn't something that concerns me. What does is how fun this place is, which leads to the heart of your question.

When I first started mudding, another imm and I were sitting around going from mud to mud, logging in as various characters. We began to tire of the fantasy type names after awhile and started using run of the mill, working class America names. At one point, he logged in as Gerrold and told me to come on over and try the mud he was on. I told him I wanted to use a character name one's aunt might have, one's aunt.....Marge. I played that character from zero to hero. And when I was asked to be imm here, I came over as Marge, since that's how Tomasin knew me. During the first year of Mirkwood, before we had many high level women imms, it was awfully nice and sometimes effective to have someone who could at least fake it. I played the aunt figure, made breakfast all the time, ran quests, wrote helpfiles... I took a break of nearly three years. I started playing again in early June. When I came back, the character wasn't necessary and I had forgotten a little of how to play it. I still make breakfast, though.