2003-12-19: Introducing GM Wraith
Introducing GM Wraith
Dec 19 2003 1:49PM
This was originally posted to Player Relations at uo.com.[1]
Greetings Britannians,
Please allow me to introduce myself. I am GM Wraith. I have been a Game Master with EA for nearly two years now, first at Westwood Studios in Las Vegas, and now at OSI in Austin. Many of you may ask: "GM Wraith...how did you become a GM?"
Here is my story:
I have been an avid gamer since the late 70’s (Yeah, I’m an old dog.), starting with D&D, then evolving into Twilight 2000, Car Wars, and many other pen & paper games. I was also quite fond of the tabletop games like Air Force & Panzer Blitz. I spent four years as a Tanker in the US Army, so these were natural affinities for me. As console games evolved and the PC eventually took a foothold, I began searching for the digital counterpart to D&D, which was always my favorite. Alas, I found EverQuest in the beta test phase. I had been a beta tester before for a few different games and immediately volunteered for the program. I was accepted and, after nearly 5 ½ years of gaming on EQ, became a Guide and then a member of the ever-elusive Quest Troupe.
After playing nearly every class available in EQ, I decided it was time for a change. I had heard about this cool new game called Earth & Beyond. I immediately signed up for the beta test and was accepted in the first phase of beta. Then I got this wild idea that I would like to go work for Westwood. I was a great fan of the C&C series & Renegade, and thought "WOW...what a great company to work for." Since they were based in Las Vegas, and I was working as a Graphic Designer there, I figured what the heck. I had always dreamed of working for a game studio, so I went to the studio and dropped off a resume.
Three months and 12 resumes later (I dropped off one a week), I got the call to come meet with Draconis Rex, our Director of Customer Relations. The rest is history. I was hired on as a Lead GM for Earth & Beyond and served in that capacity until the closing of the Westwood studio last March. After a brief hiatus, I moved to Austin and joined the OSI team. Since that time I have been fully immersed in Ultima Online. Gosh, how I kick myself for not playing UO from the start. What a game--UO has a depth and fullness that cannot easily be matched. The world is huge and exceptional, and I can hardly wait for what’s coming next.
Let me also say that our team of GMs is working hard to resolve all of your issues as quickly and completely as possible. To allow us to focus on the game-stopping issues, we ask that you use all the tools that we have provided. We have a dedicated Knowledge Base master in GM Carbon, who works very hard to ensure that most of your questions can be answered there if you take a bit of time to look around through the articles. The UO.com Playguide and the UO Stratics fan site are also great sources of information. Of course, if you are having an issue that can’t be resolved with simple Q&A, please give us all the details you can muster when paging into the in-game GM Help Queue.
Well, that’s my story. For me, diligence and tenacity paid off and I was able to begin a career with one of the greatest companies I have ever worked for. What lesson can we learn from this? As Winston Churchill said: "We will never surrender!" Reach for your dreams, you just might catch them.
Respectfully,
GM Wraith
Player Relations
Ultima Online
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