2002: UO-Europe Interview with GM Xena

Interview with GM Xena

This was originally posted at UO-Europe.com [1].



Why the name Xena?

Because people are in general more friendly to you when they think they are talking to a "female" which customers assume I am =)


What is your job?

I am a bit of a social street worker really. Many problems are of a technical nature of course but the hard work is to convince the player that everything will be good eventually =).


What`s the best part of your job?

Having my hobby as a job. I am playing UO since the very first beta phase and I still love it.


And the worst?

Being theoretically able to do so much but practically so little. In an ideal world, the program would not have any bugs and player would always say the truth. As this is not the case, we have to do our best to make the best out of it. This can be sometimes very hard if our customers aren`t satisfied when we leave.


What would you be if you weren`t a GM?

Well, I was an employee of Electronic Arts before I became a GM. I was the German QA Supervisor and would maybe work in the EA Studios. I rejected an offer because of the UO GM position.


Tell us something amazing that happened in-game while you were GMing... please?

Resolving scams to give me a lot of satisfaction. Scammed player are very sad about their losses and , hey, who can blame them. Whenever one of them dodgy geezers has been taught a lesson makes my day. Taking advantage of inexperienced player is the lowest possible level at which to play the game and these people receive 0 tolerance.


What`s in your backpack at the moment?

Bit curious, aren't we ? :) I have several backpacks with prepared items like guild deeds, ship deeds and so on.


And your favourite band/tune?

Limp Biskit / Linkin Park (One step closer)


In a film of your life, who would play you?

Lucy Lawless, coz...you know why...I am Xena.


Describe yourself in ten words or less.

Good looking, smart, mature, sophisticated and funny....HEY! What did you expect?