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The Women of the Online Gaming League
By: Jube
Gaming Nickname: Zayb0 / Zay / Zaya and then some secret names, tell me the code word and I will reveal all!
Location: Denver, Colorado (my personal paradise)
Birthday: I'm a Gemini!
Current Games: Age of Mythology, Warcraft 3, Quake 2: Action Quake, Quake 3: ARQ.
Favourite Games: Starcraft, Dark Castle, Beyond Dark Castle, Zork (the original), Frogger (on the Apple IIe), Marathon, Doom II and Warcraft 2. All the newer games that I've played from 97/98 onwards don't have enough time out (at least 6 years) to yet be determined as "favourite." Hee hee. (Jube: Hey now, no making fun of my Canadian accent ;)
Clan: Currently in =GR=, [VEGAN] - both are "for fun" clans that do not really compete.
Former Clans: {FFJ}
[LG]: How did you come to be involved in the wonderful world of online gaming?
[Zayb0]: Online gaming started for me in 1989 when BBSes and MUDs came into my life. When I lived overseas a person at the embassy started a BBS with a couple of modems and we all had a grand old time communicating that way. Of course one thing led to another and eventually I was back in the USA helping run another BBS in VA (Desert Oasis) and still enjoying TW, Legend of the Red Dragon and The Pit.
The more traditional online gaming didn't really start for me until Warcraft II via IPX and then Starcraft via BNet; SC hit hard and started the obsessive, multi-hour-a-day, what-day-is-it, what-year-is-it playing. Once you reach that level, I think that the love of the gaming sets in and never really lets go.
[LG]: What do your family and friends think of your very time consuming gaming hobby?
[Zayb0]: My nuclear family really doesn't understand it very well, but accepts that this is the way I want to spend my time. As it's gone on now for over a decade, I think that they've become resigned to it. The large majority of my friends are gamers as well, so there's no need to explain myself there. The ones who aren't gamers are all understanding, if not comprehending. I've even converted a few of them over to the dark side. Dark of course because the shades are down so the daystar won't interrupt with its glare.
[LG]: You recently left the OGL to pursue other things, but your last position there was that of
"Tournament Co-ordinator", heading up the widely publicized Battle on the Beachheads (RtCW) and the
Reaction Rumble (Reaction Quake 3) tournaments. Can you tell us why these games were specifically
chosen for OGL's stint in the tourney world?
[Zayb0]: RtCW was an incredibly popular game back at the end of 2001 and Jan of 2002 and is still going fairly strong today. I think that the beta that they released showed the immense possibilities of the game. It was a natural choice to go with RtCW and Activision, of course, was extremely helpful and provided prizes. Nvidia was even part of it once they saw the scope of what was going on. At that time I wasn't the OGL Tournament Coordinator, I was just a League Official, but I was in charge of RtCW so knew the game. I've always been vocal about my opinions and suggestions, so in the end I think that Tapper, EJ and Alric just threw up their hands and let me dig my own grave. The teams and the people I got for referees and admins were incredible. Kudos to all of them. Many people put in 9+ hours a day just refereeing for the first two weeks and I still give them my gratitude. After that we did the QuakeCon Qualifiers for RtCW online. That was very BoB reminiscent and went very smoothly. By the time that rolled around, I wasn't Tournament Coordinator yet, I was the Competition Director after Alric got promoted to VeePee.
Reaction Rumble was a much smaller tournament to gauge to see what effect the tournaments have on the gaming organism even on a small scale. The Reaction Quake team was also extremely helpful and personable in communication and they themselves asked if it could be done. When the servers from Speakeasy weren't a go during the start and the finals, they had ones right at the ready within a few minutes. They also pulled together and got statistics from many RQ3 sites when asked.
All the tournaments were incredible to do. During each one it was interesting to see how a process of running an online tournament can be refined and bettered and how much more smoothly the next one can run. By the end of Reaction Rumble I think that I had a pretty good process down pat. OGL had many resources to draw from including staff, experience, connections and skill. That definitely has worked well in all the online tournaments.
[LG]: In addition to working with the OGL, you also helped out with QuakeCon 2002. Was it a
difficult job, would you do it again? Are you currently planning to attend QuakeCon 2003?
[Zayb0]: I was the Conference Director in 2002 (Thank You EJ), however when I arrived at QuakeCon Alric and I soon saw that there was no way that one person was going to really do the huge Q3 1v1 tournament and the RtCW tournament. So I ended up doing 18-22 hours a day into the RtCW tournament instead. A big thank-you to JH who was my #2 and covered my conferences while I did RtCW. I may add she did a really fine job and gophered for me endlessly!
Difficult, yes. One of the hardest parts was making sure the teams were there on time. Since many of them were not staying at the hotel because the hotel was booked I had to arrange rides for many teams. This was extremely difficult as many matches were scheduled for early in the morning. There were a few equipment problems, ghosting problems etc... nothing very unexpected. It did throw some of the times off, but it still got done. It was incredible seeing the whole process from beginning to end and being a part of it, there aren't really words for the feelings you have after it's over and you know that everything got done. QuakeCon is an event beyond an "event", once you go you'll understand. It's something really special and QC2002 was run by wonderful people, it was an honour to work QCon 2002. Big thanks to EJ and Alric, EJ for giving me that chance and Alric for.. well.. just putting up with me. ;-)
I would do it again in a heartbeat. Of course, I would do some things differently. Having a team competition threw a lotta wrenches into the gears, but I believe it was done well and can/will be done even better. I made tons of notes on my laptop during QC2002 about little things and big things and if I have a chance to participate in '03 have some better ideas about organization and whatnot. No matter what my role, I'm going to '03, period! I better see Jube there or I'll cry.
[LG]: Based on your OGL experiences, which game's community makes you think "*phew* glad
I don't work on that ladder", and why do you think they're rowdier than other communities
you're familiar with?
[Zayb0]: I think that every ladder and community has its pros and cons. Nothing I've found on OGL would be unmanageable, but depending on what else is going on in my life I know that I'd want to stay away from some of the ladders that have very vocal members if I was feeling a little ancy. I started on OGL with the Action Quake 2 ladders (I think this "Jordan" lady conned me into it *tee hee*) and those ladders probably had the.. erm.. most personality at the time, even with CS being the largest. After I did AQ2 and then was a League Official for Quake 2 for a year, I think that I could handle any ladder. My trick was always to stay as consistent as possible and that caused the least amount of problems for myself, the admins and the players. The ladders that I think would be the hardest now would be Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. Not having the ability to demo and having cheats out there makes life incredibly difficult for the admins. Working under those conditions must be rough. Wait, I was the LO for MOH:AA for a while... working under those conditions IS rough!
[LG]: Since leaving the OGL have you begun working on any new gaming related projects?
[Zayb0]: I've been playing around with some ideas to make the gaming community more interesting and maybe filling some niche's that haven't been able to be filled as of yet. Nothing to go to print about, though. Mainly I've just been enjoying gaming a bit more. For the last year because I was spending so much time doing the tournaments, QuakeCon and OGL biz I just didn't have time to game except an hour or two every few weeks. It's been refreshing just to sit and game for a few hours at a time and occasionally go out and have my retinas burned by the daystar.
[LG]: What game(s) are you most looking forward to the release of?
[Zayb0]: Doom 3. After seeing it in the Doom Theater a few times I'm really lusting after that game. Wait.. there's SC2 as well, that's been a maybe for so long. I was such a huge SC fan that I really want something more, especially with the graphics that WC3 has. Oh crud, Quake4. I really want to see how that compares to its predecessors and how Raven is going to stand up to the formidable task!
[LG]: Are you currently romantically attached? If so, are you with a fellow gamer? If not, would you rather date a gamer or non-gamer, and why?
[Zayb0]: Ah yes. I've been with a fellow gamer for 7 years now. We're getting married in June. I think that as a chunk of my life is still involved with gaming in some way, shape or form, it would be very hard for me to date a non-gamer. My fiance and I game together regularly in RtCW, ARQ, AQ2, SC, WC3 etc etc etc. We love gaming together (or against each other) and hopefully that will be the trend for many years to come.
A final note if it can be added. I'd like to say that Alric has a really nice butt, everyone who goes to QuakeCon '03 should take note of that.
(Shame on you for treating men like objects! Besides, Alric may indeed have a nice butt,
but Caine gets my vote in our ongoing h0t Men of OGL discussion... which by the way is starting
to border on harassment. Perhaps we should cut it out? Nah. --Jube)
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