An Interview With Europa EM's Emile & Sarakan!
I recently had the chance to interview EM Emily and EM Sarakan about the EM Program and future storylines, I hope you enjoy the interview!
You can read the better formatted interview here - http://uo.stratics.com/news/Europa.shtml
The first question is of course, What brought you into the EM program?
Emile: I just love organizing and running events, I always have. For years I wanted to be an EM. So when the program restarted I jumped at the opportunity and... here I am!
Sarakan: Purely by chance really. I have been playing UO for a long time on and off and I always keep a close eye on the forums and websites and noticed the EM advert. I put together an application exactly to the specific requirements and worked on it for a couple of hours and made it as tight as I could. Less is often more. I tried to make it concise, accurate, entertaining and truthful. I was honestly surprised and delighted to get the job offer as I really didn’t expect to.*
-----------------------------------
How long have you played UO?
Emile: About 6-7 years.
Sarakan: A long time since 2000 or 2001 or so? I started playing and I couldn’t work out how to self heal [on a warrior – bandages were a mystery to me!] and I ended up in Felucca [I am still not sure if Trammel existed when I started] and I kind of gave up after a month or two. New characters in Felucca don’t last long. I came back, found some players who helped me and the rest is history.
-----------------------------------
When planning events do you get help from EA?
Emile: We get a lot of freedom to*write our own storylines and events and support from EA/Mythic to run them. Even the 'global' events we get to customize to a certain degree.
Sarakan: You can ask for help from EA but on the whole it isn’t necessary unless something needs doing which we can’t do ourselves. There are two types of events – official and un-official. Official events are the domain of EA and unofficial events are ones the EMs create which is shard specific [usually].
Or can you create your own storyline and own events?
Sarakan: Yes and we have done so with Mericles, Hannah and Dorian and some of the background stuff for the official story arc with Casca, One Eyed Pete, Brad the Assassin and some of the tales surrounding Nathan Hawke.
-----------------------------------
What type of event do you prefer doing? (e.g. kill so many monsters or a roleplay speech)
Emile: I like running events that require a little thinking*on the player's part, that challenge them. Personally I really enjoyed the 'Infiltrating the Orcs' events. It required them to play their characters differently then they usually would, impersonating Orcs. We had them construct something that could pass as an Orcish war-machine and then explain how it works to the Orcish Blacksmith, in Orcish!
But I also like the big battles. During those Orcish events I was ready to spawn the Orc Caves to epic proportions if the players acted too much out of character (thus blowing their cover). And 'The Battle for Britain' event, that was one for the records. That event was even more awesome since it was driven by you, the players! We only had to play in to what you did.
Sarakan: I prefer “In Character” events which are part of a linear storyline. I particularly enjoyed the “rescue Nathan” trip to Ilshenar as the players showed a lot of ingenuity and played-along with everything we did that night. Also we like to sometimes coincide our events with player character expectations - like for example the Battle of Britain came from the players actions themselves.
-----------------------------------
How do you share the role as EM?
Emile: Most of the time Sarakan and I work together as a team.
Sarakan: We both have an EM account and we both try and do everything.
Do you take turns each week handling the event or do you both handle each event?
Sarakan: We do all sorts. Sometimes we work alone, sometimes together. Some events require two Ems [or more once or twice!] to work some can be done solo. It depends on the event type. Usually Emile and myself work as a team on an event before, during and after.*
-----------------------------------
How do you feel when people yell at events for an item or some sort of reward?
Emile: *Shrugs* I could do without it...
Seriously though, I've read the complaints but I really think it's not that bad on Europa. On the whole I think the Europa players are very well behaved and a great bunch to organize events for.
Sarakan: Mixed feelings. Rewards should be rare and handed out for exceptional play.*
-----------------------------------
Recently you held an event in Felucca of course were attacked with carnage ensuring, Are more events in Felucca planned, Perhaps designed towards the PvP characters?
Emile: *Grins* Carnage! Wasn't that fun?
We can't cater to everybody all the time but I feel we should at least try to cater to everybody some time. So yes, there will be events*in Felucca*again in the future.
Sarakan: The Felucca event went really well – everyone was really well behaved. I was surprised at the thread on Stratics Europa about it as it didn’t appear to be the same event. I will be honest we cut the event slightly short as tension was rising and we wanted to end it on a high. Being honest Felucca was high on my list of priorities but it hasn’t panned out as expected. It’s a difficult place to run events because we can’t interfere with the players’ experience of the game directly. We will be running more in due course.
-----------------------------------
With SA around the corner are storylines going to involve Gargoyles and the new lands?
Emile: Does a gargoyle crap in the woods?
Sarakan: No comment.
-----------------------------------
Do you have a schedule for events?
Sarakan: Yes we use an online shared calendar.
-----------------------------------
Do you try plan for at least one event a week?
Emile: Sarakan worded it very well. Only thing I have to add: If we don't do at least one event a week, I feel like we're slacking.*
Sarakan: It depends on the status of the official story arc, our own story arcs and real life and work commitments. At one point we were running up to 5 “events” per week – that was unsustainable from a time point of view. We were writing, reporting, attending, running and setting up for long periods of time and it didn’t give us much time to take stock of the situation or write new material. [This sounds like moaning but it isn’t – being an EM is a real joy and one of the best things to do as a job. But it is a job, and we both treat it as such.] Also we have to be able to react to player ideas and suggestions in character which may alter the flow of “events”. Ideally we would wish to run something every few days and for the bulk of our time as Ems we have achieved this. We have run over 60 events in 7 or 8 months – some have been small rp events, some large ooc events and some large ic events.*
-----------------------------------
Finally, As an average player, how would someone go about checking to see when the next event is on?
Emile: That's easy! Just keep an eye on the website: Europa.UOEM.net
Sarakan: check the website - http://europa.uoem.net/
Thank you so much EM Emile and EM Sarakan for this interview!
I recently had the chance to interview EM Emily and EM Sarakan about the EM Program and future storylines, I hope you enjoy the interview!
You can read the better formatted interview here - http://uo.stratics.com/news/Europa.shtml
The first question is of course, What brought you into the EM program?
Emile: I just love organizing and running events, I always have. For years I wanted to be an EM. So when the program restarted I jumped at the opportunity and... here I am!
Sarakan: Purely by chance really. I have been playing UO for a long time on and off and I always keep a close eye on the forums and websites and noticed the EM advert. I put together an application exactly to the specific requirements and worked on it for a couple of hours and made it as tight as I could. Less is often more. I tried to make it concise, accurate, entertaining and truthful. I was honestly surprised and delighted to get the job offer as I really didn’t expect to.*
-----------------------------------
How long have you played UO?
Emile: About 6-7 years.
Sarakan: A long time since 2000 or 2001 or so? I started playing and I couldn’t work out how to self heal [on a warrior – bandages were a mystery to me!] and I ended up in Felucca [I am still not sure if Trammel existed when I started] and I kind of gave up after a month or two. New characters in Felucca don’t last long. I came back, found some players who helped me and the rest is history.
-----------------------------------
When planning events do you get help from EA?
Emile: We get a lot of freedom to*write our own storylines and events and support from EA/Mythic to run them. Even the 'global' events we get to customize to a certain degree.
Sarakan: You can ask for help from EA but on the whole it isn’t necessary unless something needs doing which we can’t do ourselves. There are two types of events – official and un-official. Official events are the domain of EA and unofficial events are ones the EMs create which is shard specific [usually].
Or can you create your own storyline and own events?
Sarakan: Yes and we have done so with Mericles, Hannah and Dorian and some of the background stuff for the official story arc with Casca, One Eyed Pete, Brad the Assassin and some of the tales surrounding Nathan Hawke.
-----------------------------------
What type of event do you prefer doing? (e.g. kill so many monsters or a roleplay speech)
Emile: I like running events that require a little thinking*on the player's part, that challenge them. Personally I really enjoyed the 'Infiltrating the Orcs' events. It required them to play their characters differently then they usually would, impersonating Orcs. We had them construct something that could pass as an Orcish war-machine and then explain how it works to the Orcish Blacksmith, in Orcish!
But I also like the big battles. During those Orcish events I was ready to spawn the Orc Caves to epic proportions if the players acted too much out of character (thus blowing their cover). And 'The Battle for Britain' event, that was one for the records. That event was even more awesome since it was driven by you, the players! We only had to play in to what you did.
Sarakan: I prefer “In Character” events which are part of a linear storyline. I particularly enjoyed the “rescue Nathan” trip to Ilshenar as the players showed a lot of ingenuity and played-along with everything we did that night. Also we like to sometimes coincide our events with player character expectations - like for example the Battle of Britain came from the players actions themselves.
-----------------------------------
How do you share the role as EM?
Emile: Most of the time Sarakan and I work together as a team.
Sarakan: We both have an EM account and we both try and do everything.
Do you take turns each week handling the event or do you both handle each event?
Sarakan: We do all sorts. Sometimes we work alone, sometimes together. Some events require two Ems [or more once or twice!] to work some can be done solo. It depends on the event type. Usually Emile and myself work as a team on an event before, during and after.*
-----------------------------------
How do you feel when people yell at events for an item or some sort of reward?
Emile: *Shrugs* I could do without it...
Seriously though, I've read the complaints but I really think it's not that bad on Europa. On the whole I think the Europa players are very well behaved and a great bunch to organize events for.
Sarakan: Mixed feelings. Rewards should be rare and handed out for exceptional play.*
-----------------------------------
Recently you held an event in Felucca of course were attacked with carnage ensuring, Are more events in Felucca planned, Perhaps designed towards the PvP characters?
Emile: *Grins* Carnage! Wasn't that fun?
We can't cater to everybody all the time but I feel we should at least try to cater to everybody some time. So yes, there will be events*in Felucca*again in the future.
Sarakan: The Felucca event went really well – everyone was really well behaved. I was surprised at the thread on Stratics Europa about it as it didn’t appear to be the same event. I will be honest we cut the event slightly short as tension was rising and we wanted to end it on a high. Being honest Felucca was high on my list of priorities but it hasn’t panned out as expected. It’s a difficult place to run events because we can’t interfere with the players’ experience of the game directly. We will be running more in due course.
-----------------------------------
With SA around the corner are storylines going to involve Gargoyles and the new lands?
Emile: Does a gargoyle crap in the woods?
Sarakan: No comment.
-----------------------------------
Do you have a schedule for events?
Sarakan: Yes we use an online shared calendar.
-----------------------------------
Do you try plan for at least one event a week?
Emile: Sarakan worded it very well. Only thing I have to add: If we don't do at least one event a week, I feel like we're slacking.*
Sarakan: It depends on the status of the official story arc, our own story arcs and real life and work commitments. At one point we were running up to 5 “events” per week – that was unsustainable from a time point of view. We were writing, reporting, attending, running and setting up for long periods of time and it didn’t give us much time to take stock of the situation or write new material. [This sounds like moaning but it isn’t – being an EM is a real joy and one of the best things to do as a job. But it is a job, and we both treat it as such.] Also we have to be able to react to player ideas and suggestions in character which may alter the flow of “events”. Ideally we would wish to run something every few days and for the bulk of our time as Ems we have achieved this. We have run over 60 events in 7 or 8 months – some have been small rp events, some large ooc events and some large ic events.*
-----------------------------------
Finally, As an average player, how would someone go about checking to see when the next event is on?
Emile: That's easy! Just keep an eye on the website: Europa.UOEM.net
Sarakan: check the website - http://europa.uoem.net/
Thank you so much EM Emile and EM Sarakan for this interview!
