Asmo StorM : Spirit-Fists, part 2

A.I : What characters did you play? How would you describe them?

Spirit-Fists : In all my time in 9D I only played 3 different chars. Onslaught (Warrior) was my first char, and during his peak time, was widely regarded as one of the toughest chars to face in PVP, utilizing a variation of mixed PVP builds. Once Onslaught was level capped at CS1, I started work on Spirit-Fists (Hybrid) who became one of the toughest grind chars ever to grace Bardo. Spirit hit each level cap as one of the top 2 chars on Bardo, it wasn’t long after that I got bored at CS4 killing 4 mobs for 0.01% and left the game for three months until Icy Palace map finally opened, I returned a few weeks after it opened to find myself over taken by many players, so I got back to grinding and soon took back my lead spot as the highest White char on Bardo. Orisi (nuker) was created when Spirit was stuck at the LM level cap, this time I refused kill multiple mobs for 0.01% so I started on a new char called Orisi, but I didn’t enjoy nuker as much as the melee chars. It was fun to start with, reaching CS2 within 6 weeks of creating the char, thanks to the two Xmas and New Year 2XP events, but got tired of nuker, and once again left the game for about three months until the level cap was again raised.

A.I. : You were The Master of StorM_RiderS, how was your experience? What did you learn? What was SR for you? What is your legacy?

Spirit-Fists : For me SR was all about respect and honour. I am proud to have been in charge of so many players who shared my dream of helping others and uniting the White Clans for the benefit of all whites and not just ourselves. It was no easy task, at one stage we even kept ourselves away from PVP for months at a time to push ourselves in level and strength before returning to the fold and showing the true power of SR in PVP. My legacy, so to speak, is that SR continue to uphold the beliefs that the league was founded on. Respect, honour and the ability to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

A.I. : Did you have any downtime, or you were constantly bombarded with members questions or others players as BM?

Spirit-Fists : Sometimes it was hard to concentrate on my own game. SR was the largest and strongest league on Bardo for a very long time. I would get questions and messages from many inside our league as well as many from leagues that were friends of SR. Thankfully I did not try to run SR alone, that would have killed me very fast. I was happy to be the figure head of SR, which made sense as my char was one of the highest chars for most of my life on 9D. After creating the SR league, I basically shared the League Master position with Yoink as an equal, and we had all the other Band Masters as deputies, which worked very well. SR was systematically run by 5 chief players instead of one player ruling over everyone. Then we had a good group of Band Leaders who were all chosen upon their principals and the manner in which they showed themselves to others.

A.I. : Playing on Bardo’s white side, what you think are the difference between the whites and the blacks? What they war for?

Spirit-Fists : The main difference I found between Bardo’s White and Black sides was the ability to work together. SR with the help of a few other leagues were able to bring the majority of the White Clans together, working towards the same goal and showing each other respect. The Black Clans on Bardo didn’t manage this at the time because there was too much fighting going on between themselves, this meant that they found it harder to work together during Clan specific events such as War and SVS.

A.I. : What is your opinion on Item Mall prices? Mall stuff creates advantages for your character or not?

Spirit-Fists : The Item Mall is a great place to upgrade your char, but it has become over priced as of late. Deco’s and Premium packs are a must for those that want to compete seriously in PVP, but not everyone can afford to throw money at Acclaim, so it creates an imbalance. Just look at the recent change in making XP Cards tradable, it has destroyed the already fragile market, and made Nukers even more over powered now that they can level as fast as any other class. I personally feel that Acclaim or Indy have spent too much time thinking of new ways to make money and not enough time on fixing bugs, some of which are well over two years old.

A.I. : Now you play AION. How do you find AION in comparison with 9D?

Spirit-Fists : The contrast is huge and really shows the difference between pay to play games and free to play. Aion is the total package. As of this date, I have only come across a very small number of bugs, and most of these don’t interfere with the game play. Although 9D is free to play, I believe most of the mid-hardcore players will still spend more money per three months on 9D than they would playing Aion for the same time period. All you pay for in Aion is the monthly subscription, all the rest is done with ingame gold. The PVP in AION is much more balanced, yes it is based on level, but as there is far fewer levels than 9D, this doesn’t create a huge imbalance as it does in 9D.

A.I. : Why do you think that many players of 9D went to AION?

Spirit-Fists : Many of the 9D players now playing AION have found the same issues with 9D that I have. The most obvious one being the total imbalance in 9D PVP, why bother to make any class except Nuker unless you have already reached the level cap. The amount of bugs still unfixed on 9D and the continual lack of communication from the Acclaim team is a big factor. Another big factor is the running costs of playing 9D if you want to seriously compete with others, some players spend obscene amounts of money in the Item Mall and it is hard for those without this kind of funding to compete at the same level as those with seemingly unlimited funds. AION is a breath of fresh air to those of us that have put up with Acclaims incompetence (for lack of a better word)

A.I. : From your experience, what would you share with the others players?

Spirit-Fists : Be good to yourself and to others. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. Remember RESPECT is not easily earned but can be lost much faster.

A.I.: Thank You.

Favourite Spirit ss:

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gx36eZ9

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxjkp7i

Asmo StorM : Spirit-Fists, part 1

A.I. Why do like to play games? How would you describe yourself as a player?

Spirit-Fists : For me, gaming is my way to relax, I work hard most of the week and like to unwind by throwing myself in to a game that I enjoy. I don’t know how I would describe myself as a player, I suppose I would consider myself a semi hardcore player who lives by the honour system, “do to others as you would have them do to you”

A.I. : You have played a long time, felt many emotions. What would you identify as the essence of 9D?

Spirit-Fists : I feel the essence of 9Dragons is the community and how you respond to others. I would probably have left 9D a few months earlier if it wasn’t for the large amount of friends I have made over the years in 9D. Friendship and respect are things you must work hard to get and it’s not always easy to just turn your back and leave, which is why I am still connected to SR even if I’m no longer playing 9D.

A.I. : 9Dragons back in 2007, was better than it is now?

Spirit-Fists : It was much more fun back in the earlier days of 9D. I feel that Acclaim have sort of lost the plot over the last year. They are too concerned with taking players money in the Item Mall and don’t spend enough time and concern over the huge amount of bugs still plaguing the game. Back in 2007 and 2008 many players were still playing for fun and enjoyment of the game, nowadays since the game has stagnated with nothing new coming in the near future, many players only care about the imbalanced PVP and abusing this to annoy and disrupt other players games.

A.I. : Why did you quit playing 9D?

Spirit-Fists : I had reached the Endgame of 9D. After hitting each and every level cap, I felt there was nothing left for me do in 9D. It also had a little to do with Acclaim and Indy’s lack of communication with the player base and lack of patches that actually fix bugs, without bringing more bugs to the game. It got to the stage that the excitement and enthusiasm that I used to feel was no longer there.

A.I. : What is you opinion on the management of the game? What do you think of Games Managers?

Spirit-Fists : Acclaim and Indy have let themselves and the players down by leaving the game full of bugs and proving that they don’t actually know much about the game in general. Take the Webinar’s for example, on a few occasions I posed some perfectly good questions that many players wanted the answers for, but they never knew anything and could only reply with “ we’ll have to ask the devs and get back to you” and they still haven’t answered these questions. As for the GM’s I have had good times and bad times with them. I have all the respect in the world for Nathan (DragonHead) he helped me soo much in the early days with a serious lag and DC issue I had, and I’m so glad he was promoted to Head GM when Phew left for Spellbound. Then there was Max (Phew), we clashed multiple times due to his lack of communication and the fact that he kept telling us lies and I was catching him out. Even as a VGM he was unhelpful and unreachable 99% of the time, when I needed him for serious reasons. He didn’t like it when I posted the true IP and location of Bardo (in LA) when he was telling the player base that it had already moved to the EU 2 months earlier. I didn’t like being lied to by the man who was supposed to be our leader and mentor.

A.I. : What was your funny and tragic moment in 9Dragons?

Spirit-Fists : I’ve had many funny moments in 9D, most of these in PVP with United Forces, specifically early on at the start of the War with UF when I hounded and terrorized Evil Homer with Onslaught in the cave. The War with the Dragons in CC3 and CC4 was also great fun, I loved that they thought of me as a “Warmonger” xD

My saddest moment was the day I finally decided to leave 9D for good. After making a shout to inform all my friends and enemies that I was leaving, I spent over 2 very emotional hours replying to the many messages I was getting wishing me the best and asking me not to leave.

A.I. : What you think about the 9Dragons forum? Did you visit it often? Is it worth to spend time there? What about the moderation team?

Spirit-Fists : The forum is a great tool for players to learn and ask questions, but there are also many players who use it purely to abuse other players. The moderation team needs to become more neutral, there were times that posts that needed locking right away were left open to abuse because it was a friend of a mod who had started the post, or the mod was in the a band that was at war with the posting player.

A.I. : You were a VGM. How was your experience as a VGM ? Why did you leave the VGM team?

Spirit-Fists : I joined the VGM team on the basis that we would be helping the player base communicate with the GM’s and Devs, but it quickly became clear that our thoughts and advice were rarely acknowledged or taken seriously. I also had a problem with other VGM’s from opposing bands who would start flaming posts in the VGM forum just because they were unable to do so ingame or on the general forum. For a long time, all the VGM’s did was report gold spammers and chat to players, getting asked questions that we ourselves did not know the answers to because the GM team didn’t give us much information. My VGM char was also placed on a different server from my playing server and due to the time zone difference between the US server my VGM char was on and my time zone in the EU, the server was normally very quiet at the times I logged to help.

"Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future." (EDWIN H. FRIEDMAN)

Wu-Dang Tai-Keck : Xiriu

A.I.: How did you start playing 9Dragons ? Why you like this game?
Xiriu : Well it was beginning of 2007, february to be exactly. I was on vacations and pretty bored trying to find something to do. So i joined on a mmorpg forum and found this "9 Dragons"... As I enjoy martial arts I tried it and enjoyed.I confess I started to enjoy even more when i made my nuker!Even before 9D I played "The 4th Coming" for about 8 years so I always enjoyed MMORPGS.

A.I. : Do you keep in touch with your friend in 9Dragons? How many have you made?

Xiriu : I'm not sure about that but i made a bunch. Yes I keep in touch with them through msn, skype, teamspeak and sometimes on other games.

A.I. : What is your character like ?

Xiriu : I always try to help others as much as i can and on everything i make i always try to be the "best" aswell.

A.I. : What do you think about 9Dragons managemnet?

Xiriu : I think they have good intentions but they take too much time to fix the problems. Only item mall issues are solved in the light speed.Anyways I don't think it's only acclaim's fault probably Indy21 also don't care much about Acclaim issues. Once I was banned just because I talked to kor-sin... It's like "tell me with who you walk and I tell you who you are" ... It was a permanent ban but they found out that they were dumb so they gave me back my account.

A.I. : Hmm...9Dragons in year 2007 was better than it is now?

Xiriu : I don't think it was that better but it was more fun for sure. We were all trying to discover things in game and no one level cap. We had many fun wars back in 2007 that i'm sure we will never have again. Some people call it by "Dragons time".

A.I. : What was your funny and tragic moment in 9Dragons like?

Xiriu : Funny moment for sure was once when we lost General Wei control, so me and Nonis were always there to ks and pk. On a dark night i woke up and noticed it was Wei time, so i tried to log in to check. Guess what "error code=-1" was on. I was like GRRRRRRRR I will miss this wei. When i finally logged in, Wei was dieing, so i killed the finisher when Wei was 2%. Then the noobs there killed wei and the drops(WBs dmg female and 10 BEs) were on the floor because the nb which had the best damage was died and i bet he didn't have pancakes. Then they started to attack me and I kept trying to take the drops.So I succeded, iItook the drops and logged off... I was laughing so much uaheuaheuaehu. Those WBs Igave to Nonis as he was my partner on wei ks/pk raids.

The tragic moment was when I received the message from my friend "Fyoda", my first brazilian friend in 9D. He was with bones cancer. Anyways he already went under surgery and he is better now. Honestly i didn't know what to tell him when he told me that...

A.I. : What about your real life?

Xiriu : I consider my life very nice. I live with my parents and i have a brother, sister and nephew that live with me aswell... I'm a good person and I always helped people around me, not only relatives. I already helped in many social projects as a volunteer. I was doing mechatronics engineering in Brazil (would graduate in the middle of next year) and working on IBM but now I won a scholarship to study in "Politecnico di Torino" so I will continue my university there (starting now in 14th September).

A.I. : 9Dragons did change anyhow your real life?

Xiriu : Not at all... It's just a hobby when I got nothing to do. Anyways I gotta confess it sometimes help me to keep motivated, can't explain well but it does. Even more when we are at war for some goal like Wei for example.

A.I. : What you think about 9Dragons forum? You visit it offen? It worth to spend time there?

Xiriu : It's very helpeful. I visit it almost everyday. It does worth because veteran's people help out the new people so much.

A.I. : If you would meet TheHistorian what would you tell him about 9Dragons official team?

Xiriu : Well, they have good people on 9Dragons official team but it's like 10% only. I would tell him to find more "good intentioned" people to their team.

A.I. : You had a warrior, but now you play nuker, why? How are nukers in our days?

Xiriu : I found out that nukers were a good class and that i would have more success as a nuker. I can say that with all those new ornaments and items it's more balanced but still nukers are better to play with than warrior i guess and also better at pvp (if same level ofc).

A.I. : What is your opinion on mall prices. Are they high for you? What you buy from mall?

Xiriu : Yes, they are very high for me, these xp cards was "the idea" on Acclaim business I guess they are earning a lot with them. I buy usually premium,deco,trigrams and xp cards.

A.I. : Tell me about yourself, Xiriu.

Xiriu : A good guy and humble which is always trying to find something new to make the world and our lifes better. That's why i decided to do engineering aswell.

A.I. : Now you play AION and little 9D ? In september what you will choose?

Xiriu : In september I will probably be so busy with university stuff that i will choose none... I don't know yet how hard or easy it will be in Italy.So I would rather to answer to this question later. But I can say that AION is much, much better than 9D.

A.I. : You was the Submaster of STORM RIDERS, how was it?

Xiriu : It was very nice. I had so much fun and i could learn so much been in SR. It was a very hard and sad decision for me to give up from it but I don't have so much time as I used to have, so I thought it would be better to SR have someone more active as a BM that's why I passed it.

A.I. : What would you share with the others leaders? What you think a leader has to have to lead a band?

Xiriu : First of all you need patience to deal with all the problems... A good leader should always look forward and think positive, even if the scenary sometimes don't look so good.

A.I. : Did you find any virtual love in 9D ? What do you belive about this concept?

Xiriu : Oh well, yes I did. I don't need to tell who I guess hehehee. I like to be realistic, in the beginning I always told her that we should decide our "future"after we meet on real life.

A.I. : What was your favourite moment with your band members?

Xiriu : For sure it was after SR lost nanchang fortress, so we went to fight in Hengzhou on Sunday and we won. I can't describe but I felt so much pride and happy.It tasted even better because in the morning some noobs(enemies) were flaming SR and tran was trying to answer, I told him to wait the HZ SvS and let noobs talk bullshit. So we showed them how good we can be.

A.I. : What do you share in common with them?

Xiriu : First we are all baldies hehehe(joke). Well i think mostly SR people consists on good and well intentioned people. As some people say we built a family together, not only a bunch of virtual friends.

A.I. : When you think the game stops and the real life beginn?

Xiriu : Well first i think we need to dedicate our time to make our "real life" good as we would like to. Then if you still have some spare time then you can go have fun in game. As everyone always say "real life comes first"...

A.I. : From your experience, what would you share with the others players?

Xiriu : Whatever happend or happens in your life always be honest. Sometimes seems that honest people are always behind but trust me the honest path brings more happiness in the end. So that's it for now!

A.I. Thanks for your time and patience.

Xiriu screens :

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxcPHN0

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxcPUfJ

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxcQ8dA

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxcQfI0

Heroine story

A.I. . : Since when you play 9D?

Heroine: 2007, summer.

A.I. : What you like at this game?

Heroine : The graphics, the game story, animation.

A.I. : How many characters , roles you played till now?

Heroine : Very different characters over 10, I played all the roles, less healer. I had only a healer but low level. In particular hybrid and nuker, I played more.

A.I. : 9Dragons forum is a place where you can tell freely your view?

Heroine : You can tell only if the view is good, but if it is bad, the moderators will find an excuse, sometimes ridiculous, not listed in the Rules of Conduct just to close or delete your topic. Moderators of the forum should be changed to some adults who know what responsibilities are.

A.I. : What considers that must be changed in the game?

Heroine : In the game ... should equal the balance in PvP.

A.I. : How are you in real life, what you do, what thoughts you have?

Heroine : I am like any human, I have responsibilities, not staying all day without doing nothing. I don't have a job yet because I am a student, but I hope once I graduate, I will not be like other "no-lifers" who spend 50 + hours per week in front of computer.

A.I. : In the game you meet many players, so how do you see the community? What do you think they have in common?

Heroine : In my opinion they are 2-3 ways for players. "High greedy rich people" and "friendly persons, which are trying to help the community" .The Community has 1 thing in common: they are disappointed by events and the way Acclaim doing the 'things', which makes them crazy, like Asura server rollback for example.

A.I. : What do you think of GM's?

Heroine : GM's ... are people busy, so they say, rarely a GM enter the game, such as for example _Ravenclaw_ did : add mobs on maps and make some events for community. But ... one thing I do not like at GM's : they don't punish much the bug abusers, nuker spot abusers and macro users. They should enter a lot in game, because people called "VGM" are volunteers and they can only report players. VGM's are not very active also, so 9Dragons should be visited every day by a GM, or even once every 2 days.

A.I. : What do you think of Games Managers?

Heroine : From the 2 games managers (TheHistorian and BluFlash), I think BluFlash don't do anything, just announce shameless promotions on weekends and he TheHistorian .... is too busy with other games, eg. 2moons, Dance! Online, and the rest of Acclaim Games.

A.I. : How you characterize your main character?

Heroine : The main character is the one that I play offen, not the higher level, and I would say, I like to help the community with advices, help with dungeons, gold, items, and my character is very loyal to my league.

A.I. : What do you think 9Dragons has the best ?

Heroine : Dungeons (love graphics in Tower Beast), many bosses, but most importantly the community.

A.I. : If you were for one day Historian what you would do for 9Dragons?

Heroine :I would monitor 9Dragons with invisible mode, spammers, nuker spot exploiters. I would permanently ban the characters and IP (Internet Protocol).I would organize events, to please the community, for those of low level, not just for higher levels. Everything just to make happy the community.

A.I. : Do you play something else besides 9D?

Heroine : FPS(First Person Shooters), in general.

A.I. : Finally, share some personal thoughts with us.

Heroine :Think twice before making a mistake , threating a friend or scamming. Also think wise , because you never know what can you lose. Be nice to the community and try to help as much as you can.

Think twice before making a mistake , threating a friend or scamming. Also think wise , because you never know what can you lose.

Be nice to the community, try to help as much as you can , and the most important : "BluFlash sucks" =D

Heroine ss :

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gx36Bqr

YOINK, acid storm, part 2

A.I. : Tell something about the real person behind Yoink.

Yoink : Not much is know about the real person . I keep my seperate lives seperate : work, home, play nowadays, a child is often diagnosed with such disorders as ADHD. When i was growing up, i was just referred to as naughty. My life as such, has often been a struggle to fit in and learn to live under societies rules.A bright mind without direction is a terrible thing .

A.I. : Do you belive in virtual love?

Yoink : I believe in virtual love, it kinda reminds me of waaaay back when letters were the rule of the day and the automobile was not a commonplace thing people "corresponded" to get to know each other. They knew each other from an indistinct picture, maybe even a drawing and more often than not you can say things in a letter, that you may struggle to put into words face to face, so we are seeing amongst the virtuals communities, true love stories in a world of divorce and single parents, where people have come to love the personality, not the face. When you fall for someone this way, possibly find your soulmate , the picture may come second because you get to see what is inside a person.

A.I. : What about the boys who plays woman characters and vice-versa?

Yoink : I've yet to decide about some of them for some it seems a simple matter of personal gratification. They would rather look at the back of a woman , than a man.Others, take it a little furthur, for fun or potentially, they are confused in a world where genders are often blurred mmoland is a perfect place to live out those fantasies.

A.I. Talking about love and characters my mind made some connection on a story. So, what you think about 9Dragons story? The line of the narration suits the game content?

Yoink : I love the game, I love the story, as do many others it will forever be seen by me, as I move on soon, with a deep sadness for what Acclaim has done with their version.

A.I. : The return of TheHermit will change something?

Yoink : The game holds so much potential. I hope so. I've seen a real change in attitudes, but is it too late, a month before the big killer "AION" is unleashed upon us.Everywhere I go, communities are discussing their plans for it.

A.I. : You was on at the last webinar? The problems debated there were resolve ? You think webinar has a good feed-back?

Yoink : Nothing happened. We talked and talked, and I don't think they listened. It was important that they publish the webinar, for all to hear and people need to hear the community managers passing the buck onto Indy21.

A.I. : Why do you think they didn't published it?

Yoink : Because if it turns out, that it is Acclaims decisions with this version, and not Indy21 all along. Then we have discovered the real killer behind 9D Acclaim. We have yet to hear, from the horses mouth, Indy21's version of events.

A.I. : Now you play AION and littel 9D ? In september what you will choose?

Yoink : In september I choose AION and 9Dragons will remain on the back shelf until I am fully committed to AION. I miss the community, but after returning for this last month before AION release, I realised that it is just grind grind, grind with the current unbalanced pvp end game, I am not grinding for a purpose anymore.

A.I. : You see any difference in the community of those two games?

Yoink : It's too early to say, but the AION community has been growing for 2 years now, even before anyone could play the game the content is there, to keep us all happy and content for a long time yetour only waiting game, is to see how the community managers handle any issues that arise over balance, etc.

A.I. : In 9Dragons community how you think you are seen by others?

Yoink : By my friends......a man of his word who can be trusted with anything. By my enemies...a grudging respect, they know not to underestimate my commitment to a cause.

A.I. : You are in charge for SR external relation. How did you find the others hero leagues BM's and leaders?

Yoink : On the whole, fine I have been able to deal with most leaders. But now and then, I will come up against someone with the same stubborn resolve as myself.

A.I. : What was the hardest task?

Yoink : The leader of NP is my hardest task: trying to persuade him to work with people and not just his own alliance.This has even caused problems within his alliance. As some members have seen the wisdom in my proposals, he does not like being told what to think, or do and he sees my suggestions as orders.

A.I. : What advices would you give to a new leader?

Yoink : Do not take up the position, unless you have the time to devote to your members even if this cuts short your own game time. When a reasonable request comes your way, drop what you're doing and help out a leader leads by example, whether they like it or not. If your band/guild begins to displease you, then it's something "YOU" are doing wrong, not your band/guild and above everything else, whenever your decision affects someone else ask yourself the question"how would i feel on the other side of this". I live my life by this rule.

A.I. : As the last question, how you see 9Dragons future?

Yoink : I dare not think of it's future, because many friends remain there and I don't want to think of their dissapointment. If 9D has a future, it's how Acclaim chooses to fulfil this.

A.I. : Thank you for your time.

Yoink ' special collage :

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gx1Ukuw0

YOINK, acid storm, part 1

A.I. : Say something about your 9Dragons history.

Yoink : I came to 9D from Silkroad Online. After 2 years of playing there, I came to realise they were only in it for the money and didn't care at all about their western audience.

A.I. : Being so long in 9D you are a member of PAB. What is your opinion on PAB?

Yoink : I initially refused the offer as I was suspicious of Acclaim already by this point. Their motives seemed to be cash, cash, cash, much like SRO and a total ignorance of what their community was screaming at them, but we had the "big patch" coming , 2nd role and I decided I had to play a part in shaping this. Unfortunately, our advice on PAB is largely ignored. The only ideas I have seen taken up, are those that can be implemented into item mall, the extra bag for example, is item mall, but we asked for a storage expansion at the same time to cope with 2 characters on 1 account and stop the need for the "storage character". We tested the ad-bar and told Acclaim that it would drive many veterans, and new players from the game, but our advice was ignored. We were even used as scapegoats at one point. A GM revealed on forum that we players shouldn't be complaining about ad-bar , as it had been tested by PAB. All of this should not detract from the work warda tries to do. She has been a gift to Acclaim and the community, much misused by Acclaim unfortunately. So... really, from the start PAB didn't do what we asked of it, which was to bring together the staff and veterans willing to spend their time to help advance the game, instead we found ourselves in another "waiting room" for Acclaim.

A.I. : Players call you "the fox", why? Your character reflects that?

Yoink : The "fox" is renowed in culture as a wily character. Always another trick up his sleeve. In game, I try to role play a little. The Shaolin are advisers to the Emperor as such, I try to play along this route. A lot of people will see the BvW element and stick with it, I like to think outside these contraints war is something we must strive to end . A lot of my decisions in game, and my actions, are those of a peacemaker.

A.I. : Talking about war, how you would characterise the war between blacks and whites in Bardo?

Yoink : Currently, it's fairly Black V White. There are times when the power balance sways back and forth, but on the whole, one side is never favoured too much. There have been times in the past, when black and white leagues have been allied in the bloody plains, but this caused too much confusion and many problems. As one of the peacemakers of Bardo, I decided it was best for everyone that we remove these agreements from BP and use them simply for issues such as boss camping and possibly SVS.

A.I. : You was the Submaster of STORM RIDERS, how did you feel ? Describe the experience.

Yoink : Immensely proud .Over the 2 years in the build up to the SR everyone knows today, owners of SVS for 11 months, we gathered together a loyal group of players under the core principals of shareing and caring and showing your enemy an equal respect.

A.I. : What do you think changed in 9Dragons when you started playing till now ?

Yoink : Acclaim seems to have no advance plan of where this game is headed. I was most impressed when I started, at the GM participation online, the communication on forums.It was something new to me, having come from SRO where we lived in a GM free wasteland and topics of criticism were routinely locked and deleted without word. Unfortunately, this seems to be the common downfall of mmo's. Acclaim to me, are showing signs of SRO.

A.I. : Speaking about the management of Acclaim for 9Dragons, how you found the official team?

Yoink : I don't think they take our welfare seriously enough.

A.I. : What about the forum? You was an active poster. Why you quited to post?

Yoink : I no longer wish to give my time to help Acclaim. Everytime they promise to take us seriously, and instigate communication, they let us down.

A.I. : How would you describe the moderator team on forum?

Yoink : haphazard. As a forum moderator myself, on non-9D forums, my locking and deleting power is only exercised after repeat warnings. I would much rather clean up posts, issue warnings, and keep people in line, locking and deleting without warning only serves to fan the "flames". The mod's team has an agenda, one set by Acclaim and that is to remove all mention to criticism of the running of the game, however justified it is.

A.I. : How old do you think they are? Has the age something to do with the way they act?

Yoink : They are taking on volunteers far too young I feel. I am even surprised at the 'childlike' attitude of BluFlash sometimes. Maturity is an ongoing process, and at almost 32 years of age myself, I find some of their attitudes and reactions very childish, but at the same time, I am reminded of myself not so long ago. I don not however, believe maturity is an age related thing. To ban people under a certain age is to deny natural talent.

A.I. : Seems you are not a big fan of BluFlash.Any reasons?

Yoink : BluFlash was taken at random, from some prize draw, totally unrelated to the 9Dragons product. He is a puppet and nothing more in my eyes. Above the GM team, we have the "suits", in every line of work we have these people, they take a big wage and do very little real work, making decisions based on purely profit driven motives often at the detriment of all other factors, it's these men BluFlash takes his orders from.