June 2007 Spotlight Interview

The spotlight interviews will focus on players and gamemasters of various textbased online roleplaying games such as PBEM games and IRC sims.

This month, our first, we have given Andy Longman, 27 years old from Bournemouth in the UK a chance to share his thoughts about a couple of questions.

Andy is a moderator for the PBEM game JMC Blue Dwarf (www.bluedwarf.co.uk) .

He apparently also has something of a reputation on Mallorca after getting an entire 18-30's holiday group banned from a bar.

Andy, how long have you been playing online PBEM games?
I've been playing for nearly seven years now. That's longer than most TV series last!

How did you start?
I have to be honest, I stumbled across the group. I was searching for any sites that could tell me about the then much anticipated Red Dwarf movie...which, kind of went down the pan I'm led to beleive! As I was searching I came across the group website and was instantly intrigued.

What was your first impression? Did you for example feel overwhelmed, excited or instantly hooked?
My first impression of the group was good, the stories were light-hearted and fun, noone took it too seriously, which made a newbie feel quite comfortable and this helped me feel confident about sending in my first post. I was hooked there and then, it was exciting to be able to share a pastime with similarly minded people, even if they were a bunch of freaks!

Do you still feel that way? If not, can you explain how your feelings changed, and why?
When I can find the time, I do indeed still feel this way. The enjoyment about creating something to share, and interact with others is phenomenal.

But as you get older and your life gets busier worrying about stuff like work, weddings and where the next beers coming from you don't quite get to devote as much of your time as you'd like. If I could, I'd quit work and sim for a living!

What is it you like about PBEM games?
I think the best thing about PBEM is that you can really express your creativity, but that you can also do it in your own time. If I want I can blast out a quick post before I go to work, maybe while I'm skiving in the middle of the day (you didn't hear me say that), I can type an unintelligible mess of nonsense when I come home drunk on a saturday night and thankfully click the wrong button so I never actually end up sending it, or I can get my head down and write a good, long, action packed post while the other half watches her girly rubbish on the TV!

Have you tried other types of games?
I tried an IRC game once, but found it hard as the guys were based overseas in a timezone six hours behind so I could never get online to join in at the time they played.
I also once tried a 'dice roll' type game. It wasn't for me, as I felt the dice roll idea, whilst ensuring fairness, had the side effect of stifling creativity a bit.

What do you like the most about simming, the least?
The people you meet, and being able to share your passion with others. I least like the fact that I can't get as involved as I used to. Oh, and losing players, for any reason always makes me sad. Particularly when they play a well-loved character.

What would you change to make simming better?
I'd convince everyone with the slightest interest in it to actually join in!

Who are your main characters?
My main character, who's been with me since the start is a shap named Commander Jay Chrysler. He used to be just another fighter pilot who's worked his way up the ranks to become head of the navigation and piloting department. He's a straightforward, no nonsense guy who always seems to get wound up in some kind of heroic nonsense, and loves winding up the cheif of medicine, and bitter, twisted individual who everyone loves to hate and who suffers a pathological hatred of things Chrysler...and everyone who isn't him. He's a wisecracking, reckless loose cannon kind of guy, with a heart of gold and a tendency to get very drunk, very regularly. He also owns a hot-rod starship that he built himself and is the love of his life. He met his current girlfriend when he assaulted her because she 'touched the paintwork'.

Second is Nurse Vanessa Chrysler, Jay's younger sister. She's been a character of mine for about four years in total but spent three of those dead. She works with the Cheif of Medicine and was recently ressurected from the dead by Jay's best friends genetically enhanced 3 year old son...

Lastly, Lieutenant Katrina Salter, a flight technician. Been playing with her for about a year now when I created her to become Jay's latest (in a long line) of love interests, taking the place of his dead wife.

Do you have any good stories you would like to share with us?
My favourite storyline, without trying to blow my own trumpet was one that I GM'd. Years back, the ship stumbled across a mirror universe and we met the polar opposites of the entire crew. One of these was the creatively named "Evil Jay", Chrysler's evil counterpart. We met him a few times after until he was eventually killed, his conciousness however survived amongst the hive mind of an alien race of whom he had become their leader. They managed to link Jay to the hive where evil Jay slowly took control. This led to him destroying several planets, including the Earth, and killing Jay's wife - the ships captain, until jay eventually re-took control. He was then hated by one and all, and wanted by what remained of the Earth's government, until Jay managed to travel back in time, hoping to stop the whole thing from ever happening, unfortunatley he was too late and only suceeded in saving the Earth.

I loved this plot as it enbaled me to explore a whole new side of the character, gradually showing his darker side bit by bit. Alienating himself from his friends. Then later getting to play the innocent man on the run, trying to correct a terrible mistake, while still injecting the usual humour of the game.

There are also some weird, funny, characters. We've got the afore mentioned Doctor, who hates everyone and everything except money. A  hallucination come to life, the big pink sentient tree who bounces around the ship rustling in a manner that noone but the medical crew can understand. We have a man who is literally the reincarnation of William Shakespeare, only now he's a surgeon living in the 22nd century but talking'st liketh the 15th century bard. Of course, we also can't forget the genetically enhanced clone of the dead, millionaire, 60,000 year old ex-cheif of security, who gains superpowers every thursday, exists in an infinite ten-year time loop, believes he is Satan when drunk, has a crippling phobia of Morris Dancers and Barney the Dinosaur and has two adult children..who are both really only three years old. He's also Jay's best friend, and has a midget clone of himself who is, in short, a complete sex pest.

It's not all fun and games though. The worst moment of the game without question has to be in the early days of Blue Dwarf when we lost a member, not through her getting bored and leaving, or through lack of time to play, but through her death in a car accident. Since then we have held an annual awards ceremony for the players of the game to reward their participation, in memory of DJ.

And our final question... as a GM/Moderator, what do you feel is important?
A GM has to find a good balance between being able to give direction in a plot, and having a hands-off enough approach to let the players be creative. We're lucky at Blue Dwarf in that we have three moderators/ GM's (including myself, and the group's founder) who between us, I feel, strike that balance just right, and we're each different enough to have varied ideas how to deal with things.

Thank you very much Andy for taking the time to answer our questions, and good luck with the amazing game you are involved in.