User:Yendor/DP

Q1. For those who have never had the opportunity to interact with you before can you share a little about yourself, what you enjoy about ATITD as well as how long you have been playing?

My main page gives a summary of my activities in the different tellings, but in brief, I joined ATITD 44 days before the end of Tale 2, and was able to pass 5 architecture tests before the end. I played all of Tale 3, and became a DP and led the Architecture Monument. I took a long break, and returned as soon as I learned that Pluribus had bought the game from Teppy. What I enjoy most about ATITD is the extraordinary wide variety of systems - for example safari is utterly different from pathmaker design which has nothing in common with festivals, ...

Q2. How you like T7 so far, it's better or worst than previous Tales. Which Tale was your favorite?

I like T7 overall. I was never a fan of the level system, so I'm glad Pluribus has de-emphasized it this time around. I also like the idea of having a wider variety of tests to choose from, but frankly after seeing some of the old ones I can see why Teppy got rid of them. I did enjoy Telling 2 better. It had a great community -- I think in part due to players still figuring out game mechanics and actively experimenting with things, but also there was no level system or principles at all, which meant tests could be ignored by players entirely. Some of the nicest people I knew spent all their time boozing and smoking hooka with no regard to any of the tests -- and many of them left in Telling 3 when that was no longer possible. I do hope that Pluribus is able to maintain interest in the game - I don't think the game can survive another long period of stagnation such as T6.

Q3. If the general consensus of the rest of the DPs were that that person should not be banned, but you felt strongly that they should, what would you do?

I have a lot of respect for our current DPs, so I would need to consider things carefully if most of them thought I was over-reacting to a situation. Am I personally involved, and need to recuse myself for a neutral third-party? Why do I think the event was ban-worthy? Why do they think it was not? Would a slightly more severe situation cause them to think it was ban-worthy? Would a not-quite-as-bad situation cause me to think it was not? Ultimately, if I remain convinced after deliberation that someone deserves a ban, I would ban them.

Q4. Many activities in Egypt are PvP oriented/ highly competetive. Recently some issues have been discussed in ET regarding Test of Retired Pirates. Please explain how you approach these sorts of tests and if as a player you use any method to improve your outcome like having alts/mules voting in other rounds to enchance your pass chance. Do you push/campaign your guilds to vote for you and or forming test/rounds alliances or salt rounds with players that have allready passed.

YendorsSlave does not work to advance Yendor in test passing. As an example, the one time in T3 when she was in a preliminary DP round with Yendor, she immediately announced that she was abstaining from the vote. Similarly, she does not vote on Yendor's art & thought pieces. If an art/thought piece does not have enough votes to satisfy the principles requirement, I absolutely do ask guildies to vote on it, but there is no expectation of help other than "3 more votes needed." As far as Retired Pirates, forming ad-hoc coalitions is the entire nature of the test -- but I have not formed any long-term alliances or given any out-of-round favors in exchange for doubloons. Yendor does continue to participate in Retired Pirates rounds; this gives an advantage to active players (by getting more doubloons per round) over players who have stopped playing. I don't consider this to be unfair though.

Q5. How are you providing leadership in the game and amongst the player base?

I have been an elder of zFree since the end of T6. It's a very large guild (possibly the largest in Egypt). I've had a hand in most of zFree's projects -- including Zlopolis (the zFree mega), Zemples (47 reali ovens allowing zFree members to pass Funerary Temple), ZPhoenix (allowing zFree members to pass Seven Pheonix), and our not-so-secret throne group (1 group of 7 passes, with group 2 expected to get their second advance shortly). In addition, I founded ZAQ, the River Plains aqueduct guild (97 towers and 60+ passes so far). I was a member of RPMega (the first Megalopolis guild in the game) and was one of three promoted to elder once the original elders quit playing; after the promotion, I was active in bringing that project to completion. Hmmm, what else? I am an elder of the Festivals guild which is starting to gear up for the Test of Festivals, I am a moderator for Egypt Today and Egyptian Exchange, and a teller for The Goods.

Q6. What specifically have you done to further the growth of the community?

I am a member of The Hive which bills itself as uncensored chat but could better be described as an Egypt-wide chat channel that has occasional sexy talk. I gave an interview to Eimear's Daily Scarab. Honestly, I think many of the guilds I mentioned above, such as the microphones and The Goods, contribute to the community.

Q7. How do you feel about sometimes heavy use of macros in this game by many players? and If there was a choice would you support complete ban of macros in the Tale?

The game seems to be balanced around the use of macros. For example, the Tomb of Immortal requires 600 paint and was released prior to Mass Production of Color meaning paint was made 1 db at a time, for approximately 6000 clicks needed. Similarly, Flax Automation research required 70,000 db of Flax to unlock, Thone of The Pharoah requires a shockingly huge amount of charcoal, etc. I play on a Macintosh, so I can not use Automato, but I support people who do (as long as they follow the rules of being at the keyboard). I would want to see (1) a re-balance of requirements across the board and (2) clear, consistent and workable enforcement mechanism prior to removing the permission to use macros. If the only change made is "Oh, you can't use macros anymore" then some people would cheat and continue to use them, and other people would be forced to buy from the cheaters.

Q8. Spouselog allows access to ban powers. Do you know who have access to your spouse account?

Lukeera has been a DP, and I have no trust issues with her. I know at one time her real-life best friend had all of her passwords including for ATITD; Lukeera was not sure whether she still remembers them (and Lukeera's friend rarely/never plays ATITD so would have no reason to use Lukeera's spouse-logging ban powers).

Q9. Please describe what you consider to be "griefing" in the Tale.

The best example I have: GeoGuy from the start of the telling. He placed a ton of woodplanes in other people's camps, deliberately preventing them from expanding their compounds or playing the game normally. He had no reason to do this nor advantage in doing so other than malicious desire.

Q10. Easy question for start... Ninja or Pirate?

I like the water, so I will have to go with Pirate. Arrrrr! But I'm curious just how many questions you were going to ask if Question 10 is the "start".

Q11. Who would you vote for if you weren't running this time?

It's a tough choice. Smurf is building a new aqueduct tower to hit several herb seed growing spots, which is a great project to benefit Egypt. Robby has been involved in many of the same guilds I have been (in T3 as well) including The Goods which again is great for Egypt especially new players. I suppose I would go with Robby for no reason other than I know him better than Smurf.

Q12. Closing statement.

Thank you Egypt for placing me on the ballot. I encourage everyone to vote, even if I am not your preferred candidate. Cliched or not, it is an important decision.