Top 10 - Q&A with Warhammer Alliance’s Super-Admin, Garthilk

Welcome to TheGreenskin’s first exclusive interview; a top 10 Q&A with Garthilk, the creator and super- administrator of WAR’s most popular fansite, Warhammer Alliance. Let’s get right to it!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself IRL?

I’m your typical MMO gamer with a day job. I work as an emergency room nurse in my local hospital and split the rest of my time between family and games. My schedule is usually pretty busy but I always manage to find time with my family and still squeeze in a few late night hours playing the latest game.

Do you tend to play healer/support classes in MMORPGs, or do you like to separate business from pleasure?

Yeah, I tend to gravitate towards careers that do help other players. I’m not sure if it’s related to my professional career, but it’s definately something I find myself playing often. In contrast however, I also tend to play less popular careers. Careers that are inherently less played due to either poor mechanics or lack of knowledge. I think everyone likes being a little more unique and I enjoy the extra adversity asociated with difficult to play careers.

More broadly, what is your MMORPG background (races, classes, likes, and dislikes)?

In terms of my MMORPG background, like a lot of gamers it started with text based MUDs like Gemstone. In the early 90’s games like Air Warrior captured my attention. When the graphical MMO’s like UO went beta I jumped in and really began to feel like these were more than just games. From UO it seems like a fast slide into EQ and subsequent MMOs.

As I said earlier I tend to gravitate towards less played races, careers. Coming from a background of text based MUDs, it was easy to differentiate yourself with flavor text. However in MMOs, with thousands of other players that becomes more difficult. I think that’s why I have a preference for more challenging less popular careers.

What originally piqued your interest in WAR and why did you create Warhammer Alliance?

Ever since DAoC, I have been a fan of Mythic. I enjoyed myself tremendously in that game and made a lot of friends. Of course I was eventually tempted onto greener pastures but that didn’t stop me from keeping their news in my peripheral. When Mythic announced their sci-fi MMO, Imperator, I launched a fansite for the game. Things seemed to be going well right up to the sudden end for the game. I was disappointed to say the least.

It was around this time that I had begun hanging around the Unofficial Warhammer Online forums. The game had been officially canceled more than a year before, but people on the forum had their hope renewed when at E3 Mythic announced they would be working with Games Workshop on a new Warhammer Online game. I was a fan of the game ever since the very early 90’s when I had a Troll King army of my own. I hopped onto the Unofficial Warhammer Online forums and started posting.

Unfortunately, the folks running the forums had some difficulties with hosting and management of the site. Things were going south with that community so I offered to help out. Warhammer Alliance was born out of those difficulties. At the time I had a plan on how to help manage and grow the community, but it was only with the help of dedicated volunteers and passionate players that it has grown into the most successful Warhammer: Age of Reckoning fansite in existence.

How challenging is it, running such a popular MMORPG community site?

It’s very challenging. Extremely. It’s also some of the most fun I think you can have. There’s something about interacting with players who are passionate about games. There’s a shared bond that I think makes fansites so enjoyable. Interacting with players, having fun, sharing experiences.

The best part is the volunteers who help run Warhammer Alliance. We’ve got some extremely die hard fans helping to run the site. People that are honestly interested in bringing cool things to the community. They’ve got varied backgrounds, different interests, different experiences, but they’re all the backbone of the site. Without them Warhammer Alliance wouldn’t be the success that it is today.

Can you name three WAR features that excite you the most?

RvR, RvR, and RvR. Seriously, I’m looking forward to the Capital City sieges. The battlegrounds and even the instanced scenarios. There’s something about RvR combat that gets the blow flowing, the heart pumping. Something that makes you say, “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit”, as you barely defeat an opponent in combat. Whatever it is, I love it

If you could add one feature to WAR, what would it be and why?

If I could add one feature to WAR it would definately be some type of mechanic that encouraged grouping. For myself, I think that solo games are fun, but I’ve always played MMOs in order to play with other people. I think mechanics that encourage grouping also encourage players to form bonds with other players. I’d argue that strong bonds to the game world and to other players in that game world also create strong player retention and subscription retention. But that’s just me.

Given that we’re still in beta, is there anything you dislike about WAR?

Definitely. I dislike the fact that it’s not out yet. I’m so ready for this game I cannot wait.

Do you think WAR will appeal to female gamers any more or any less than, say, World of Warcraft?

Honestly, I have no clue. I’m not sure if it’s a topic I’ve ever cared about really. Also, I’m one of the millions of other people whom have never played WoW. Not ever. If I had to answer, I would say yes though. I personally don’t think that female gamers are really all that different from their male counterparts. At the base level, the experiences, the challenge and the time they invest is equal to their male counterparts. In that regard, I think WAR offers a more challenging and a more rewarding game experience than past MMOs. So I imagine that WAR will be more appealing to all gamers, male or female.

Why should people visit Warhammer Alliance?

Because we’re the best. Seriously. We’ve got the best posters, the best volunteers and some of the best players in the community at Warhammer Alliance. There’s a lot of fantastic WAR sites out there, but ours is the best.

Thanks to Garthilk for being such a good sport!

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