1. What do you do in relation to LOTR-O?

I'm a content designer for the game. My primary focus is quest mechanics.

2. What was the first MMORPG you ever played?

It was probably TinyMud. I encountered it in college, and it was great to experience this grand online world and collectively create our own little universe. And now I get paid for it! :)

3. What about MMORPGs do you enjoy?

As a player, I like the sense of being surrounded by other players, though, truth be told, I'm not a super-social player. For me, it's the chance encounters that make the game.

As a designer, it's the challenge of creating a seemingly endless stream of adventures, but having to make it feel like it's all part of the same world, and that each piece flows naturally into the next. Creating a game this large that feels like a game, and not just "a pile of features and experiences" is an intense, ongoing challenge.

4. Do you enjoy playing online games or working on them more?

I enjoy working on them more, probably in large part because I get to flex more of the creativity I experienced in early MUD's as a developer than I do as a player. These days, I mainly play online games to keep up on the competition, and to refresh my internal "knowledge base" of good and not-so-good MMO design ideas.

5. What made you decide to work in the gaming genre?

I went to school to learn filmmaking, but when I graduated I felt like I didn't have quite enough experience (or the thick skin) needed to make it in Hollywood. I always played computer games, and had even designed and programmed a couple as a kid, so when an opportunity to join a game company came along, I jumped. I've been pleased to discover that the prinicples of crafting good movies are extremely applicable to games.

6. How did you get your first break into the gaming field?

I answered a want-ad! I was in Connecticut, just finished with college and with a couple years on my hands before my then-girlfriend graduated.

As luck would have it, a game studio was opening a half-hour away (Impressions Software, eventually a division of Sierra On-Line, eventually R.I.P.). I interviewed around graduation and had the job a week later.

I started as a combination office-manager/QA tester/marketing and sales support/documentation editor/assistant to the president, but eventually settled into a producer/designer position. It was an irreplaceable learning experience.

7. What's the best part of the LOTR-O effort for you?

Working with this team. It's a large group of extremely talented, good-hearted people. Best team I've ever worked with.

8. What's the most difficult part of the LOTR-O effort for you?

Answering the ongoing question of "What is Tolkien Enough?" We have to revisit it time and again, from the broadest vision statement to the coloring of a single chicken. There's intense pressure on us to do justice to Middle-earth, and on communicating what that entails throughout the team.

9. What's the hardest part, in your opinion, for balancing the Tolkien lore against the idea of what is good for gameplay?

In an odd way, this isn't the hardest part. In practice, gameplay MUST win, always. You can't make an MMP that isn't fun just because "that's what Middle-earth is like." The challenge then is determine the best way to interpret and present MMO gameplay that makes sense for Middle-earth.

Hence "Glorfindel's Cloning Terminals." I'm kidding.

10. What aspect of LOTR-O do you think makes it different from all the other games on the market?

An emphasis on story. While the Asheron's Call titles worked hard to let players take part in an ongoing story -- and The Matrix Online appears to be taking that ball and running with it -- the idea of centering a Lord of the Rings MMO on storytelling is a no-brainer. I think we've found ways to "tell tales of Middle-earth" that will surprise and excite people.

11. What previous experiences do you feel influence your contribution to LOTR-O and how?

I think my filmmaking background has been a great help. I was taught that making movies is, at its heart, about establishing and manipulating a relationship with the audience. Taking that stance makes you look at everything you do in terms of how it will affect the viewer.

With games, the relationship is truly interactive, and building and developing that relationship is just as vital. So everything from "is there too much dialogue here?" to "is that monster too hard to defeat?"

to "do characters take too long to turn around?" gets viewed through that filter.

That, plus everything I learned while involved in the Asheron's Call franchise, have been the biggest influences on my work here.

12. In your opinion, does game content or player run content contribute more to feelings of "immersion" in the gaming world? (i.e. what the developers design for players to do, or what players invent for themselves to do) .

The best player-run content is more creative and inspired than just about anything we can do as developers... but it more often seems to involve people running around in their (virtual) underwear. :)

I think player-run content is important, and cool, and tends to emerge within any game, but I don't think one should rely on it to make your game successful, or fun for everyone. Players aren't obligated to create an entertaining experience for everyone in their world... but we are.

13. How old were you the first time you read anything by Tolkien?

Probably around 13. I read The Hobbit.

14. How many times have your read The Hobbit and The LOTR books?

Probably three or four times each.

15. What's your favorite thing about Tolkien's works?

I love the depth and richness of them. The same asides and references that I glossed over on first reading them, now (after reading the books again, and poring through the Altas, and pushing my way through The Silmarillion) glint with visions of other times and distant realms.

16. Describe a "normal day at the office" for you.

It changes so often! Right now, it involves debugging and polishing one corner of the game world. So I come in, check up on email, look at my bug queues, kick open the tools and get to work. During the day I'll likely get sucked into a content planning session in some meeting room somewhere, or come up with a idea to kick around with the lead designer.

And I end up making a lot of bizarre jokes that either make people laugh, or make them wince. (On a good day, both.) There's a lot of laughing, all around.

17. How many working and non-working computers do you have at home?

One working PC desktop, one working laptop. Probably a 386 laptop gathering dust in the basement.

18. If you plan on playing LOTR-O, which race will your first character be? Why?

I haven't decided yet. Can I be Sauron?

19. If you plan on playing the game, what will be the first thing you want to do with your character?

Look around, and see how people are enjoying my handiwork!

20. What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you in an online game?

Probably getting "portalled to teth" far, far about the landscape of Dereth in Asheron's Call. Going down!