What's your character’s name and how did you come up with it?
My main character's name is Xiindra. Since there isn't a draenei language as well-known as elvish (like Quenya or Sindarin) I had to do some thinking. draenei come from space and they are humanoids with some animal treats. This can seem pretty far-fetched but it just popped into my head at the time - In Larry Niven's Tales of Known Space, there is an animal race known as Kzinti. Granted, they are furry and cat-like, but still, I wanted to name my character Kzin. However, that was already taken on Draenor, my then-home, so I altered the name to something that was not taken. Kzin, became Xin, which became Xiin, which became Xiindra. Clear logic, isn’t it? :)
My GW2 character's name was way easier. Being a mesmer with illusions the name Inwis, which is an acronym for “It is Not What It Seems”, appeared (pun intended) perfect. I really enjoy looking at opposing players attacking one of my clones. It is truly not always what it seems.
The name has also another meaning. Sylvari are tree-people and nature bound like elves. Inwis means “change of mood”, “moody”, “with an attitude” in Quenya.
How old are you?
Physically, I’m pretty old. I turned 58 in the beginning of november 2012. I have four children ages 17 – 29, three boys and a girl. In my mind I guess I’m still, like, “childish”?
Where do you live?
I live in a small town in northern Sweden. We have winter most of the time. There is a fair amount of ski slopes nearby, even in town next to the ice hockey arena. BTW, our team is in the top of the Elite Series :). The team is very popular with people here. At every year’s first training session on ice there can be several thousand spectators at the arena - lol.
Hemavan - Tärnaby is our county’s local ski resort, about 400 kms from where I live. Now and then I enjoy skiing in the alps, this year (it’s still 2012) in Cervinia in March. It was awesome! I’ve been snowboarding for some time (10 - 15 years?) but I think I’m beginning to get too lazy (or too much of a coward) now so last year I got myself a pair of all-mountain skis. They are so fun! It is interesting to feel that even at mediocre skill you can appreciate new ski technology.
We enjoy a rather short, intensive summer. As we are close to the Bay of Bothnia, and we also have a summer house by the sea, we spend some time in and on the water. However, last summer was mostly rain, rain, and rain, although we managed to repair an rebuild a roof on a small cabin between the showers.
What MMO do you play at the moment?
At this time I primarily play Wow. Second in line comes GW2, which is an awesome game in WvW.
I am not extremely fond of the grinding in Wow, which is worse than ever in MoP. I stay off it as much as I can without hampering my gearing progress. I think I was damaged by the Sons of Hodir.
What I do like are raids, overcoming a challenge together with some really nice people. Playing a priest has had its ups and downs, but in Cata and MoP it has been nice. I also must admit to having a changed view about the pandaren. After having played in the beta I was pretty sure that I would never level a panda. Well, now I have a pandaren monk...
So, primary WoW, casual GW2.
Any other games currently?
I play a little World of Tanks and Skyrim. I used to play Halo a lot, some CS, and COD. I did play Diablo III when it came out. I am sorry to say that I got bored with at some time during Hell Mode, doing things over and over again. Or was it just too hard? Or did I spend too much time at the AH?
For a period I really liked swtor, and I think that the personal storyline in swtor surpasses most other games. The sith and bounty hunter were quite nice, but the imperial agent story was undoubtedly the most exciting one. But was I really in control of myself all the time? Well, I have the Black Codex now so I can do pretty much what I want.
I might go back to the agent if the story continues and seems interesting.
What was your first computer game ever?
Since I began enjoying computers in 1972 or 1973, my first computer game would have been tic-tac-toe or something like that, suited for a Teletype 33 terminal. Actually, when I started my work career after university, as a geophysicist with Boliden Mineral AB in 1981, graphics terminals were not commonplace. We had a Tektronix 4014 vector terminal on which we could draw maps calculated from geophysical measurements, one page at a time, and with a special “erase” button that made you feel that perhaps it did fry your brains out. Not suited for gaming.
What was your first multiplayer online experience?
My first multiplayer on-line game may have been Quake. I think we (me, and a couple of work mates) played in the company offices in Dublin :)
What was your first MMO?
I guess my first real (massive) multiplayer experience was Wow. My older sons had already played it all the way from the first betas I and now my youngest son urged me to at least do the free trial. Well, I only needed one night to get addicted. I also still have the first b’day greeting I received from my son, in-game, saved in my first character’s bank. As I remember, I got 1G with it, and I was RICH :) That occasion was also my first use of an in-game mailbox.
What is your favorite snack while gaming?
While gaming, I like to have some candy but I think I mostly have salted peanuts. On occasion I like a nice glass of whisky, single malt. I will not decline a pale ale either.
When/How did you join Ginnunga?
I joined Ginnunga during the summer 2010. We were a small number of people from the guild Damnati who joined around the same time. I was actually on vacation and at some time I logged on Wow over the cellular network to find that my guild was no more, and some people had joined Ginnunga. Even if you did not have the need for a priest at that time I took a shot at it and it seems my application did the trick :)
There is a rather interesting story to “Ginnungagap” between the realms of Muspelheim and Nifelheim and the original chaos from which the world was eventually created. A cool guild name that did attract me.
Tell us your most memorable MMO moment?
I’ve had many memorable moments in Wow, most of them from boss kills, but there are also small moments that linger in my mind and pop up when such a question is asked. I remember very well my first mount, all of the guild joining me at the Exodar, chipping in to the elekk, as well as the first time I went through the black portal when most of the guild turned up and escorted me, all slowly walking through the gate. A new world opened, the remnants of Draneor to be explored.
At the dark portal.
An early-day’s guild meeting in the Mage Quarters of Stormwind..
Tell us something nobody in the guild knows about you.
That's a hard one since I disclosed so much in my application... Well, as kid I played the violin in a music school. Later at the university I played the flute in the brass band LuHrarne. Tbh, I tried to think of something more exotic, but I couldn’t think of anything.
We played EverQuest on the Mithaniel Marr server.
We played DAoC on the Kay server.
We played Lineage II on the Bartz server.
Bloodhoof was our PvE alternative to Stormreaver.
We played Aion on Perento.
We played on Karak-Hirn but later forced to move to Karak-Norn
High attendance raiding alternative to casual Nordrassil.
Rift was mostly PvE focused due to the design of the game.
