We wanted do a post about officers and guild leaders and moderators to explain more about ourselves. What we do, have done, and plan on doing. Also this is a way to make it less weird when a leader comes into mumble and smack talks during a game of black light. We want you to know we are approachable vs directing everyone and keeping too much distance. I think you all would agree.
We need to make it clear we are here to have fun too. We do take on more responsibility but we don't want to have that "boss" "worker" mentality. We want it to be open, free flowing, and comfortable. We don't want to throw people off when we are goofing around or the like. It is important for us and for the community. So here ya go, a word from your ...sponsors?
Hello all, I am Tristan.
I have been an avid gamer since my father first got the Atari way back when. He always wanted me to play games so he had someone to play with and at first I was not interested at all, but then we went to arcades and Beast Master(LEVELLLL UPPPP) and TMNT(Donatello of course) were released... yeah I was hooked. When I got my first Nintendo I was pretty much glued to the screen when I visited my dad. Actually helped with the divorced parents, go visit dad jitters. Then Sega Channel was announced and I thought I was in heaven when my parents both said, Oh wow that is cool, of course you can have that. Mind you I spent 3 days figuring out how to sell it to them so they would say yes, and I didn't even have to argue for it haha. Then it was all downhill after I got my first PC which was an Apple. I played the Diablo and Warcraft games on 14k. It was amazing! Me and my neighbors would run all speed hacks just to play at normal speed. But all my friends had PC's and I was sad, because I kinda missed the Doom and Wolfenstein games. We tried "bootcamp" back then and yeah that never worked but it was fun times to spend with my dad trying to get it to work. It was OUR things to do. Mostly as I got older he was the guy who helped me clean the viruses off my PC because I was really bad at all of that.
So majority of the time gaming to me meant going to my friends house down the block, eating all their food, and sitting in the room kicking ass. Consoles were my life. Other than when the brother of my other best friend Chris would come in and say "Let's go spy on the neighbors", and of course I would go outside over games cause I enjoyed it better and secretly thought I was a spy.
Well my first PC machine was right at the time Ultima Online came out. And I will never forget having dual isdn and logging in saying "Hi are you real" to the first person and them sayin, YES! I was hooked to MMO's from that point on. Shit this is where I learned that school sucked and gaming worlds were better. I would day dream of the music, what I was gonna do when I got home, and I would rage quit hard when I died in that game. I was the only one in Social Studies that knew what a Scimitar was because of UO. I also was a pure newb for about 2 years. After that, I learned to fend for myself and I turned into a PvP addict. If it wasn't multiplayer I didn't want to play it. So much so that my Dad started to regret getting me into gaming so much because he no longer had the upper hand. Haha.
So why am I telling you this?
I want you to know ME as a person,(hyper, passionate, super excitable, talks a lot, invasive, sarcastic, and other dating site adjectives) not only as the "Admin" or "Guild Leader". It is and always has been important that AltTabMe be a place where everyone can come and get away from their everyday lives and be themselves. That applies to myself and all the other mods and officers as well. We are here because we love gaming and don't mind the extra responsibility required to help things progress, expand, and get organized to play with one another.
I do freelance directing and photography as my career. I worked for Blizzard as a cinematic artist directing in game cinematics for 4 and a half years. Before that I directed theatre and acted. I love being in crowds, talking, being open, sharing, and helping to pull out the potential of those around me. It is VERY important that everyone here understands that all the officers, mods, and myself as admin are not here to dictate, nor are we here to have that "distanced" relationship that often comes with "being in charge". We put ourselves on the ground floor everyday. This is often contradictory to any leading strategy out there(and those I have had to use in all aspects of my jobs), but through transparency, honesty, and passion for the community and gaming, we have found it works great! We don't believe that you should NOT message your Guild Leader with issues and go to an officer or peer instead. We all treat each other as equals and therefore make decisions together.
Our personalities are all very different with the tying bond of passion for games and this community. There is a great equalization that comes with that, so our choices are often diverse and fitting to the whole, not just individual needs. We also understand individual needs and attend to those when brought to our attention.
That being said, I asked all the Mods/Officers and myself to write out something about ourselves so when we are playing games, posting on AltTabMe, or in mumble, that when you see us heckling in a game of Blacklight, or watch us ask a million questions in a game we never played, or personally see me: High energy, talking like a 3 year old child who NEEDS you to see the cool thing "Mom Mom Mom Ma Ma Ma Mommy mommy!!", you don't get thrown.
We put in a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure it all works and feels right for those who are members and those who are just enjoying AltTabMe. As well we make sure WE are having fun too.
AltTabMe is much more than just a community, it is our home, and has been since it was first created under the name of "popelimited", "Arcanix", "alttab.me", etc etc, for the old schoolers still with us. We innovate and evolve everyday. We "outlast release dates" because we are not afraid to say, "This game actually sucks" after a hype train has left the station. We always have each other, which I believe means a whole lot. We value relationships over big title games. So don't get too caught up on the "idea of a game" when you can look at the present and get caught up in the beautiful and exciting personalities all around.
So with that said, I hope you understand more about myself and the others, how we are part of the community as much as you, and we will never treat you all like subordinates, but friends and family. Let's hear from the others now:
Jeezaloo. I'm terrible at these things.
I'm Gyoin. You'll see my face plastered all over the site in gif form. You'll see me on the podcasts. You'll see me perusing the site and hanging in the chat box whenever I'm at a computer and not in game. But this isn't as much about my interactions of the site, but more about me.
I've been gaming since I got my hands on my sister's NES as early as 2. And by 3, it was MY NES. Playing Mario, Zelda, Megaman, Tiny Toons, hell even little mermaid at my grandmothers house since my cousin really liked it (and I could beat it). Then I evolved into the SNES and my Gameboy. Link to the Past, to this day, is the best zelda game ever made. I'm also a pokemon fanboy. I've played every generation to death. Traded and battled with my buddies. Zombies at my Neighbors? THAT was a horror game in my mind. Then, I was trying to get my hands on a N64, but my father convinced me I wanted a PS1. Fuck he was right. I was then introduced to FF7. This game changed how I looked at gaming. It wasn't just about beating a game, it was about getting lost in the game. Emotionally connecting with the story.
Then my world came to another passing. I started to learn how to play games on a computer. My sisters boyfriend at the time showed me EverQuest. Told me it was like playing a huge world, but with other people. I was hooked. Only thing was, I knew shit. I just playing around, said hi to everyone I saw, but never made any connections. The world felt pretty alone for me. But I was a kid. So I played. Eventually my computer crapped out since it wasn't built for the stuff. Then my buddy showed me EverQuest Online Adventures for PS2. Man. That game was terrible, but I had fun. Why? I had my buddy to play with. This is where I really learned the magic of MMO's. FFXI for the PS2 as well. We started to play that, but my internet restrictions made it hard. I had to go to his house to play. He only played when I came over. Then we got our third buddy to play too. It was a blast! That was my intro into LAN parties.
A bit after, I started to hang out at my local LAN center. Met a lot of my gaming buddies there, both as patrons and workers. I started playing WoW with a lot of people there. My circle of 3 became a circle of 15. We were playing a lot of CS:Source, Smash Bros, Far Cry, Unreal Tournament, and of course WoW. After a while, my buddy was like "Hey, you're raiding in WoW now? Why don't you come play with our guild, Arcanix".
This is when I met my internet family. Everyone that I still talk to was a part of Arcanix. This is where I met Tristan, Rux, and a good chunk of other friends. I swear, if it wasn't for this family, I would have stopped MMO's years ago. Even after Arcanix split, we all kept in touch one way or another. Once a year would get together and see everyone. This is what we try to create here at TAB. A place that you want to be a part of. You want to grow. You want to build upon.
You'll see that pretty little title under my name. Moderator. Officer. But the important one? Member. I'm no more special than anyone else on the site. I'm just here to do my share in making this place as comfortable and enjoyable for everyone who bears the tag [TAB]. Just like I did in my days of Arcanix. That feeling I had for years back then, I have recreated here. I want everyone to know that feeling. It's the only reason I do this.
You'll see guides, templates, spreadsheets, and every other mechanical and logical showing of formulated thought processes in every possible way. And why? I'm a fucking accountant. Financial Analyst. Currently specializing in procurement. My mind works in that special kind of way that requires logic to prevail, no matter the situation. If I don't get it down on paper, I'll either A. Forget it, or B. replay it in my head over and over and over and over until I put it down on paper. That's when I know something is important, it ends up in one of my many notes or guides. I formulate and create, speculate and adjust. That is how my mind works and will always work.
Oh yeah, I currently live with Caroline ( Gabrinarra ) my wonderful girlfriend of 6+ years. She can comment about her life as she wants out, I won't tell the world her details
. She deals with all of my gaming in stride. Sometimes she has to pull me away from my computer because I can't seem to stop working on something. She knows I'm a hard worker and no matter what it is I put my mind to, I put in my 110%. Most of the time it's a blessing, but also a curse. I do tend to over work, but it's just not in my nature to do things half assed. My father would give me a boot up my ass whenever I got lazy, telling me "A real man always gives 100%, or he's not a man". And after a decade of having that boot up my ass, it clicked.Hi, my name is Mike, or ThatOneGuy, or T1G. I go by any of these as you like.
Lets start with my AltTabMe life.
I found this site while looking for a guild for Guild Wars 2. I knew from past experience that the right guild can make or break the enjoyment of a MMO. I was lucky enough to see the first podcast Tristan and crew put out on the gw2guru website when it came out. They had a recruitment blurb at the end so I came over and made and account to start lurking. I have always been a big forum whore and loved the activity on the site. What was better, was that the atmosphere and goals of the people here were perfectly aligned with what I wanted. I even found a clone of myself in Gyoin (or vice versa. Science cant even tell). I actually thought that might hurt my chances since who would be stupid enough to have 2 of us around? Well it turns out these guys. I spent about 2 hrs making an app that was full of info and attitude, hoping for the best. Then nothing for about 3 days lol. They finally accepted me (HA! I fooled them) and we all started getting whipped into a frenzy for GW2.
Once the beta started I was really active, playing with everyone, being part of all the community events like the 50 char vid, and just being generally active. Me and Bruce became kindred spirits and by chance (or great minds thinking alike) we made rangers. While the first few hours of launch sucked balls and all the nicely set up groups we planned fell apart we had a blast. All through the days of leveling and playing the guild was everything I expected and more. Our leaders: Tr1age, Gyoin, Zakis, and Corvus Rex were great at making content for us where the game lacked. Jumping puzzle races, Hide and Seek, WvW days, etc.
Becoming an officer and mod.
Eventually I fooled them enough that they thought it would be a good idea to ask me to be a guild officer. Lol fools
I gladly accepted and had lots of fun helping where I could. Unfortunately, the GW2 hype was slowing down. We were all still playing, but with no endgame we were really looking for things to do that hadn't been done.At the same time the site was more active than ever and Tristan asked if any of the officers would like to help out with mod duties on the forums. I figure that was a perfect fit for me since I was on here daily and very active. A few of us became mods and it turned out to be a great transition, because we managed to have a really great blend of voices and different, but not clashing, opinions. We may disagree on things but we all have a great chemistry that lets us come together to make the right (I think) decisions for the site.
Not too long after that GW2 lost most of the guildies interests, although there are still people who play and we support them. The guild for GW2 Arcanix [ARX] is still live and since GW2 has no subscription it is super easy to jump back on from time to time. We all worked hard to keep the site alive since we knew all too well that most MMO forums are dependent on the game it was built for. Tristan and Kbamz made some INCREDIBLE improvements to the site, with war missions, achievements, and revamping the look. Jia ran resistance games, and Tristan ran the zombie rp forum game. We have managed to keep the site lively and started migrating to other games so we could spend time with the friends we have made here. Games like borderlands 2, rift, and blacklight retribution are examples we are playing right now. F2P days where we all get together on mumble are the types of things that are helping us live up to the motto "The community that outlasts release dates"
Looking forward.
We all want a game that we can play together, and really we are centered around MMO style for this. Wildstar looks like a great fit for us. Most of us are excited for the game and I am especially pumped for it. As of right now I am not committing to an Officer role in the game because of the fact that I will be working full time and going to school full time in the fall. If one of these things were not true I would be an Officer in a heart beat. As it is I will be playing with you all and I will be a big presence helping and organizing things as I can. You don't have to be an officer to help run events or come up with your own. I really hope to be able to run some of the hardcore content for the more casual players. Things like once a week 20 man raids or off schedule pvp runs. If it turns out that I can commit in an official capacity I'll be asking if there is room in the officer ranks in game. If not, then I will happily be playing with all of you.
On the site I will be continuing to be a Moderator. Work really doesn't interfere with my forum time LOL. No matter how many of us end up playing Wildstar this site will be the forefront of the community. We have worked hard and will continue to do so to keep things going strong on the site no matter what game(s) we are playing.
The great thing about being a mod on the site or even an officer in the guilds we run is that we do almost all the work up front. We make our application process a bit of a hoop to jump through. We present our motto and attitude all over the site. We create the atmosphere we want to be in so that like minded people gravitate toward us and the others filter away. What this means is we officers and mods have a little upkeep and damage control to do from time to time, but the lions share of our efforts is being part of the community. We love to play and hang out and interact with all of you, veterans to newbies. I for one welcome anyone coming around asking questions, hanging out, playing games and just generally building friendships. Sure there are times I have to be the mod and make sure things are going right for the site, but mostly its about building friendships. I already have friendships from this guild that will outlast any involvement I have with this site or any games we play together. I hope to make more too.
OK enough about site stuff here is the stuff about me.
I am one of the old men of the site. I am turning 40 in December, but I totally don't feel it. I work as a mechanic for US Airways fixing commercial jets. I work on the inside of the plane fixing everything that the customer sees. If your reading light or recline don't work its my fault. I have a long time girlfriend that lives with me named Therese. We have both been married before and they both didn't work out so we are in a good place right now as a committed (but not married) couple. I have no kids of my own, but she had a 13 year old that she (we) share custody of.
Short gaming history.
I am so old that I was around before consoles and PCs came on the scene. Technically my first game ever was a dungeon crawl that I typed into a computer my dad brought home from work. It had 8kb of hard drive space. A few years later we got an Atari 2600 and it was over for me then. I was playing the original doom when it came out and was into FPS games in the quake era over lans that we set up in friends living rooms. I never got hooked on one type of game until I found World of Warcraft. I was around for Everquest, but never tried it. WoW sucked me in and I played it for 8 years. I hit some highs with that game, clearing all raid content even getting a legendary. I even managed to be #1 in the world dps on a tank and spank fight in WotLK for a week. I found that I love MMO's and that is my preferred game style. You will see me dip my toes into other mulch-players around here sometimes cause I want to play with others, but I rarely stick with a game that isn't MMO.
My other interests are many and varried.
I sculpt, work with electronics, build and paint minis, edit and build papercraft, read tons of books, watch tons of movies and tv, and many other things I can't think of right now. A friend of mine said he sees me doing something different every three days. My M.O. is that I get really hot and heavy into something for about 6 months where I research the hell out of it then go out and buy lots of equipment and parts to do the thing. Then I play around and make stuff for a bit and once I feel I got a grasp on it I go on to the next. Right now rattling around in my head is the idea for a board game/computer game, possibly cross platform, building a voltron cosplay suit, and a few books I want to write. Oh and there is some cool woodworking and blacksmithing I would love to learn to do.
I stated I was going to school in the fall. You all may or may not know that US Airways and American Airlines is merging into the new American Airlines. My job looks pretty secure, but to make doubly sure I am going to school to get some certificates. Airframe and Powerplant to be precise. This is an 18 month course so I will be very busy the next 2 years.
Anyway that is me.
T1G
My name is Jon aka Zakis and I like long walks on the beach, gaming until the sun comes up and handcuff...err nevermind.
How did I come to be on AltTabMe? Well Tr1age is techincally family and I have been around on one level or another for all the previous incarnations of his AltTabMe vision. Thats right there were a few previous...beta projects you could call them...before the time was right, and the right people were around to make the site what it is becoming today.
Our community also needed the right game. While our gameplay was short but sweet in Guild Wars 2, it made us realize that our community is more important than the specific game or medium in which we meet to play, talk and start general shenanigans in. Things like player-made events in game kept us playing far longer than the standard content in the game, and these unique events are what let us get to know new members and hang out with some of the veteran members as well. This is why we are first and foremost a community and not just a guild/clan/mob/riot in x/y/z game. Our friendships and thus our community outlasts release dates!
Looking forward to a game that a majority of our community will play for a long time. This hopefully looks to be in the form of Wildstar. I look forward as a member to experiencing every facet of gameplay available in Wildstar for the foreseeable future. As an Officer I look forward to organizing events for not just Wildstar but anything else we may wish to play on off nights in the future.
Gaming - I have been primarily a PC gamer since I first started gaming. Up until WoW, I played mostly RTS and FPS games. I love the Command and Conquer Series as well as old school Starcraft. I also used to compete in ladders such as TWL, PG and CAL playing FPSes. I played everything from Counter-Strike back at like patch 1.3 where Steam was this unbridled monstrosity that did more harm than good, to the ORIGINAL Call of Duty and Battlefield 1942. I could list a plethora of other shooters but Ill list my two favorite ever: Deus Ex and Half-Life.
Me - First and foremost is my job, which takes up a lot of extra time due to the schedule and understaffing. I go to jail every
I am looking forward to finally doing some cosplay in the form of Star Wars and joining the esteemed 501st Legion. Probably going to put together some form of Imperial Officer outfit as my first go, but we will see.
Not really much besides that, other than I should be finally closing on my own condo soon. This means my own slice of home and....no money+bills= lots of nights at home gaming.
In closing...
...we want to say, we are here of our own accord to make sure everyone is having fun, playing nice, and being respectful. But even more important is that YOU all realize that YOU have control over things as well. We are super supportive of those who choose to use the resources we have here to host events, contribute to the community and games, and overall take the step out of their comfort zones to really MAKE SHIT HAPPEN. We say "Handle Yo Shit" a lot. That means so many things, but most importantly, it means, don't wait for a Mod/Officer or myself to make an event for things you want to do with the community. Form them yourselves, continue them if we are only on for 2 hours and you want 3, and overall have fun in the mix, not in the corner, and we will give you the backup you need EVERY time.
We understand there are many personalities on here but we want to try our best to bring out the parts in you that help to keep this community up and running as a well oiled machine, that doesn't need some special "title" to make it all run. So use the Event creator we have, the forums we have created, and ask if you need something to get it all going. We will always back for good ideas, crazy ideas, and fun events. Be a part of this great community that is AltTabMe.
Thanks for listening, and see you all RIGHT HERE!
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