Hello everyone and welcome to another interview! This interview with be with the third lead administrator - R3kT!
Thank you for accepting my offer. Could you please introduce yourself to us?
Well, anyone who is a member of our facebook group will know me as Aaron, i am 27 years old and reside in Western New York.
Tell us something about your nickname - R3kT
Well, i had a hard time deciding a name when i first started, i had chosen DoctorZoidberg, it is my name in many games, from my favorite TV show. But we already had a player here by that name, infact is now a staff member too! So after i changed my name a few times, Beliar, DethKnell, finally a friend of mine, Niggcode suggested i use his old name R3kT. So i gave it a shot, and the players liked it, shortly after I became a staff member, and by this time it was too late to find a new name, its what i am know by :)
Where do you work?
I do not mix my Real Life with Game Life, so the most i am willing to give you in response to this question is i am not in school, and i do indeed have a job.
What do you do in your free time?
I unfortunately dont have much spare time, im usually on web or in game, i try to balance my other game play as i do enjoy playing many games such as Assassins creed, ANNO, and as i hear Red Dead Redemption 2 will be coming to PC in November so i am very excited to try this game, but as i said, i like to find a balance between my gaming activities so i dont neglect my duties here so finding spare time is not always easy but i have a obligation to the staff and players here to find that time
What is your favorite Assassins Creed game and why?
Well, i recently built my new PC, i am using a RTX 2080Ti, so the first game i played when i got my PC running was Odyssey, and by far it is my most favorite, i will begin playing Origins in the coming weeks. However odyssey is just an immense map, the story missions alone will only cover a small portion of this HUGE world, and every place you go is just beautiful, However over time you will notice some laziness by the developers where shortcuts were taken, such as certain forts will look very similar, and some side quests can be extremely predictable, But by far, the best looking AC game i have played.
Where do you see yourself for example in 5 years? Do you have any dreams that you want to accomplish?
not really.
Do you listen to music? If you do, then what kind of music do you listen to? Do you have a favorite song or a band?
i enjoy a bit of everything, im not a big fan of rap, i do like boondox, ICP, but usually listin to punk rock, emo, metal, like, Dethklok, Simple plan, all american rejects, Rancid, the clash, i grew up around hippies so classic rock is a biggie, such as aerosmith, and led zeppelin, but if we are being honest most of my music tends to be a bit slower and up beat, like counting crows, rascal flatts, owl city, life house, i usually play the game without any audio and just have some tunes on, it really helps to focus on whatever task is at hand if you are feeling calmed and relaxed, happy players, happy admins :)
This is really interesting. What about travelling? Do you like to travel??
i do not, it is usually way out of my comfort zone, When i was a child i traveled allot with my family, i have been to all eastern US states, including California and Arizona, Plus Canada and mexico, it was fun as a child, but once you become an adult, other things take priority, and i dont enjoy driving outside of my area, the most traveling i do these days is from bayside to richman. i once went to Ohio for a Convention, This was for the game i worked for before .cz at the time i was 16? maybe, and i had rode with a player from canada, we went to mansfield ohio and visited the prison from the movie Shaw Shank Redemption, i have to admit i was pretty nervous about it, meeting people from a videogame in real life, but it turned out to be a pretty fun time and i still keep in contact with a bunch of these people, we even had a couple users get married in the game, and got to meet them at the convention as well.
Have you got a favorite movie?
not really, i really enjoy any disaster movie or science fiction, like The Martian, Gravity, Interstellar, Volcano, Dantes Peak, 2012, Space Cowboys, armageddon, Deep Impact, Core, i could probably list movies all day, i do have an extensive collection.
Alright, lets get into GTA. When did you start playing GTA?
Well, back in 2015 i was replaying Vice City and i installed a few mods, i seen it had multiplayer and played it for a while, at the time i had 56k dialup, naturally the server i had been playing on for a week banned me, So i thought, i bet San Andreas has multiplayer, and sure enough it did, i tried out a server that had Allot of people on it, and it was not even the actual game world, it was all custom made, and i had no clue what was going on, plus i had the 56k. So i checked the server list again and seen both Free Roam EN server 2 and server 3. i think server 2 had over 100 players at the time and i figured my connection would be a issue, So i joined the server 3 that had less players, so around March of 2015 i had discovered Server 3, English speaking, open world, and no one was banning me because of my bad connection, and i i could always go to areas with less people to avoid lags.
What did you like on WTLS?
i like to fly, thats mostly all i do these days, or host a event, When im busy doing things i tend to just sit in picturesque locations and type ;D or i will ride on random peoples car's, never know what interesting things may unfold infront of you. i mostly just like to create a fun environment for everyone, if i see ammunation is busy ill change the interior, add some cows, and just hang out with players, if i see someone else ruining the fun for others with a hunter, i will go and take down the hunter, any reason to fly my rustler, i like to surprise people, someone walking nowhere near vehicles, give the guy a ride to town on my airplane, i cant really say what i like on WTLS as i dont have any real Activities i enjoy besides just hanging out, so i guess what i like the most on WTLS is the atmosphere, the community, You guys sure can give me a headache sometimes, but its worth it in the end :)
Have you ever been a part of a clan?
In the game? no, never, years ago i played a game called Delta Force, i was a member of a clan back then, before i was even 14? but since then i have always played alone, if you can learn to play alone, you can be better at anything a group of people can do
Have you got a favorite heist/job or a mission?
Well, actually, i seldom do any type of jobs or missions, but i have been enjoying the survivals, I enjoy when no one joins, It can be a real challenge and you can really get into it.
How do you spend money on the server?
i do not, i did not become the richest by spending my money ;D, but i suppose when i do spend my money its for a comical reason, such as a player will auction 300m4, its not allot, but for some players they need that little extra cash, so i enjoy bidding just above the minimum, and really get a bidding war going, then just bid an absorbent amount of money for a rather small item, my weapons safe is already full, and im a hoarder of sorts, so i buy weapons at ammunition now, not that i ever really use them, i usually end up killing my self some how ;D but other then those two things, i already have everything i could ever want, so i dont really buy anything anymore, back in the old days i was into making deals with cars and houses, buying low, selling high, increasing the value with more days, or changing the color of a car to make it look better. a very many hours were spent at the roulette and poker tables
Do you remember your starts on WTLS? When you met new people and stuff...
Oh there is not much i can remember from whay back when, i do remember having horrible connection problems, and Theseus was such a nice guy, letting me play despite the fact i would bounce all over the place, one day i had downloaded a whole graphical enhancement for the game, and the game kept kicking me out, so i asked theseus if i was being detected for any cheats, and sure enough i was, and he was such a relaxed guy he did not even kick me out or ask me to remove my mod, because i think he knew i would just remove it, as there was no way to play without removing it,
Is there anything that you would like to change on WTLS?
And, if there was anything i would change, it would be the option to change the location of HUD items, i have always had a problem following the chat, its allot to read, real fast, between reports, private messages, admins, helpers, it can be ALLOT to read, especialy when we have over 150 players on, i always thought that the chatbot on the bottom of the screen would be helpful, But i dont think there is anything niCe can do for this as its a physical part of the game. I know allot of staff turn off their PM's but i have never done this, it would help allot with focusing on chat but then i would miss allot of opportunities to help players. However, there is one thing that i wouldnt mind seeing a serious change in, PROPERTIES, remember when players would all sit around the properties and have huge wars for a chance to buy it? people would buy hunters one after another, people playing cop, others throwing mines, It was really fun when properties had more value to them.
How many maps have you already built? Have you got any maps that you want to recommend to us?
Well i just counted 43 i have listed infront of me, i know there are about 20 more here on web someplace Plus a couple variations of the same maps. And i have a new map on server 3, its a little like Black Mesa, if you ever played that game
No. Never :D
so basically you have 2 military bases in a desert rock lanscape, you have 3 different paths to choose from, going up and down thru the cave systems and into the underlying structure of the map, It can be very confusing, even to me, so it can be a real challenge to players, because you really have no sense of direction at all and a enemy can pop around the corner at any point. And many of my maps have multiple uses, TDM maps and DM maps all double as survival maps, even race maps can be used as a DM, if i make the map big and fancy enough, visually appealing, it can be used for anything ;D i dont really play my own events, its a bit unfair, i give any TDM team a huge advantage, i can win any race, so i just dont take part, but thats why i build the maps so nice, so its just a nice location to be in, you dont need to participate to enjoy your self
You said that you are friends with Theseus. Tell us something about him,
LOL oh the stories i could tell you, but lets try to keep this PG13 LOL, One day mike and me had been on i think Skype, but he had to leave the game and run some chores in town, He didnt want to just leave me, so he took me along for the ride, putting his phone on his dash as he drove around his town picking things up, i would watch his car for him while he was gone to make sure no one would steal it ;D
Well. Like all the lead admins i interviewed, you are a one as well.. What about your journey to this position? Tell us something about it!
It was actually pretty fast, i have past experience doing work like this, and i do enjoy it, i became a helper in September of 2015, 3 months later i was a moderator, 3 months after this i was a administrator, it took me 6 months to become a admin! i use to joke with theseus that i was here for his job ;D 2 years later i became a lead admin, it was never really high on my priority list, neither is being a manager, Even as a admin i did the extra work, tried to make sure we were all on the right track, as any senior admin would say, they do get a certain amount of respect, same as us lead admins, we are all here to help eachother, so the Lead Administrator is just a tag really, niCe appreciated the hard work me, mano, sepp, blade do, and this was one of the few ways he can show us that he appreciates our hard work, and we appreciate that he appreciates our work :)
What do you think about the other lead administrators?
Well, the power here is spread out pretty equally for each server, so we all have the resources available to us to get things done, Unfortunately that means we all usually stay on our respected servers and we dont get to see eachother much, But we always see eachother in passing, and we learn from eachother as well, Its like talking to niCe, allot of people see him as this big bad Boss figure, and its not like that at all, i can go to any one of our lead admins to correct them on something or ask advice about something, and they are just the most friendliest and understanding folks you ever met. i really enjoy knowing that i have other awesome staff like this around to make sure our other servers are working efficiently, and if we ever need time off i know s3 will be in good hands with for instance mano coming over to help out, i really enjoy when we are able to organize a staff photo or some event together that really brings all of us together for some fun
Do you have any WTLS stories that you Want to share with us?
No, not specifically, i just live day by day, things tend to blend together, im unsure if i could focus enough to remember a good story, BUT, let me ask my self a question, i know, its weird, but its one question you may not know to ask me - Why do i like cows so much?
Soooo,why do you like cows so much?
Truth be told, i seen seus playing around with cows one day, and its pretty much the only "animal" in samp so i adopted it as my "signature" in my maps, Even if you dont see a cow in the map, Believe me there is one hidden some place, But really, in the area i live, we have more cows then humans, and its wonderful, animals are simple to understand, either they lick you, or they bite you, and lets just take a look at a cow here, Isnt this just the cutest thing you have ever seen, SO fluffy i mean people think of cows as big dirty animals, same with pigs, they are actually incredibly CLEAN animals, they dont want to be dirty anymore then you or I.
Would you like to become a manager one day?
and i would, i mean, Why not? i was just thinking a few weeks ago about some admins that would make great lead admins, but that would only happen if i advanced, so really its more for the server then me, im happy where i am, but i cant always be here to make certain decisions
Okay R3kT. That will be all for this interview. It was amazing ! Would you like to say something to our readers?
moooooooooooooooooooo
moooooooooooooooooooo
moooooooooooooooooooo
moooooooooooooooooooo
m4l
Applause for your labor.