Interview with Morteia (September 2011)

JeuxOnLine : Hello Morteia, thank you for grating us this interview to introduce yourself to the french speaking community, explain your role in relation to this community and to share your opinion on The Secret World game.

First off, could you introduce yourself to our readers?

Morteia : Of course! My name is Amber “Morteia” Skinner, and I'm the new Community Manager for The Secret World. I'm an avid video gamer, and love to play pretty much every genre of game there is! I'll give any game a try to see if I like it, but I won't lie, I seem to be more partial to the RPG side of gaming than the FPS side of gaming. I've been playing MMOs for about 6 years now, and have dabbled in pretty much any MMO you can think of – even a couple of MUDs before the big names started making MMOs. I've been an active member of several game communities, including Age of Conan and Anarchy Online. I'm extremely excited to be a part of this community!

What has been your career path so far and what is your actual job about?

Before I worked for Funcom, I had a multitude of jobs ranging from pizza cook to front desk receptionist. I was job-hunting, and learned through Funcom's website that they had an office in North Carolina. I applied for their customer service representative job, and was interviewed and hired! I worked for Funcom for about 1.5 years before the job opening came out for the community management position. Once again, I applied, and was interviewed multiple times. I was offered the job, and took it immediately! I definitely couldn't ask for a better company to work for – the people here are all very cool and have great sense of humor. Honestly, I look forward to going into work each day!
Being a Community Manager requires you to almost be a jack of all trades. You're responsible for making sure that the community is happy, as well as being the go-to person for the community if they are unhappy with something. I am the community's voice when it comes to speaking to the developers about something that you really like, or something that you totally hate. I am also responsible for running contests, updating our social networks, social networking on my own accounts for the game, and connecting with the community through multiple different platforms. I coordinate community events, and formulate ways to keep the community engaged and excited! I must also be available to answer interviews, attend meetings about the development of the game, attend any conventions that they wish me to go to, and just generally be there whenever I'm needed! It's definitely a demanding job, but it is worth it for the awesome fans and the exhilarating experiences!

More precisely, what has been your first task when beginning this job?

My first official day was August 15th and I was actually on my way to Germany for Gamescom! So, I would have to say my first task after accepting this job was going to Gamescom and meeting all of our fans over in Germany! It was definitely intimidating, as I had never been to a convention on such a large-scale. I have been to a few smaller (5000 people at the most) conventions, and they were nothing compared to Gamescom! We had a very large booth where we were running demos every 30 minutes for the fans. Oliver (Tarib) and Johannes (Waldgeist) were presenting while we ran through an instance for the crowd. In between demos I would go outside and mingle with our fans, and talk with people who were taking the personality test on the computers. It was a fantastic first foray into the role of Community Management and it went by way too fast!

Could you describe us a typical working day for the TSW CM Morteia?

Well, the first thing I do once I get into the office is get a cup of coffee! I have a laptop that I use so that I can work from home or at the office, so I'll boot that up once I'm settled at my desk. Then I'll hop on the internet and check my Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter for any updates or mentions, as well as any new correspondence from anyone I may have emailed the day before! After checking everything, I try to respond back to my messages, mentions, etc before I move onto the forums. I am usually lurking on the forums all day, watching and making sure that people are behaving, as well as reading the threads and gathering information about what our community is saying. I may not be very vocal right now, but I do read what the community types! I hope you guys know that I am paying attention, even if it does not seem that way 100% of the time. :)
After all of the first duties of the day, I'll sit down with Famine, and we will figure out our game plan, and which community projects we will work on that day. We can have several projects running at any time, so those projects either need to be maintained, or new ones need to be developed! We also spend time planning convention activities if we know we are going to be attending any conventions.

Have you tested TSW and, if so, what are your impressions?

I have gotten to test different areas and see bits and pieces of the game. At Gamescom, I must have run the demo over...60 times? I believe the last count that we had was 64 times total, but who keeps track? I definitely know the Polaris instance very well after Gamescom. I must say that even though I had to run that demo over and over, I loved every minute of it. The graphics are beautiful and the environments are truly breathtaking once you see them. The combat is very smooth and animations are incredibly fluid! Even the skill wheel is beautifully crafted and, on top of that, easy to learn and control! Our players can create the characters they want to play, instead of being forced into predetermined roles. It's truly exciting to be able to offer such freedom to our players and give such a unique experience to each person that plays The Secret World!
I’m also having a ton of fun playing the ongoing beta as well as internal builds! It’s absolutely incredible to see the amount of content coming into the game, and seeing just how the game is developing from day to day.

What are your impressions on the TSW community?

As I've said, I do spend a lot more time on the forums now that I am truly involved in the community. This time is generally spent reading the current threads, and gathering opinions about the game, and how it is evolving. When I have finished reading the new threads, I will go back and read old threads. This is because I am a little late to the game, and I want to catch up and be on the same level as the rest of the community.
That said, I honestly love this community. I feel that you guys are well-spoken, thoughtful individuals who have just as much invested in this game as I do. I have read many of your posts, and apart from the obvious trolling attempts or the one-liners, the vast majority of you are very good at expressing your opinions in a constructive manner. This is invaluable to me as I am the liaison between you and the developers! In particular, my favorite thread right now is “The 'Draw Your Character' thread!"! You guys are so creative with how you style your characters!
I also had the chance to meet several of our community members at community parties at Gamescom and at PAX Prime! At Gamescom we all met at a restaurant near the convention and had a traditional German feast, complete with roast pig shanks! At PAX, we had a secret party where we served blue, red, and green drinks (for the Illuminati, the Templar, and the Dragon), had a Developer Q&A. I got to meet our community members face-to-face and speak with them about all of the fun things TSW has in store. You guys are truly fun people to hang out with, and I can't wait to meet more of you!

@image(43674?muet&centre&400)

The Secret World had a quite unique approach of the public offering ARGs and The Secret War social game. What do you think of theses? What are their strengths and weaknesses according to you?

I think the ARGs create a unique chance for our MMO to branch into the real-world. The Secret World is set in the modern world and all of the events, technology, and places are modern day. This gives us the opportunity to bring our game into the real world and ask the question “Is it really all true?” We get to blur the line between The Secret World and the real world. It's pretty fascinating! I will say that the ARGs are more time consuming to plan, but you could also say that the planning is part of the fun.

Anything else to say to the French speaking TSW community?

All members of the community are encouraged to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ if they would like the most up-to-date announcements about The Secret World. You should also “Like” The Secret World on Facebook so that you can see any updates on that front as well! It's been a pleasure talking with you, and I'm looking forward to speaking with your community members!