Character name: Zechariah Character class and level: Ranger/80 Real life occupation: Senior Information Assurance Engineer (I don’t know what that is either)

How did you get started gaming? The first gaming system I ever touched was an Intellivision (Pitfall, Astrosmash, Advanced D&D ftw!). I kind of resent the fact that everybody loved the Atari while Intellivision was the better system (kind of like EQ2 versus…you know…that other game). Then my dad brought home an old Apple 2E plus. I played the heck out of karataka and Oregon Trail. Then I skipped the whole Nintendo era and jumped right into Super NES (finished Doom without the save game feature) and stayed up to date since then. My best friend got me an all-in-one EQ1 package and that was the first MMO I ever played. Switching to EQ2 has been the only switch I ever made.

What’s your favourite part of EQII, the thing that keeps you in game? Aside from all the expansion packs that are designed to do just that, I would have to say my real life friends and all the friends I made online. My guild, Spellbound, always seems to have something going on. The Pub raiding community is by far the most mature and fair group of men and women I’ve ever played with. Some of them are from Denmark but I don’t hold it against them. J We’re celebrating our 2nd birthday on January 10th.

What is your funniest EQII moment? That’s gotta be a two way tie. I was playing with Ugom and Arboria in Thundering Steppes killing skeles. We got a bunch of adds and they ran away, but I stay put. They both died and the creatures started to run back in my direction. I went invis so they wouldn’t see me on their way back (if it only worked that way). Arboria started to laugh at me (we were all in the same room at his house). But what happened was they broke leash and ran right on by me. I rubbed his face in it thoroughly. The other time was when I was with The Pub doing a racing event while we were quite tanked irl (it is The Pub after all). This one rube, Debillus, killed himself so he would spawn on the other side of the map thus giving him an advantage. I asked him in Vent, “Did you just kill yourself?” He said, “Yes.” I then said, “Man, you get really depressed when you drink.” A good time was had by all.

Any words of wisdom for fellow gamers? Be fair, nice and protect your rep. Geek credentials? I was once a featured player on an MMO website. Something about you that people wouldn’t usually guess? I killed a guy in Reno. I can dance to Tejano music. (Kiara says: Johnny Cash references for the win!)