Grouchy Gnome Is…
Here is my official “I admit it, I am indeed Van Hemlock’s mother” post. I didn’t want to admit it at first to avoid any preconceptions that went along with being his mother, but I figure at this point I’ve built up enough “blogger street cred” to finally let the world know who I am.
Yeah, I know I’m not his mom. Andrew from Mining for Fish was the first one to get it right. I am Ryan Shwayder, sometimes known as Blackguard. I’m the Community Relations Manager for Sony Online Entertainment’s EverQuest II. I’m now a Game Designer/Community Relations Manager at 38 Studios.
Why did I originally not say who I was? For the reasons I mentioned in the first paragraph, minus the Van Hemlock’s mom statements. The position that I hold is still not clearly defined within the game industry, and there are often misconceptions about what the position does because, well, nobody really knows what a Community Relations Manager is.
What does it mean for my team? Even I can hardly answer that. It means I’m one of the leads on EQII, and I do a variety of different things. My responsibilities range in variety from designer to producer, from public relations to customer service. My overall function is to serve as a public face for the game and to improve both the game and its community. While some Community Manager positions simply mean “Forum Customer Service,” here at SOE it’s a position that holds at least a few other important responsibilities.
I decided to hold off saying who I was until after I worked up both the courage and the “blogger street cred” I mentioned previously. If you’ve read all of my development and commentary blogs, you know pretty much where I stand on an assortment of subjects, and that I’m not just some random guy whose sole purpose is damage control and who isn’t really a spin doctor like some claim.
I’m a gamer who likes to talk design and actually gets to do some of that (though admittedly, almost all the nitty-gritty development is performed by our wonderful dev team, and the only time I’ve really gotten into that level of design was when I was an Apprentice Designer, which was pre-Manager for me). I might say I’m in one of those positions that I used to dream about: I do get to discuss overall design concepts and influence decisions, but I don’t actually have to implement them; we leave that to the smart people.
Shouldn’t a grouchy gnome be a dwarf?
“blogger street cred”
o_O
bloggers have credibility?
What is the going exchange rate for blogging street cred for Lindens nowadays?
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 0ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo0oooooooooo! another enemy is born. sniff.
“These postings are mine alone, have not been reviewed or approved by
Sony Online Entertainment (“SOE”), and do not necessarily express the views of SOE.
All contents of this site are Copyright ? 2005-2006 by Ryan Shwayder. All rights reserve”
HEHE.
I was already an enemy, krones, you just didn’t know it yet. You should be happy that I’m no longer an enemy disguised as a friend! P.S. Thanks for breaking the page with that really long nooooooo. I’ll have to figure out how to fix that.
I’m good at griefing!
Hmm…maybe she’s posting as Aggro Me then…
Nice to meet you Ryan, and a bold move. Even though I really am a nobody, I still guard my name like a Precious Thing. Hope the blog doesn’t get plowed under with EQII folks looking for a dev-hotline now :/
Yeah – that will be a shame. Still, nice to know the man behind the mask.
I’d rather be Van Hemlocks mother.
Blaspheme! *I* am Van Hemlock’s Mom.
[...] Grouchy Gnome, over on Nerfbat, is EQII Community Relations Manager Blackguard. [...]
Unfortunately, I think there will be a lot of posts from people looking for a mainline. WHich is unfortunate because I just now discovered this blog and find it incredibly insightful. Before this blog gets run over, I have one suggestion for you Gnome… Post like this on the forums. people need long winded and we all like to hear whatever viewpoints are available from the insider viwepoint.
This is a surprise. Your style here is *much* different from on the official forums. And, the answer to “does anyone care who I am?” would have to be a yes.
No, I’m not admitting who I really am. Like anyone would care about me :p .
Love the blog honey. Nice to see a different side of you.
Hi Ryan, I’ve wanted to send you an apology for something I said in the eq2 forums but couldn’t cause I was banned. No attempts to derail you, just wanted to say I’m sorry about bashing youin a pm. Great blog. Look forward to reading more. And tell Raijinn I apologize to him too, even if he won’t know who it’s from.
D.O.
Doh! While I respect you “coming out of the dev closet” and all, I hope that your writings don’t get diminished by the Eye of SoEran or the gibbering hordes of scary MMO players who don’t quite get what it’s like working on games.
If all else fails, create WhiffleBall, a site by Dour Dwarf.
[...] Nerfbat’s Grouchy Gnome has confirmed that he is one of the SOE nazgul: Ryan Shwayder, aka Blackguard, Community Relations Manager for EQII. Sorry Blackguard, you can’t join my Warcraft guild. [...]
My gut said Blackguard but I just didn’t know, I only really know your update posts and your Avatar. When I think of a Gnome and your EQ2 forums Avatar I convinced myself you couldnt be. Funny how the mind works. As always love the read’s.
Oh and you should Copy right “blogger street cred” before I do. That is just to funny not to be Coined.
I never really paid much attention to Grouchy Gnome. Heck I paid more attention to Quylein’s blog! But knowing who you are I would read your blog more carefully.
This is more shocking to me than when I finally realized that Faarwolf was someone I’d known online for years…before realizing she was Faarwolf. Now I have to reconcile that GG and BG are one and the same as well? *stabs self in the head*
So the gnome comes out of the shadows.
As others have already said, I hope that it doesn’t have a negitive effect on the blog or your work standing. I look forward to more good posts and comments from you.
The world knowing who I am shouldn’t affect how I post here. I posted before under the assumption that some people knew who I was already.
Does… does this mean I should try to punt *you*? I mean, that’s what I was planning to do with Grouchy Gnome… Might be some physical problems with that, first being your non-gnomeness in stature (understatement of the day).
So when you going to post something new? SLACKER!!
I’m slow. I have an article planned for this week though that should be pretty hot.
I have played city of heroes for 2 years now. I have 2 accounts and am enraged at the nerfs I have had to endure over the coarse of my play. I have hand leveled 7 level 50′s and would gladly join a class action lawsuit along with other players against cryptic studios for nerfing/gimping/weakening my avitars beyond any level of interest.
I am not alone in my utter disjust, the coh forums are ripe with over 5,000 post all complaining that the nerfs were uneeded, unwelcomed, and should be reversed with an apology to the playerbase.
As my first mmo experiance, I often left work, my girlfriend, and any other friends to play this game. I even quit my job so I could play city of heroes. Sounds lame, I know. I wanted to be somebody powerful, and I was very attached to my avitars, I feel used, lied to, and stolen from.
I have an unhealthy loathing for Jack Emmeret and his money hungry game. I feel that cryptic studios HAD a great game they intentionaly weakened just under the EULA and timed to the death of the playerbase with the birth of Marvels mmo due from cryptic.
How many all nighters have I pulled to level an avitar? To many. How many times have I played until the servers force me off? To many to be proud of. How hard have I worked, sacrificed, and generaly suffered for to grind my avitars to level 50 only to see them nerfed? Enough to swear mmo’s off for life.
Although city of heroes is a teen rated game, ultimately someone with a job must support the account(s). I lost so much to the game only to be nerfed, repeatedly. I would voice my opinion only to be heckled away with comments like “you should just close your account and leave”, “get off my server”, “no one cares, just leave” from players and I suspect many undercover gms. Sounds very much like harrasment, dictatorship, abuse, and deception on the part of the developers to lure players to a game that will crush the skills of any avitar that seems overpowered. Developers should never weaken/nerf what they created, marketed and “sold” to players as a bag of attributes in the name of balance or anything else. That’s deception, and in the end fraud.
I sincerely hope a class action lawsuit against cryptic studios is launched. Players need a voice, and respect. Currently we have neither.
Regards,
Mike
michaelscipione@hotmail.com
Actually Ryan you need to refrain from representing Sony Online Entertainment anymore. Your blog needs to be edited so there’s no misunderstanding that you no longer work for SOE.
That’s out of left field… Did you realize that this post was made on April 10th, 2006, and is documented as such?
Thank you