Subject: GC
Interview by Jeff Walters
______________________________________
Question - As most people know you have recently taken over the job as chief webmaster of VOTJ. How are you finding the job?
I am finding it challenging to say the very least. Sometimes a pain in the ass, sometimes enjoyable. My style is a little different from Swoosh's.
Question -I've heard rumours that the Black Sun Empire is about to move to VOTJ. Is this true? And how much of an extra bonus do you think it will be for VOTJ to host a site this popular?
Its very true, the contract was drawn up before I became a webmaster but moving in has meant a few problems.
It will, BSE and VOTJ already work together almost full time, while at the same time keeping true to the JK community. I find Annex to be an interesting guy
Question - This has to be a big coup for VOTJ. I suspect every JK site out there would like to host BSE.
Probably does, as I said VOTJ and BSE have been working together on IRC, for example, for a while. So I think that was the extra edge.
Question -Since JED's release we've seen a slew of multiplayer maps, but almost no single-player ones. Do you think this trend will continue?
Probably, since this is a multiplayer game after players complete the game a few times they get easily bored of single player. More enjoyable to blast away your rival on 50 new levels, than blast away an AI stormtrooper, but I would like to see some good single player ones for training purposes
Question - A lot of the big JK project groups have grand ambitions of huge epic level projects. Do you think these big projects will last?
Maybe, I have seen some strange things since the new generation of LucasArts games came out. I have even looked at some of the projects, very nice concepts.
Question - Many of them have stalled their projects to await MotS release. From the screenshots MotS looks brilliant - do you think it will win us some people back from Quake 2?
Maybe, Quake and Jediknight are very different games. Quake is that New Age, Generation X, nuke everyone front and back and listen to Metallica while you do it. Jediknight has more honorable setting to it....such as just having saber battles.
Question - Swoosh's work at VOTJ has been terrific - do you think he'll stay involved with VOTJ in the future?
I honestly have no idea, he left for personal reasons. Personally I am a little mad at people flaming him for leaving since I have been in his shoes.
Yeah, some people forget that all the work he has done, he has done for free.
And the average user is very demanding, like an average customer. I have recieved everything from accusations to threat in my e-mail. Even had one guy tell me he was going to get the other JK sites to rise up against me like some Roman slave movie.
Ouch :( It's people acting like that that shut down the best Dark Forces site ever - Ackbar's Main Frame.
I regard these users as pathetic, what many people don't understand about having a position - is that you're still a person. You make mistakes, you get angry and you can get hurt. Sure even world leaders have to deal with that.
Question - A number of the key editing people in JK have begun to drift off towards working on Quake 2. Do you think JK has the staying power to last out against this kind of competition?
Jediknight is in a depression at the moment but thats probably the best time. Since thats when you can get work and future projects going before a rush of new players.
Question - You've been doing almost all of the updating since you took over at VOTJ - are you still loooking for extra hands to help out with the site?
Yes, but mostly everyone wants a webmaster position, and even then they are on maybe a few minutes a day. We need people to do simpler jobs and save the webmaster positions for those who have almost a fixation with VOTJ.
Question - What plans do you have for VOTJ in the future?
A few radical changes including a "Traitor Board" which will log those who do harm to the Jediknight community. Such as hacking web sites, taking over Jediknight IRC channels, etc. Since as few people realize that on IRC its a major war to keep a good set of Jediknight channels. I will also be posting alot of editoral and opinon articles. I am a webmaster and express my opinon on various JK subjects, even if they sound like Rush Limbaugh of Jediknight.
Question - Finally, Jediknight.net just beat out VOTJ as the best JK site in this year's awards - do you see VOTJ up their with the contenders again next year? :)
Perhaps, I believe that a person or site competes only with itself. VOTJ lost because it had some troubles over the last 2 months....and congrats Jediknight.net on winning, they deserved it.
Thanks for your time, and keep up the good work.
Welcome, and thanks for the interview.