Interview with EM Elizabella!

Community Manager

This week was a delight interviewing EM Elizabella! You can read all the Q&A here:

1. What made you decide to start EMing?

“It's indoor work with no heavy lifting” --Sir Pterry

Just kidding. Of course I love UO, just as everyone who’s still playing does. It’s the most beautiful game, from the Justice Waterfall to the cherry trees of Tokuno to every square inch of Ilshenar. People talk about this template or that playstyle as endgame, but I think it’s really when you disappear behind the curtain to start contributing to the game yourself.

2. What has it been like, being an EM for so long?

There’s a great Danish/Norwegian word: hygge. It means cozy, comfortable, togetherness. It’s like being gathered around the fireplace with your family on a cold winter night, wrapped up in blankets and sipping cider and hot cocoa. UO is home, Great Lakes is home.

3. What is your favorite part about EMing?

It changes. In the past it’s been putting together arcs or building a new place. Recently, it’s been creating the right monsters to fit the storyline. Of course, I always love to see a player who’s not usually interested in fiction or the plotline get so immersed in a story that they’re talking to the characters and reacting as though it’s all real. Someone who walked in at 8 p.m. demanding items and is now avidly arguing with a goblin about Sosarian history!

4. What is your most memorable moment playing UO?

During the Trammel land rush, I had just enough gold for a castle deed. I scouted an area that seemed out of the way and where I thought I wouldn’t have much competition. The moment came, house placement was switched on. I clicked my cursor down on the tile I’d practiced on, and... I was telestormed away! At the time, the rules were that anyone who didn’t have a deed in their backpack would be telestormed. And my pack seemed to be empty. So I was hopeful, but not certain. I ran all the way back to where I thought I had placed. Nope, someone else’s name was on the castle. However, my husband looked over my shoulder and said, “Weren’t you trying for a spot a couple screens back from that?” I ran around the castle and behind it was another castle. Mine

5. What is your favorite thing to do in UO currently?

I’ve always enjoyed crafting. I love decorating my houses for the seasons and holidays. There’s always a new, fun holiday decoration to plan around.

6. What is your favorite memory thus far of EMing?

Hamlet Busters, April 2016. I sometimes send joke titles and humorous event ideas to Malachi. He thought that one was particularly funny. So I decided to expand it into a real event. It took a good amount of time to review the source material, figure out the bits to parody, and mesh them together. It was so worth it though! Everyone had such fun and several people have mentioned to me over the years how much they enjoyed it.

My favorite part was when Gozer the Gozerian asked the players, “Are you a god?” One of the most famous lines from the movie is Winston’s "Ray, when someone asks you if you're a God, you say yes!" It never occurred to me that anyone would say no. Yet the entire sweet, honest, wholesome GL crowd were quick to clarify that no, they were mere mortals. Lol! I was flummoxed. As Gozer, I stalked around for a few moments, then asked if they were sure they weren’t gods. Again, the players of GL were too honest. On the third try, mercifully, one person finally said that he was a god. Thus the event continued. I didn’t experience that mix of frustration and helpless laughter again until I had a toddler.

7. Is there a specific event that you've done that is your favorite? What is it?

The annual Walrus Festival is always so merry. Everyone’s worked hard all year to defeat the evils that threaten Sosaria. Now we get to enjoy the antics of cartoonish walrus revolutionaries and their piggy friends. I love holiday traditions, and it’s so nice to have a really jolly final event of the year to share with everyone.

8. Was a drop you made that you favorite most out of all of them thus far? What is it?

I think the best rewards are when an EM takes an item and, through hue/name/script, makes it into something completely different. So my favorite reward, though it was given by somebody else, was the sugar cubes. An EM took dice, hued them pure white, and voila! Sugar cubes! When I can’t think of a reward, I look at a picture of the sugar cubes and then scroll through Fiddler trying to find something I can transform.

That’s why my favorite of my own rewards is the Nujel'm Sandcastle. It was for the June 2017 Festival of Masks. The base item was the crystal altar, paired with one of the alabaster vet reward statue hues.

9. Is there a specific story that comes to mind about UO that has stuck with you to date?

In the days of the Seers, there was an NPC building that I really liked. One day, I saw that it was decorated and locked. Gossip was that it was for a Seer arc. I was so excited and wondered when it would be announced. Turns out, it had already happened. Invitation only. For years after that, whenever I walked past that building, I felt sad.

Notice how we hold Great Lakes events on predictable days, announce them in several places, and leave gates up from the starting point for as long as we can? I don’t want any of our players to ever feel excluded.

10. Do you have any words of wisdom for the players out there? New and Old?

Don’t worry about items. If there’s something you really love, you’ll eventually have it. I love the Singing Crystal Ball. I got one early on, but it was stolen. Years later, almost by chance, I got another one. Corollary: if you’re sorting a lot of items, always click each one to see its name, even if you think you know what it is.

11. Is there anything else you'd like to add to the players out there?

Come to Great Lakes events! Every Tuesday (except in December) at 8 p.m. Central and the occasional Saturday (check the calendar on uo.com or forum.uo.com/categories/great-lakes).