Interview with a Game Master

In the world of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), Game Masters are mysterious and powerful entities with the power of life and death over mere mortal players. Like the mythical deities of old, their appearance can mean disaster or delight for those around them.

In an exclusive interview with ZDNet, we managed to summon one of these denizens of virtual adventure to get an inside look at their unique position. As Dorothy discovered behind the curtain at the Emerald City, however, the reality isn’t quite as glamorous as you might have imagined.

"In ancient times, five gods of Lais sought to create a new world with new inhabitants that could live harmoniously among them." So begins the description of Fly For Fun, or Flyff as most players call it. Game master "Sl0th" is one of a number of GMs that help manage Flyff and maintain that harmony. GMs are a select and secretive lot, so it took a while to gain their trust and arrange the meeting. Even then, Sl0th would not let us reveal his true identity.

[ See also: Part 2 of the interview ]

ZDNet: Tell us something about yourself, like how old are you? What's your real name?

Sl0th: <laughs> Unfortunately, I can't really tell you much about myself. Being a GM is a good deal like being in the witness protection program. No one can know my real name, my previous whereabouts, or even my age. There are good reasons for this but they're boring and I'd rather not go into them.

ZDNet: Well what CAN you tell us?

Sl0th: I'm a huge comic book fan (as many of the players and nearly ALL of the other GMs can attest to) but really I love ANY book that I can get my hands on. I write my own stuff when I can but my busy schedule and legendarily short attention span prevents me from ever actually getting anything published or posting on the Net somewhere. Someday, I will have to rectify that.

ZDNet: What is Flyff, and what’s the attraction of playing it?

Sl0th: Flyff is a MMORPG. You can download it for free at our website (flyff.gpotato.com). We basically put players in a world similar to their own but with fundamental differences"People come to our game to live their real life." (e.g. magic, flying boards, monsters,) and allow them to increase the abilities of their characters through battling monsters, Masquerpets as they are called in Flyff. The more they fight they stronger they become.

The attraction, at least what I think the attraction is, is pure escapism. Playing Flyff for a few hours a day pulls you out of yourself and the world that you live in and places you in a world where you can be as charismatic, as kind, as evil, and as accepted, as you want to be.

"One's real life is often the life that one does not lead," wrote Oscar Wilde, and Flyff takes that lesson to heart. People come to our game to live their real life.

Even if it is only for a few hours a day.

ZDNet: How does Flyff compare to other online games?

Sl0th: Any MMORPG is going to draw comparisons to games like World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, Final Fantasy XI, and the like but while the foundation of all these games may be similar to Flyff, we deviate from the norm in the sense that:

1. We do not charge our players to play the game. While there ARE items that you can buy from our Premium Shop, there are no monthly subscription fees.
2. We are an EXTREMELY community based game. We are always in-game with our players (which I think is how you snared me into this interview. Ha!) and talking with our players on our forums.

I think this gives our players a sense of inclusion that they simply have no chance of getting in any other MMORPG.

ZDNet: Is being a Game Master a real, full time job?

Sl0th: Yes, I'm an employee at Gala Net [publishers of Flyff]. Being a GM is a very Full Time job. I get paid just like any other office worker. If I were to try and work another job with the hours I put in as a GM I'd go crazy. Hmmm. Crazy-ER, I guess.

ZDNet: Still, it sounds like fun. How did you become a GM?

Sl0th: I have a pretty extensive history in game testing and I was just leaving a position when a friend of mine that was already working at the company let me know that there was a position open. My experience with online games made me the "perfect candidate" so to speak so I, got the job, and thus became a GM.

ZDNet: So what does being a GM involve? Do you get special powers?

Sl0th: Being a GM is basically police duty. When we are in game, we're there to enforce rules and make sure that things are going smoothly, or in the case of me and a couple other GMs, to make sure that there are no bugs or technical issues that are causing problems. We do hang out and talk to players from time to time and whenever there is a big event we all try to show up.

Our GM powers ARE pretty limited. We can make items, spawn monsters, teleport, and go invisible. There are some other things but those are most of the powers an average GM will ever use.

ZDNet: What does a typical GM day for you look like?

Sl0th: Most of our time is spent out of the game, making sure that things are working as well as they can and fielding suggestions from our players and staff, seeing if they can be implemented into the game.

When we are not in the game, we are customer support, tech support, the billing team, community managers, and producers. I can't say who is who (even though some are already known) but we do far more OUT of the game than we do IN it. Every email, phone call, forum post, postcard, and box of cookies goes to us and we have to deal with it all. (I, of course, specialize in cookies. <grins>)

ZDNet: How many other GMs are there?

Sl0th: There are... <looks around the room, counting> 10 or so GMs. And a couple of Honorary GMs. Those are employees who used to be GMs but due to promotions or other changes they only show up in game from time to time. They get to keep their powers.

What happens when a new version comes out and everyone hates the changes? Find out in part 2 of "Interview with a Game Master", coming up tomorrow...