Tabula Rasa : Illumination - Valerie

Hometown
Houston, Texas

Favorite games
Phantasmagoria, Gabriel Knight, Ultima Online, Hero's Quest, Roller Coaster Tycoon

Favorite books
Irving's "The World According to Garp," Steinbeck's "East of Eden," King's "It," Martin's "A Game of Thrones," Lucado's "He Still Moves Stones"

Favorite movies
The Godfather I&II, The Wizard of Oz, Braveheart, Death to Smoochy, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Usual Suspects, The Boondock Saints, Pulp Fiction. too many more to list

Favorite websites
Google, Stupid.com, Bad-Candy.com, WM3.org, WiredSafety.org

Favorite bands or songs
Another hard list to whittle down, but at the top would be Stevie Ray Vaughn, Loreena McKennitt, Natalie Merchant, James Taylor, Kiss, The Ramones, Billie Holiday - I have very eclectic taste and will listen to pretty much anything, but some stuff for longer than others. =)

Favorite quote or personal mantra
We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. - II Corinthians 4:7

Previous projects
Eve Online

Describe your job
I am the liaison between the Tabula Rasa developers and the community, passing information back and forth between the two through message boards, coordinating interviews and online chats, e-mail exchanges, etc.

How did you get into the industry?
My friend Mike Wallis, a producer, and I met when we were playing UO. Many years later, he was in negations for Simon and Schuster Interactive to publish Eve Online, which was in development at CCP Games in Iceland. Mike told me that if he was able to land the deal, he wanted me to be his community manager due to my journalism and marketing background, my involvement with the UO volunteer programs and my time with Stratics as a writer. He got the contract and I got the job. After two years with Eve, I was given the opportunity to be the TR community coordinator and it was an offer I couldn't refuse. Who could pass up a chance to work with such an amazingly talented group of people?

What do you like most about your job?
In addition to having the good fortune to work with some of the most creative, enjoyable folks in the industry on a project I believe in whole-heartedly, I am also completely passionate about online communities and the potential they possess. I feel that we've only just begun to see what can be accomplished when these groups form. I almost feel guilty for calling it a job because it's just too fun to be considered work. I really love it.

Describe one of your most memorable adventures/encounters in a MMOG you've played previously.
It's only memorable in hindsight because I was pretty perturbed at the time, but it happened one night in UO when I was covering an event for Stratics. My reporter character wasn't much of a fighter and got killed by a huge mob of nasty things like liche lords and assorted undead things. Some jerk looted my corpse and I lost a lot of stuff that would take me a while to replace. It turned out that he was a friend of some friends of mine and those friends started trying to do some matchmaking since this guy lived a couple of hours away from me. It took several weeks for him to finally wear me down enough that I would agree to meet him for lunch and that sealed my fate. Long story short, we will be celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary soon. =)

What advice would you give to someone with aspirations to do what you do?
Be active in your game community, spending more time watching how people interact with one another than getting in the middle of the frequent squabbles and debates. Watch how community leaders, including the official community staffers, interact and note what you like or dislike about their style. Think of ways you might contribute to improve things. As you're playing your favorite games, think of ways you could use the available tools and abilities you have to host events or contests and try your hand at running some.

It is probably even more important than any of that to punch up your communication skills, both written and verbal. Good spelling and proper grammar are essential. If you have a tendency to be sensitive to criticism, you'll need to cowboy or cowgirl up because that's another feature in the daily life of a community person.

The most common advice I give to people who ask me how to break into the industry is to keep trying - or, to use my favorite word - believe.

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