I interviewed Sprite on October 15, 2005. This was her character at the time:
Sprite Sprite is a level 100 mortal of the Sprite race.
She was created before 1997 and she is 2y, 41d, 12h and 4s old.
She has been on for 9h, 5min and 46s, idle 26s.
She is the leader of the Sprite race.
She has killed: A suspicious looking person, 9961 exp
A sparkling dragon, 61130 exp (party of 5)
Plan:
>To spend as much time as possible playing with three (soon to be four)
>beautiful granddaughters.
Please tell me a bit about yourself.
In "real life" I'm a genuine old lady Grandma. BA, MBA education. I work full-time
and take care of a couple of energetic granddaughters. Still married after hmm....
31 years. I live in Mid-America, suburb of Indianapolis, IN, USA. Only one short
hour from the world famous Campcon!
You're quite an unusual mudder! How did you find BatMud?
Many moons ago, before the Internet in its present form of the WWW, I was exploring
the text capabilities of the then-internet via a gopher client. At that time, it
was state of the art neat-o-pete stuff.
I tripped across 5 muds, including Batmud on a server at a university in Texas, USA.
The other four were nice, but Batmud, even in its infancy showed great promise, and
I've been here ever since. No colourful outterworld, baby BC. It was nothing like
it is now, but I was hooked.
I think most new players don't even realize the Outerworld wasn't always here.
I think you are right. I think all newbies ought to be forced to a stint on Classic
Bat before being allowed over level say.... 30.
"Sprite Sprite is a level 100 mortal of the Sprite race." Have you always been a sprite?
I've been here for over nearly 11 years now. Always Sprite, and always of the sprite
race. Well, except for my very very first character. No one told me what Finni means in
Finnish. I took it from the 7th volume of the Encyclopedia...The volume from Finni to Gangr.
(Dryad adds: Finni means "pimple" or "pustule" in Finnish)
But, as a Giant, I could never ever get a torch to actually work. So, after a day or so I
became a sprite to have natural light and, as they say, the rest is history.
You mentioned "Campcon" earlier. What is that?
Well, Campcon is an annual gathering of hardcore batmudders..... Three days of camping, bugs,
snakes, cold showers and of course... BEER. All of which I avoid like the plague. My idea
of going to Campcon is to drive up in the late night after it cools off and bring pizza,
share my pizza, chat with mudders and go home to a nice soft bed for sleep. Or come early
in the morning, bring donuts for all and watch the overhung mudders drag around.
Campcon has been an annual event for something like 7 years now. Depending on the weather
there are usually 20-40 mudders there. I enjoy meeting other mudders and have even made
RL friends with a few.
Please tell me about the character you play on BatMud.
On the mud, I basically play me. For 10 years I was a healer, adding monk to fight
when I got enough experience stored up. Ha! A sprite tank.... baby monsters beware.
I was a Tarm/Monk/Nav/Druid for most of that time. I never reinced except when there
was a forced reinc.
Finally, working up my courage I reinced to Merch/Alch/Nav/Bard (well, baby Bard).
I'll never be a true highbie, despite 100 levels as I tend to play for the fun of it.
How do you like to spend your time on BatMud? What do you do during a typical session?
I play from work quite often and must idle a lot, so being a merchant is much more suitable
for my style of play. That is, no party is hurt if I suddenly go idle and can't heal.
I enjoy being a Merchant/Alchemist. It allows me to play at my own speed while still
interacting and helping other players. I especially like helping newbies and midbies.
This MUD is one of the most complex around, and most newbies can use all the help they
can get. Of course, I have made a few enemies with my 'soap' and by demanding politeness,
but from my point of view, it is all in fun.
Your soap? What's that?
@Sprite Pulls you aside by your ear and washes your mouth out with SOAP!
@Sprite places you in the 'time out chair' and declares "Three minutes for Potty Mouth!".
I've actually been pkilled for those, but it is a game, and if it made someone else
happy... why I'm happy.
Basically I enjoy two things here: the interaction with interesting people from all over
the world and exploring and figuring out the cool beaner things the coders have thought up.
What things motivate you when you play on BatMud?
Well, I'm truly not sure why I play. I suspect I am totally addicted. I mud when I really
should be doing other, much more productive things. I am annoyed by that fact, but unable
to reverse it. I enjoy most of the people I meet here and I enjoy very much sharing what
I have learned here and what I can do here. I suspect that makes me a very valuable
Merchant/Alchemist.
Yes, I sell my services, but I also use what I have figured out and what I can make or do
to help a newbie. Oh, I like exp as much as the next person, but even more than that,
I enjoy the challenge of figuring out a new 'thing'. I especially enjoyed researching all
197 alchemist potions. I'd like to do that again. And I really love it when I figure out a
puzzle quest, although I am notoriously BAD at it. I am totally obsessive-compulsive and
will work on a thing until I GET it, regardless of the game exp attached to it. I spent
4 days looking for a deposit of Jade so I could make a whopping 20k gold (laugh). No, I'll
never be a true conventional highbie.
Can you tell me more about the 197 alchemist potions you mentioned?
Each potion takes one mineral, one herb, and one organ. Easy, right? Well, if, and that is
a big IF, one finds the right combination of mineral/herb/organ, one can make a nice potion
that emulates a specific spell or skill. But with so many minerals/herbs/organs in the game,
the number of possible combinations is astronomical. And, to make it even more um...
interesting, the formulas are different for each Alchemist. Major fun for us
obsessive-compulsive people. Headache for everyone else.
Is there some reward for discovering your potion formulas?
Well, yes, if you think money and experience is a reward. For the first potion one finally
researches, one gets a little bit of exp and a little bit of gold. I forget exactly, but
not much. But..... Each new potion researched earns the Alchemist a bit more gold and
experience. By the time one discovers all 197 possible potions the reward for each one
is significant. I can not remember the figures, but it is significant.
(Dryad notes the total is around 14.6m exp and 2.7m gold.)
Do you ever want to become a wiz on Bat?
I would like to become a wiz...somewhere, somewhere much much less complex. I'd love
to learn how to code and I have some great ideas for newbie areas, but no, not on Batmud.
I think I'd not be willing to give up the character I have spent 12 years building.
As a matter of fact, I have downloaded a basic LPMud library and have a young fellow
locally who is helping me set up my own mini-mud just to learn. Certainly, it won't be
anything like Batmud! Why, you could come now and walk around FOUR whole rooms and
pick up a cute little bunny and pet him! At 60, this is going slowly. My coding
experience is limited to Integer Basic and Applesoft Basic many years ago.
What changes would you most like to see made in BatMud?
Well, outside of making ME in charge, 'cause, of course I know allll the answers,
(laugh) I hope it continues basically as it is now. Regardless of the complaining
about 'tunes' The arches seem to have a good handle on what will last. Only thing
I can think of that I'd like to see continue is the text based mud.
Why do you think text has such an appeal still, when most other games are graphical?
Having it be text based allows for a much wider thought-provoking experience.
I think that is in part why players tend to last for years. A graphics based game does
not lend it self to change and innovation as easily. When the graphics appeal wears off,
players migrate to other newer things. I don't mind killing a zillion baby animals and
ripping out their organs, but I really really do NOT want to watch it. Besides, how could
I go kill the sprite Grandmother in Beastlands if there were pictures there?
Thank you for a very interesting interview, Sprite. See you in Bat!
[100 Acre Forest]
[Aband-Valley]
[Akira]
