Interview with a Freeform Moderator from the University of Copenhagen

Hello fellow geeks and geekettes!

This will hopefully be the start of many more interviews with roleplaying gamers that do things a little different than what you may be used to. This time around I have decided to open with free form gaming, and I chose to feature a Danish interactive web-based RPG known as Midgaard. I interviewed one of its co-hosts, Susanne.

Midgaard has two Moderators, Susanne and Thomas, as well as three staff members. They run an RPG on a closed University server in Copenhagen which is open to students and faculty.

I got a moment to talk to Susanne about the room and this is what she had to say.

ME: Susanne, you Co-Host Midgaard with Thomas. Can you tell me what it’s like?

SUSANNE: Well, it’s an experience that was not as I expected it to be. It’s rather like running a business. Thomas and I always have to be on top of things, or sometimes it almost feels as if things are about to cycle into larger problems. Honestly, it can be very stressful, but at the same time, watching the room on a good day, when everyone in the room is given the chance to leave real life behind and enjoy themselves, it’s the best time… it’s a truly great feeling making people happy. Particularly when they tell you and thank you.

ME: Sounds nice. What kind of problems can you experience in Midgaard? And how do you solve them?

SUSANNE: About every kind of problem you can think of. A lot of the people that come to the room deal with a lot of stress in their real life work, and at times can release that in the room. I suppose that is the largest problem we have. It’s all about respect, but when people are angry about life, or have problems to deal with… stress… relationship issues… whatever, they can lash out at people in the room and deny other people respect. That’s one thing we really try to enforce. And basically, to solve the problem, we try and talk to the person. Or give them a break… in extreme cases this means prohibiting them from chat.

There are other things that we watch out for. Characters that are insanely powerful. God-moding is a big one. When you have new players without experience (in free form gaming). Large and sometimes overly powerful characters already in the room can seem very intimidating and can alienate new chatters… and that’s one thing we don’t want. The room was made for everyone to enjoy. And we try to keep the atmosphere neutral so everyone can enjoy it.

ME: I see. What is a typical character in Midgaard? What are the most popular characters one should expect?

SUSANNE: Well, as in any room I have ever been in, there always seems to be a trend character of the year. One year it was mages. Another, werewolves. But Midgaard itself has a lot of developing characters and not so many trend characters. I suppose the most popular character is a vampire character… seems to always be popular. And it’s universal. Midgaard was designed to cater to characters from any span of time. We have futuristic areas, and medieval areas, so usually the most popular character fits in both areas… vampires work well there.

ME: So then Midgaard is a free-form room? Does that mean any type of character can play there?

SUSANNE: Yes. Last night I actually saw somebody use a (gaming) system in the room, but it is a mainly freeform role-play room. We have staff that specialize in systems for assistance if someone wants to use a (specific gaming) system and is playing a freeform character. Thomas has a plethora of books and has played table-top White Wolf and AD&D for a long while. I have a few books. One of our staff does a lot of AD&D and LARP White Wolf, but characters don’t have to be a part of a system. Free forming allows for ingenuity that is pleasing to watch. Personally, I cannot stand systems.

ME: Your staff and co-host, would you like to give some information about each, their roles and such?

SUSANNE: Well, we have tried to make the distinction rather simple, but it’s hard the way this room is designed. Basically, staff members monitor issues with the room, check picture sizes, as well as mediate conflicts that arise with chatters in the room. They are the primary, and more hands on, part of the administration. If they have a problem with a chatter, then they direct that chatter to the Moderators or co-hosts. We deal with all the more nasty things and are the brick wall of the room. We mediate as well, but Moderators are more responsible for room-wide issues, severely problematic chatters, and room improvements or inquiries. We also edit the homepage. Moderators are the ones everyone gets to blame when they get banned, not that we like doing it… more like we hate having to ban someone. Basically, Moderators get to be the ultimate bad guys.

ME: Bad rap and everything, right? *laughs* So, tell me about the continuous games that happen in Midgaard. Are there any games that happen with regularity, or room based games?

SUSANNE Actually, all three. It’s been nice to see that many roleplays have sprung up that have lasted a long time, and which influence and draw other players to them. We have had requests for two different kingdoms to be associated with the room, and a group of gypsy players have taken up camp. As well there have been some surprises. One of our staff members brought in his own character and started a rush of people wanting to be connected to him. He never expected the attention he got when he brought in the character. There is also a structure to the kingdom, a government and a city that has employed characters designed in-character strictly, or at least mainly, for the room. They tend to be the councilors and defense characters, and are not seen as often in-character, but linger around once and a while.

ME: How easy is it to join or bring a character into the room to join with the room’s storylines?

SUSANNE: It depends on the storyline. Aside from the governmental storyline, which is seen on the homepage, most of the time it’s as easy as coming into the room and asking one of the members of the storyline if you can role-play with them. In the case of some, people have become accidentally swept up in the storyline without asking. However, some of the storylines with characters that can effect a large amount of people in the city, such as the councilors, being involved in that storyline usually involves emailing the moderators, and they decide if it would be a good idea. As was done with the creation of things such as the kingdoms, and the gypsy shops which can bring in items and role-plays of a dangerously strong nature if not reviewed first. A person applies to have their idea become a part of the room. Thomas and myself review it, or in cases that Thomas is not here, myself and members of the staff. If we accept it, the person is allowed to role-play their idea in the room without hassle on a probationary period of around a week. If things go smoothly, and people seem to like the idea, then the idea becomes permanent with option to remove it mainly up to the creator of the idea, and it becomes a part of the homepage.

ME: *nods* Sounds pretty easy. Tell me about the people in the room. What can someone expect when first entering the room?

SUSANNE: Hard to say really, it depends on the day. For the most part, we gather an older crowd ranging from 20-30s. Some players are younger, some players are older. Most of our players post in a novelesque approach. Longer posters, more description, so their attitudes are more mature about role-playing. During the late nights, around 12-5am EST, we have a few extreme cases of long posters. During the day it ranges from people willing to sit in, lurk and chat, and people willing to reach out and role-play. The room was made for a mature audience, and often discussions out of character can have a more mature nature.

Most likely when you first enter the room, I have to be honest, players of our room will take a moment to notice you. When I roleplay myself, and I post fairly long posts, it takes a while to finish my post, and then I scroll back. Once we do notice you, we are usually friendly OOC. It may take a while to feel comfortable enough to RP, but if a person is not in a role-play that is based away from the main areas of play, then usually you can hook into a good role-play with only a little bit of patience.

ME: A friendly room, very important to attracting new blood. That was the next question, what are the best times to stop by for a visit in the room? Is the room for night owls, morning people or day people?

SUSANNE: I wish we could say it was for every time, but unfortunately, particularly when it is summer, the room attendance slips. Earlier in the spring it seemed a bit easier to find people. The best times to find people there is prime time, around 4pm-12pm EST. Attendance drops off around 3am EST vastly, and only picks up again around 1pm or so.

ME: So it’s an afternoon/night place. Now I want to touch on a subject we skimmed earlier, could you tell our readers some more about the story line in Midgaard? The in-character history of the room?

SUSANNE: Sure.

Midgaard was developed for both technology users and fantasy users. It was also developed on a referral to another room a lot of our chatters came from. Midgaard is on Toril, a realm of D&D. It was a small territory of a kingdom off to the side of it, behind a mass of mountains that close off Midgaard from the rest of the kingdom. With its excluded location, Midgaard was able to force off the power of the kingdom and become independent, and is comprised of different landholdings held by Lords and Ladies of the State. The Lords and Ladies formed a Council, a council of the lords with seven different chairs and functions. Because of its port availability, and its exclusion from the rest of the realms, Midgaard was a prime frontier for trading and eventually looked upon by creatures not of a fantasy base. Immigration and trade from future- and science-based colonists created an eastern part of the city that was based on more modern ideas, then fantasy ideas, as well as the older parts away from that sea port, which are still more traditional. So basically the city became a melding of future and fantasy through trading.

ME: Interesting idea. You came up with it correct? What inspired you?

SUSANNE: No, three of us came up with it. Thomas, a friend of mine named Christopher, and myself. Christopher came up with the idea of a new room away from the one we once were in. Thomas suggested a set of rules, a basic outline of the room. He suggested that it would be fantasy and technology. The room we had been in for a few years actually inspired him. Our best times were when it was both a melding of fantasy and sci-fi. When I made the homepage, I created the history and the structure of it just using what little I know of ancient kingdom structures and a bit of democracy.

ME: Interesting. Now for the hard question, why should an interested player visit Midgaard, what about it makes it good enough to visit and enjoy?

SUSANNE: I think it’s the freedom to express that we try to portray. We have an open eye when it comes to types of characters you can play. From talking cockroaches to dark mages to emotional vampires, all the way down to cyborgs and kender. Anything is allowed here, and most any type of post is allowed here. With the exception of cyber-sex posts and pornography. It’s a place to be free to write and not to be structured.

ME: Well! That just about wraps up the conversation. Thank you for taking the time out to give this interview for the Geekcentricity. Any final words?

SUSANNE: Only that I wish the best to any RPG room. There are far too few of them out there anymore.