Spotlight #10: Salocin

Rinna · Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 8:35 am Post subject: Spotlight #10: Salocin

I. The Basics

Real life first name: Nicholas

GC Forum handle: Salocin

Age and/or birthday: December 18th

Where in the real life world do you live?
California

What type of work do you do?
Full time student

What other hobbies or activities do you take part in, other then playing MMO’s?
Listening to music, writing, research, tabletop wargames

How long have you played MMO’s?
About four years

What is the main MMO you play?
Star Wars: Galaxies

Main Character name: Nyvveck Nurmaens

Secondary/other Character name(s): None

Guild: Vornskr Division

How long is your typical gaming session?
It depends on the day, what’s going on in the game and the like. Anywhere from ten minutes to several hours, usually no more than three hours.

What does a typical gaming day consist of for you?
Checking the mails I may have gotten, clearing up any matters that arose while I was logged off, then to the fun stuff: RP, PvE, and PvP.

II. Your Main Character

What is your highest character level in your game of choice?
Level 90

How did you choose your main character's name?
Seeing as we are “a long time ago” and “far, far away”, I decided to go with something rather strange. So, I closed my eyes and hit random keys, and something like Nyvveck came out. I toyed with it a bit and came up with Nyvveck. The same procedure for Nurmaens.

What race and profession is your main character?
Nyvveck is a Human Jedi.

What do you like the most about the profession you have chosen for your main character?
Not much, although I suppose I like that it feels most like what Nyvveck was before he was a Jedi: an unencumbered, graceful warrior.

What faction is your main character?
Nyvveck is a full-blooded Imperial. He has been one for years.

III. Most/Least Favorites in SWG

What is your favorite player-owned ship? Why?
My favorite ship would have to be the Decimator. Ever since I got the picture of it for the pre-JtL hype, I loved it.

What is your favorite ground vehicle? Why?
Hmm. That’s a hard one. I’d have to say the AV-21, but I don’t much like any of the ground vehicles. I can’t picture Nyvveck driving in any of them.

What is your favorite expansion? Why?
Jump to Lightspeed. It added a completely new realm to the game, new species, and a new profession. On top of that, I enjoyed the space combat.

What is your favorite planet? Why?
I’m going to break with tradition here and say Kashyyyk. Yes, Kashyyyk might be smaller than the other planets, and there might be many invisible boundaries, but it has a lot of my favorite content. When it was first released, I spent weeks and weeks exploring the planet. It is home to some of my favorite quests, the Outcast series of quests, and my favorite weapon, the Xris Acid Sword.

Who is your favorite NPC? Why?
The Emperor. His quests in the Imperial themepark were great, and I very much enjoyed doing them.

Which expansion do you like the least? Why?
Well, I suppose I’d have to say Trials of Obi-wan, though the only reason for that is that the NGE came along shortly after it was released. Truth be told, I liked all the expansions very much.

Which planet do you like the least? Why?
Rori. I hate the swamp, the fog, everything about it. It’s the natural enemy of Talus as well.

What was your favorite Star Wars movie? Why?
The Empire Strikes Back. I love watching the Empire assault the Rebel base on Hoth. Veers calmly, in the middle of battle, having his AT-AT “target, maximum firepower” the shield generators. I also like the battle between Luke and Vader in the Cloud City.

Who was your favorite character? Why?
Although he only appears in one movie, I have to say Tarkin. He was such a great character, always polite, if somewhat sarcastic, supremely arrogant, and command over Darth Vader. I love the fact that, after blatantly betraying Leia, he just says, “You’re far too trusting.”

Who was your least favorite character? Why? Anakin Skywalker. From his introduction in Episode One, I found him so much more annoying than any other character, including Jar Jar. They didn’t once get a competent actor to play for him, and Lucas gave him nothing but cringe worthy lines. Darth Vader, of course, is a different matter.

What are the most credits you have ever spent on purchasing a single item for one of your characters?
Umm…I really can’t remember spending a lot of money on anything. Unless we’re counting respecs. In which case, 25 million.

Do you have an item you no longer use but keep around for nostalgic reasons? If so, what is it and why do you keep it?
Padawan Braid. I love the fact that to get it, I killed “the last padawan” and tore the braid from his head.

Describe your favorite period of Star Wars: Galaxies (Pre-CU, CU, NGE, etc.) and what you liked the most about it.
CU. The combat was so fluid, and everything meshed together so well. I loved template building, and I loved the fact that fights could be so complicated.

IV. Roleplay and MMO’s

What game brought you to Role Playing (RP)?
I’d have to answer Star Wars: Galaxies.

Have you played tabletop RP games before moving to MMO’s? If so, which ones?
No, I have not.

What other MMO’s have you played?
Everquest 2, Vanguard, and Saga of Ryzom. I have played many others, but only for very short periods.

What do you get out of playing your MMO of choice?
Interaction with community members.

How did you get into Roleplaying?
I had a vague idea of what RP was when I first got this game, and I knew that it was something I would probably want to look into. So, I marked myself as a Roleplayer. Then one day, while traveling to the middle of nowhere that was my house, I got a tell from Alonzo inviting me to TTF. I accepted, and then learned from that master of RP.

How would you “sell” roleplaying to someone that has never tried it before? What are the benefits?
The creation of a unique character in a unique world.

What was your favorite event or story arc?
I’ve never really seen any static story arcs. To me, everything is part of one big overreaching story. What happened to Nyvveck years ago will effect what he does tomorrow.

How long have you been an RP’er?
Four years, as long as this game has been out.

What do you like best about RP’ing?
I enjoy putting Nyvveck into situations or mental states where I do not know how he will react. The fun is in seeing what he does, and how others respond to it (and how he responds to what they do!).

What type of RP ‘role’ do you prefer portraying with your character?
I suppose I prefer to play the villain, but one who sees himself as a hero.

What kind of RP story arc would you most like to be a part of?
See above for my feelings on story arcs.

What would you like to see more of when doing RP?
I would like to see more people looking exactly through the eyes of their characters, and more mistakes. The real world is not a perfect one where there are no mistakes, so SWG shouldn’t be either.

Which other community member do you like to RP with the most? Why?
Xyryn, mostly because she is able to take Nyvveck to the brink of murderous rage, but she rarely crosses that brink. Also, she is one of the few people in our community that I could realistically see Nyvveck speaking to in his free time, because like Nyvveck, she is rather soft spoken and polite. This allows me to have conversations with her that the normally very private and dutiful Nyvveck cannot have with other people.

Do you have any ideas for future RP story arcs that you would share?
See above for my feelings on story arcs.

Describe your best RP experience from playing Star Wars: Galaxies?
During the CU, TTF did an IC run on the Avatar Station. It is still the most fun I have ever had in the game, roleplaying a strike team of varying dedication to the mission deep in enemy territory.

If you could give a new player one bit of advice based on your game experiences, what would it be? As the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. Sit back, watch how other people interact before doing too much yourself. Don’t be in a hurry to jump into the fray, and enjoy your time as an unnoticed bystander, because once you go in, you cannot get back out.

_________________
Rinna/Rinna'
AVANT/KRETL
Doctor~Dancer~Kreetle With a Gun