Interview: Rayendir Sidhe
On a cold almost rainy night the computer screen was the only light source in the dark room. In this room something mystical happened. The fog was coming up from the west over the streets running towards the big flat where big things happened. How big you might wonder. well as big as the following interview with Rayendir.Hello Rayendir, first of all I would like to thank you for your time. You must be quite busy, being an active member in Daonie Sidhe as well in Moíra. Via this interview I mainly want to talk about Moíra; the planned merge with Daoine Sidhe as well the future plans.
Q: First of all, in short, what is Moíra?
In short… Moíra is a Role Playing group that combines written storylines, character building through the use of skills, and the strategy related aspect of developing a character’s belongings such as land, cities and armies. Thus it combines classic Role Play with several game elements.
Q: What's the motivation for making a new Role Play format instead of the one Daoine Sidhe already had?
Moíra was started up about 6 years ago because DS failed to maintain its authentic value of Role Playing and writing its own history, which was under pressure due to the commercial gaming industry taking its course of wiping out creativeness in gamers. And a simple fact is: the stereotypical game has nice graphics that make it easily consumable, while text requires reading and interpretation, so the crowd chooses passive consumption of a game over being actively involved in creating their own text based game. At the time DS had a policy of serving the crowd, which caused the more creative members took their RP activity to another place. This place became Moíra.
Q: I know these words will be hard for you, knowing your post size we all know. What is in short the history of Moíra?
Moíra was created on MSN groups almost 6 years ago to help Role Players from DS. The MSN groups setting served as a beta test environment for the ‘official’ site that we are currently working on. In this setting we tried out different types of game elements and eventually built the ones that participants appreciated most into the overall concept of our new site-to-be. Throughout the stages of its development Moíra was surrounded by comments like “Will never work”, “Why are you even trying?” and so forth, also from DS which sometimes hurt, but according to our plan the new site will be online in August/September 2008. In any case it is a great lesson in out of the box thinking for many.
Q: As we all know, a clan in general has its ups and downs. If you compare the Role Play division over the years with Moíra: what is the main difference in your opinion on how things work out in the end? How did people solve the problems?
That is like asking about the main difference between potato’s and banana’s.
First of all, the RP division in DS exists only on paper while Moíra is something structured and active with a clear plan and a clear goal behind it. DS management should finally learn that it takes either full attention and sufficient efforts to make the division work, or a concrete decision that says the RP division is officially dead: everything else is failure of management. I mentioned this often, but in DS criticizing traditional ways is a highly sensitive matter. Secondly, Moíra is a project that pays far more attention to the actual wishes of modern gamers: it’s not just writing, but also game related elements which make the whole concept more interesting for those who wish to play browser games. Integration of such new ideas about how to make Role Play attractive is only very slowly taking place in DS. And thirdly, which has to do with the way people solve problems: in DS Role Play is connected to a political statement that says “We must do this because it’s Tradition”. Hence the division doesn’t work, as traditions are about the past and Role Play development needs to focus on the future. Nor is the mere fact that something is a tradition sufficient reason in itself to keep a division in tact. Moíra does have that focus on the future and is not bound to any traditional values, which allows people to bring in fresh ideas and alternative ways of dealing with matters. That is the way to success.
Q: If I am correct Moíra is a few years old now. Why after such a long time Moíra decided to join the ranks of Daoine Sidhe?
There are three reasons for this decision.
First of all DS clearly needs an example on how to manage creation of something new, especially as it concerns something new related to Role Play. There is this typical “It will never work” attitude in DS, which Moíra hopefully breaks through. However, this will only work when Moíra is a part of DS, otherwise any success will miss sufficient impact on DS.
Secondly, there is a lot that Moíra and DS can learn from each other, both on the field of management but also on the field of writing. It is my belief that any organization should always be open minded towards learning.
Thirdly, I may very well lack time in the near future to play a meaningful role in the management of DS and Moíra at the same time. So I hope that combining the management structures of both will lead to a proper management form that I can leave behind with confidence. Of course the best thing that can happen to ‘the creator’ is to see two of his creations growing together.
Q: What will be different in DS when the merge is complete? Will for example all members see the Moíra forums? Can we all, like we can do now, criticize and bring in new ideas in and over Moíra, as we do with the divisions?
The use of a professional site and structure makes Moíra different from other divisions in the sense that its focus is not on being consumer of a game that was created by a third party, but on creating and managing its own creative process. Along with this comes a need to have a more professional attitude than the average DS division, which means that only experts in DS can be involved in updating Moíra. Nonetheless for Moíra it is a vital issue that we link directly to all kinds of online gaming communities. Of course, as it is one of my creations as well, DS is number 1 in the list. In practice this will mean that the people suggest, and the management team decides.
Q: Is Ironfist also a well known person in the lands of Moíra?
Ironfist is so totally unknown in Moíra that members would actually take this for a serious question if you asked them. Maybe there is some missionary work for you to do on this field…
Q: When the joining of the both clans is a fact, how do you see the future?
I predict that within a year after Moíra’s site release DS will shift all RP activity to Moíra, which will be more of a political statement than a concrete shift of activity. Those who know DS will understand how much exactly this says about the increased state of maturity that DS is growing towards. I find it hard to predict the more distant future, but both DS and Moíra have great potential. The eventual survival rate of both depends on the level of professionalism that members wish to accept.
Q: Will there be more than one Bunnikfest now? 1 for Moíra and 1 for DS?
Just one. Both are my creations and both can learn so much from each other on so many levels, that it would be a great loss of opportunity to separate the one from the other.
Q: What is the greatest difference between DS and Moíra as in structure and members?
Where is the “and keep it short please” part of the question? The greatest difference in structure is that both have completely different backgrounds: DS wants to stay alive by adapting to modern times, Moíra has yet to prove itself by creating a product that draws people’s attention. Hence Moíra has a far more achievement based structure, while DS as a structure is still seeking answers on how to fit in the modern world of gaming. As it concerns the members there is no big difference. Both for DS and Moíra counts that modern gamers are used to passive consumption and status driven game play, which promotes being self centered and focused people on the perceived ‘needs’ of their character instead of on healthy social interaction between gamers as common human beings. This narrow mindset of the average modern gamer turned building up a community into a serious challenge for all organizations like DS and Moíra. It is however not something we cannot handle.
Q: And what is just the same?
Moíra is DS like it was in its early years, which is not surprising in a sense as my overall strategy of building up an effective community didn’t change much. It is still the same process of gathering people with the right skills and the right mindset, managing their work into being part of a greater whole, and maintaining the solid basis for growth that is created this way. Although on the outside there are few similarities, a true insider would still be able to see that this way of staying together as an organization is present in both still. While more visible in Moíra, also in the latest generation of DS members there are those who have the guts to step forward and dedicate themselves to enriching DS with their vision on how things should be. I can only add that I truly admire these people: being able to commit oneself to something new and often uncertain, while it is so much easier to hide in the crowd or be negative at every possible occasion, that is a true virtue.
Well, I hope this interview made a lot of this clear for the members that didn’t have that much information concerning Moíra. I thank you for your time, Iron... Rayendir.
You’re welcome, Tyrael.