Name:
Marshall
Age:
23
Location:
America's Hat
Quote:
DUMBA DE DUM DUMBA DE DUM DUMBA DE DUM
DIDDELY DUM
DUMBA DE DUM DUMBA DE DUM DUMBA DE DUM
DIDDELY DIDDELY
DUMBA DE DUM DUMBA DE DUM DUMBA DE DUM
DIDDELY DUM
DUMBA DE DUM DUMBA DE DUM DUMBA DE DUM
WAAH WAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!
Position:
PU Story team
General questions:
1. Do you have pets?
I go to school, my girlfriend pays the rent.... I am the pet.
2. What is your favorite color?
Violet. No, Indigo! No, Indigo Plateau
3. What kind of music do you like?
Songs that I like....seriously, that's the best I can say....my playlist gets a little....weird
4. What do you do on your free time besides spending time on PU?
I haven't actually done much (read: anything) with PU in quite some time. My life changed, and so did my priorities. Now I am living with another former PU team member, and we are happy; thanks for asking.
5. What are your goals/dreams in life?
I am going to open my own martial arts school. I am developing it based primarily on Karate, but with philosophies (not exactly techniques, although, if it works, it works) that I have adopted from many other styles ranging from taijutsu (ninjas) to wing chun.
6. What got you interested in Pokémon?
Dude, I was 9 or 10 when red/blue came out. I was interested, we were all interested. There was no reason, it just was.
7. What got you involved in PU?
I was in a bit of a dip in my life. I was going through various depressions and health concerns. Mr Dark, Urmel, Wailord, Kamaran, Level5Pidgey, rda, Alais, and many others (seriously, sorry if I forgot any one, I know I forgot to mention lots) were a HUGE help in making me feel better and becoming a family for me.
I just looked up pokemon mmo's one day, and after a little searching came up on PU. After hanging out in the forums for a while, I posted a couple of ideas for quests, and then was asked if I'd be interested in helping out.
I then spent about two years hanging out with people here and pretending I was doing work. But lets be honest, my greatest attachment to PU is the family I developed from it. If nothing else, I want to thank everyone that I used to talk with on irc.
Thanks Ponge. Here I am sitting in class, and I'm getting emotional...*sniff*
8. What makes you different from the rest of the PU team?
Currently? The fact that even though I am not doing anything, or haven't said hi in a couple of weeks, I am still inexplicably answering this Q&A.
9. Why do you enjoy your position at the PU team?
It was awesome! I love creating stuff, and feeling like I am important and appreciated.
bleh, just read above.
10. Who do you admire? Why?
I admire this other guy in my life. He shall be known as The Raven from here on. The Raven helped me through a lot of challenges and has supported me for years. The Raven is the wisest person I have ever met, and I greatly appreciate all of his advice. For his privacy though, I will not mention much (if any) more about him.
11. Are you into sports? If so which ones?
Unconventional sports are great. I enjoy the martial arts (not MMA). I like wall climbing, hiking, backpacking, kayaking, etc. Don't enjoy watching baseball, basketball, football, and even hockey! OMG a Canadian who doesn't like hockey?!
12. What is your dream job?
Martial arts instructor. I just want to help people learn who they are and develop their individuality. I am a guide, not a teacher. Also, learning to defend yourself is just barrel's-of-monkey's of fun!
13. What was your first screenname?
I think it was Kilo. Then Kilo was taken in a chatroom and one of the suggestions was spiritualkilo. Then people on Starcraft kept calling me spirit for short. Now I am often: Spirit, spiritualkilo, spiritual_kilo, Spirit42, or any other similar variation.
14. Do you have any piercings?
I have this piercing pane in my chest and left arm, does that qualify? Just kidding, but I do pierce my skin with needles multiple times a day. That one wasn't a joke.
15. Are you a lefty/righty?
Technically, I am naturally ambidextrous. When I was in kindergarten, I looked around the room to see how you were supposed to hold a pencil and everyone was using their right hand, so I just did the same and eventually started loosing the use of my left. Kind of sad really, I wish I still had more even control.
16. Do you have any tattoo's? If not do you wish/plan to get one?
I thought about getting the number 42 once, but never did it. Now I'm thinking about getting my medic alert bracelet tattooed so that I can never loose it (that's related to Q14 btw).
17. Do you have any siblings? If so, how many of each?
One older sister, and 2 cousins that lived with me for my entire teenage life
18. What is your favorite website?
Google. I can get everywhere from that place
19. Do you play computer games? If so, which ones?
Yeah, I move between a few. I spent a long time on Buxville (a massive multiplayer server for Minecraft) for a while. I have also recently been playing a lot of Plants vs. Zombies.
20. Do you play video game consoles? Which ones?
Every now and then I play a little Xbox360, Wii, N64, NES, yeah. Good stuff.
21. Are you married or planinng to get married?
Not yet, but yes, one day. It's just not possible until I have a more sustainable income.
22. Which languages do you speak?
1 c@n 5p33k 1337, English, and am taking Japanese classes on Friday nights (man, it's hard).
23. Do you drink?
I only drink the blood of my enemies! That, and the occasional strawberry yoohoo, and sasparilla...
24. Do you smoke?
If you see me smoking, you should probably either call the fire department or get yourself checked into the nearest psych ward, because that isn't normal
25. Do you have a license?
Contrary to popular belief, being a black belt does not mean I have to have my hands registered as lethal weapons. Or did you mean to drive? in that case, yes, yes I do.
a) Do you own a car?
No. *sniff*
b) Have you ever been stopped for speeding?
Even when I did drive, I had never been stopped.
26. Do you obtain a good amount of sleep daily?
I would think so, but no matter how awake I feel when I wake up, I am always tired a couple of hours later.
27. How do you sleep?
Step 1: Get comfortable. Either lie down in bed, or sit in a comfy couch or chair.
Step 2: Close eyes. Close eyes.
Step 3: Wake up. Wake up, look at clock, realize you have no idea where the time went.
Step 4: Be concerned. Suddenly remember the messed up dream you were just having (it is not normal to have giant anthropomorphic crayons doing that slow-mo run they do in Baywatch towards you and making every inanimate object in a hall come to life and follow suit. I don't care how happy they look, if you aren't on drugs, you should probably start selling yourself as one).
Step 5: Check clock again. Have it occur to you that you looked at the time but didn't register it. Look again. You either only slept an hour or two, or are five minutes from when you are supposed to wake up so you can be at work/school on time.
Step 6: Repeat steps 1-6. Repeat steps 1-6.
28. Have you ever been on an airplane?
I have been in an airplane. Somebody grab an emergency crew and a camcorder for the guy on the plane.
29. Have you ever broken a bone?
Yup. Two. Collarbone, and wrist.
30. Do you wear jewelry? If so what jewelry do you wear?
My watch, highschool grad ring, thumb ring (with a dolphin on it), and medic alert bracelet.
31. How do you dress?
Very casual. I am a student, martial artist, and child care worker, so my attire is either a Karate gi, or whatever feels comfortable. I feel sorry for people who's professional attire has to be nice dress pants and always ironed. If I wore clothes like that, the kids I work with would give me a heart attack every time I walked in the room. Ok, no they wouldn't, many because I don't care or have enough of an attachment to such things, but you get my point.
32. How many keys are on your keyring?
11. Two of them are for handcuffs.
33. What time do you go to bed? What time do you wake up?
Usually in bed between 11pm and midnight. Usually awake between 7:30 and 8:30am.
34. What's the freakiest thing you have done?
Hmmm...Off the top of my head? Probably training how to dodge swords being swung at you by ninjas. No, that isn't a game or euphemism or anything. I have had legit live blades swung at me by ninjas (not trying to kill me, just trying to train me) with my only instructions being to dodge.
My girlfriend doesn't really want me to go back to training with them. I can't imagine why.
35. Do you live alone?
Nope, now that my girlfriend managed to get a job, I have been able to move out of my parent's house and into our own apartment. It has only been a few days, but it is so amazing.
36. How many hours a day do you spend on the computer?
Lots. School is boring. If I didn't have my computer to distract me during class I would have constant spasms, naps, and other not very helpful symptoms.
37. How many hours a day do you spend in PU?
As I said, my life changed. I like to come by and see how things are going from time to time, or to say hi to the friends I have made here. But it is now less than an hour a week, whereas it used to be more like 6-7 hours (minimum) per day.
38. What is your favorite beverage - coffee, tea, soda, beer, other?
Tea I think. I also enjoy water, coolers, rum&coke, and a few others.
39. What do you hate?
Hypocrites who are adamant that they are right, even when you make it blatantly obvious that they are wrong and who have too much pride to at least admit the possibility that they could be wrong or the open mindedness to respect difference of opinion/belief, and don't even try to improve themselves. No one is perfect, I know that, but that doesn't mean you should be an ignorant prick, you could at least attempt change or respect other people.
39. What do you love?
Peace, respect, equality, individuality, creativity, etc.
40. What is your religion?
I believe that there is something out there that we don't understand (and probably never will), and to me, that is most simply the universe. Things work the way they do, and they evolve in a fashion (although you can affect it). I prefer spirituality > religion.
41. What is your hair color?
Naturally it is dark brown, but I like to dye it black from time to time. Not because I'm emo or anything, just because it looks good on me, it's not enough of a change to be drastic, but enough to make a difference.
42. How tall are you?
I think I'm about 170-175 cm (I don't really remember).
43. How much do you weigh?
About 68kg
Extra questions:
1) How do you start making a quest?
Ah yes. This starts with the imagination and inspiration stage. Look all around you, what you will find is that everything is ultimately connected. If you can find a way to connect two separate ideas, you can often spark something.
Usually, something will come to me based on what I'm doing. It might be that I notice a glaring whole in something, or see something that I think could be made better. Then I spend a while thinking about how it can be improved. Next I think about it for a while.
The thinking stage can last anywhere from a couple hours (dreaming and then reminiscing), to a couple of weeks. It helps to have an idea and then to ask why? as often as possible. If you can't answer 'why?' something is, then it might need more thought. After that, I usually get really excited about it and feel I have to tell someone, so I find someone I can trust who I like (maybe my girlfriend, or my best friend). The person I tell my idea to is then able to give me feedback whether they like it or not. My friend will often then tell me where something can be improved or will notice something or have a different idea than I had and will add questions or suggestions along the way (sometimes they will do this before I finish talking and I can get an alternate path).
After bouncing ideas back and forth we can usually come up with something that sounds concrete and then I start to jot it down before submitting it.
Of course, sometimes while I am saying it to a friend, I realize I haven't thought it out well enough, or realize it didn't sound as awesome out loud as it did in my head.
2) Do you leave possibilities open on purpose to create quest chains or do you think of that afterwards?
Yup. Quite often actually. The fact about life is you don't know all the details of your own story. I'm sitting at school right now and there are about four or five conversations going on around me and I have no idea what they are about, or what brought those people there, but they do have a story as well. Sometimes what I will do is I will throw in a reference to something, or a character that is there and I will have an entire back story (and on going story) for that character thought out, but will never explain it to the player. This way it feels like there is substance to that event or character (because there is) and it immerses you more because it feels more like real life. The nice thing is it also gives you the ability to expand on those stories or ideas at a later time without having to go through as much of a stretch and later additions will feel more natural.
However, Even though I might do that, I have also often been known to just make it up as I go. In fact, making it up as I go is what I probably do the majority of the time. I will look back on things that I have written or done and look to see if there is some way I can make a connection to something else, and then will make the bridge between them. This way it can be a surprise to me as well. It is really quite wonderful when you get into the right mindset and things just start to flow naturally.
3) What inspires you when writing quests?
Everything. One thing you have to remember when inventing stories, is that everything is a potential story. Good or bad, you can make something from it. If you have a particularly strong emotion, hold on to it. One day when you are older, maybe you will be a parent, you will see your child do something and you will want to tell them to stop, and you might have a good reason, but if you look back on your own childhood you might remember that you did that too. Even if you have a good reason to stop them, you have to take into consideration what was going through your head as you were doing it, and how you were affected afterwards (maybe you were told to stop and it, or maybe you were graciously guided away, or stupidly encouraged to keep scaling the 20 story building without equipment or training even though you are only 8 years old). Just remember what things are like, that's my point.
Whether you want to write a quest for PU, or want to strengthen your imagination, or just want to figure out how things could be better, ask yourself one simple yet very important question: "what if right here, right now, there were pokemon?!"
4) What do you do when you get stuck on the plot of a quest?
One of a few things. I might:
* take a break
** either a short one to get a drink or go for a walk, or a long one and just save the file (maybe I will come back to it by chance in a month or so)
* consult someone I trust
* look back on some previous work I have done
* look at pictures of pokemon or the enviroments
** (everything effects your story. The balance team, the environment, the other stories, the npc's, everything)
* delete the last thing I wrote and redirect it
* sometimes I might even delete the ENTIRE thing
5) What’s your favourite NPC from the pokémon games?
Imakuni?
