Ex-GM Faerwynn was interviewed by our ex-staff member Zanko.

TibiaNews: Hello, GM Faerwynn!

Faerwynn: Hello

TibiaNews: Y’know, there’s the usual opening questions… but I figured that we’ll get straight into the juicy stuff, and then the pleasantries at the end. Fine by you?

Faerwynn: sure, no problem with that.

TibiaNews: Alrighty then, first question on the chopping block: How do you feel about the current cheating situation?

Faerwynn: hehe, indeed, straight to the juicy stuff *g* well, as you might guess I'm not happy with it at all. Of course especially with the main topics power abuse (PA) and the use of cave bots. If you want me to go more into detail you'll have to ask more specific question, cause this is a huge topic.

TibiaNews: Hrhr, alright. What about botters? What's your opinion on them?

Faerwynn: Well, they're more or less destroying the game since many honest players feel betrayed for their playing time, and some others feel forced to take the same measures. This does not excuse them in the slightest way. But the bad influence, which spreads like a disease can't be ignored.

TibiaNews: Are there any abilities which you think would greatly (or not so greatly) benefit GMs in the fight against botters?

Faerwynn: I rather trust CIP with creating structural changes which make botting harder or even impossible. That will help much more than some GMs being able to hop around better and check bots. Of course such things have to be discussed and tested very thoroughly, so it takes some time to do that right. And Tibians are an impatient kind of player.

TibiaNews: Do you think that the role of a gamemaster has evolved along with the updates and changes within the game?

Faerwynn: Yes, massively. The main change is how players treat gamemasters. When I started being a GM in 2002 players respected GMs and worked together with them, especially since we had less tools and possibilities than now. It changed more and more that players think GMs provide a service thay have a right for. What I mean is that "Do you f*$§*§$* job already" attitude. This would be impolite already to CIP member who indeed get paid for their job. But to GMs who do the job voluntarily and just have spent 3h of their free time on other servers it is a slap in the face. Some players respond to that that CIP should hire new and younger GMs who play more, but that is just short sighted. Even the new ones, especially if they love the game, do not want to spend 8h every day just for helping players who will insult them. Of course there is also the occasional friendly player who is just happy about the help (and this is what keeps me going), but it has become much more uncommon than in former times.

TibiaNews: Do you feel that banishment is a hard enough punishment for botters?

Faerwynn: Basically they should be deleted. But for several reasons CIP have decided that they'll get that 30 days plus last warning. We'll have to accept this and live with it.

TibiaNews: Does the current rule system seem a bit harsh in some ways? For example, calling someone an "idiot" twice removes you from the game for 7 days, usually.

Faerwynn: I don't think this is too hard at all. People who can't follow the most basic rules of social behaviour are not needed in this game. They would not behave like this toward strangers in RL, why should they be allowed in this game? It's just what anonymity does to young people in puberty And I don't see any reason why they can't keep to a basic level of behaviour.

TibiaNews: What is the one major rule enforcement area that you would like to see revised the most?

Faerwynn: Definitely naming rules, I want the old ones back *g* Along with that I'd like to see an approach to deal with PA efficiently and in a way that does not harm the game. But that's very hard and we'll have to see how much CIP agree with that.

TibiaNews: Do you feel that, on average, the more aggressive/prone to power abuse the player is, the more he/she is likely to cheat?

Faerwynn: I am 100% sure of this, we have checked this in the past and GM experience clearly shows it. We can see that for example by comparing non-pvp worlds with normal ones.

TibiaNews: Do you think that a high amount of cheating in a game world causes damage to the community as a whole?

Faerwynn: Sure, of course it does. On one hand people will suffer from those who use illegal advantages, and as mentioned before there will always be those who feel they have no chance but cheat themselves.

TibiaNews: How do you feel about the current number and effectiveness of GMs?

Faerwynn: More GMs are always desirable, but it is more important that those chosen are good ones. And it's simply not possible to have a good selection process which does not create much effort. So actually I think it's not very important to get much more GMs, only to get more efficient tools. And of course it's always great if CIP remove the whole possibility for committing certain rulebreaks.

TibiaNews: What do you think about CMs becoming full time GMs?

Faerwynn: Well, the introduction of CMs who deal with rulebreaks just as GMs is not new, we have that since years, just not with a special title. It's a good idea since somethings can not be done by volunteer GMs, due to legal reasons.

TibiaNews: What is your opinion on the new divisions within Customer Support?

Faerwynn: I can't tell yet, since you always have to give such changes some time to show if they work out. But from what I have seen so far players like and accept the community management.

TibiaNews: Many players are calling out for double experience/loot events. Do you feel these are good ideas given the current abundance of cheaters? Should efforts be focused elsewhere instead?

Faerwynn: CIP consists of many departments which organise and develop different aspects of the game. It is not like the content could work on anti-cheating measures in the client. So how do you imagine that? Putting community managers in front of a PC and ask them to code some C++?

TibiaNews: Do you feel that there should be more Customer Support involvement in governing the servers? In other words, making sure power abuse does not get out of control.

Faerwynn: Of course that would be a great thing. But on the other hand there are so many servers, and to make this efficient you would need armies of support workers. So Iwould not expect too much impact from this for all the small things, but instead better help with the "big things".

TibiaNews: Alright, let’s get to pleasantries! Could you tell us a little bit about the person behind Faerwynn?

Faerwynn: Well, let's see about what I would like to see published I'm a 29 years old guy from Germany. Right now I am finishing my studies in Computer Science and Business Administration, which I studied for quite some time now next to working. In my free time I like to play games of all kind, make music and listen to it, go to concerts (mainly metal), read books... and much more which I don't have enoughtime for Yeah, I guess that's the big picture.

TibiaNews: How did you first discover Tibia, and when was that?

Faerwynn: That must have been in 1999 and my brother showed it to me, who had discovered Tibia when reading a small article in a German computer magazine.

TibiaNews: What about your GM position? What was it like when you were asked to join the team? How long ago was that?

Faerwynn: I think that was 2002. And back then you had to be counsellor for a GM for quite a while. So, after having been Counsellor for a while I was asked to become full GM.

TibiaNews: And your first day as a GM, how was that?

Faerwynn: Pretty unspectacular, actually I was given the GM account and then Trymon (who was my GM when I was Counsellor) gave me a short tour along with anintroduction to GM powers. Oh, and Guido and Steve welcomed me personally, that was a highlight, of course.

TibiaNews: Was learning all the controls hard? Or relatively easy?

Faerwynn: Of course I was given a manual, so it was more a matter of familiarization.

TibiaNews: Are there any funny – or interesting – GMing memories which you would like to share with us?

Faerwynn: Well, one nice memory is for sure one occassion when there were a gang of PKs and I was standing on the GM island together with some other GMs and Guido. When the reports came in we excused us to check it out. When it became apparent that it was indeed a gang of people random PKing (which was not punished automatically back then) Guido teleported there, too, and started SDing them to death.

TibiaNews: Alright, as we near the end of the interview, it’s time for our famed ‘THINK-QUICK’ questions. Are you ready?

Faerwynn: sure

TibiaNews: Alright, here we go. Sorcerer, Knight, Paladin or Druid?

Faerwynn: sorcerer

TibiaNews: PvP, Non-PvP or PvP-Enforced?

Faerwynn: PvP

TibiaNews: A wizard has turned you into a Mudkip. Is this awesome? (Y/N)

Faerwynn: into a what?

TibiaNews: Tibia now or Tibia three years ago?

Faerwynn: Tibia eight years ago

TibiaNews: TibiaNews: New GM outfit or old GM outfit?

Faerwynn: the new one

TibiaNews: TibiaNews: Any last words before we wrap up this interview?

Faerwynn: not from my side, thanks.

TibiaNews: TibiaNews: Thank you for your time, GM Faerwynn.

Faerwynn: you're welcome.