SOE Gamer of the Month - February 2013
SOE loves our gamers and with Valentine’s Day approaching we want you to meet them so you can love them as much as we do! Every month, we highlight some of the most outstanding and helpful members of the community as the SOE Gamer of the Month. This month we are pleased to introduce Niami Denmother from EverQuest II.
Colette “Dexella” Murphy, Community Manger from EverQuest II, why has Niami been chosen as this month’s SOE Gamer of the Month?
I may have picked her in the hopes that she’d send me some more of her famous trail mix…haha! No, in all seriousness, Niami Denmother is such a fantastic part of the EQ2 community. I had the pleasure of moderating a player panel that Niami was on at last year’s SOE Live, where she bestowed me my very own rolling pin! I was taken by not only her commitment to tradeskilling, harvesting, and adventuring, but also her commitment to the community in general. She has done incredible work with EQ2 Trader’s, including a delightful preview of the 2013 Erollisi Day! She is so full of love; she seemed like the perfect choice for a February/Valentine’s Day Gamer of the Month!
Now, let’s meet Niami!
Where in the real life world do you live?
Southern California
What SOE Game(s) do you play?
I mostly play EQ2 these days, but have, at various times, done stints in EQ, Vanguard, and DCUO. I also played SWG for quite a while, and have randomly checked out Star Wars®: Clone Wars Adventures™ and Free Realms as well.
How long have you played the above games?
I started all of the above except Vanguard during their beta phases. While the amount of playtime in each has varied (and sometimes I've been playing more than one during any given year), I've been playing SOE games since early 1999.
What other games do you play?
I don't play much other than EQ2 these days, but once in a while I'll wander into something like Torchlight II for a while when I need some time away.
What type of work do you do?
While more or less "retired", I run crafting sites for EQ and EQ2, and have been running them since the launches of those games.
Valentine's Day is around the corner. Do you do anything special to celebrate, something in game?
I'm sure my beloved hubbyogre and I will do something out in the real world to celebrate our 16th Valentine’s Day together. In-game, of course, I've already been actively testing the EQ2 Erollisi Day event, and am looking forward to it being launched to the live servers so I can play with it there.
How many hours a week do you play video games?
Gah! Well, it sounds worse than it is, since it counts as both play AND work for me, but anywhere from 20 to 70 hours a week.
What does a typical gaming session consist of?
There is no "typical" for me. On my home server, I adventure (mostly solo), I craft, I decorate, I spend hours harvesting when I hurt too much to do much else. I also spend time on the Test server both testing and playing.
In the SOE Games you play what do you play? Race/class/Rank/Empire etc....
It would likely be easier to say what I don't play in EQ2! My favorites right now on the adventuring front are the ogress SK, kerra beastlord and high elf warden, but I have over half a dozen 90+ folks on the adventuring side, and a couple dozen folks on the crafting side spread across my home server and Test. I like variety, and I'll play different races/classes based on mood. I tend more towards good folks in the various games than evil villains, but I'm flexible.
My most well-known character, of course, is the irrepressible little halfling, Niami DenMother. (The EQ version was a feisty little grey-haired cleric of Bristlebane, the EQ2 versions tend to be redheaded wardens or mystics, depending on mood at creation.)
What got you into gaming and what sort of games do you like the most?
I started with Dungeons & Dragons in high school back in the 80s. My first online game was Gemstone III. (Incidentally, several folks in my EQ2 guild are folks I knew from back in my Gemstone III days!) My favorite games are RPGs, both standalone, and MMOs.
What other hobbies or activities do you take part in, other than playing Video Games?
I like to write (short stories, songs, poetry), read (almost anything I can get my hands on), practice (gentle) yoga, embroider, and run amok at Renaissance festivals. Before my fibromyalgia and allergies got in the way so much, I used to do a LOT more baking, sewing, gardening and handicrafts, thanks to coming from a big 4-H family. I even made my own prom gown!
What is your highest level character?
I have two level 95/95 characters in EQ2, another that is 93/95 (adventuring/crafting) and climbing. I've been a bit sidetracked with testing world events on Test and other things, and have been slacking on the adventure leveling lately.
What do you like the most about your favorite SOE Game?
I love the sheer variety of options open to me in EQ2. I can group, I can solo, I can craft, I can harvest, I can decorate, I can socialize.
I can run around performing random "pay it forward" acts of kindness.
I can be part of a huge, wonderful community, with all that entails.
How did you choose your main character's name?
I play "musical mains," much to the confusion of my guild. I'll just go with Niami. I was trying to come up with the name of a halfling for a play-by-email campaign in the early 90s and was going through lists of names that appealed to me. Somehow, the ancient "Niamh" got morphed into "Niami" somewhere along the way. She even made a several-month appearance in a cooperative storyline in the AOL Free Form Gaming Forum as a motherly little cook/innkeeper at a place called Black Iris's Boardinghouse. I had so much fun seeing her personality unfold in the stories that we wrote back then, that she was one of the first characters that I created in the EQ beta.
What is your favorite zone?
If you haven't guessed from the multi-alt-disorder symptoms above, I have a hard time picking a single favorite. There are too many graphically stunning zones in the game, and I love to just sightsee (while harvesting, of course! :P)
What is your favorite NPC?
The crafting quest NPC Natasha on Kerra Isle, with her 4-footed companion, Nutmeg. The real Natasha, a 15-year-old Chartreux cat is napping beside me as I write this, and the grumpy granny cat Nutmeg crossed the Rainbow Bridge at the ripe old age of 18.
Meanwhile, my least-favorite is Qho Augren (though I admit to owning far too many harvesting cloaks and ponies!)
What is the most in-game currency you have ever spent on purchasing a single item for one of your characters?
Gah! I can remember spending wayyyy too much in EQ to buy a couple gifts for the hubbyogre back when we duoed there, but my memory fails to give me amounts. In EQ2, I probably spent close to 3000 plat for the pieces to make an experimented raid apprentice recipe weapon for my SK.
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?
My weighty rolling pin. I may not need the tradeskill xp buff on it at all these days, but what is Mum without her Rolling Pin of Doom? ;D
Describe your best experience from playing your favorite SOE Game?
With this many years invested in SOE games, there have been many noteworthy experiences. However, I'd have to say that the best was the Ribbitribbit event on EQ2's Guk server. Seeing so many people gather together on that server to make a safe virtual playground (and then stick around to make a ton of other neat stuff) for a terminally ill little boy was one of the most heartwarming and the most heartbreaking events. It makes me so very proud to be a part of the EQ2 community.
You really go above and beyond with your commitment to the EverQuest 2 fan site EQ2 Traders Corner. Tell us how you got started with the site's creation. Share your triumphs and challenges with us.
It all started with food, of course, as any proper halfling will tell you! I started the parent site, www.eqtraders.com at the launch of EQ because I really wanted to make sandwiches, batwing crunchies and other such goodies, and I was having a hard time finding all the supplies that I needed.
Once I found them all, of course, the former project manager in me made me organize things a bit, and the next thing that I knew the site had grown too large for my personal AOL homepage area.
It let me feel "useful" after I retired from my fulltime job by spending my time searching around for the crafting details and organizing them, so that those who had busier schedules in the real world could spend more of their time playing, and less time simply searching for information.
Fast forward several years to the EQ2 beta, and I discovered player housing and furniture. I went from "not another fansite, they're too draining" to "ok, I'll do it", with a bit of coaxing from the hubbyogre. And thus, eq2.eqtraders.com was born.
It is often hard to balance things when your "work" is also your "play" especially when you add chronic health issues to the mix, but the EQ2 community makes all the difference in the world. No matter how much I get burnt out during the heavier load around major EQ2 holidays/expansions and the like, I love what I do! The community feedback in-game and in the forums, the hug attacks at SOELive, the random warm fuzzies when I'm feeling down, the fabulous friends that I have made -- it all reminds me of why I keep doing what I am doing, year after year.
You folks. Give yourselves a hug. Ok, that's enough! Back to your regularly scheduled gaming - I have a preview story to write/publish!
We hope you enjoyed meeting this month’s SOE Gamer of the Month! If you know someone who you think has earned the title SOE Gamer of the Month, we’re looking for submissions! Let us know!
Meet all of the past SOE Gamers of the Month at this link.
