EV Heritage: Founding Member's Spotlight

Here is my interview with one of our founding members, Raiyn!

Zark: For the record, please state your dating metrics, as much as you feel comfortable doing so.

(Those sort of basic things a dating site would ask you about, age, height, weight, martial status, etc...)

Raiyn: I see, well I'm 21 years old, from Canada, I'm single, and I'm a university student studying history. Is that good?

Zark: Yup. What made you decide on history as a focus of study?

Raiyn: hmm.. well I've always enjoyed history and politics, but I actually started at the University of Waterloo for computer science (UW is the MIT of Canada). My dad has worked with computers for his entire life, so I've grown up knowing them, and I was always "better" at math than english. But in first year I realized that I don't enjoy it as much as I do history, so in my second semester I took two histories, a geography course, psych 101, and a philosophy course. I like the history courses the most and continued from there.

Zark: What do you hope to do after you graduate?

Raiyn: well I was recently accepted into the CF Army Reserves, and I'm thinking that I may make it into a full time career, but I'm also planning to get a government job hopefully with the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police eventually or get another degree.

Zark: If you pursued a second degree or a master's what do you expect it would be in?

Raiyn: hmm.. there are many degrees that I would like to get, but most likely, either Criminology, Business or Communications or a master's in War studies at RMC or National Security; but don't think I'm in the right frame of mind to get a masters right now.

Zark: How so?

Raiyn: I want to get some experience in the real world, so to speak. I think going to school is good experience, but having concrete knowledge of how things work, instead of just studying them in a book is beneficial

Zark: You mentioned earlier that you're are single, no lucky lady on the horizon?

Raiyn: ahem well, actually as many people who were on xfire yesterday know, I was pretty smitten after meeting a certain lady yesterday who is quite the gal. So I hope to pursue that avenue in the coming weeks. How about you? j/k

Zark: Ahem, let's stick to about you Mr. Raiyn.

You have a brother who's known as Doran around EV who is also from Canada and a founding member of EV, correct?

Raiyn: Unfortunately, j/k, yes that is correct.

Zark: You need hide nothing here Mr. Raiyn, but I will strike that comment from the interview log. Cheesy

Raiyn: oh no you can leave it in.

Zark: What's your relationship like with him, I understand he's been in the states for sometime due to a relationship with another EV member, Mandy...err...Arianna.

Raiyn: Well he hasn't been in the states. He has gone periodically to visit for a couple weeks at a time. But our relationship is good, we've always got along pretty well. He's only a year and a half older than myself, so we've always enjoyed the same things, around the same time. We are more distant now because I'm living away from home, but when I'm back there it's as if nothing's changed.

Zark: Ah, was mistaken than, havn't talked to him in awhile, so I wasn't sure.

Raiyn: Yeah, he's been pretty busy, but I keep bugging him to come back, which he was planning to do at the beginning of the month but he had his wisdom teeth out, and has been all drugged up for a week and a bit.

Zark: Ah yes, I do remember about that in the xfire chat a few days ago. Have you both always played games in the same guild(s), or had/has that been something unique to TG and then EV?

Raiyn: Pretty much. We always played video games together since SNES, it's probably one of the reasons we're so close. I actually was one of the first few members to join TG actually, after hearing about SWG, I discovered them on the Official Forums. I subsequently got my brother to join. Those are they only two guilds I've been apart of really. We actually worked with a guild in planetside for a couple weeks, but never really joined them outright.

Zark: Are there any early memories of fellow founding members that stand out to you from your days in TG together?

Raiyn: hmm.. well I remember long nights of IRC chats, and random trout slapping emotes (and other various objects, including volvos). It's hard to recall specific memories, at least ones that were with EV founders. I remember playing Americas Army quite a lot when it came out, and that really helped us bond as a guild. I remember being good friends with Nik, and going on some missions with various people in SWG, with Cordo at the helm, some times Tal'dras (who's not the same as Talic/Tal O'tis that we know) We had a pretty good RP going for a while too.

Zark: What are your memories of the founding EV members split from TG?

Raiyn: well, we were all quite dissatisfied with the leadership of TG. I had a unique perspective because I wasn't really involved at the higher levels, compared to say Cordo, Wag, Nik, and my brother. I was also dropping in activity levels because of my focus with school and other things in life. I guess I got tired of SWG and what it had become. Nevertheless there were some personal insults that were unleashed upon some of the founders from the TG leadership. They decided that they had enough, and these people were my friends, so they were ineffect insulting me indirectly, or at least I felt offended. So EV was created to insure that something like that never happened again.

Zark: I see, so did you have much of a hand in the early debates about the starting structure of EV?

Raiyn: No, well, not that I remember. And more so in debates with my brother in RL. So if anything, maybe indirectly. I guess you could say I was a supporter more that a creator, but a stand needed to be taken.

Zark: Do you remember any particular issues of hot debate, that you had discussed with your brother?

Raiyn: oh man.. not really, I'll trying to think of something specific, but nothing's going to me. I just remember the atmosphere/attitudes.

Zark: No problem, what was the early atmosphere/attitudes like than?

Raiyn: Anger, betrayal. We had been with these people for 3ish years, and now they just shit on these people that pretty much were carrying the guild (there we others but)... I think there was also a sense of determination that has stuck with EV from the beginning and allowed us to overcome certain pitfalls that have arisen. Openess is also something that I think was there from the beginning that has also continued. Part of what makes EV so great is that we have an openess between all members, if there are problems we want them addressed, rather than just dismissed from the top. EV was hardly perfect from the beginning mind you.

Zark: Anything else you can think of and/or would like to add about the Founding?

Raiyn: hmm.. Well I definitely wish I stayed around for longer than I did, and wish I was more involved. I think Looking back on it now that it was definitely the right thing to do. I wish more people came to join us from TG. That's about it.

What has the rest of your experience with EV been like over it's history?

Raiyn: Well as I said my activity started to drop off at the time of the founding, I stayed on for a couple of months, posting periodically (I'm not a spam poster like Saac, anyway ), I remember making a crappy wallpaper which I can pull up if you want. After a while I just stopped coming on the forums at all. Though I still stayed connected through my brother. My brother never left, so he would always tell me things that were going on, and I actually played some CSS, and maybe even DoD, and TF2 with some of the EV members under my bro's name. It also didn't help that I had no money and my computer was getting out dated.

Zark: Any specific memories that stand out to you in that time-frame?

Raiyn: uh, hmm.. again I have a terrible memory for things like that, I remember feelings, and atmosphere rather than numbers and specifics. Like I remember that I played with some of the people in EV, and that some at least were Brits, probably Petan and others, not exactly sure, maybe f0rGe/Ave, I know that forge and my brother connected well, and I remember that there were some troubling events that shook EV pretty good, but the ship never capsized.

Zark: Alright, may be asking for further memory troubles with this one, hehe, but what's your foundest and worst memory in related to EV?

Raiyn: Well, by foundest I think you mean fondest? And I'm very fond of many things lately, I think we're in a very good position, but nothing beats coming on the the site for the first time after it was created.

Zark: Yes, yes I do, lol.

Raiyn: worst memory, hmm.. I wasn't really present for the shake ups that happened, but I experienced them through my brother, and he was upset, maybe even mad at himself (I know he was MC for a time during some of the troubles) but I don't know specifics. On a more recent note, I was pretty shocked when Jack/Black, and his crew decided to leave, it was probably the biggest shock that we've had in a while. But I always feel quite good when I'm hanging out with EV members.

Zark: Anything in general that you'd like to add?

Raiyn: well, I thoroughly enjoy being apart of EV. Sorry that my memory sucks, I'm sure my bro and Cordo will be able to tell you more of the technical details of the creation of EV and why we spit in the first place. I think we're in a good place right now. Hopefully with SW:TOR, STO, and new games that come out our community will grow that much larger, encompassing more personalities from around the world.

Zark: That's alright, it's nice to get the perspective of somebody who wasn't "in the trenches" as it were. To end, for our kiddies who want to be like you someday, give us your favorite color, animal, and sport.

Raiyn: hmm.. well for Colour (with a u) would be silver, but if you don't count that as a colour, than I would have to say Green. For animal, hmm.. I would say either a falcon, or a mountain lion; and sport, hockey for sure.

Thanks to Raiyn for the interview and thanks to you for reading!