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Interview with TheBigZW
Q: Let's get things started here. Tell us about yourself. Reveal to us the
history and life of TheBigZW.
A: Well, I was born on May 7, 1981, which makes me the current age of "almost"
eighteen. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and still reside there, about 20 miles outside of the city. I have been
a student all of my life, no real jobs, although I have worked "here and there," a time or two, but not
for a big profit. I was a parking attendant throughout my freshman year in high school, and then at Christmas my
parents got me my first computer. At that moment all mental and physical concepts of "work" diminished
(I'm sure all of you are familiar with this phenomenon) and all I could do was sit and compute ;-) My current life
consists of a variety of items. Webmastering, of course, is a big part of my free time. I also love to hunt for
Whitetail deer, and have taken 2 record-class bucks over the last 3 years. I don't really like to participate in
sports, but I love to watch them (go UC!). I also am a heavy guitar player, and the guitar is probably the largest
factor that takes up my free time.
Q: How did you become interested in RPG's and Diablo II?
A: Role Playing games/Adventure Class games have always been my favorite
types. I love to "create" a character and live and breathe in an almost real world. I don't know why,
but these types of games really catch my attention. Diablo I, although its title of RPG is under debate, certainly
snagged my attention with its different style of gameplay. I bought it, installed it, played it (100% legit 4 life)
and loved it. I had learned to trust Blizzard as a provider of great PC games by playing Warcraft and such, so
I didn't hesitate to buy Diablo. When I was spending 23 hours on Battle.net awhile back, the very possibility of
actually playing a Diablo II in a few years literally made me so anxious that I could hardly sit still. So I decided
to learn HTML and webmastering techniques, hopefully to spend time waiting for DII's release and to prepare myself
for ultimately running some sort of quality Diablo II website.
Q: What other games do you play?
A: About 4 months ago I was a heavy Total Annihilation addict (Kudos to Cavedog,
Chris Taylor, and the whole development team). It is an awesome game, and really put my Pentium 120 to the test
;-) Currently, I play a game of Starcraft every day. I absolutely love that game. Along with RPGs, RTS's are also
my favorite type of games.
Q: What are you looking forward to most about Diablo II?
A: I have to be honest about this one. I am most looking forward to the anti-corruption
of Battle.net. If Blizzard can pull of the elimination of cheating in Diablo II (and I have absolute faith in them)
then I will be overwhelmed with relief and cheer. Sorry to all you cheaters out there, but a game that doesn't
come with cheats or cheat codes installed into the code isn't meant to be cheated in, or manipulated.
Q: Did you maintain any previous sites before DiabloII.com?
A: Yes. My second "one-quarter" experience in web sites can be
viewed at http://www.isoc.net/samadhi. The site is called Artificial Intelligence and is a Total Annihilation site.
It is almost two years old, so please take that into consideration before you view it. ;-) From A.I., I began work
on Wargrounds.com, and was there for about 9 months. The Wargrounds team went from 4 webmasters to just me in a
few weeks, but I did my best to keep the site in shape, and succeeded. It is also a Total Annihilation site, and
I believe it is about to close down, due to the lack of TA news and such.
Q: We know that you're the second webmaster of the site. How did you get
to DiabloII.com?
A: After a few months at Wargrounds, I realized that TA was in that "old,
dying" game state. So I decided to look around for hosting, and try to start a new site about an upcoming
game. I e-mailed probably over 25 gaming sites asking for hosting, and was accepted by many. The acceptances included
Gamepen, who offered I take over DiabloII.com because the previous webmaster had left. That was that, by the end
of that day I was webmastering DiabloII.com.
Q: What has been your most memorable moment so far as being a Diablo II webmaster?
A: I'm not sure I can part an actual "moment" from the whole. In
my 2.5 years as being a webmaster, it has all been memorable for me. The fact that I have my own place on the Internet
is enough to fill my memories until I die. The times I have been praised, attacked, flamed, begged, and interviewed
are all in my mind, and all add up to the best part of being a webmaster - the people you interact with. To tell
you the truth, the hits don't matter to me, nor does the popularity. I have a dedication to my viewers, no matter
their population, as well as the game I am reflecting.
Q: Which character class do you plan on playing first when you get Diablo
II and why?
A: The Barbarian of course! Ask anyone who has seen me in person, "TheBig"
in TheBigZW definitely is not the case ;-) I have carried the nickname of "Shorty" all through high school,
and so hopefully I can use the Barbarian as a means of rebirth into a more powerful sort of world. *laughing*
Q: What do you see as the greatest improvement in Diablo II from Diablo I?
A: The greatest improvement would have to be the skill tree. We are all not
sure of exactly how it works at the moment, but it is re-defining the whole game in terms of coding, as well as
balance, structure, and implementation. In summary, I think it is one of the items in the game that is causing,
or has caused Blizzard to "think" more than usual.
Q: Last question: What would you be if you could be anything you want?
A: I think it would be cool to be an atom. Yeah, so I'm kind of a space/science
geek, but think about it: You could be a part of every massive object on earth, including Bill Roper's brain. Then
you wouldn't have to sit here, like we are, and wonder about what Diablo II will be like ;-)
I hope that isn't too demented?!? =P
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