Interview [Issue 81] Meet the New Reporters!

[thethiefofvictory 339]

 

It's been some time, but at last the Newspaper has found two incredibly talented writers to continue the ancient monthly issue, and it's been longer time since new recruits were last interviewed. I'm here to continue that particular tradition of our beloved Newspaper and find out all about who our new reporters are. So, without further ado, let us begin!

 

---

 

kaisdf

One of Tanki's oldest current players, Kais is an experienced tanker and adept storyteller and guide, with a particular talent for writing truly wonderful descriptions of otherwise ordinary places. He's also had the management of the AWC Tournaments and the Tanki Discord server to his name, and he appears to be quite a gamer as well.



So, hello!

Firstly, would you please like to introduce yourself?

I don't have any experience with interviews, so this will prolly be nub but here goes nothing
Hi, I'm @kaisdf. I just turned 18 and I live in the UK. In Tanki, I am the newest EN Newspaper reporter, and also the Head Mod in the Tanki Discord Server.

You're Head Mod? That's a revelation! ...or I've simply never cared. Silly me, I know.
Anyways. How's your work going?

Irl work is starting to build up, as I am in my final year before (hopefully) heading to university. As for mod work, it is a pretty constant flow, but it extends to a: chatting to people, and b: reading stories, so it's all pretty enjoyable.

Well, good luck with university!

You seem very adept at descriptive stories as well as guides... erm, apologies I meant reviews. What do you intend to do for the news?

Thanks, but I need to get the grades to get to uni first.

I mainly wanted to be an AWS helper; my aim was to restart the AWC tournaments, after the first successful one I helped run. Now, I have undertaken the somewhat colossal task of updating the AWS archives, which has been somewhat slow progress. I plan to do a couple more kit reviews, and maybe a couple more descriptive pieces, then go from there.

Go from there? You mean... don't you tell me you intend to leave after that!

Who knows. To a certain extent it depends on the future. I have no plans to leave, but who knows what life will throw up. It is also a case of thinking of what sort of thing to write about, there are only so many kits I can test.

Or you could write theoretical stuff like I do. So, what inspired you to write the Coffee Shop?

I could try, but I feel that my stories are generally not very good. I don't really know, I just wanted to write a descriptive piece, and it seemed like a classic, clichéd enough location for me to try and describe.

Your stories aren't good? It appears our kais likes to underestimate his work.

Anyways, where did your nickname come from? Don't tell me it was random keyboard smashing, because it definitely does not seem so.

Sorry to disappoint you, but it was just random keyboard smashing :wacko:

Seriously?!

I wish I had some fantastic story, like it was a name passed down from father to son, generation to generation, but no. Random keyboard smashing :x

I've learnt from earlier chats that you play many other games, notably including Valve titles and Garry's Mod. Can you please tell me more about them and why you play them, how you play them, what you like about them, et cetera?

I discovered most of my games from random Youtube channels and friends. Hours upon hours of Sharky and Palp in GMod TTT (if you get the reference, you get the reference :x), and that sort of thing.

To be honest, I like most games, but my main genre would probably be fps. Most of my Steam hours are in CSGO or GMod, but that doesn't mean that they're the only games I play.

The most important factor in whether or not I like a game is the community. I have over 1,300 hours in an MMORPG because I found a clan with a load of people I like (and still talk to 7 years later :x)

FPS... I on the other hand almost exclusively play stealth, the Half-Life series being my only FPS proper. And I don't get the reference, I don't play GMod.

So, what do you think is a good story?

I played HL 2, wasn't really a fan of the jump scare/horror stuff (Ravenholme especially), but enjoyed it overall.

A good story? Oooh, you clearly like to ask the easy questions... I would say that anything can be a good story. The most important thing is to try and stop it from being too complex. I watched a film with a friend, and the whole film was setting up that one character was a double agent, with hints that another might be the double agent (as a killer twist), and then it went in a third, completely different, completely nonsensical direction. Basically, they chose a killer twist over a logical story, and the whole thing was chaos.

TL;DR Make sure the writer isn't me
easy questions eh? Let me see what I can come up with.. Where do you think my nickname came from? Anything that isn't the correct answer gets zero points no matter how hilarious.

Thief is, I'm guessing, a reference to the classic Thief games (editor note: spoiler warning for the Thief games. Click on the links at your own risk.) 

@Penguin40, idk, you like penguins? 

Peace could come from anywhere :x 

But your real name? (editor note: it's pinky. Weird, I know. Unlike @Magenta, it wasn't intended.) That came from @Tofu. Am I right there, pinky?

Well, well! Either a case of good memory or good videogame knowledge. Good job there! Next question, now let me think a bit about this...

waiting.... (proofreader kaisdf's note: There was about a 9 hour pause between "Next question" and the actual question)

 

:lol:
Last question here, and apologies for the inconvenient delay. So, you're one of the oldest active players in Tanki. Would you like to enlighten us with your experience of those days?

Ah, the "good old days". Except most people saying that claim that Tanki was best in 2013/2014 and think that they are old players for playing then. I have played since mid-2011, and will freely say that I think Tanki was better before the Rebalance. If you want a full trip down memory lane, you can check out my first AWS piece on the matter: Six Years of Tanki - My Story (#ShamelessAd all the way :3)

a day later

AMA mult.. 

Interview finished! Thanks a lot for this!
 

No more questions? Oki, bye then. 

 

Hippin_in_Hawaii

 

Hippin has been dominating the AWS for the last year with his wonderful Tankiverse series, which is unquestionably the best series we've ever seen that's set in Tanki. After earning considerable praise by reporters and the public alike, he has received the well-deserved invitation to the reporter team. 



So, hello sir!
Let us begin with the obvious question: can you please introduce yourself?

 

Aloha!
I'm @Hippin_in_Hawaii. My name comes from a certain fumble-fingered-ness... I meant it to be Hippie_In_Hawaii.

Interesting accident... so, since last year I believe you've been a notable figure in the AWS with your stellar Tankiverse series, and recently with Molly's. So tell me, how'd you start writing, and where do you get that talent from?

I've been an avid reader since I was tiny. In early grade school, I demonstrated to the librarian that I could read and understand blue-dot books. These were books that were reserved for older kids, 7th and 8th graders, but I was allowed to read them starting in the 3rd grade. I devour sci-fi and fantasy mostly. With all of those millions of words, thousands of stories by hundreds of authors crammed inside my skull, it's no real wonder some of it leaks out.

Sci-fi and fantasy, hmm. Interesting preferences indeed. Wait, 7th/8th grade books at 3rd grade? Wow...  
Anyways, what do you feel is a good story?

 

That's a challenging question to answer. I guess, first and foremost, I have to care about what's happening. If that's lacking, no amount of craftsmanship alone will keep me invested. As far as style and language, I delight in it all. Simple sentences with common words are the hallmarks of some very enjoyable authors, like King and Vonnegut. Complex narratives with byzantine twists and esoteric vocabulary also titillate me, like Donaldson or Friedman. A friend once compared a half-finished novel of mine to Heinlein, which was high praise indeed!

You told me elsewhere that you're a video producer, or teacher in that field. Can you explain more about your work?

I am a professor at a small private university, where I teach video production. My undergraduate training was in Radio/Television/Film, and my graduate training in Communication. I worked professionally doing television for cable companies and advertising agencies before landing in education. For fun, I volunteer on indie films, and am active in the local filmmaking community.

Filmmaking? Television? That's interesting...

I think so! I started college in Computer Science, but got bored after the 3rd year.
R/TV/F was a lovely departure.

So, about your articles, recently you said you couldn't stand monthly releases, you had to release stories more frequently. So what do you intend to do for the news?

When I was approached about becoming a Reporter, I made sure that doing so wouldn't interfere with my weekly releases in the AWS. I may also have promised to come up with distinct content for the Newspaper. I've got a few weeks yet for inspiration to strike, but I do want to keep it in the Tankiverse.

More tankiverse? I'll be waiting eagerly!
What do you think of recent newspaper and AWS interviews? You said over at the Discord chat that they seemed like failed Monty Python stints. No idea what that means...

Monty Python's Flying Circus was a sketch comedy show from the BBC in the early 1970s. They were so popular, they went on to make three movies, each of which is hilarious. And most recently, they premiered a Broadway musical which has been running in major cities, on tour, and internationally since it debuted in 2005. Stunningly funny stuff... or is it?

Or is it sounds suspicious for sure...

People remember their favorite sketches from the original series. The Cheese Shop, the Dead Parrot, Spam... these things are comedy genius, and make me laugh until I almost pass out. But for every diamond, there are over a dozen failures. Things that aren't even amusing. Merely painful, even if you can see what they had in mind. Saturday Night Live, South Park, Family Guy... all the same. They're not mostly funny, not necessarily even consistently funny. But when they get it right, they get it so right that the show continues based on those gems. The interviews here, at least since I've been around, seem like that. Lots of attempts at wit; lots of not-terribly-memorable content. Part of that, to be fair, is my lack of familiarity with the people involved and their histories. I'm still something of an outsider. It may well be that I'm missing some jolly good humor!

Isn't that what interviews are for, familiarity with the people involved and their histories? Anyways, let me claim to be a tourist planning to visit Hawaii. Can you tell me how life is, there? And can you guide me there?

Hawaii is a pretty amazing place, if you can afford to live here. It is consistently ranked one of the three most expensive places to live in the US. But the climate is favorable year-round, so much so that most houses do not have any form of central climate control. We live with our windows open, and maybe one window A/C that gets used four or five times a year. With so many different cultures calling it home, there's never a shortage of interesting things to do, places to explore, or food to try. The traffic is horrible, the water and air are clean.

Traffic is horrible? It's expensive? pass
Final question - do you actually play Tanki, or any game for that matter? Or do you just write stories? 

I play Tanki every now and again. Honestly, had I not discovered the AWS, I would have moved on by now. What little joy I used to get out of the game has been systematically removed by subsequent changes. So I play a game a week, maybe less, just to stay "active," whatever that means. I do enjoy playing games, and when I find one I really like, I plunge into it. I can lose weeks enjoying a new game! That being the case, I don't let myself do so very often.
 

Well, don't change that, we don't want that to potentially hinder your writing. And thank you for the interview!

 

 

 

So there we have it, two excellent writers interviewed and gotten to know better, and who will very likely be seen writing articles of their incredible caliber for our Newspaper in the upcoming months. Good luck! 

 

[thethiefofvictory 339]

Ravenholm wasn't so jump-horror as it was incredibly creepy, especially that priest. I don't recall being jumped, but of course it kept me scared. I was glad to finally see the Combine :lol:

 

Isn't it Ravenholm though, nor Ravenholme?! All right, you haven't touched that game in a long time probably, so forgiven.

 

Also it was 17 minutes, not "9 hours". Thanks for the interviews though, you two!

[Musa 5,352]

Congrats for becoming reporter guys.

 

@Hippin_in_Hawaii you can get "Lowest rank staff member ever" record in Tanki World Records (if this isn't your small alt account).

[Person_Random 4,991]

ok cg ppl

[Magenta 5,165]

Good job @pinky.

[Destrod 2,634]

kaisdf to me is my most close and in-touch person in the game, he's a very good storyteller and I have a hunch he's good at kit reviews and historical articles as well if he puts his mind into it. He's a very adept discord moderator, of whom I have the pleasure of working under. 

Hippin is a revolutionary fictional writer, no offense to the others who have come in the past, but I feel he is perhaps one of the best, if not best. During my mult riddled days as an AWC helper, I used to love reading his pieces, I actually remember delaying reading them because I would consider it disrespectful to read his 'fanfics' without sipping coffee. Expecting amazing stuff from him.

[Quarks 2,255]

"Are there any items on the menu that don't have spam?"

"No, but you could try just the spam, it has less spam than the Spam Spam salad Spam"

 

I really hope I'm remembering that correctly, but you get the point.

[thethiefofvictory 339]

"Are there any items on the menu that don't have spam?"

"No, but you could try just the spam, it has less spam than the Spam Spam salad Spam"

 

I really hope I'm remembering that correctly, but you get the point.

Criticism noted, will keep that in mind!

[LyT 222]

Congratulations @Hippin_in_Hawaii

Edited November 4, 2018 by S.M.S.M