[Interview] DarkOperative

[TriNitroToIuene 4,765]

*In imitation of Semyon* Helloooo tankers! In tooday's interview, I eenterview someone whom all the forum users (and violators) are fameeliar with! Please give a big round for - *drumroll* @DarkOperative !

 

*Finishes imitation* As you all know, Darky is a forum mod (and a long lost friend of mine). It's a great honour to gain insight into his life!

 

Legends - 

 

White - TriNitroToluene

Grey - DarkOperative

 

So let's start!

 

Hello, there, DarkOperative! Long time no see, you sure are into your mod duties! Thanks a lot for consenting to this interview, it means a lot to have you here with us. So first of all, let's get you acquainted with our audience! What can we call you? Tell us about yourself and your background!

 

Hello, Praty.   :)

My real name is Mohammed Amman. I reside in Jidda, KSA. I am currently studying in the field of Botany, Biology. I come from a Pakistani-Saudi origin. 

 

 

Hi, Mohammed! It's nice to be speaking to you after such a long time. It's always nice to know that there are other people, real people in Tanki Online. So, I'm presuming that you're really into plants! For all you know, I might be looking at a Nobel Prize for Physiology winner and be like "Yep, I know him"..... the possibilities! Anyway, now that we're acquainted, tell us about your journey in Tanki Online - from the dazzled recruit to the dazzling forum mod!

 

Haha. I appreciate it   :)

 

I was introduced to TO by my brother(rroller321321). He first saw it in an advertisement in the previous game I and he used to play. He tried it out and really liked it. I was quite attached to my previous game and couldn't convince myself to leave it and try TO. At first I denied but gradually tried it. It was quite nice. I liked the perspective-change which occurs while you're respawning, liked the way the bushes stared at me. I got attracted to TO and started leaving the other game. Now I've completely left the other game and can't convince myself to play a different one, other than TO.    :lol:

 

My first account was TheLastTheUltimate which I lost(couldn't remember, nor find, the password TO generated for me). Then I created another which was lost due to the same reason as well. Finally I decided to use DarkOperative as my account and keep it as my main account and try my best not to lose it's password. I ranked up from Recruit to Private in my first day, it was a Fort Knox battle - it was rather popular in the past, I couldn't find a different map to play. I was glad to know that I could chat now and tried to make friends - which I did.

 

Once I got to W.O.3, I was introduced to the forum by a fellow friend of mine. He wanted to start a clan(Death Angels) and asked if I could join it. At the time I had no knowledge about clans and said yes. Was quite excited about it of course.

 

After that I started surfing the forum, finding discussion topics and joining the discussions which were going on. After spending a year in the forum, I got well experienced with everything that goes in TO forum and had good knowledge about the game as well. So I decided to apply for forum mod as I liked the forum quite a lot! I saw that the forum moderators were in minority(there were 4-6 moderators among which most were inactive/on vacation). I was accepted on my second application by yele. That's my journey from a noob W.O.3 to a forum moderator.   :P

 

*Switches on broadcast to announce to the public* So that, folks, is another story of how Tanki Online cheated yet another MMO game of a player! And you're botanomaniac, that has got to be the first time I've heard someone saying that they like bushes staring at them. DA... DA... those nostalgic times. And you're yet another mod who's been accepted in his second go! Moving on, I'm sure you'd have had a lot of experience in the game by now, completing the full cycle. What are the combos you utilize the most, including paints? What are your favourite maps and game modes? Do you like parkour, or have purchased any kits? Tell us about your in-game preferences.

 

I'm sure many players know I'm a XP maniac. I use XP combo the most with some paints the administration gave me. Once I finally decide to go and play other game modes, I use Thunder/Viking/Prodigi often. Sometimes I use Titan/Railgun/Emerald to snipe players in certain maps. It's quite fun to use that.

 

I personally like Parma the most. It's a great map to practise your skills and enhance them. I play there often and train myself. Feels great to know that you've destroyed a tank which is well distant from you.   :)

 

As for game modes, I like CTF & DM. I used to play TDMs a lot when I was a low-ranked player and was quite fun to play that. Now TDM mode is almost completely dead and I can't find a suitable TDM battle for my rank.

 

I'm not a fan of parkour sadly. I've tried doing parkour but I don't find it much interesting. Maybe that's why I fail at parkour!   :D

 

I have purchased one kit throughout my TO career - Light M3(Railgun/Hornet M3 with Needle paint). It cost me 300K crystals but was 100% worth it. I bought it at Brigaider rank. As for drug kits, I've bought plenty 100 drugs kits and several 1.3-1.5K drugs kits. 

 

 

Oho, so we have a budding StarSeries player among us! Your favourite combo is an SLTV combo, your favourite map is an SLTV map.... I'm sure you don't want me to tell anyone that you used to equip nub Mammoth+Ricochet in your W.O.3 days.... OH NO! My tongue slipped!

Progress Report - Terrible memory for passwords, bad aptitude for parkour, SLTV enthusiast and drugger!

Now for the next question - tell us about your experience in your clan/team DA. Of course, I was there too, but only a future member while you caught all the action. How was your clan experience? Did you ever join another clan after DA? If so, please elaborate with your experience.

 

Well, as soon as I was given the link to the clan topic, I confirmed my membership and started 'chatting' on the page. Also tried editing the clan page by quoting it, thinking it would edit the main page, but nothing worked. I spent a good amount of time in DA. Played a lot of battles together, passed many ranks as a DA member. Finally, the clan leader at the time(saad8888) decided he needs help with clan leadership and asked me if I could help him out. I said yes without a doubt.

 

After spending many months playing together, the clan leader decided to close the clan since he was getting buiser in real life. Due to the clan rules at the time, I couldn't takeover the clan leadership and it was given to joebean97 as he had the required rank for clan-leadership. 

 

It was a great experience even then. But sadly though the clan had to be closed since some of us didn't really get along that well. 

 

After that comes TAF - Tactical Armed Force. I lead that clan for a good amount of time. There are still amazing players there. The clan is still like a family to me. I had to leave the clan after becoming a forum moderator as I had several tasks to take care of and couldn't lead the clan properly. I passed my leadership to doughnut2100 whom has done a tremendous job leading the clan and keeping it alive up to this day. I have no idea how to thank him.

 

Once I found some time off the forum, I joined and left TAF several times. Couldn't be sure if I could stay or not.

 

After being away from my clan-life for several months I joined KO - Knock Out, lead by UnKnown_AngeLz & LoVe_YoU-BaBy. The clan didn't spend much time as well sadly, mainly due to the issues we had running as a team. We weren't able to accomplish that.

 

Another several months spent without a clan and I became pals with Arabiannoble. It's all humorous discussions between me & him.   :lol: When he created the clan Facepalm, he asked me if I could join it. Being a good pal of his, I did not hesitate to say yes. FC lasted a good amount of time luckily. It did shut down a bit in the middle of it's stay but was back again. Sadly it was recently shut down as well. However though, this time the clan members & I are more than prepared to start over a new clan and keep our hopes and motivation high and get that Gladiator paint for once! Pretty much every clan's dream.   :)

 

 

You have a long history with DA..... but wait! Saad is a Commander! And he said he didn't have time for Tanki.... sad. Now, I'm getting to a part which I'm sure you'll be very eager to answer - tell us about your routine as a forum mod! Does it involve banning many players a day (kidding), or closing topics only? Or is there a more complex ritual behind that avatar?

 

Well. Routine as a forum mod. Hmm. There is one thing for sure - communication. Loads of discussions go on in our chat everyday. Sometimes about the forum; topics, sections, players, and sometimes about Pokemon! No, really, there are other discussions there as well. Not necessarily all surrounding TO forum.

 

I log in to the forum, check the reports(if any). Once the reports are dealt with, I visit the clans section and approve/disapprove clan topics. After that, I visit eSports discussion and see if there are some questions I may be able to answer.

 

After the eSports section I visit various sections and areas of the forum. Some are hidden for players, most are not. It's quite fun to take part in Forum games, looking at creative art, joining off-topic discussions etc. Before all that comes helping players and solving whatever issue they are facing. It normally surrounds Problems & Solutions section & Questions & Answers topic. We also keep an eye on What to buy-What to choose topic alongside the whole Gameplay section. Then comes Ideas & Suggestions where many moderators review ideas and give their opinions on them. Hide topics which do not meet section requirements, move Ideas & Suggestions topic which are not in designated section of the forum etc.

 

It's just basic moderation honestly. Nothing special about that.

 

As for banning players - we only ban those players whom violate rules. We normally do not ban for small reasons but sure will if it is necessary. We do not wish to ban players often. Most of us try to avoid banning players and edit posts and making them clear and good to go.   ;)

 

 

Man, a job like that sure needs dedication! You really need to keep your eyes open for everything! And you just hit upon my next point - the Facebook and Clan Mod positions. When did you apply for these? Are they any different from the forum mod status?

 

I first applied for FB moderators due to the same reason; small number of moderators, huge work load. As soon as I became one, I saw that there was a lot of things to do. The small number of moderators couldn't bare it all on their own, so I helped share the load alongside many other new candidates whom came after me.   :)

 

I've been a fan of clans since my first ever experience with clans/teams. I was visiting Clans section primarily in the start, before DA was closed or at the stage of getting closed. I spent a lot of my time on the forum searching through clans, managing clan wars, allied clans(discussions mainly), looking at other new clans etc. I became a great enthusiast of clans and enjoyed being in the "Teams" section often. I didn't apply for clan moderator position before forum moderator one however. After DA getting closed, I went out of the "Cyber Sports" section and surfed the rest of the forum, as I said before. And after some time became a forum moderator. After spending a good amount of time as a forum moderator, I got in contact with SuperNick95 who was the CS Administrator at the time. We had discussions sometimes. In one of the discussions, I was asked if I could help eSports News feed - general proofreading, correcting grammar mistakes, giving reviews and stuff like that. It was a 'non-job job' but was a great experience. After a three weeks, Supernick was told by Semyon to hire a different person for that position. Since I am not American, and Semyon wanted someone whom can speak English with eloquence, Nick offered me Commentator position instead of eSports News Feed editor. I said I'll think about but didn't forward an application, was not quite ready.

 

Then, after several months, I got back in clans and started visiting clans section more often. I applied for eSports official previous month, June, after speaking with D_S if I can help him out with the eSports section. That's how I got into eSports moderator position.   :)

 

 

Nice.... you sure are a helpful person! And goodbye Supernick, we'll miss you! Now that's the Tanki bit done, so let's get onto your hobbies. What do you like to do when you're bored of Tanki? (Not that that'll happen anytime soon).

 

We're half way there?   :o

 

Well, I like to play football a lot and I normally play football when I'm bored of TO or just find some free time.   :)

 

Other than that, I love food a lot.   :lol:

 

 

Cool.... you must be having some footballish ambitions, or what? Aand you're a foodie. Brilliant! Another one! Let me tick you in my list *ticks off the second name, his being the first*. Now, we're staring at the end of the interview. Lastly, please share some advice for aspiring tankers and moderators out there so that they may take you as an inspiration and follow your footsteps!

 

Do not take this game too seriously. Give more time to your life than to a game in a virtual world. Your real life matters significantly more than a game. 

 

Try to be helpful to others. Help players with their questions, issues, problems and/or suggestions. Try making friends instead of enemies, group together, play together. Most importantly, have fun!  :)

 

 

*Switches on public broadcast* Do you hear that, addicts? That's Darky telling you to take real life seriously and have fun! Thanks a bundle, Dark, for that interview. Thank you so much for providing your valuable time as well as insight into the life of a staff member. Hope you enjoyed giving it as much as I did conducting it. Till next time, this is praty, saying goodbye for the moment! Have a good day!

 

It was my pleasure, Praty.   :) Thank you for the interview and great humour.   :lol:

 

***

 

So that's it from this interview, folks. Give a big like if you, er, like it and thanks a lot Darky for your time!

[beaku 2,656]

I just went through it perfunctorarily. Looks great, though. Good job.

[Ambitious 2,084]

Woah, good job.

[l.Godmode_0N 636]

gud interview ...one of the best .... :)

Edited July 25, 2015 by l.Godmode_0N

[Darren4Turbo 4,913]

Great interview  ^_^.

[GoldRock 6,165]

Excellent interview... Top-quality stuff. Really enjoyed reading it!

[TriNitroToIuene 4,765]

^Thanks to all of you <3 You made my day.

[dilsharox 2,395]

nice

[Bydo 20,162]

amazing job not like others who [put`s you to sleep in the early part yours was interesting to say the less it kept you wanting more and still want more even after its done with ..keep up the awesome work

 

 

and darky good job ..i have been in your shoes a few time in interviews and its not easy ..you did good be proud of it !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

:D :D :D :D :D :D

[TriNitroToIuene 4,765]

amazing job not like others who [put`s you to sleep in the early part yours was interesting to say the less it kept you wanting more and still want more even after its done with ..keep up the awesome work

 

 

and darky good job ..i have been in your shoes a few time in interviews and its not easy ..you did good be proud of it !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

:D :D :D :D :D :D

Yep, he gave WAY cooler answers than @mcmonkey25 (I interviewed him too) And no offence, mcmonkey, your replies were awesome too! Just that Darky gave replies worthy of reporter (considered it Dark?)

[drazeruzumaki 5,021]

awesome interview. ur just creating awesome topics TNT

[Deliquescence 557]

I would just say one word 

Perfect :D

[crackgold2 399]

godd to see a inteview which isnt sheet

[TriNitroToIuene 4,765]

godd to see a inteview which isnt sheet

Thanks

[1stsuperwhitedragon 408]

*cough* Nice interview *cough*

 

I was coughing and laughing because of the imitation :lol:

[DarkOperative 5,580]

[momy950666 960]

like it

[doughnut2100 763]

Great interview! Fanatastic choice to interview Darky. :wub:

Thanks for the mentions bruh. You know I cherish our old memories of my first and only two clans too. :)

[Snow.exe 48]

Great interview dude...

really fantastic!!

[The.Skilled.Legend 1,459]

Nice Interview!!!

 

I went to DA after Parkour Crazies 

[r_JK140 46]

Great!