Question: Where in the real life world do you live (city and state)?
Answer:*Arlington County, Virginia, USA
Question: What SOE game(s) do you play?
Answer:*EverQuest II
Question: How long have you played the above game(s)?
Answer:*Since 2005
Question: What other games do you play?
Answer:*Formerly Star Wars Galaxies and Vanguard (Since 2003)
Question: Why would you like to be the SOE Gamer of the Month?
Answer:*It’s an opportunity to draw attention to the largely positive community that surrounds MMORPGs. There are remarkable opportunities for learning, socialization, connection, and over-distance relationship building cited in emergent research like that of James Paul Gee. I’ve used gaming with great success over the years. Immersing students in a somewhat-sterilized Normandy landing environment in “Medal of Honor” set the stage with effectiveness for a group of students preparing to meet with a WW2 veteran survivor of Omaha Beach. I taught a Government 12 unit with amazing results by assigning students roles in a pretend Executive Branch, and having them manage a challenging SimCity 4 city. Rather than distractions or simple rewards, games and simulations can and must be used to help students develop important critical thinking skills, content mastery, and wider relevant connections in our globalized marketplace. I believe that someone who works professionally as a teacher, a professional developer, and a policy leader in successful public schools who is also a hardcore gamer who believes in community service, need before greed, and modeling high standards of personal conduct consistent with the SOE Play Nice Policies would be “good for business” by drawing the spotlight to cutting-edge practices. I’ve seen attitudes and behaviors change thanks to membership in our guild, which maintains high standards and expectations for everyone. We’re not a raid force; we’re a consistent force for positive collaboration in the gaming community, and seek constantly to bring good people together to cooperate and achieve in our favorite hobby! I try to lead by example in-game and out.
You can learn more about my work at my professional portfolio website, KDReeves.com.
Question: What do you do for a living?
Answer:*I’m an Instructional Technologist in the northern Virginia public schools. My job is to collaborate with other classroom teachers to design, develop, and deliver the very best quality instruction, integrating technology and progressive 21st century teaching and learning skills to ensure every kid reaches his or her full potential. It’s a forward-thinking job, and I love the impact I can have on thousands of kids a year.
Question: How many hours a week do you play video games
Answer:*It varies tremendously depending on my day job. My family says I “define myself through my work,” and that I’m a “workaholic,” but EQ2 is one of my primary hobbies. But on average, I get to game about two or three hours a day about five days a week, so I’d say ten to fifteen on average. (With DoV, it’s been a bit more lately!)
*Question: Tell us about your character(s).
Answer:*I’m a “one toon wonder.” You can learn more about Sesketh (who friends call Sesky) on the EQ2i wiki entry here:
http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/User:Sesketh. I’ve written her bio in detail there!
Question: How did you get into gaming?
Answer:*I grew up with a computer when many kids didn’t have one, and I consider myself lucky that Mom and Dad thought enough to get one. My first PC was a Zenith Data Systems i286. Talk about “back in the day!” Enter Carmen Sandiego, and that was it: I was a gamer! My first true MMORPG was
Star Wars Galaxies. After the NGE I made the switch to EQ2, and never looked back. I’ve tried Vanguard, WoW, even Rift… and I’m happy with EQ2. I think SOE made some really good strategic decisions with Destiny of Velious that it’d missed the mark on with Shadow Odyssey and Sentinel’s Fate. Good content in both, but the general player base is more important than the very small, very powerful raid base. So far, I find DoV very accessible, and at the end of the day for me gaming is about fun. I like to accomplish things in a sequence, to unlock puzzles, to read immersive storylines, to be taken on a journey that’s relevant to my experiences… just like my students do! Gaming gives me the best bang for the buck of any $15 a person can spend in a month. Think about it: even on a tough week, that’s 10 hours a week, 40 a month! That’s under $3 an hour for my favorite fun thing to do! Talk about value… keeps me coming back!
Besides, now that I’ve got a griffon I can ride as of yesterday… Iksar can FLY. Wrap your head around that for a second… A legion of flying chiksars? Yeah, Norrath is in for fun times ahead.
Question: What other hobbies or activities do you take part in, other than playing video games?
Answer:*I spent the beginning of my career as a band director, so I’m still actively involved in composing music for bands, adjudicating student performances, and staying involved in the music community. Genealogy is another major interest, as I love my family tremendously and am fascinated by “lore” both in-game and out. My wife Kate and I dine out quite a lot, as we really enjoy exploring the cuisine of other cultures and spending time with friends around the table. We love to play board and card games as well, especially with my two brothers. (My brother Jeffery is also huge into antique games like original Ataris and 8-bit systems.) I have an antique motorcycle that I tool around on as well, which is nice for spring and summer!
Question: What do you like the most about your favorite SOE game?
Answer:*I love to work together with a few of my The Fallen Legion guildies and solve puzzles, strategically work our way through a zone, and get that sense of achievement at the end, hopefully alongside a few new friends made along the way. It’s tremendous fun to go through exciting storylines and experience the adventures of Norrath together.
Question: What’s the first thing you do when you log into your game? Do you have a routine?
Answer:*As a guild leader, I always check the Events tab, check in with everyone online, and read my mail. I take my role as head of our leadership council very seriously, and I believe our guildies know they can always bring suggestions and innovative ideas to the table. If anyone needs anything adventure-wise, or anything crafted, I’ll always do for the guildies before I do for myself. It’s a principle that almost all of us share, and that cooperative spirit makes Norrath a really enjoyable place to spend time for us. After that, it’s generally on to questing, and depending on how many people are on, if nothing is cooking, we’ll see who wants to do what, and go from there. I try never to delete a quest… so there’s always something to do! (Man I’d like to get Splitpaw out of my journal some day, but it’s tough to get people for that last raid…)
Question: Let’s talk favorites… What is your favorite item? (Is there one you no longer use but keep around for nostalgic reasons?) What is your favorite zone? What is your favorite NPC? Do you have a favorite in-game memory?
Answer:*
Item: While it’s not mine, I’d say Tarasque, our guild hall baby dragon. He’s an institution!
Zone: Tough one, but I’ll go with Chrykori Island for its excellent opening progression, art, and voiceover, though Forgotten Pool is gorgeous in the new expansion.
NPC: Even tougher! So many great characters…I liked Jin’Tu a lot! Good guy. Er, panda.
In-Game Memory: My first run-in with The Fallen Legion in Fallen Gate in early 2005. I’ll never forget how welcoming, cooperative, and helpful they were to a toon they’d never met. I eventually joined, worked my way up, and eventually became leader of that very group, and have never forgotten that first feeling and my desire to help others feel the same!
Question: What is the most in-game currency you have ever spent on purchasing a single item for one of your characters?
Answer:*I’m a notorious spendthrift when it comes to big expenses, but if we don’t count our guild hall, it’d probably be some Master spell. I’m sure I haven’t bought anything more expensive than that. I tend to spend my money on nonsense over time, though I’ve manage to save up about 600p, which for me is a lot! I AM eyeing some adornments, but I need to bite the bullet and grind out the adornment skill to save money.
Question: If you could have a superpower or a spell/ability from the game you play, what would it be?
Answer:*Teleportation.
Question: If there was one thing you could tell the SOE community about yourself, what would it be?
Answer:*Spread the word about the Sony Online Entertainment G.I.R.L. scholarship program! We need more strong women in positions of leadership in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics, and we should all support our Girl Gamer colleagues in pursuing higher education opportunities through programs like this. Look out, people, the Iksar are in your classrooms!
You can get the details on how to be the next SOE Gamer of the Month by heading over to this 
