SOE has tons of gamers around the world! Every month, we highlight some of the most outstanding and helpful members of the community as the SOE Gamer of the Month. This month we are pleased to introduce Borek-VS from EverQuest.



Piestro (Sr. Community Manger), why has Borek-VS been chosen as this month’s SOE Gamer of the Month?

SOE has tons of gamers around the world! Every month, we highlight some of the most outstanding and helpful members of the community as the SOE Gamer of the Month. This month we are pleased to introduce Borek-VS from EverQuest.

Now, let’s meet Borek-VS!



Where in the real life world do you live?*

I currently live in Chippenham, Wiltshire, in England – although I have lived in the past in both Saudi Arabia (for several years), and Houston, Texas.

What SOE Game(s) do you play?

I mainly play Everquest, but at times I like to try other games – Everquest 2, DC Universe Online, and Vanguard.

How long have you played the above games?

Let’s see, I started Everquest in February 2002 on Bristlebane, then moved to Kane Bayle and then Venril Sathir, all in the same year. I started both DCUO and Vanguard at launch, and EQ2 in 2006.

What other games do you play?

That’s enough, don’t you think!? I’ve been playing Skyrim lately, and I’ve played all of the Elder Scrolls series. On iPad I’ve been playing Lost Winds lately.

What type of work do you do?

I started out working as a computer programmer, then I switched track through support, sales, and marketing in various software companies, ending up owning and running a consultancy based in London; then, ten years ago, I took myself back to programming again. Somewhere in there I wrote a monthly column for PC Pro (a British computer monthly) for several years. I’ve been building web sites, MacOS X applications, and apps for iPhone and iPad – including a (free!) app for checking on server status for SOE games.

How many hours a week do you play video games?

It varies. Some weeks I don’t have time to do anything at all; other weeks I may spend 40-60 hours.

What does a typical gaming session consist of?

I log on and check my guild to see what’s happening, then I take a character to wherever he’s exping at the moment. I don’t play just one character; I switch between 3-6 of them, depending on how my fancy takes me at the time. I also don’t usually multi-box, although I keep two accounts subscribed. I usually will have chosen an objective for any play session: this is often just to gain some AAs/levels, but it might be to farm gear or items for trade skills.

In the SOE Games you play what do you play? Race/class/Rank/Faction/etc….

Too many to list! But I have given my most attention to my 86 Erudite magician, 85 Dwarf cleric, 70 Vah Shir beastlord, and 70 Wood Elf druid (all in Everquest).

What got you into gaming and what sort of games do you like the most?*

It was the Crowther and Woods ADVENT game, running on a teleprinter connected to a DEC 10. I think I have the most affinity for various types of adventure (I loved Infocom) and role playing games, but I’m as likely to be found playing Solitaire, Sudoku or Minesweeper as anyone else.

What other hobbies or activities do you take part in, other then playing Video Games?

You think there’s time for anything else? I’ve been practicing Tai Chi Chu’an for quite a few years, and I enjoy riding horses, although I haven’t been able to do that very much the past two years, since the horse I had ridden for almost twenty years passed away.
What is your highest level character?

That’s my EverQuest magician, level 86. Until relatively recently he was max level, and I recorded his progress here – Mage Project – master links. He hasn’t had much attention over the last two years, partly from pressure of work, and partly because I haven’t been very attracted to the last couple of expansions, so I have spent more time with lower level characters.

What do you like the most about your favorte SOE Game?

(Which is Everquest if that isn’t already obvious) there’s so much to do – you could spend literally years (and I have) and still have new zones to explore, new ways to develop your characters. Depth of game play matters a lot to me, and that requires a slower pace; I’m not a great fan of raiding, although I have spent my time doing that. A more relaxed pace suits me just fine.

How did you choose your main character’s name?*

Long story. I assume by “main character” you mean my highest level character, although that would be deceptive. I once had a druid called Avon (an old English word meaning “river”, which is funny because there are a lot of rivers called the “Avon river” in England, which of course means “River river”). When I moved servers, I checked to see that the name wasn’t taken (this was when EQplayers worked, more or less), which it wasn’t – but I couldn’t create that name on my new server. So I created a druid called “Avvon”, which suffers from the difficulty in distinguishing “vv” from “w” in chat windows. Then for some reason when I created my magician, some time later, I jumbled the letters up – which is why he’s called “Avno”. Not the best choice, but I’ve stuck with it.

What is your favorite zone?*

I’m not sure that I really have a favourite zone as such. But there are a lot of zones I have great affection for: Crystal Caverns is probably top of my list, especially if I have sound turned on. Over the years I have spent a lot of time there; I guess I should mention Hollowshade Moors, for the war; the Ruins of Old Paineel, because I spent far too much time there when no one else did; and the CIty of Mist – it took me a long time to figure it out, I think my first visit there was a guild raid for epics on the Black Reavers (we wiped, naturally).

What is your favorite NPC?*

Fippy, he keeps on coming back, you’ve got to love that.

Which zone do you like the least?*

I’m not sure that I actually dislike any zone – I have had bad experiences in some zones, but I have generally revisited them later and had a better time. Being able to revisit most of the older zones at different levels has been a rewarding experience (genius design, in fact!).

Which NPC do you like the least?*

Again, there’s no one NPC I hate.

What is the most in-game currency you have ever spent on purchasing a single item for one of your characters?*

I am not sure I remember – probably around 100,000 platinum, but I can’t recall what for.

Do you have an item you no longer use but keep around for nostalgic reasons? If so what is it and why do you keep it?*

Absolutely – my cleric keeps his Talisman of Vah Kerrath, even though it has no real value or benefit any more. To get it, I had to raid Vex Thal after gathering the Lucid Shards for the key, clear the zone, then outbid everyone else for the drop from Aten Ha Ra, and complete a quest that wasn’t very well understood at the time, so there was a risk that I might lose everything on the hand-in. There are also a lot of old clickies that are still in use, but that one item has the most significance to me.

Describe your best experience from playing your favorite SOE Game?

I rolled a new cleric (called Borek) on Venril Sathir when it was a brand new server – day one. When I hit level 11, I walked into Paludal Caverns via Hollowshade, and met two characters there that I stayed with for a couple of years, until they moved to other games (SWG and EQ2). I’d say that all the best experiences in Everquest (or any MMO, really) are about to people, not things. It is how the games bring us together that creates the most memorable experiences.

You really go above and beyond in your creation of player guides and helping the new players in the Newbie section of the forums. Tell us how you got started with creating guides. Can you share with us why your post so much on the newbie section? What drives you to help?


Good question, I wonder myself sometimes! I got involved in BBSes way back in the 80s with BIX, then the comp.sys.next newsgroups, Compuserve, and CIX in the UK (a sort of BIX clone). I have always helped myself by trying to figure out other people’s problems, rather than simply posting questions, and I guess it grew from there. I have been creating web sites since ’93, through work, and wrote some of the early content management systems, so I’ve been “blogging” since then – but with a very much wider brief, as I do it for myself, not for an audience, which probably also explains why I don’t make any effort to advertise my guides.

On TNZ, I try to keep myself from going beyond strict fact, and try to avoid matter of opinion threads, and try to point out when people’s opinions are likely to differ from mine; I won’t repeat myself in a thread if someone disagrees with me, for instance – once should be sufficient.

I put together the TNZ FAQ when someone said that SOE should have created one, and it would have been hypocritical to say that anyone could do it . I’m not quite sure why I put together the guides site, to be entirely honest – it might have just been because I liked the idea of building a site via Jekyll and github, but I also wanted to clean up some of the guides that I had written in a blog format, as having a guide tied to a date of publication creates an artificial sense of age, which locks the guide to a specific era, when really it should be continuously updated.

We hope you enjoyed meeting this month’s SOE Gamer of the Month! This feature highlights a special community member each month. If you would like to be considered or know someone who is worthy of this honor check out this*link.*You can also meet all of the past SOE Gamers of the Month at this*link.






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