Interview with TTL Demag0gue

Dem is a long time member of Tied the Leader (Member since July 25, 2006).
I was excited to do this interview as there is more to TTL Demagogue than just gaming.
~Enjoy the interview~

Let’s start this interview out with, of course, gaming questions:

When did you start gaming and with what game?

Well, I picked up my first controller when I was 4.  It was an Atari, but really my first gaming system was the original Nintendo and Super Mario Brothers.

How did you cross this fine clan’s path?

A while back, there was this new blog called Tied the Leader, written by some guy with the weird name of Xerxdeej.  I read his first few articles and became an instant fan.  A short while after that came the announcement that Tied the Leader was starting up its own clan, but since I didn’t have Xbox Live at the time, I wasn’t able to enlist.  A short while after that, I heard about a new gaming blog started up by a few Gunslingers called Dead Man’s Hand.  I started reading that one, as well, and leaving comments.  Stuey and Dweezle ended up inviting me to write for them, so I became the only non-Gunslinger to write for DMH.  I finally acquired Xbox Live access shortly after that, put in my application with TTL, and had my guns within a couple of weeks.  I’ve never looked back.

What made you want to be a part of the TTL family?

It didn’t take long, once I started playing Halo 2 on Xbox Live, to quickly
grow sour with the experience. It was frustrating and distasteful to have to deal with the constant quitters and the Timmys screaming obscenities in my ears.  When Deej laid out the manifesto for Tied the Leader, I was immediately on-board with the idea of a clan of mature gamers who had good sportsmanship as their primary rule-of-thumb. I had been just about to give up Halo completely when the Gunslingers formed up as a clan, and they became my inspiration to keep playing.  Becoming a Gunslinger is the best thing that ever happened to my gaming habit.

What did you like the most about H2 and what was one of your favorite memories in H2?

I have always loved the social aspect of Halo, and Halo 2 allowed me to meet up with some close friends on a weekly basis to play and laugh and just generally have a good time. 
I love the Halo franchise, but the biggest part of what makes it so much fun for me is the people.

What are you enjoying the most about H3 and what game or event stands out in your mind the most so far?

Halo 3 has continued and improved the social side of gaming, and the game play has just been stunning.  My favorite event was the 2008 ChicagoLANd, where I was able to finally meet so many of the people I play Halo with every week.  It was a fabulous event, and I’m looking forward to this year’s LAN already.

I always have to ask the standard questions about Halo.

What is your favorite weapon and why?

My favorite weapon is definitely the Warthog.  I’m not so good with the turret, but I love to drive around with someone capable on the guns and rack up splatters and Wheelman medals. 

What is your favorite map and why?

What is your favorite game type and why?

Avalanche has become one of my favorite maps to play Capture the Flag on. 
There’s just something about hopping into a vehicle and providing support to our strikers that makes game play on that map so much
fun.

On a more personal note:

Where are you from and what do you do for a living?

My wife and I are currently living on a 40-acre horse farm in Colfax, IN (about 20 minutes south of Lafayette).  We’ve been here about three years now, and we’ve really enjoyed being out away from the city.  I work at Purdue University as an Enrollment Analyst, which is a fancy way of saying that I produce reports on our students’ enrollment information – things like graduation rates, enrollment numbers, numbers of degrees earned, etc. 
 
 
How long have been married to your wonderful wife, Liz?

We’ve been 5.5 years now.

You and your Wife not only work but care for horses & cats!  Give us an idea of how many animals you have that you care for.  That takes special people because some people don’t understand the time and dedication it takes to care and feed horses let alone cats & dogs.

The number of horses on our farm is always changing but we always have at least eight or nine.  Right now, our herd is up to 11 horses.  We also have six cats – four barn cats and two house cats – and one German Shepherd.  Depending on the season, we also have any number of squirrels, birds, raccoons, gophers, and the occasional possum roaming around.
What do you get from caring for so many animals?

Just the satisfaction of knowing that all these animals have a good home and are being well taken care of.  Both Liz and myself love animals, and it’s satisfying to spend time with them.

So tell me Mr. Dem…how does it feel to get frisked in the lobby of  "The Palmer House" hotel??? I feel this one will need a little explaining.

Hehe, yeah, that was an experience, to say the least.  I’d been awarded a replica firearm by the TTL Overlords for rebuilding parts of our website on a WordPress platform.  I made the mistake of bringing that replica to the ChicagoLANd this past September and leaving it lying out on the bed.  Apparently, the maid saw it and panicked (to her credit, the gun DOES look pretty real on casual inspection) and informed the hotel staff about it.  Later, when I found my room key didn’t work, I went down to the desk to get a new one and found myself surrounded by no fewer than three of Chicago’s finest, who proceeded to pat me down and ask me where my partner was. (Apparently, they thought I was about to engage in a shooting spree and just wanted to make sure I didn’t have any trigger-happy friends.)  They took me to a back room to discuss the situation, and when I realized what they were talking about, I explained that it was simply a non-firing replica firearm.  We all took a walk up to my room so they could inspect the piece, and by the time all was said and done, there were at least half a dozen cops in and out of my room.  They did let me keep the piece, fortunately, and by the time we were all done, we were all laughing about it.  Next time, I leave my replica firearms at home. 

There is one main reason I chose you to interview TTL Demag0gue and that is your huge success with The Reclaimer” comic.

http://reclaimercomic.com/

You dedicate so much time into your comic. It is amazing what you have to do just for one comic strip/page. Not only do you have to come up with storyline but I all your comic shots are I believe are from games that you have to take snapshots and edit over and over to get the “right” shot. I am so very proud to know someone with such dedication and creativity.

What made you  start doing the Reclaimer Comic?

A long while back, somewhere around the time Halo 3 first hit store shelves, there was a Bungie news item showing off three or four screenshots taken on High Ground.  The challenge was issued for readers to take those screenshots and make some sort of short comic from them (I’ve since gone back and tried to find that news post in the archives, to no avail).  To my knowledge, no one ever did, but the idea of using Halo 3 screenshots to write a comic stuck in my mind.  I love to tell stories, I love the Haloverse, and I love comics and the visual medium.  The idea for a comic just sat in the back of my mind for a couple of months and percolated while the beginnings of a story began to form.  I knew I wanted something that didn’t center around the Master Chief and Cortana, so I needed a way to create a new hero – and the idea for an alternate Haloverse was born where the Master Chief still exists but is off doing his thing.  This left room for other challenges, other villains, and other galactic crises.  The Reclaimerverse is my take on a Haloverse, if events had happened a bit differently.  It’s still basically the same place, but with some key alterations to open up a way for the Reclaimer to step forward as a new hero.

What was your first comic draft about?

That one was literally a proof-of-concept comic.  I knew I really wanted to write a Halo-based comic, and the first ‘comic’ was a dry-run I just kind of slapped together as a teaser and posted to get some community feedback.
How long does it take to put one comic strip together?

From start to finish, it usually takes me about an hour to complete one comic.  This includes staging the scene, capturing the screenshots, downloading them from Bungie.net, and pulling everything together in Photoshop.  I’ve actually got a tutorial on the Reclaimer site (http://reclaimercomic.com/2008/09/08/howto-make-a-reclaimer-comic/) that walks readers through my whole process.

Do you plan on going outside of the Reclaimer to create more comics?

I don’t really know right now.  I do that I have at least a couple of spin-off comics I’d like to work on after this, and at some point, I’d like to write a gag strip that I’ll actually draw.  For now, though, I just want to complete the current Reclaimer story arc and then see where things go from there.

The Reclaimer is always highlighted on Bungie.net (The Bungie Blog)

http://www.bungie.net/default.aspx

Rock the Vote for Reclaimer at Hawty McBloggy:

http://hawtymcbloggy.com/2008/12/29/2008-best-of-halo-awards-best-fan-made-contribution/

2009 has just begun…what is your New Year‘s Resolution?

Well, I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions, but I’m looking forward to expanding the Reclaimerverse and growing the fan base community.  I’m also looking forward to really getting Halo 3 Webcomics off the ground and expanding that as a Halo-based webcomics collective.  I’ve got a couple of dozen requests from folks wanting hosting that I’ve gotten backlogged on over the holidays, so I’m hoping to bring at least some of those writers into the fold and adding some new faces to the webcomicking community.

TTL Gunslingers are very proud of you and your accomplishments!