Atlantic Mage Tower Annex
Sea Witch Tavern
Hearthfire Village
Magincian Zokalo
QA5+ – EM Emile Layne
Six Questions and Answers to give an insight to:
EM Emile Layne
Elder Event Moderator, Ultima Online
When you first started what impression did you have about doing events, is it harder or easier than you expected? Did you get nervous and do you still get nervous?
When I first started as an EM I didn’t expect to get as much freedom as we do. As EMs we are both writers and actors, I expected the acting part to be larger. I’m glad we get a lot of room to write our own stories as well, I really enjoy that.
It’s been a while since I was nervous about an event. But for my first event… I was physically sweating, I was so nervous.
What is it like working with the EM team and Mesanna?
It’s great! One of the best teams I’ve worked with. We all help each other out and with EMs from all over the world, there’s always somebody to bounce ideas around.
Mesanna is the champion of UO! I don’t know anybody who knows more and does more for the game than she does. It’s great to work with somebody who is so passionate and devoted to what they do.
What do you think about the structure of the program?
I think it works well. Not much to add here I’m afraid.
Can you describe the training you have to go through to become an EM?
In most cases it’s a three-part process.
First the new EM has to familiarize themselves with our tools and policies. They get trained and tested on this before they move on to the next step.
The second step is what we call ‘shadowing’. The new EM tags along and helps out the current EMs as they setup and run their events. Usually the new EM also gets to play a character in the events they shadow.
The final step is when the new EM is assigned to a shard. They introduce themselves to the shard and together with the residing EM they start running their own events.
If someone wanted to join the program, what would be the first thing you would say to them?
Being an EM is great fun and we can always use a good storyteller. So if you think you’ve got what it takes; send your application to Mesanna.
Europa’s players are usually very well behaved. So the times I feel the need for more control are rare. Sometimes at large events though, the wall of spam can get pretty thick and the narrative is lost. That’s when I wished I had like a shut-everybody-up-now!-button.