Sunday, July 5th, 2009
Issue: 133   Editor: MikaMania


An Interview With Sweetie! MotherFrick
After interviewing seven other Elite Guard members, the interviews come to a close with Senior Moderator, Sweetie. The Buzz caught up with her, and she took time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for us.

The Buzz began the interview with Sweetie by asking how she was promoted to Moderator, and then to Senior Moderator. She said, "On April 4, 2008, I was answering a question for someone on Bootleggers IRC channel, and out of the blue, Sabin said, "Sweetie, I don't think you are needed as a Help Desk Operator anymore. Yellow doesn't really suit you, but I think green does." I was in a state of shock as he was saying that, I thought I was being fired, those guys in red really like pulling your leg!" She later added, "On March 3rd 2009, I saw that VooDoo became a Senior Moderator. She was offline, so I left her a bm saying congrats. I then started to recieve bm's saying congrats. I looked and sure enough I was a old lady too. Along with sweet old Andy. So it was a surprise promotion."

Many dread their first days at a new job, but some love it, so the Buzz asked what Sweetie what hers was like. She said, "It was fun. My first job was a dupe check, which Shaggerty walked me through, which would then lead to my first ever ban. As a Senior Moderator, I carried on as before, all there is, is more tools at my disposal."

The Buzz then asked Sweetie her favourite moment as an Elite Guard member. She said, "My favourite moments, yes not one, but many, have to be when I come across really bad cheater(s) and ban them, they ruin the game. I know, it is not a specific moment, but I do not really have one, these are just my favourite moments."

The Buzz then moved onto Sweetie's daily routine as a Senior Moderator. She said, " I always check any appeals I may have open. Need to always be on top of those. Help desk tickets, and monitoring the forums. Theres more than just that but those are the main ones that come first when I log on."

The Buzz then changed the interview with Sweetie toward how she would have felt if she hadn't achieved Moderator. She said, "If I haven't achieved Moderator, I would still be doing what I did, helping as much as I can with help desk tickets and other hdo duties. I'm not sure exactly how I would feel as if I've never done it, I wouldn't know what I was missing. Although, if I had been fired from Help Desk Operator that day, I would have felt terrible, as I felt I was a fair, decent and helpful Help Desk Operator. I loved it."

As mentioned before, Elite Guard members give up many normal player privileges when they become staff, but the Buzz wondered how Sweetie felt about not having them anymore. She said, "I honestly don't miss being a player. I've played for so long, I've reached the goals I had as a player, aside from making Nation Don (which I knew I wouldn't reach after dying as a State Don). So I was pretty much logging on to basically help players as a Help Desk Operator. I do miss being in my old crew. I would have little ranking competitions with friends in it, but other than that, no."

Sweetie's fellow Elite Guard members had many things to say about her. Sabin said, "Sweetie is a Good Moderator, and has been a valuable part of the team for a long time. We are fortunate to have her skill and dedication on our team," Riserva said, "I think she's a really good Moderator and performs her duties admirably. If I ever need help, or a second opinion, I know I can always count on her assistance," and Nyxxie said, "I don't think she speaks enough on the forums to show a lack of professionalism."

The Buzz asked two random players their opinions on Sweetie, these players were HannahSeantana and Prestine. HannahSeantana said, "Sweetie is an extremely professional and proficient Moderator. I haven't had many run ins with her, but the one time I did, she did some serious research into the issue at hand (going back and asking fellow EG members and even BSF himself) before giving me an answer. I felt that she went the extra mile to get the answer to me, while at the same time there was a strong level of Staff/Player relationship going on. If that isn't professionalism at its finest, then I don't know what is." Prestine said, "She is professional and nice from what I remember when I did talk to her. She knows how to talk to people. She is active to a certain point, but she has her own friends to log in for. I do not know if she is active towards the game and players but she seems to have done her part and earned Moderator."

All the Elite Guard members work hard for us, taking time out of their own busy lives, just to help us to have fun on a game. The Buzz would like to thank them all!