Sunday, September 19th, 2010
Issue: 46   Editor: xSean


Mika Moved up to Moderator! PoisonBullet
On Friday, a promotion was announced... no not the final HDO but the promotion of former Help Desk Operator HowlingMadMika to Moderator, now known as Mika

After serving for nearly a year and a half on the Help Desk, 5litre decided that Mika had done enough, and indeed had the potential to do more, for the game to warrant his promotion to Moderator. We contacted Mika to see how he felt about his new colour and position. He told us ‘It is a bit mixed, to be honest. It is like a coin, there are two sides. On the one hand I am happy that I can do more to help the players and the game, but one the other I am a bit sad that I will no longer be able to actually play the game’. For those who don’t know, the difference between the Elite Guard and Help Desk Operators is that HDOs can continue to play the game normally while helping players whereas Moderators cannot. Mika explains it nicely; ‘I have lost the ability to be a normal player, to be allowed to kill players or to be in a crew,’ adding, ‘However, in return I received the ability to catch cheaters and to do more for the game’. A very committed decision, sacrificing the fun of playing the game to help the game progress and get better. We asked him what aspect of playing he would miss the most and he told us ‘I think I will miss being a crewboss. Obviously I am a member of a crew now, but I loved being a crewboss together with Aldarion. That is something I will miss for sure.’ And the feeling was mutual from his fellow crew boss AldarionX and the members of Fierce Allegience, with mixed messages of congratulations and disappointment when Mika announced his decision in the Crew Forum. So it seems becoming a Moderator is not all fun and bans, it can lead to strong dislike from some players, the loss of friends, and certainly the ability to play the game... so did Mika ever consider turning down the job? He replied ‘I did. In fact, it was the first thing that went through my mind when 5litre contacted me and told me the offer for me to become Moderator was there’ before adding, ‘Eventually, however, I decided to take my chances and go for it’.

So we know what Mika thinks of his promotion and why he took the job but why was he picked to become the newest Moderator? We got in touch with 5litre to find out. He told us ‘He's an active member and has been since he was made HDO’. But activity isn’t all that put Mika above the other possible candidates, 5litre added ‘And he's been doing an exceptional job with the Buzz which proved to me that he can handle himself in authoritative scenarios’. Judging from the recent promotions of Altro and xLew and now Mika, it seems that the Buzz is the way to achieving staff positions in the game. We at the Buzz started thinking about whether Mika’s promotion had been in the pipeline for a while, perhaps even the reason why so many HDOs were recruited, we asked 5litre and he told us ‘I felt we needed some more HDOs to try and have someone online throughout the day with the possibility of having promotions happen sometime in the future.’ We think this is a coded yes in staff talk, I hope you are watching and learning Mika! With one more HDO promotion still to come, we couldn’t help but think that we may be seeing someone else handed a green jacket in the near future, we asked 5litre who replied, ‘Unsure at this time. I can neither confirm nor deny this as it's still being talked about.’ Let me decode for you, a definite maybe I think!

We at the Buzz know that Mika will do a great job as a Moderator and we wish him the best of luck, we’ll miss him but we know he will do a great job! Summing up our mixed emotions, for both Fierce Allegience and us at the Buzz Altro said ‘Congratulations, about time. But we’re sad to see you go.’

So the end of an era with Mika at the head of the Buzz and the start of a new one with Mika as a Moderator and xSean as editor, good luck to them both!