Wordsmythe

If you ever want to make a splash at Gamers With Jobs, you could do worse than being a long-winded smart ass with a philosophical bent. Wordsmythe certainly joined our community with style, quickly making a name for himself by hounding Elysium's every step and pouncing at the first sign of a grammatical error. The fastest way to my heart is abusing Elysium, so it's no surprise that I choose him for our first Employee Profile in quite a long time.

Read on for the interview!

"Who the [fudge] invited E Munnie anyway?" – Gumbie (among others)

1)Who the devil are you?

It's been said that I am the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled. Grandma says I'm a heart-breaker. I'll leave the decision up to you on whether you want to believe the anonymous, missing actor in that passive-voiced first sentence or if you want to believe a little, kind, old lady from a small town in Wisconsin.

My grandma also calls me "Erik" sometimes. My folks chose to spell it "the Swedish way" so that I could have "ethnicity" and "heritage." It also helps me tell from the envelope whether I was getting junk mail or bills.

As for my GWJ and XBLA tags, you can pronounce them however you want (it is the object of the signifier that is important, after all), just as long as we all know you're talking about me. Actually, just talking about me is what's important.

They started as intentional misspellings of "word-smith" and "E Money." These are actual things people have called me, which I find only slightly troubling.

What are you supposed to be doing during the day when you're reading GWJ?

I do insurance work in a cubicle. I realize that it's the sort of job I would claim to have if I was asked by someone in a bar and I wanted to make them lose interest in me. I like it well enough, but I often daydream about being a professor... or Adam Sandler.

How about family? Kids? Pets? Particularly meaningful inanimate objects?

"I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel." I come from a family of five kids, but there's no "Mrs. Wordsmythe" just yet.

I think my Weber grill is pretty sexy, though. I won't make the obvious pun there. I sometimes think about purchasing a dog or a Roomba. Also, I have this thing for E Hunnie.

What was your favorite game over the last year or so? Why?

Does XBLA Joust count? I sure like that one. It's got enhanced graphics (i.e., an non-black background) now! …Have I started every answer with a lame joke so far? Does that count as a game? I'm pretty good at it. I wouldn't call myself a "winner" per se, though.

On the "games as art" side, I really love BioShock and Mass Effect. BioShock did a lot of great things in terms of storytelling and in terms of meta-textual notions of volition and ethics in gaming. Mass Effect doesn't do as much outside the game itself, but it does an awfully good job of allowing for and adapting to various characters you may choose to role-play (and I'm a pretty big fan of RP). The character morality idea that was so lauded in Black & White, KotOR, BioShock, etc. was really intelligently done in ME.

On the "just games" side, I really dig the Rock Band-GH games as well as the Wii games. I don't know that I feel emotionally invested in them, though. I like them more the way I like ice cream.

Which game are you looking forward to most?

There are a lot of great games out now or soon to be released. My gamer cup truly runneth over with casual and lighter games, as well as with deeper games that, as of yet, haven't had all their expectations entirely quashed (e.g., Fable 2 and Too Human), but the top of my excitement is reserved for Fallout 3 and the Napoleonic miniatures rules I've been helping create with some friends and family. Who doesn't love pewter?

What is your fondest gaming memory?

That would probably go back to playing games with my brother as a kid. He's always been more "left brained" (and rather obsessive) and appreciates the challenge of grinding and the puzzle aspect of min/maxing characters. Rather than chart the desert in King's Quest 5 myself, I gave him some graph paper and a can of pop and went to bed. This worked well for RPG leveling, too. We had a really good time with Betrayal at Krondor and Ultima 7. We had a worse time when we got a new computer while playing U7 and had to reinstall it. He pulled out the 3.5 before it was done reading...

Wait, that's probably not a good memory.

Once we were both in high school, I helped found an RPG club so that I could more efficiently dork out those afternoons I wasn't already spending nerding it up with debate team and marching band. This might not surprise people, but I liked giving my fellow players a hard time in game: little moments like when my cleric was asked to heal the character who had neglected his friends in battle in favor of a lust for loot. The cleric laid his hands on the wounded dwarf and… cast inflict serious wounds. "My god is a god of vengeance!" declared the cleric.

Finally, why do you play games at all? Why haven't you outgrown them?

Is not all the world a game, and we merely quarters passing through its seedy, red-lit bowels?

I find it telling that nobody seems to ask this sort of question to an adult who plays sports recreationally into his or her adult years. Certainly sports tend to provide a side-benefit of exercise, but that is seldom the primary reason they're played. They're played for fun and for community.

Once upon a time, it was considered uncouth for a grown man to engage in any but a very select few physical activities. Instead they were expected to do things like read and write poetry for fun – and what kind of a nerd would do that? (Did I mention I love poetry?) Times have changed, but nobody will call you childish for reading Joyce or Milton. I'm not saying that Ken Levine is gaming's Kerouac, but he might at least be a Heinlein.

I also find it important to note that sports, poetry, and video games tend to be associated with drinking for me. Maybe most things do. That's a good thing, right?

Thanks for taking the time to answer our hard hitting questions! Any last words?

You're more than welcome, though you can probably tell that I have a tendency to avoid direct answers. I considered answering each question by drawing in the dirt and then telling a parable, but decided not to. As for last worlds, I was going to go with the "boneitis" quote, but Luna already took it. I'm not going to pout about it (here), though. Thanks for taking an interest, and thanks for providing such a wonderful site for us to fill with over-analysis and navel-gazing. Butt pats all around!

Comments

LilCodger wrote:
boogle wrote:

And codger, as I said its taste. I like my tie knots thin.

I really don't give rat's ass how you like your tie, or what you prefer. It's also about class. I've been in enough meetings where people who wear the wrong ties, or their ties wrong, or an ill fitting suit, or old shoes, or ... are passed up for hiring or promotion. The first time I died a little inside.

I'm not trying to defend that hideous thing at the top of the thread (looks great on you though Wordy! ), nor am I trying to defend fashion nazis. I wear jeans and t-shirts to work. Just don't delude yourself into thinking it doesn't matter, because sometimes it does. You want to wear a half to your sister's wedding? Fine. Going to a job interview? I'd highly recommend a properly tied Windsor.

So your saying a full is better for more formal occasions, where a half makes a fine everyday tie? I believe we have a compromise sir!

boogle wrote:

So your saying a full is better for more formal occasions, where a half makes a fine everyday tie? I believe we have a compromise sir!

I would never begrudge you the right to dress substandardly.

Just remember that you meet important people at less formal events, especially as you get older.

LilCodger wrote:
boogle wrote:

So your saying a full is better for more formal occasions, where a half makes a fine everyday tie? I believe we have a compromise sir!

I would never begrudge you the right to dress substandardly.

Just remember that you meet important people at less formal events, especially as you get older.

Still maintain I look spiffy in a half. Got a new suit (outgrew last one) for a wedding this week. Gets back from the tailors on thursday. Expect boogle shots sporting both a half and a full for discussion.

It occurs to me today that I have offered nothing in this thread other than snide comments and a derail. While that is probably appropriate for Wordy's thread, I shall now rectify that.

Mr. "Munnie", thanks for hanging out here and being you. For some reason that defies sanity, I actually look forward to seeing you post, and notice when you're not around. You are one of the key folks that intrigued me enough to hang around here after Slashdot dumped me unceremoniously at the front page one day. Perhaps we'll meet up some day when I'm in your neck of the woods ...

Now I'll reread that and go vomit.

LilCodger wrote:

EDIT: Furthermore, don't ever make me agree with Wordy again!

Hey, nice tag you've got there. It would go great with a real bow tie.

You should probably work on that.

LilCodger wrote:

I'm not trying to defend that hideous thing at the top of the thread (looks great on you though Wordy! ),

That tie came from a box of such my grandfather gave me when he realized he was pretty much done with dress clothes. Sure, it's thicker than Boogle, but I think it's pretty rockin'.

LilCodger wrote:

It occurs to me today that I have offered nothing in this thread other than snide comments and a derail. While that is probably appropriate for Wordy's thread, ...

I was thinking the same thing. Sorry I was too busy to join in the derailment for a while there.

wordsmythe wrote:

Hey, nice tag you've got there. It would go great with a real bow tie.

You should probably work on that.

Cut me some slack. I have to hold my place in the nemesis line. Quintin can't hold out forever.

wordsmythe wrote:

That tie came from a box of such my grandfather gave me when he realized he was pretty much done with dress clothes. Sure, it's thicker than Boogle, but I think it's pretty rockin'.

Hey, if it makes you happy, that's all that matters. It really accentuates your chin though. Really screams 70's engineer. Can you get the knot just a little tighter?

I wore a short, fat, purple-cow-print tie handed down to me by an upperclassman in high school. I have no legs to stand on in critique.

LilCodger wrote:

I wore a short, fat, purple-cow-print tie handed down to me by an upperclassman in high school. I have no legs to stand on in critique.

Freshman and sophmore year I wore the same thin black 80's style tie everyday. New knot every day too.

LilCodger wrote:

Hey, if it makes you happy, that's all that matters.Really screams 70's engineer.

But that's retro chíc, non? Plus it really goes with his jacket/blazer.

*ahem* I'm off to watch some football and drink some beer.... with some naked ladies.....

I can't believe that you people are still arguing over ties!

boogle wrote:

Freshman and sophmore year I wore the same thin black 80's style tie everyday. New knot every day too.

Oh how I hated those. There were days where I thought I was the only non-teacher in school not wearing one.

Duoae wrote:

But that's retro chíc, non? Plus it really goes with his jacket/blazer.

Words have difficulty describing my apathy to fashion trends, but you're probably right.

I did mean to ask about the jacket. The picture is small. Is that ... corduroy?

IMAGE(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/souldaddy109/bustedtees07fabc3fcd05a59b044d3a259.jpg)

Yeah.

This seems appropriate somehow.

LilCodger wrote:
boogle wrote:

Freshman and sophmore year I wore the same thin black 80's style tie everyday. New knot every day too.

Oh how I hated those. There were days where I thought I was the only non-teacher in school not wearing one.

Duoae wrote:

But that's retro chíc, non? Plus it really goes with his jacket/blazer.

Words have difficulty describing my apathy to fashion trends, but you're probably right.

I did mean to ask about the jacket. The picture is small. Is that ... corduroy?

Yes. It has suede elbow patches.

Fun fact: My grandfather was a steel mill engineer in the '70s.

souldaddy wrote:

IMAGE(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/souldaddy109/bustedtees07fabc3fcd05a59b044d3a259.jpg)

Yeah.

This seems appropriate somehow.

That was my wallpaper for a very long time. Eventually it changed to this, which is a shirt that (thanks to E Hunnie), I now own.

Haakon7 wrote:

I can't believe that you people are still arguing over ties!

I'm glad for it, personally, since I keep getting freaking out that people are still talking about me when I see this thread's still active. Much better to talk about Boogle's bad ties.

wordsmythe wrote:

I'm glad for it, personally, since I keep getting freaking out that people are still talking about me when I see this thread's still active. Much better to talk about Boogle's bad ties.

Much better indeed. I wore a half with my dark grey 3 button to my cousin's wedding this weekend.
once the family starts emailing me pictures I'll put one up here or in the pic thread for reference.

Dude, I totally missed this thread, my man. My excellent excuse is that I was in Asia, exploring the source of exotic hotties.

Congratulations and all that.

Chiggie Von Richthofen wrote:

To tell the honest truth, Word, you used to annoy the living piss out of me. I mean really bad.

But, the more you hung around and the more I realized that was just your personality, I actually liked seeing you in the boards.

Me too. This is what I call "the PurEvil" effect. Couldn't stand him, then he became one of my best Goodjer homies.

I wonder if E. Hunnie went through the same thing? Coming soon to a thread near you: Secret Origins, Featuring Wordsmythe and E. Hunnie!

Fedaykin98 wrote:

My excellent excuse is that I was in Asia, exploring the source of exotic hotties.

IMAGE(http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/6889/sentienteyebrowyd5.gif)

Whoa.

It's eyes follow me around the room.

Fun fact: Looking at pictures of myself makes my eyes water.

It's probably because cameras steal part of your soul.

wordsmythe wrote:

Fun fact: Looking at pictures of myself makes my eyes water.

It's probably because cameras steal part of your soul.

Apparently the wink wink part of your soul too.

Alien13z wrote:

Why do you eat quarters?

appropriate question Im sure..

I don't know whether to like that picture, or hate it and wish it would forever leave the internet.

Vrikk wrote:

I don't know whether to like that picture, or hate it and wish it would forever leave the internet.

But if it left the internet it would come into real life.... do you want to wake up in the night to find that next to you?

Duoae wrote:
Vrikk wrote:

I don't know whether to like that picture, or hate it and wish it would forever leave the internet.

But if it left the internet it would come into real life.... do you want to wake up in the night to find that next to you?

He wouldn't be the first.

wordsmythe wrote:

He wouldn't be the first. ;)

IMAGE(http://fashiontribes.typepad.com/main/images/burger_king.jpg)

So you've gotta ask yourself, which is worse:
IMAGE(http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/6889/sentienteyebrowyd5.gif) or IMAGE(http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/9250/wordykingwt1.jpg)

Unfortunately, I don't have any program to make that last one animated at work. Unless someone wants to do it for me, I'll fix it when I get home.

Ask and ye shall receive!

IMAGE(http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/4572/burgerwordyqe2.gif)

GAH! It took me like 10 minutes to work out how to post a proper picture! :/

Surprisingly his nose and eyse match 'the king' perfectly...

That is some incredible photoshoppery. Just...wow.

Ye gods that's creepy!

Well done.

This thread has become the GWJ equivilant to the Manhattan Project.

My takeaway is to never eff with Duoae, God of Photoshop. Who knows what abomination he may unleash on an unsuspecting world?

Chiggie Von Richthofen wrote:

This thread has become the GWJ equivilant to the Manhattan Project.

It seemed necessary at the time, but ultimately will result in the destruction of us all?