Interview with REDefiant

[Conor]

The idea of interview a community member is to take yet another step forward towards bringing the

community together.

The idea is to create a thread where we will interview a random community member.

During this interview we will ask the community member some questions regarding the community and how their DayZRP experience has been.

This week I interviewed:

REDefiant

Thank you so much for participating!

~ Tell us something unique about yourself! ~ 

Oh jeeze. How about I just tell you about myself instead?

I'm 23 years old, living in the United States. I've been role-playing since I first used Yahoo! Messenger. I was really active on a well-known Mafia short-fiction website for the entirety of my middle-school throug high-school years. I come from a background of RPing as gangsters. Alonzo LaMarca was my first small-time gangster, who died in a dirty hit where the hitman used C4. I eventually became known as Niccolo Calogero, a ruthless Underboss with a long line of extorted businesses and quiet storefronts which to hide out in.

Aside from role-playing, I study Philosophy at a University, work as a "security" guard for a private community, and enjoy rock-climbing as my primary hobby aside from RP and videogames.

 

~ How has your DayZRP experience been? ~ 

It has, in a lot of ways, been a familiar experience. I'm comfortable navigating forums and interacting with wide varieties of individuals. I want to believe that any experience role-playing can be utilized in other role-play situations. I feel like my OOC intuition is exceptionally refined, and that's made it really easy to me to pick and choose the sorts of interactions I want to have, as opposed to the sort of interactions I'd ordinarily be forced into having.

Moreso than familiar, I think DayZRP is pretty challenging. This challenge was amplified by my desire to begin a leadership position within a clan as soon as possible. I first joined the community with a single friend whom I'd played SA with previously. Within the first several days of playing, I'd already stood up to Blackwood and we were trying to devise a strategy to take some of them out. We were obviously in over our heads, but I couldn't shake being confident enough to WANT to do it. We didn't have much luck, so we created new characters (Seymour Traeger and Frank Moody, respectively) and after a few days of being bandits we joined up with the Jackals.

The rest is history. I view the Jackals as an extension of myself, and that extension is what has made DayZRP truly a challenging experience. Instead of managing myself, I legitimately care about my group members IC safety, and OOC well-being. It forced me to really improve on my RP as fast as possible in order to ensure that my members felt comfortable rolling with me.

Overall, my experience has been pretty incredible. It reminds me so much of the old-school RP that I used to do, but combined with the vocal dynamics of Dungeons and Dragons. For the most part, my experience within the community has been rich with excellent role-play and dedicated players who really seem committed to telling good stories and creating a powerful atmosphere.

 

~ Have you made any friends during your time in this community? ~ 

I've met some incredible friends since I first joined. The obvious shout-out has to go out to my group, The Jackals. I've been in one major gaming clan before I joined DayZRP, and they were based out of a mod for Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. The mod was fun, but riddled with bugs and hilariously unbalanced. The game was limited, but there was a strong community surrounding it. Because of this, I was able to make a group of life-long friends that I still keep in touch with, even though hardly any of us still play Jedi Academy.

Being a part of that group taught me how valuable an online gaming COMMUNITY can be. I feel like The Jackals have reflected the ideals of my beloved first clan online, and as a result I can't see myself not playing with the members of The Jackals for the entirety of my stay here. Over the course of the summer I've played countless hours with my group, and I think each of us have a really strong and trusting relationship with one another that has made our group transform into something really fantastic and entertaining.

Unfortunately, because of my close relationship with the Jackals, I don't make myself too available for other members of the community. That being said, there are two members of this community that have really stuck with me and have been influential to my role-play and character development.

The first is Chinchilla, whom I first met at Jericho when she was playing as Frannie Bennett. There were some misunderstandings between our two characters and my accomplice, and needless to say we scared the shit out of Frannie. Overwrought with guilt, I made it my mission to track down Frannie Bennett so that I could personally apologize for the misunderstanding. This was my character's primary motivation for AT LEAST two months. Tracking Frannie Bennett down was one of the most difficult things I could have tasked myself with, but the experience lead me to meeting Duelly (Maxwell Dully/Frankie Bennett) and getting involved with their personal storyline. It was incredible, and the climax of Frankie/Frannie's life has forever put a dent into my character's psychology.

The second is Jack The Ripper, who plays the infamous Ivan Lynch. My first day on the server, lazaruseffect (Frank Moody) and myself met The Crows. I was fascinated by their role-play, but I had no idea how influential they would actually be towards learning how to properly convey hostile RP. Ivan Lynch, Slade Chambers, and Robert Lane ended up capturing Lazaruseffect and myself. It was the first time we'd been initiated on, and the first time we had been taken hostage. The role-play leading up to the initiation was incredibly, incredibly good. To be honest, Ivan Lynch spooked me so damn good. Without their exposure to hostile role-play, I would have been blind to how complex and atmospheric hostile/horror role-play can become.

 

~ Is there something that you would like to see added to our community? ~ 

The only thing I wanted was for Terra to rejoin the admin team. This happened, and I could not be more satiated with the community right now as a result.

Aside from that, I've really enjoyed seeing that the community has been shifting towards more of a focus on role-play, and has been less focused on PvP. I think there is a time and a place for PvP, but I'm here for the role-play and try my best to keep people from pulling the trigger.

Also, the community needs more Shark.

 

~ What are some of your most memorable DayZRP experiences? ~ 

I'll list a few moments, and try to go into some detail about each one. Noteworthy moments for me include:

1. The life and death of Derek Green. Meeting JackGreen and being a small group of Jackals at first, what kept me going more than anything was how JackGreen played his character. My character has been surrounded by mental illness since the beginning, and has primarily been trying to "nurture" these ailments away by giving stern beatings. I had Derek Green handcuffed for at least three full 4-hour long RP sessions, and his character was freaking out so badly that I had a meat cleaver I would stick against his throat while I slammed him against a tree or something. The group decided that Derek Green was too dangerous, and a recent bout with Christianity put him in a pleasant enough mindset for Jack Lexton to execute him. Following Derek's storyline and seeing the other members of the Jackals attempt to reconsile his broken mind was seriously the fuckest coolest.

2. The Jackals alliance with The Ill Intent, and the subsequent relationship that formed between my character and Toecutter, djrosaparks character who was aptly named Toecutter. The Ill Intent believed in a creepy ghost named Abraham. We had met a German character whose name escapes me at the moment, but we had been role-playing with him for the entire day until Toecutter tells him," Abraham wants to see you."

My character is extremely skeptical, so the entire time I'm assuring this German guy that nothing bad is going to happen, and that Toecutter is full of shit. Around this time I unmuted to teamspeak to hear what was practically a role-play script given to me, where I would be hiding in the woods and making extremely creepy voices. We took the guy to this really shitty house near the woods, and what happened there still kind of creeps me out. It was the first time that I realized the 99% of my allies (including my own group) are INSANE except for my character.

I ended up initiating on our new allies, and was met with disapproval from everyone that was there. A lot of people ended up visiting the house and seeing anomalies and hallucinating, but my character and the German man saw nothing and heard nothing. The German man ended up running away once things started to really fall apart. After the ordeal we headed into the nearby town and found the German man. I tried talking to him, but he was clearly afraid. He ended up locking himself in a bathroom, which is where he shot himself. Now, my character believes that everyone saw something except for himself, and I've been FREAKED OUT ever since that day.

3. Speaking of FREAKED OUT, lazaruseffect and Nik's portrayal of demonic possession has lead to some smooooooth role-play. They communicate in short, demonic whispers over Steam, which leads to a very subtle and panicked form of possession that tricks you into thinking that Nik is totally fine. It's allowed for some really cool moments that have laid out the framework for a lot of our inner-dynamic role-play. People usually RP being very afraid when the man whom we follow every order from is freaking out from having his mind taken over by a demon. I think a lot of people realistically believe in demonic possession, and the way Nik acts is extremely unsettling, and I love it.

4. Having a sawed-off shotgun, and wearing a leather jacket. This combination is the pinnacle of badass on DayZRP, in my humble opinion. Few dare to pull it off, but I'd recommend you loners out there try it. It's extremely effective at night.

 

~ Do you have a video of your favorite roleplay moment you would like to share with us? ~ 

I don't know if it's my FAVORITE role-play moment, but I really enjoyed a conversation I had with Jester and Alieb929. My character is the only with the gruff voice and the motorcycle helmet. We were escorting a hostage (who can briefly be heard throughout this video) and this conversation ensued. This style of comedic RP is pretty typical with my group, with me usually escalating things into uncomfortable territory as often as possible.

Video is not safe for work.

[video=youtube]

 

~ Do you have a video of your favorite funny moment ingame you would like to share with us? ~

I've always found glitches in videogames to be really funny. This video is a good example. NSFW!

[video=youtube]

For those interested, our Jackals Media Thread is chock-full of both serious and funny videos. We record a lot!

 

~ If a Zombie apocalypse would happen in Real life, what would you do and what items you would try to take with you? ~ 

This question is definitely something I've thought about a lot over the years, and I think that the older I become the more intimate I've become with my weaknesses. There are so many different factors that come into play, but in particular I think my family would wind up getting me killed. I've a decent bit of backpacking experience and basic survival know-how, but I think my predilection for my family would trump over my desire to find a strong group and genuinely attempt to survive. 

I'd probably wind up getting killed, either by indecision or through allowing someone else to call the shots for me/my family. I don't own any weapons aside from small knives, so I'd take as many as I could and get my backpack set up with most of the basic things I would bring on backpacking trip. I don't think I would feel comfortable looting at first, but if I managed to survive for several weeks I'm sure my mentality would change pretty dramatically. It would be a bad situation all-around, and I'm glad I live in a comfortable society where I can just play videogames and read books instead.

 

~ How would you describe your play style on our Servers? ~ 

I'm really glad that this question was added. Before I joined up with the Jackals, I think the number of players who I'd compare my play-style to was fairly slim. First and foremost, when I'm alone or in a very small group I try to be as stealthy as possible. Because of the hostile nature of my role-play, I feel that I absolutely have to scout out situations before I can approach. Often times, this leads me into following or shadowing groups of people for long periods of time before I actually feel comfortable enough to approach.

At the end of the day, I'm a big asshole. My character is set in his ways, and almost his entire life has been shit. He doesn't pay much attention to social etiquette, and handles disrespect with immediate hostilities. Seymour Traeger is a liar and an actor, with everything being well-rehearsed and thought-out beforehand. Since the Jackals are somewhat of an isolationist group, we make sure that our real names are reserved for when we're safe and at home with our group. Outside of our home, I'm Harry Boyd, a struggling father of two kids, Carter and Lilly Boyd. This persona is essentially the "clean slate" of my character, with Seymour being a hardened convict and small-time criminal, and Harry Boyd being a meddling no-nonsense father who has good intentions for his children but ultimately is a pretty awful dad who can't manage his rambunctious children to save his life.

Finding me IC alone is usually going to be a bad experience, I think. It's important for new members of the community to stretch their wings by being friendly, but I mostly believe that being too friendly is unrealistic. I try to play Seymour as true to HIS character as I possibly can, and often times that involves being extremely sketchy and paranoid when I run into someone alone in the woods. I do just about everything in my power to gain as many advantages as possible, and the best way to do this is to be as intimidating and frightening as I can manage. I purposefully misinterpret people's sentences, twisting their words to where they almost resemble insults. I love making people go back on things that they say by forcing them to confront their own nervous mistakes, which usually (especially for less experienced players) causes their social anxiety to just skyrocket. From there, I can control the rest of the situation fairly easily. 

As far as my play-style within my group goes -- We reflect aspects of my play-style but also really try to be rowdy and unruly. I definitely perform a role as a leader IC, but my leadership doesn't stretch as far as people might think. The phrase,"Seymour, you might want to control your boys..." has been said to me numerous times, but it means absolutely nothing to me IC as long as the role-play of my group is solid. I won't stick my neck out to eliminate problems. I love conflict more than anything else, and I love giving people the illusion that I'm in control of my group when all I really want is for any conflict to escalate until it spirals out of control.  

Lastly, I just try to have an entertaining play-style. Seymour Traeger isn't a funny guy, but Harry Boyd can be ridiculously incompetent and hilarious. I've tried stealing trucks in front of 20+ people before and just end up playing it off. I love to just integrate myself within a random group and act like I know what I'm doing for as long as I can before I'm exposed. I like making really inappropriate and weird jokes IC until people get uncomfortable. I want people to laugh OOC and feel embarrassed IC by what is going on and the sort of lewd shit I'm spewing. I can't tell you how many times I've talked about my "son's" first pubes IC, or threatened to kill someone for not pulling out after sleeping with my daughter. It's just ridiculous and inappropriate, but it's a major aspect of my character. I want people to have no idea what the hell my true motives are, including members of my own group. Even if someone thinks,"this Harry guy isn't so bad," for just a second has just told themselves an enormous lie, and that's what I'm trying to achieve.

To sum it up...I'm cautious, rude, aggressive, manipulative, and ridiculous. I love creating conflict more than anything else, and I hope to continue being an unruly son of a bitch for a long time. 

 

~ Is there anything in particular that you're looking forward to with DayZSA? ~

Base building, persistence, and for the overall performance to increase. I want to not lag when I play Make Believe Zombie Wars, and I want to raid the hell out of some bases.

I mean make bases and collect things. Not raid the hell out of your base. I would never specifically try to raid your base, day after day after day after day. I love collecting things and making bases, NOT raiding them all day every day.

 

~ What do you feel is the best thing about DayZRP and our community? ~ 

The diversity of our members, the creativity of our members, and the drive and motivation of our staff team.

 

~ Do you have any tips or hints for newcomers? ~

Meet people you like, and try to role-play with them with the goal of staying in-character as much as you possibly can. Making friends IC is just as important as making friends OOC. I would recommending attempting to create an ongoing story between you and one or two other members, at least until you can meet groups in-game and get a feel for the sort of group you might want to join.

I highly recommend joining a group within your first month of playing. I would tell newcomers that they should take risks with their role-play, but I'd recommend taking emotional risks instead of theatrical risks. Make your character vulnerable. You might begin your experience with DayZRP being weak, but there are scary men and women out there in the wasteland of Chernarus that can make you strong.

Also, make yourself some bases that I definitely will NOT raid every single day of the week.

 

~ What do you feel could be changed within the community for the better? ~

I would like to see more deals being made between people who put up a report, than there are people being punished for the report. If someone gave you badRP, then it would be cool to see experienced members of the community giving that person a chance to improve their RP by coming to an agreement to meet again IC instead of having the person being banned for a few days.

Lots of rulebreaks could be solved this way. Combat logging could be corrected with agreed upon terms in which to carry out KOS for an extended time in a specific location, or NVFL could be corrected by playing out an escape attempt. I'm not sure, but coming to an agreement to continue role-playing instead of being banned would be really cool.

I think being polite and understanding (or at least attempting to understand) goes a long way. I get frustrated when I attempt to communicate a glitch OOC in a confusing and chaotic situation and am met with someone rudely telling me to stop talking OOC when I've only given him one line describing the glitch I'm experienced to him, so that he can understand that I'm attempting to comply. Just be polite, even when someone breaks your immersion to say something OOC because they're anxious about something or worried their experience might suddenly be ruined.

Lastly, back in my Yahoo! messenger role-play days, there was a text-based fighting style called T2. I'll either post a link in the comments or you can google it to see the rules, but they are extensive and provides for a lot of really diverse fighting. I doubt anyone would want to do it, but we could whoop the living shit out of each other IC without killing our characters or taking any real damage. It would be a fun alternative until I can safely punch people with brass knuckles without killing them.

Interested in doing our interview?

Well you could be the potential next one!

We randomly pick people.

Keep a close eye on that PM box!

[StriderV]

Nice interview REDefiant.

[Terra]

Uhh! this is very nice. Very interesting to read! <3 Thank you so much for taking your time doing this.!

[Kanen]

Great Interview well done <3

[Slash]

Was a good read REDefiant! I still love the video on the train tracks 10/10!

Thank you for taking your time to make this!

[Spartan]

A nice interview! Thanks!

[Defiance]

Thanks for the positive feedback! It was a pleasure to be chosen for the interview, and I obviously went hard with the word count. So glad to be a part of this community.

[Nik]

Ayee my boy! Interview 10/10 homie, always well written

[Ellie]

Awesome interview!

Thanks for taking the time to do it

[Guest]

One of the longest and better written interviews I've seen in a while.

Thank you for taking part!

[Jack the Ripper]

Love you man! Great interview, I'm glad to have you in this community. Love RPing with Seymour.

[Guest Callie]

~ Is there something that you would like to see added to our community? ~ 

Also, the community needs more Shark.

 

Top notch.

[Terra]

~ Is there something that you would like to see added to our community? ~ 

The only thing I wanted was for Terra to rejoin the admin team. This happened, and I could not be more satiated with the community right now as a result.

Love you too!

[bunny]

This was such a fun read, I love it! So much fun rping with Seymour!

[Guest]

lovely interview, took me a while to read though. Good thing I had that book reading skills

[Snowleopard]

This week I interviewed:

REDefiant

Yeah, sureee you did.

[Ramon]

Very nice interview to read

[Defiance]

This week I interviewed:

REDefiant

Yeah, sureee you did.

Hahahaha! I've been on the backburner for a long while, actually. If only I'd done a bit more editing...

Thanks again for everyone who has stuck around to read the entire interview! It means so much to me -- I have tried so hard to deliver unique and fun RP since I've been here. So glad to have gotten this opportunity and give credit where credit is due. Much love to the Jackals for being underrated and beautiful. 

I'm looking forward to activity picking up during .59, and for more people to experience myself and my group's RP.

Edit: Also, I don't have Fallout 4 but I enjoy hearing about it.

[Hassan]

Thanks for the effort you put into this interview,

Was enjoyable to read, loved the videos as well.

[Nocheluz]

Very intimate and candid interview Red. Definitely a pleasure getting to know more about you! Appreciate all the time you took to really put out a great interview

[Ark]

Thanks for doing the interview it was a nice read.

[Guest]

Nice well and thought through interview.

[Combat Logo]

Damn, that Seymore the train video cracked my shit up. I really enjoyed this week's interview. Keep up the good work.

[Chinchilla]

Yay!  Good read!  I love this guy!  Even if he does tell my new character that my last character was a whore.

I kek everytime.

[Defiance]

Yay!  Good read!  I love this guy!  Even if he does tell my new character that my last character was a whore.

I kek everytime.

OMG. I was lying about that! Gotta make Johnny Denver think I'm cool! 

<3 you