I'd like to start of by saying that this interview is very long overdue, it was conducted a little while before Stratics went down and I've been waiting til all was sorted to get it put up.
Massive thank you to petra for taking the time to answer these questions and for everything else. Enjoy
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It seems there were a lot of people who wanted an interview with the legendary Petra Fyde… Oh dear, I’m not very interesting! A Boring, middleaged housewife and granny. First up is the usual start to any player interview. How did you arrive in Sosaria and what was it that caught your attention about the game? I’d often watched my sons playing console games, when they started playing UO I realised this was a game that I could play too. My younger son let us have a char on his account for a while, and then my husband and I started a shared account in December 2000. The thing that caught your attention all those years ago, has that gone away now or is it still very much a part of your UO life? Not gone away, no, changed a little as I’ve become a little less inept and inexperienced, but I still find my ‘life’ in Sosaria fascinating. Which is your oldest character? Petra Fyde is the oldest of all our characters, she was the first to have the Fyde name, The characters my husband first had were deleted and Terry Fyde was born. We began to communicate with other players via these characters and so have become known by their names. Who helped you during your time in UO? Who has been a major influence? Initially, our sons, though that was a bit ‘blind leading the blind’ Discovering Stratics boards was a major advantage. It was through the board, and more specifically the babble thread, that I met Barian, who has been my friend for many years now. You own a few vendors at Barian’s Mall, what made you start a vendor? Has it always been at Barian’s or did you start somewhere else? What is the Ethos behind your vendors? The purpose of our vendors has always been to provide the day-to-day requirements of players. We’re the ‘local department store’ of Sosaria, not the ‘Harrods’ We set up our first vendors at Terry’s. Later Barian invited us to set up vendors at the Mall, and Terry’s moved to Felucca where it became ‘FortyFyde’, however that has since closed.. What was your first home? Terry and I lived out of our bank boxes for 6 months while we saved up for a small marble shop. It cost us 500k and was near Cove. Some people still remember ‘Terry’s’. Later I took over the Angry Mongbat Tavern in Yewdale. It had been a tavern for the previous 2 owners and we undertook to keep it that way. It’s since been customised, but the bar still remains What about the first guild you joined? For a long time both Terry and I refused invitations to join guilds. Terry made a guild called The Hole In The Head Gang [HHG], we put all our characters in that. Then I joined Guardians of Yew [GYE]. When that broke up Barian, Laton and I formed Yewdale Fellowship. I was nominally the GM, but all decisions were actually made by the three of us. Now there’s only Barian and I left but we still hunt regularly together. What are your thoughts on KR? Which client do you mainly use? I approached KR with the attitude, ‘it’s the future, I have to learn to adapt’, but to be honest I don’t like it much. I find it hard to see the things I want to see and the targeting system is not only overly complicated, I can’t do with it what I most want to do, ie vet my pets or heal my guildmate at the same time as I’m fighting. I keep trying to use it, I want to be fair, but 2D is so much clearer visually that I spend almost all my time in that. Where do you think the future of UO lies at the moment? I wish I knew! I’m hopeful judging by what’s happened in the last month, but also fearful that with KR not getting the reception it could have, had it performed properly, EA may pull the plug. If you could be an EA dev for UO, what is one thing you would add/take away or change? Ohh! Difficult, I’d change the collections I think, I’m not quite sure how, but as they stand getting the exhibits needs an effort that comes closer to ‘work’ than ‘play’, which spoils any enjoyment of the task. What is your favourite thing to do in UO? Are there any particularly memorable moments you’ve had in UO? I enjoy many things, and am happiest when I have a purpose, whether that’s completing a quest, gathering resources, or fulfilling an ambition. I think I get most pleasure from taming. My most vivid memory though is old, that of jousting my first dragon, as a warrior What about your worst moment? I try not to remember worst moments *grins* I did get a bit upset when our connection to the server was broken for 8 hours, but the server was still active. I’d been out with my white wyrm and was sure I’d lost her. I was lucky, I found her wild where I’d left her, though re-taming her while surrounded by rotting corpses, lich lords and lesser undead was a little tricky to say the least. In your opinion what is it that makes UO special? What is it about UO that’s given it 10 years of life? The freedom, to do whatever suits your mood, to be whoever you want to be, go wherever you like and to log off in an instant if something comes up RL. The sheer variety of things to do, places to go, things to create. Also the people who play it, they’re a caring community with a helping hand readily extended to anyone who needs it. Its been said that women tend to like playing male characters to avoid unwanted attention by males, do you agree? Have you ever had a problem with unwanted male attention? My only male character is one I inherited from Terry. I’m not comfortable playing a male. I can’t say I’ve been bothered by unwanted attention, I either freeze them out or recall away. Most are easily put off by sentences starting with ‘my husband’s char…’ *grins* What is your favourite template? That depends entirely on my mood to be honest. I can play my tamer for days, and then leave her untouched while I play my crafter, take my stealth herder creeping round or charge to battle on my warrior.
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