Niobe - Good evening and welcome to Ultima Online Celebrity Chat. UOCC is a forum wherein we bring to you celebrity guests from the UO community, ranging from website administrators, OSI personnel, counselors, seers, and even roleplayers and PKs from your own shard! They drop by to answer your questions about UO, their experiences in it, and about their own contribution to the community.
Niobe - Our system is similar to the UOHOC chats. All you have to do is /msg a designated question taker with your question or comment. However, when it is your turn, rather then a moderator pasting your question in the chat, instead we set +voice to you and allow you to talk with the celebrity guest yourself!
Niobe - We ask that you please keep your questions on topic. Our guests are not on the DEV team and cannot answer when necromancy is going to be released. Also, this is not a forum for debates...if a particular thread goes on we may ask you to put it off until after the chat has ended.
Niobe - Please /msg or /query Destiny, Volum and Stark with your questions. Please do not /msg myself or our guests.
* Destiny Waves *

Niobe - Tonight's guests are Kal El and Lady Nocturne, Counselor Coordinators for Ultima Online.
Niobe - Would you both like to give us a little introduction?
Kal_El - sure thing
Kal_El - Ill start
Kal_El - about six years ago I was sacking groceries...
Kal_El - no wait
Kal_El - thats someone eles
Here the Stratics IRC bot decided to kick Kal_El from the channel for no particular reason ;-)
* Niobe kicks the bot *
* ladyNOCturne blinks *
ladyNOCturne - I guess if Kal got kicked, I'll start :)
ladyNOCturne - I've been here at origin for about a year and a half.. I started as a GM but I now do counselor coordinating
ladyNOCturne - wb kal.. i covered for ya ;)
Kal_El - and I thought I was going to get to finish dinner
Kal_El - :)
Kal_El - so
Kal_El - as I was saying
Kal_El - brief background
And here the IRC bot struck again by kicking Kal_El for the second time...
SecretAznMan-LuT - lol
* plig snickers *
SecretAznMan-LuT - the machines are in control
ASRC_Gabby_CSP - LOL
Kal_El - ok so now I have to talk in complete sentences... I didnt realize my english teacher was in the room
* Destiny Giggles *
* Niobe hides *
* XenaDragon goes looking for an axe to kill the bot with *
Kal_El - for anyone that doesnt know it, I am the Counselor coordinator for UO along with my evil assistant Lady Nocturne
* ladyNOCturne curtsies with an evil eye *
Kal_El - My long winded speech was going to be thrilling but I think Ive spent enough time on this as is so Ill turn it ove rto NOc
ladyNOCturne - Well.. I am also the counselor coordinator, along with my evil assistant Kal. I played UO a little prior to coming to Origin, but my main types of favorite games are shoot 'em ups and adventure games.. my favorite game is zork: grand inquisitor

Niobe - Hiya Eddard, Please ask your question
Eddard - This is a question to both of you... What does your normal work day consist of?
Kal_El - hmm
Kal_El - well for a large part of it you guys determine that but let me see if I can cover the basics
Kal_El - first thing I do is dive into email... I usually have quite a few so that takes me a few hours to get through...
Kal_El - handling issues that are relayed via email takes up a good part of the day
Eddard - Do you try to respond to all emails? I mean.. reasonably well written emails...?
Kal_El - we are working hard each day with the dev team and web team to ensure that the Counselors have all the latest tools and up to date info
Kal_El - any and all
* Eddard nods *
Kal_El - if I happen to just be cc'd in one then I usually wont
Kal_El - TOS checks, background checks and working with the companion program takes some of my time away as well
Kal_El - Noc anything to add?
ladyNOCturne - Kal let me out of the closet once.. it was cold.. so cold..
Kal_El - lol
* ladyNOCturne coughs. *
ladyNOCturne - no, nothing to add.. my day, same as yours
Eddard - Is there any jealousy between you two
Kal_El - lol
Kal_El - nah
ladyNOCturne - do you mean do you wish I was a man?
ladyNOCturne - no, not really :)
* Eddard grins *
Kal_El - she wants my hair
ladyNOCturne - this is true.
Eddard - Hey, who am I to judge..
* ladyNOCturne hangs head. *

Niobe - Thank you Eddard!
Niobe - Hi Eiric
Niobe - Go ahead and ask your question to our guests
Eiric - Hello there! I wanted to ask both NOc and Kal this question: what are your plans for the future, your ambitions?
Eiric - Do you have any goals beyond being counselor coordinators?
Kal_El - Noc you first
ladyNOCturne - Well, I for one plan on staying with Origin, one way or another, for some time..
ladyNOCturne - It's a great company and the people are wonderful too
Eiric - Well, I also meant within OSI. =)
ladyNOCturne - I'm currently taking classes to pursue a Computer science degree, so i'll probably try to get involved with programming when I finish that
* ladyNOCturne looks at kal.. anything for you? *
Kal_El - well I do love the customer service aspect of OSI...
Kal_El - and I very much want to stay there as long as possible. There are so many incredibly talented individuals
Kal_El - who combine their efforts to form one heck of a team
Kal_El - so I would definitely want to maintain a career there, but as for aspirations to do something else...
Kal_El - I've always loved writing and making movies so maybe Ill get to do that someday
Kal_El - but as for now I love what I do and the volunteers and get to interact with
Eiric - *laughs* that I can understand. Do you think your experience here will help you in those persuits?
Kal_El - oh yes... I invade the Rave group all the time and learn as much as I can from them :)
Eiric - Thankyou very much both of you. =)

Niobe - Thank you Eiric!
Niobe - Greetings Wyrmschlacter, please go ahead and ask your question
Wyrmschlacter - Oh
Wyrmschlacter - What kind of tools do the counselors have, and what new tools are they going to get?
Kal_El - well the counselors have quite a few tools, too many to go into detail about, but
Kal_El - they have tools that will assist them in helping players as efficiently as possible. We have some more in store for the near future
Kal_El - but nothing I can elaborate on too much. One thing I am trying to do is make this as fun as possible for all the vols
Kal_El - one such tool might just aid in that dept some
Kal_El - the basics are in place right now... we dont have plans to bring in anything major however
Kal_El - like an external god client or anything
Wyrmschlacter - hehe, thanks.

Niobe - Thank you!
SC_Myth - Hail guys
Niobe - Hi Myth and welcome to the UOCC
Niobe - Ask away!
SC_Myth - UO Renaisance brings with it a lot of changes... i know that the companion program will be positivly effected by it.. but what about the councilor program.. any surprises there?
Kal_El - No big surprises for the Counselors with Renn. The tools will remain the same as will the character. We talked about possibly making a more role playing version of a counselor but have not completed any such ideas
SC_Myth - ok then
SC_Myth - thanks... good luck guys
* SC_Myth signs off *
Kal_El - Thanks :)

Niobe - Hiya Somberlain!
Niobe - Please ask your question
Somberlain - Hiya
Somberlain - Do you believe volunteer programs (such as this one) to support the growing number of online products being developed is something we will see more of in the future? If so, which of your experiences with the UO-Vol program that made it so succesful would you intend to bring to future Origin online products with possibly their own volunteer programs.
Kal_El - I think there will be an expansion of programs such as this in some major ways...
Kal_El - look at other games similar to ours and see how they have followed in our footsteps somewhat
Kal_El - as more and more online games come on to the market I think we will definitely see more and more people volunteer their time to a game they love
Kal_El - but, the catch is they have to love it to want to be a part of it in that capacity
Kal_El - the reason this one has been so successful has nothing to do with anything I have done. It is all due to teh incredible people involved in it
Kal_El - I would love to take as many of those folks as possible to each new level we encounter
Kal_El - they are the reason for the success. That combined with their love of the game and the way they enjoy helping others come to know and love something the way they do

Niobe - Thank you Somberlain!
Niobe - And now we have our own Glamdring bursting to ask a question.
Niobe - (since I can't voice him)
Glamdring - How is the release of UO2 going to affect the current pool of counselors and how will the UO2 program be designed? Similar to UO?
Glamdring - And is it true that you live in fear of Nocturne?
Kal_El - lol
Niobe - haha
* ladyNOCturne stifles a giggle *
Kal_El - well I have to be honest and say that UO2 will affect our current numbers of Vols in UO somewhat
Kal_El - but I dont want to deplete UO from all the great c's currently involved
Kal_El - so that is something we are developing as we go. Lots of thought is being put into it and I really cant say exactly what we are going to do
Kal_El - mainly because I dont know :)
Glamdring - sekrit stuff
Kal_El - but we have lots of ideas on how to go about it.
Glamdring - heh
Kal_El - the program for UO2 will be different
Kal_El - a lot different
Kal_El - thats about all I can sez on that one :)
Niobe - Awww
ladyNOCturne - my plan is to use the "duck and cover" method
Kal_El - and yes... I live in constant fear
Glamdring - hehe
Glamdring - Thank you Mr El
* Kal_El bows *

Niobe - I'd like to thank our guests for coming tonight!
Niobe - Thank you for attending tonight's UOCC. Remember, UOCC occurs every other Monday night at 7pm CST. The log of tonight's chat will be posted tomorrow on http://uohoc.stratics.com.
Niobe - Please feel free to join us here in #ultima-online at any time of the week for help in game, the latest UO news, or just to chat. Have a nice evening.
Kal_El - Thanks everyone!
* Destiny Wavs Buh Bye *
ladyNOCturne - Thanks for coming!