Spotlight on Staff/Spotlight on Alyias

SGM of Customer Experience Systems

Greetings and all that other jazz. I'm GM Alyias. I guess I'm supposed to say a few things about myself. I'm the Senior GM of the Customer Experience Systems team, which involves a bunch of GSL coding that supports everything from events to nifty new player systems to interesting GM tools that we can torture players with by deleting (**edited for content**). I've been a code geek throughout my GemStone life, starting out right before Hunt for History 2 in what was then the World team, working through the GS3-GS4 conversion (huzzah for Justice!), continued through a variety of projects (ESP, gambling, Helga's upgrade, Wavedancer verb updates, and wedding updates to name a few of my favorites). After all that fun, I got the smart idea to tempt GM Kitrina with a bunch of beer and cake and propose the creation of a team that would bring all CE coding resources under one umbrella, thus making sure that CE and DEV coding resources and priorities remained separate and increasing the efficiency of both teams, and to my utter surprise, she stared at me and said, "FINE! GO DO IT THEN!" Thus, here I am.

Words that best describe me: Sarcastic, cynical, dry humor, picky, nagging, impatient, and a believer in karma and all things in their place.

Where were you born?

Devil's Lake, North Dakota

Where do you currently live?

Cincinnati, Ohio

Do you have any pets/kids/both?

Four cats, one dog, and a wife.

What is your current occupation?

Restaurant Manager at J. Alexander’s

What did you want to be while you were growing up?

A teacher or a chef! Now I get to do both!

Favorite TV shows?

House, Bionic Woman, Family Guy, American Dad.

Favorite actors/actresses?

Jaime Foxx, Denzel Washington, Jack Nicholson, to name a few.

Favorite musicians/bands?

The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins, Siouxsie and the Banshees, to name a few.**

Favorite books/authors?

Laurell K. Hamilton, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Robert Jordan, L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Where did you go to college and what did you study?

Johnson County Community College, A.A.S., Food and Beverage Management

Favorite/least favorite job you've ever had?

My favorite kind of job is the one I'm in right now. Love your job...it's what you do with a third of your life. My least favorite job was doing cold calls trying to sell timeshares. People aren't very nice.

Favorite hobbies?

Cooking, when I have time. Computer games, reading, movies, table-top roleplaying, LARPs.

Favorite foods?

A medium-rare steak of any ilk, custards and puddings, and well-prepared risotto top the list.

Favorite board games or computer games?

GemStone, DUH! Besides that, I tend to flit about...I'm now playing Halo 2 so that I can play Halo 3.

Favorite sports/sports teams?

Skol Vikings! Let's win this game

Skol Vikings! Honor your name

Go get that first down

Then get a touchdown

Rock 'em, sock 'em, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT! FIGHT!

Go Vikings, run out the score, you'll hear us yell for more!

V-I-K-I-N-G-S

Skol Vikings, let's go!

What would you do with a million dollars?

Invest it to get to 5 million, then open my restaurant.

What three people past or present would you invite to dinner?

President Bush, so I can give him a bad case of food poisoning and chuckle to myself...well worth the karmic repercussions. The other two would have to be Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) and Robert Smith (The Cure), just to pick their brains and for the very interesting conversation that would no doubt come up.

What is your favorite quote?

You can't be smart and pretty!

Name something you'd like to do before you die.

Visit the NEW Seven Wonders of the World.

What's your favorite acronym?

The very unclever ZOMG.

Who is your hero or heroine?

Besides my wife? The everyday people that do the menial, hard, and demeaning jobs that make our lives easier. They don't get enough props by far.

If you could have any musical group or artist, past or present, play at your birthday party, who would it be?

Smashing Pumpkins.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

The ability to manipulate time! Fast forward, rewind, pause...it'd be great! Need a nap in the middle of the workday? PAUSE! Sitting through a torturous movie your wife brought you to see? FAST FORWARD! Not quite done with your vacation? REWIND. Yeaaaa.

And the Zobmondo question

Would you rather...

Always have to wear shoes that were a half size too small...

Or...

Always have to wear underwear that was constantly giving you a wedgie?

Considering I'm on my feet and not my butt pretty constantly throughout the day...I'm going to say I'll take the wedgie. ;-)

Co-Workers Not-So-Candid Quotes

• "Don't judge him for being a Vikings fan. He's still a pretty good guy."

• "Alyias is the quiet, unseen wizard behind the great wonderful curtain that is Elanthia."

• "I heard that he's really into belts made of fur. Ask him."

• "Very knowledgeable about game systems and always ready to help."

• "I think he might actually be the devil."

• "Patient and gracious, he's always there to answer any question I have, no matter how big, small, or silly, and never makes me feel daffy for asking. I <3 Aylias!"

• "Alyias was my mentor when I started 2 years ago and I can't tell you how pleased I've been to work with him over the past 2 years."

• "So a project request got lost in the paperwork 24 hrs before Ebon Gate was due to open and I'm freaking out. It was for the merchandise that was supposed to be the main feature of the shop! Then, voila, like an American Express commercial Alyias stepped up and did the project himself, over night, and my shop's feature merchandise was on the shelf for players just in time for opening."