BlackSwan

Date of Birth

September 26

About BlackSwan

Biography:

I'm a senior graphic designer taking an indefinite sabbatical due to a lengthy chronic illness which currently prevents me from doing most activities besides gaming. I co-manage a multi-MMO clan called "Grim Wolves" and do all that I can to introduce new games to our little community.

I grew up as a tom boy, having four older brothers. I never owned Barbie – I think I had one doll. I did however own one My Little Pony, Lego, A-team figurines and various plushies. My days were spent riding BMXs, roller-skating, skateboarding, building tree houses, making bows and arrows, playing video games and running around screaming "BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!" with a male neighbour. What has been difficult throughout life is finding girlfriends with similar interests. Only a handful of people like to run around screaming "BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!" these days ...

I've played pen-and-paper RPGs and gamed competitively (DOS–Nintendo–Windows) since childhood.

I game every day – except when (I was) training or watching series/Anime! Back in the day, I'd squeeze in a dungeon or two before I left for work – then 5 hrs+ in the evening. If we were pushing progression in an expansion, I'd usually chill until it was time to log on – then engage in 3 hrs+ of uninterrupted raiding. These days, most of my time is spent gaming ... When I'm not on a mission to procure the Elixir of Gods (Espresso) or grocery shopping – I'm gaming. My focus is currently Blade & Soul, but I also put time into various other MMOs played by my clan.

Though I've actively participated in many FPS LANS in the past, I admit to favouring fantasty action MMORPGs over military-style FPS. I have LANd a lot of Quake, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Starcraft, WCIII etc. (And, in hindsight, probably got my ass grinded six different ways to Sunday on more than on occasion.) It's just that I lost interest in RTS/FPS (though I do enjoy playing games like Warframe, Destiny, and The Division).

When our team took a break from WoW (and subsequently from Guild Wars 2), I embarked on a mission to download and test every rated F2P/BETA MMORPG available. By doing this I felt I could experience a Smörgåsbord of art styles and game mechanics. My primary focus was Fantasy/Sci-Fi MMORPGs with high playerbases and good ratings from reliable reviewers. Not only has this task appeased my curiosity, but my clan and I are now 100% certain about what we do and do not like in an MMO. One things for sure — the days of laborious timesinkers with slow, unresponsive, combat are over (for us at least). There is a crossover forming in MMO combat these days. This fluid, next gen, non-target, live action combat is the way of the future.

After eight years of WoW, I found that I prefered the art style, environments and monsters of East Asian MMOs (particularly those that are cel shaded or have an Anime style) like Final Fantasy XIV, Blade & Soul, Dragon Nest, TERA, Soul Worker, Project NT, Revelation Online etc. To be fair, East Asian games are certainly not be everyone's cup of tea, however, many of them aren't well known. Sometimes we get so hung up on mainstream offerings that we neglect to discover the gems. I also prefer Martial Arts, Steampunk or Post-Apocalyptic themes that deviate from stock standard Western storylines.

Location:

Durban

Interests:

Competitive Online Gaming, Anime, Martial Arts (Ming Kung Fu)

Occupation:

Senior Graphic Designer on sabbatical e.g. Full-Time Gamer