The Story of a Governor or an Interview for a Select Few.
Greetings, friends!
As you can probably guess from the title of the post, it will be about the representative of our beloved blog. This is a person with Zoya on the avatar, a tattoo on the neck, and the nickname Yaha, who has been ideally representing the left4dead-2 blog for 7 months.
A little background.
Nickname on Gamer: Yaha.
Age: 23 years.
Real name: Artem Dudnik.
*This is where the first questions began*
Bonana Hunter: So your name is Artem? Why the nickname Yaha then? :)
Yaha: Yaha, because that was my first nickname on my project)
B: I honestly thought your name was Yakov. :)
Y: Many of my friends call me Yasha, some even Jana, and some even invited me to marry them
B: :D
Yaha: I'm here, a kind and harmless little bear)
B: I need a photo where your tattoo is visible. ;)
Y: Whoa)) Let me check)
B: What’s the big deal - it’s not in intimate places, just on the neck. :)
Y: And in intimate places, I have a rose tattooed))) and 2 hearts
B: Francis approves! :D
Interview.
"I'm going to be interviewed!!! And I'm unshaved and hungover!»
Yaha.
B: So, hello, in real life it’s Artem. :)
Y: Hello, Leisan) Usually, I’m called Tyoma, Tyomych, Artemka... Only my lecturer in "human resource management" calls me by my patronymic. He’s the only person who sees me as an adult man.
B: What nicknames do you use on social networks?
Y: About 2 years ago, I realized that it’s easier to have the same nickname everywhere. Not for show-off and recognition from other users, but for simple convenience. I even set a day aside to change my nickname to Yaha everywhere possible :)
B: How would you describe yourself in terms of character?
Y: As you can see in the photos, I’m an absolute cutie)). A simple, good-natured bear, mostly harmless. Sometimes a bit too principled and stubborn :)
B: Love/Don’t love?
Y: I believe. I hope. I love.
B: It says in your profile on Gamer that you are the head of the PR department of www.FreeArena.ru; is this information актуальна?
Y: More than актуальна. This project is my cradle, my abode, and probably my grave:) By the way, I am ready to reveal some secrets regarding the FreeArena and Gamer projects. It’s quite possible my "boss" won’t pat me on the head for this :)
B: Ooo, scandals, hysteria, shootings? :) It’s getting interesting, and I was just about to ask if these two social networks are serious competitors, in your opinion?
Y: The question is slightly misplaced. FreeArena has never been a social network; it is a pure gaming portal. It just so happened that when we started working on public relations, i.e., with our users, we realized that our community has turned into a kind of social group. Our forum became very popular among players and portal administrators. And our portal has the largest administrative staff, over 150 people. *Burns to spill the beans*...
B: Come on, coooome on!!
Y: The thing is that FreeArena.ru and Gamer.ru share common roots and a firm love that lasts forever. Our FA has been operational for three years. When our friends and colleagues launched gamer.ru a year ago (by the way, pay attention to the design and style of our websites; I think you’ll catch the handwriting right away), we realized that the project would conquer the world. And so, this spring we decided to merge into it. Calling it an "unification" would be incorrect; rather, it’s integration. Unfortunately, freearena.ru will lose many of its perks, and there won’t be such a site anymore. But on gamer.ru, they promise us a separate multifunctional branch. In the end, all our game servers will fly the Gamer.ru flags (only Steam is planned). Work is already bustling; we plan to move by the end of summer :)
B: Wow! What a turn!
Y: I would say it’s a huge turn, and I hope this remains our little secret. Right? Nobody will find out? :D
B: No-no, what are you talking about! Women know how to keep secrets!... In groups :D
B: So is it foolish to ask the traditional question - how did you get onto Gamer?
Y: I was on the beta, of course; then there was a long break, and in the end, I registered anew.
B: Okay. Now let’s get closer to our beloved left4dead.
Y: Undoubtedly a world game, it changed my preferences in cooperative games.
B: You weren't the representative of the blog from the very beginning, as far as I know? How did you become one, by the way? The post was free, the previous representative wasn’t coping, and you simply replaced him, so how?
Y: Actually, I brazenly and shamelessly seized the throne! :) I had had my eye on the L4D2 blog because I was very much looking forward to this game. Inspiration was bursting, and I started writing on Gamer, which I had never done on this portal before. Almost every post of mine in the blog pulled in "gold". In the end, in a week, I gained about 12 new levels and reached the first place :) Without losing a second, I replaced the representative. The feeling of power controlled me; I didn’t know what I was doing :))) So, I’ve been the representative of the L4D2 blog for 7 months now, just as you’ve been the representative of L4D for 7 days :)
B: Oh yeah, I did about the same. \_
B: So, you caught the golden age of the blog when the release happened, people played, emotions poured out, some positive, some negative, everyone wanted to share something new: reviews, bugs, tricks... can you tell us about those times? :)
Y: Of course, I became the representative at the peak popularity of the blog. But this was not for selfish reasons, as I was never attracted by the race for experience. I am just a desperate fan of this game.
B: "I understand you so well" (c).
Your logs and your series of stories about the four survivors are worth a lot; should we expect something similar from you in the future? *Oh please*
Y: Yes, rest assured. But I won’t stop at L4D2. Just yesterday, I posted a review of Alpha Protocol, which I worked on for quite some time, and I’m proud of it :) Soon, I plan to have 2 more works on new items. But my dream is to produce quality video work for Gamer.ru. I had an attempt with Mafia II, and it was highly praised on the portal. Therefore, I’m launching my video review on a cool game in the second half of July, the name of which I won’t reveal for the sake of intrigue.
B: Intriguer. :)
B: What do you think about The Passing, which everyone was so eagerly waiting for?
Y: All the words have already been said about this addition. Based on my thoughts on this matter, I can only say that The Passing is a kind of cookie from Valve, to calm the rebellious moods among fans. They combined old and new characters, added a certain script, and created a real show. But a keen old-school eye will not miss the slight, barely noticeable streak of some inconsistency.
B: Yeah, honestly, I’m not thrilled about The Passing either; it was unpleasantly surprising that they couldn't come up with a full campaign with 5 maps.
Do you play mutations regularly every week? :)
Y: I only played the first mutation. I’m a fan of real cooperation, i.e., completing the campaign in realism mode at hard. Naturally, with the support of three loyal friends in a Skype conference. This is why I fell in love with this game.
B: But the passions around The Passing have calmed down, soon the mutations will quiet down, and the blog will experience relative calm, just like the first part of left4dead’s blog now... Have you thought about what to do during this period, how to keep the readers of the blog in high spirits?
Y: Honestly, to my shame, I haven’t thought about it yet. Perhaps because the blog is very lively and popular right now. But of course, it’s time to consider. Once, I had the idea to create a tournament for the readers of the blog, and naturally, to broadcast the tournament in the blog; creating posts with interesting battles, events; posting videos with beautiful game moments from the tournament. With proper organization, it could turn out to be very interesting, we would even take care of the prizes and gifts for the winners. I think it’s worth raising this topic.
B: Hmm.. This is interesting! What advice can you give me as a representative-n00b to a representative who’s more experienced? \_
Y: Being a representative isn’t that difficult. Currently, the functionality of a representative is quite limited and the responsibilities are almost non-existent. * Since you are the representative of a top blog, I can advise you to keep your eyes open :))) Somewhere, the one who will stake their claim to the post has already registered :)))
B: Thank you for the advice! :)
B: What do you think about the rumors about left4dead-3?
Y: I don’t think about rumors at all... I spread them :)
B: Alright, I’ll phrase the question differently - would you like the third part to come out?
Y: Absolutely! There’s no need to think about it. I didn’t oppose at the time of the release of the second part, unlike many. What Valve does almost always meets my best expectations.
B: Yes, I completely agree; I hated people who, long before the release of the second part, cried out that it wouldn’t be good, apparently due to the aura of the screenshots! What are your favorite characters from the first and second parts? If any, of course. :)
Y: In the first one, I really loved Francis. Especially as a character, all his hilarious jokes and excellent sarcasm towards companions.
Y: In the second one, I often play as Nick, and he’s a pleasant character to me. Simple, a bit naive at times :)
B: And finally, do you want to say something to the blog readers? Greetings, kisses, hugs? \_
Y: Probably, yes! :) Taking the opportunity, I want to apologize for not always promptly classifying posts into categories. You write so much, I just can’t keep up. But I try to upvote everything that moves and doesn’t move. I would also really love to get some feedback from the blog readers regarding my candidacy. I have received the prize in the Representatives contest once at the Gamer.ru office, but that was a long time ago (and it’s not true:))). In general, I wish everyone great gaming, good pings, and many, many medkits everywhere :)))
B: Well, we can wrap it up here, thanks for taking the time. I think it turned out to be a great interview. :)
"Bye, everyone!"
* - at the time of writing the interview, the functionality of the representative was limited to pinning the post on the front page and deleting the post to the trash.
This was a triumph!
I'm making a note here:
"HUGE SUCCESS!!"
It's hard to overstate
my satisfaction. (c)
\_