Interview with Ender

[Dexter]

Mod Edit: This is an older interview kept here for posterity. Dexter, the original poster, was a former administrator of this project. Noirgrim was a prolific modder who unfortunately left on poor terms. Everything below has been left unedited.
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This interview was conducted by Noirgrim with Ender, the man who first started Tamriel Rebuilt. It's worth the read, if only just to see how far we have come along.

Noirgrim: Go ahead and introduce yourself for the people who might not know you.

Ender: Greetings, my name is Mark and I live in Greece, I am 24 years old [at the time of the interview, August 2006] and I study Electronic Engineering. I have been following the TES games since Arena.


Noirgrim: How was TR initially conceptualized? Who was involved in the creation of the project? Take us through the beginning steps from when TR was thought up, up until Morrowind was released and modding began.


Ender: Hmmm... now that is a trip down memory lane... let's see...

Having played Daggerfall I was blown away when I saw an ad on a PC magazine about Morrowind and when I read about the Construction Set (CS) I suddenly realized that whatever is not already in the game, we will be able to create for ourselves. I went surfing on the net trying to find more information about the game, the main site popped up first and some other fan sites followed.

I began lurking the forums of the aforementioned sites looking for every little piece of info about the game and, of course, about the CS. And as I realized that the CS will be all that I hoped it will be, I began dreaming about creating Daggerfall on the Morrowind engine and then I realized there was nothing stopping me from creating Tamriel short of the massive amount of work it would be, so I decided to stop my lurking and voice this "great dream" of mine to see if there are other people that think the same.

My initial post was at a fan site forum, it failed miserably but the suggestions there were that I post something on the official forums, and that was exactly what I did. Now, keep in mind that back then I was a lot younger and a quite inexperienced in the ways of "teh internet", so I was quite intimidated by the prospect of the Official Forums... At first the general responses were among the lines of "Hahahahahhahah" but after the first week of bumping and trying to get some attention, people who had worthwhile input strarted showing up, and before I knew it we were enough to actually have a chance. Some of the posters in that thread, that I remember, were Ash, ActSmiley, Moorkh, MrSlugworth.

At that point, my internet access experienced some problems and I couldn't access the forums for about a week. When the problem was resolved I rushed to the forums and searched for my thread, I was immediately disappointed because I found it at the 10th page of the forums, all discussion had apparently ceased. After reading the last responses of the thread I realized that the discussion was alive and well, only they had to create a new thread because the old one was getting enormous.

At this point, the "project" was that thread, a quite fragile state of being if you ask me. So, we began talking about the creation of a site, Ash stepped up and offered his web admin skills to the task and he created the first Tamriel Rebuilt (TR) site on m0use.net. At last we had our own forums and have done the first real step toward the realization of a dream that most would bash and burn for being too ambitious. Spirits were high.

We immediately began to work on the organization of the project, in fact that was all we would do, discuss the way we are going to handle the workload. At that point it became apparent that we will have to get a lot more people to work with us, and that there had to be a solid "center" whose purpose would be to organize everything, the Core, and in it were the people who were discussing the project in the official forums a while back, me, Moorkh, Ash, ActSmiley, MrSlugworth and some others that I keep forgetting... The claim map was created by Moorkh and divided in cells, and the first claim system took form... Then Morrowind was released and we started advertising the project on the main forums, new blood started pouring in and actual modding began.

Noirgrim: Now a days, TR is known for its quality and adherence to Tamrielic Lore. With all of the things that a mod project could become with free reign that the CS provided, why did TR regard these two points as its dogma? And if it didn't start this way, why do you think it evolved that way shortly after modding began?

Ender: Adherence to Tamrielic Lore was always a priority for the project one way or the other. While it was not spelled out in the original thread that we would be as faithful as we could to the lore, we did name the project "Tamriel Rebuilt" so it was pretty straightforward what we had in mind.

Tamriel and The Elder Scrolls in general have a very special and distinct history, the deviations from "standard" fantasy were very intriguing and created a world that is quite captivating and "new" all the while retaining a feeling of familiarity. That is the reason we decided this adherence to the lore since for us it simply was too good to be changed at all.

Also you have to keep in mind that Tamrielic Lore is not something complete, there are parts of the mythos that are very fluid and there are even some holes that need to be filled, there we will have almost complete freedom of movement, as far as we respect the original theme of TES.

Noirgrim: From that first thread in the fan forum, were you surprised TR developed like it did? Also, what was your proudest moment in TR?

Ender: Nothing could prepare me for the massive reply the project received.

My proudest moment in TR... hmm, it is a close match between two.

The first is when, I saw a "you will never be able to do this" reply to a generic thread and, for the first time, I knew for a FACT that he was absolutely wrong. The project was alive and gaining momentum each day... I didn't even bother to reply, I just smiled and checked out another thread.

The second is the moment I realized the project did not need me or any one person any more. It was mature and big enough for me to leave it without any consequence.

Noirgrim: What was your most upsetting moment?

Ender: Probably when we had started modding with the project and everything was running along just fine, some people from the core left because of real life issues, some modders decided to drop their claims without any warning. At some point the organisation/management of the project was on me and Moorkh alone. Things were a little hectic but we handled it.

Then Moorkh left without saying a word and suddenly I was the only one left to handle the whole project, which attracted new modders every day... I started working 4 hours per day on the project and picked up a nice set of Photoshop skills because of that, so it wasn't a total waste... but yeah, out of my whole run with the project, the moment that I realized I had been left alone was that most upsetting.

Noirgrim: What is your opinion of TR's new application process? Was there ever talk about being selective on who mods for TR, or was it part of the original thought that TR should be an open project where anyone could contribute? What are your thoughts on the strengths and weakness of this process?

Ender: I think that after a certain point TR had to go this way, given the number of people willing to work on the project increased. Going back and fixing claims has always been a problem with the moderators and that was the obvious solution. While it is true that the original thought was that TR should be an open project for everyone willing to contribute, a certain level of quality had to be ensured.

The obvious strengths of this new process is higher overall quality and maybe more dedicated modders (since they endured this screening process, they won't be the "claim and never finish" kind of modders). The weakness is the time it must be taking you to go through the process and the fact that "level of quality" is somewhat subjective so human mistakes might come into play.

Noirgrim: Ok, lightning round! (questions asked by TR members)

Q. Are you ever planning on coming back?

Ender: Tough question to answer, I was planning to come back with Oblivion, but I didn't have the free time after all... I have a dream to actually get my hands dirty and do some modding for the project since all I did was manage/organize when I was active so I didn't leave anything "concrete" behind. We will see...

Q. Where did you get the name Ender?

Ender: Huge fan of the Ender books by Orson Scott Card, (Ender's Game, Xenocide, etc.)

Q. What was your favorite story or bit of Tamrielic history that made you think "this world is awesome," made you want to be able to explore the world beyond Vvardenfell?

Ender: Hmm, it has to be the fact that in TES the stars you see at night are actually holes in the fabric of the "sky", holes that connect with the plane of magic itself... with the biggest hole being the sun. So when you see the stars you actually stare into magic...

Oh, and naked chicks dancing in temples...

Q. What do you think about Oblivion?

Ender: Quite a good game, but when I realized about the whole level scaling thing, I got a bit disillusioned about the whole game. Also I have a problem with the world scaling in general (which is evident in MW too), I mean I finally get into the Arcane University, one of the biggest and most important bastions of magic in Tamriel and what do I see? A library with 4-5 shelves worth of books and around 20 "students" walking around in a really small courtyard... well, you can say that ruined some of my fun and immersion.

Q. Are you married?

Ender: Nope

Q. Do you put TR as an achievement in your life, specifically on CVs and in interviews, as well as your own personal regard?

Ender: Heh, actually there are no people in my life that know about TR, none of my friends care enough about TES and I don't bother talking about it to anyone who is not a TES enthusiast. But I do view TR as an achievement in my life, the fact that I played a part in TR's history makes me damn proud, and I do not care if no one will ever know how much effort I put on this project. I know, and that's all it matters.

Q. Lady Nerevar or Noirgrim in the pic-off?

Ender: ZOMG NOIRGRIM IS TEH SEXY! WILL YOU MARRY ME? PLX?
Phone No.: 555 - NOIRGRIM - FOR - PRESIDENT.

Noirgrim: Lol, thanks Ender, I think that only puts me 12 votes behind N. Is there anything you want to tell TR, words of inspiration or insight?

Ender: Do not give up.