Name: Michael Moore

Call sign (alias): Vex

How did you get that call sign? Any particular meaning? I picked it because it is very short and has a high Scrabble score.

Position at Origin (job title): Designer, on the Ultima Online Live Development Team

What do you do (i.e. what's that job title really mean)? UO's designers have a role that is significantly different from designers elsewhere in the PC gaming industry. We do a mix of game system design, detail design work, world building, and documentation. Additionally, we operate in dual roles as engineers and do a great deal of the technical design, technical documentation, and programming related to our game designs.

Can you describe your "big break" into the gaming industry? For this I have Carly Staehlin and Paul Sage to thank. Two years ago, Carly was Producer of UO and Paul was Lead Designer. After a rather large turnover on the UO design team, they were faced with building a new design team almost from the ground up. They elected to consider applications from members of UO's community who did not have any experience in the gaming biz but were otherwise qualified and dedicated to UO. Their doing that allowed me to jump right into my extremely nifty design/engineering job without having to take the normal hard route through internship and entry-level jobs like Tech Support and Quality Assurance.

What did you want to be when you were growing up? Since my first encounter with a real computer (that had a keyboard instead of a joystick) I knew I wanted to work with them. When I was in early Elementary School, my school got a couple 8-bit Atari computers. I think they were Atari 400's - they had the dual cartridge ports and the built-in membrane keyboards. I was given an opportunity to learn a little bit about those wondrous little devices, and was immediately hooked.

Where were you on this day 10 years ago? I was just starting college. I was still living at home, and starting to get the urge to strike out on my own. I had a Tandy 1000HX that I had upgraded to 640K of RAM. If I hadn't discovered MUDs on the Internet in the Augusta College computer labs by then, I was about to. Less than a year later I moved away from home, down to Broad Street in Augusta, to become roommates with a good friend. He played guitar, sang, and wrote songs. I played bass guitar and sang backup. We added a third roommate - a drummer - and formed a band that played out all around the southeast. I continued school and started picking up contract work writing data conversion utilities on a 368-based laptop.

What is your favorite thing about UO? The fact that it's more than just a game. It's a world, and your actions have an impact on that world. You can express yourself through your avatar's appearance and your house decoration. The fact that you can have a house, effectively taking a little piece of the UO world and making it your own, is wonderful. You can't get that anywhere else.

What is your fondest memory in UO? Hmm…getting my first house. With a friend. We were both blacksmiths, working skills up. There was no Power Hour yet. We'd spend hours boat-mining, then smelting, then smithing. We'd take crateloads of weapons and armor to the NPCs to sell. We spent 250000 for a small house near Moonglow, before the facet split. We put a ton of effort into getting that little box. Other houses have come since then - bigger, and easier - but your first time is always the best. J

Most embarrassing moment (in-game or out)? Once, my Freshman year in High School, I accidentally wore two shoes to school from different pairs. I didn't even notice until someone pointed it out to me. And they didn't stop pointing it out to me. That was pretty bad. But at one point, I just got fed up with it and exploded, "I KNOW! Now leave the the hell alone about it!". I then realized that the girl I had shouted at was visibly hurt by that. I'm not sure which was worse.

So tell us… what was your worst subject in school? History and the so-called Social Studies. I was best and sciences and math, and good at English and the various electives like wood shop. That pattern carried through College as well - I aced Symbolic Logic and Set Theory (A 300-level Math coursein the Comp Sci curriculum - got a 98% for the entire course) and failed a world history course due to lack of interest.

Favorite way to spend a Friday evening? The Alamo Cinema Drafthouse. Why aren't all movie theaters like this? You go in, get a roomy seat with a bar in front of you, order dinner and libations from the wait staff, and have your dinner and your movie at the same time?

What's your favorite game of all time? I'd have to say Ultima IV. After playing through it, I started hacking it. I wrote graphic tile, character, and map editors for it in BASIC on my Atari 800XL. I guess I got a lot more "gameplay" out of that than Richard Garriot ever intended! But it was a sweet feeling, going in and redesigning parts of the map, editing parties of characters to have all the best equipment and impossibly high stats. I even played with the NPC dialog a little bit.

What is your favorite food? Right now, tex mex from Don Pablos. Best I've ever eaten.

Do you have pets (in real life)? What are they? Two cats. The younger one, orange and white, is a chunky little weirdo who just has to have my damp towel after my shower. He lays on it and sniffs it. I dunno, maybe he likes my soap or shampoo.

What's your dream car? Huh? A car that is zero maintenance. All I want a car for is to get from Point A to Point B. Why don't you ask me about my dream computer instead? It would have terminals stationed throughout the house, letting me call up my desktop from anywhere. It would have an extensive library of music, movies, and games, and also interface with TV and Radio. It would have a natural language voice interface (as well as wireless keyboard and mouse). Fat pipe to the 'net. One room in the house would have a nine foot projector usable either as a computer display or for home theater. And that room would resemble Astrometrics from the starship Voyager.

What's your favorite holiday, and why? Christmas. The gifts. I like sending them as well as receiving them.

Your favorite color? Teal.

And last but not least… If you had to be stranded in the Britannian desert for the rest of your life, what one person would you want with you? What? You want me to drag someone I love into exile with me? I'm not falling for that! Besides, with Kal Ort Por (and Help/Stuck as a last resort), you can't get stranded in the Britannian desert!