[Interview] Gion

[Reporter]

Helloooo, OldSquad Community!

This is an interview I've been wanting to take for a very long time, it's an interview with my editor, can you believe it? What Reporter will interview his own editor ? Well, on OldSquad everything is possible and I'm glad to have this privilege (I just want you to know that this interview is exclusive and confidential, so if you read it don't tell anyone, please).

I want to share my first memory I have with this player / judge / event maker, and more recently, since Admin decided to leave the "football field" and just get into the coach's shoes, he's not that old but it's like Murinho! So Gion isn't just my editor, he's been the chief of staff in the game for a few months.

Uh, Oh, again I got off topic, well, let's go back to my previously idea, I was a new player on OldSquad, I didn't know anyone and I see an Admin online -> Gion, I start talking to him and he's not on any pedestal, he talks to me easily, as if he was a simple player, so I'm amazed: a server populated, hard to play with admins who don't think they are gods? WTF? Something is wrong, he is always naughty, he has a sense of humor and he is always active,  and I changed my mind instantly about this server, before I had tried many servers, so boring, those with high exp were interesting for a few days but this one at first view looks like it will last at least for few weeks, so I chose to stay and play here, I could write novels but let's limit ourselves to the interview of this editor of mine:

Reporter: "Hello, Gion, and welcome to the NewsPaper Hall of Fame ! "

Gion:"Hello, sir! I am glad that you have introduced me as well, it is a honor for me."

Reporter : " Can you, please, give us a description of yourself? Name, age, occupation, hobbies, etc. ? "

Gion:"My name is Rares, with the last 's' being read as 'sh', some Romanian thing. I am 23, and currently I study telecommunications, and you know , I can say that I also study MU Online, by any means. Mu happens to be also a hobby of mine, alongside music and things related to sounds/comms engineering."

Reporter:" Where does Gion nickname come from?" 

Gion: "It was kinda random, my idea at the moment of creation(2014-2015) was that I wanted to use a common name, but as it is written in Romanian, so the common name was 'Ion' -> 'John' into English, and then 'Gion', as we, Romanians, write it. "

Reporter: "Tell us the story about how you got to play this game and how you got to be the chief of staff on one of the only server of MU Online which promises months of play, not just days / weeks? "

Gion: "Well, since me and ADMIN were classmates since the 1st grade, we have a long story together. Long story short, ADMIN introduced me to this game about 11-12 years ago, if I am not wrong, since then we played together a lot, then, one day ADMIN came up with the idea that if we don't find a server for our expectations(and believe me, we didn't), we have to build one."

Reporter: " Have you ever been a player on MuOldSquad?" 

Gion: "Yessir, on different ocassions."

Reporter :"How did you manage to get the Admin to trust you? (of course we need a story)"

Gion: "I'm glad that you asked. As I said, ADMIN came up with the idea that we have to build this server. At the beginning he created the server on his own, with us, the real-life friends, being just players and only sometimes helping with small things, like doing an event for the players that were active at that moment, or things like these. He basically started everything on his own, and then, after the work volume has increased he reached me, because, I guess, he knew that I enjoy this game like .. a lot."

Reporter : "How did you both come to the conclusion that this server needs a NewsPaper? Whose idea was it?"

Gion: " We thought about it because looking at how nice and good the players are evolving around, like there are lots of unexpected situations, 500 IQ plays, etc that must be seen by everyone, so we wanted our players to feel that what they do will be acknowledged. We are creating, together, the History of OldSquad, The MU Continent of Legend, exactly as you say, with a lot of work, dedication and 'blood' from the deadly battles. "

Reporter: "Does Admin pay you real money for the work you do??"

Gion: " Since we are all doing this out of passion, I think that money talks are a bit offtopic. "

Reporter: "What are your responsibilities, is this like a part-time job or maybe more like a full-time?" 

Gion: "My responsibilities, and there is only one, in my opinion, is to make sure that everyone has a good time and a fair shot in the competitions, whatever they are."

Reporter: " What makes you keep doing the job you do?"

Gion: "As I said, I consider myself a student in MU Online by any means - technical, social, I even learnt how to manage a situation where there are some misunderstandings. I also get to know a lot of new people. It's basically you, the whole community, that keeps me doing it."

Reporter : "Many times when I had the opportunity to talk to you, you were tempered regardless of the situation,  ... where do you got so much patience from? How do you succeed, you and Admin have such different temperaments and yet you are best friends (it seems to me). What is your explanation? " 

Gion: " I think that knowing each other for so much time and playing together got us into having the same mentality and values, regarding this game. Also in real-life we are different but still best friends because even we have different personalities, knowing each other helps us to get the best out of each one. It is like an out-of-the-box experience, in terms of MU Online, me and ADMIN are the same person, same thoughts, like a multi-core processor, but it is still one piece."

Reporter : " Is it hard to do what you do? Give us some examples of difficult moments you have faced since you were part of the staff"

Gion: "It is not hard, not for me, the guy who always looked up to do something like this, I had previous experiences as a server administrator before, and not only MU. I cannot say that it is 'hard', it might be mind challenging, but I would not label it as 'hard'. You asked for an example: It was a nice evening of Phoenix, I was hanging around the server, just doing random things like answering PMs, etc, and while I was walking around the maps, I get into Relics, pass the safe zone, and there were some players apparently fighting. I pass them by a few steps and then I stop. By the time, one of the teams killed the other one, I think that they were organized in teams, and one of the guys there came to me and started attacking me (ofc, he was not really attacking me because the GM char has immunity), but I have answered with one shot that killed that guy, because why not. What came after this deserves to get in a novel: his whole guild came back and started to accuse me that I help the other team. They even started to cry on global chat, etc. The situation was more complicated than what I have exposed, but let's not concentrate on it, since you got the main point out of it. Since then I choose very carefully how to interact with the players. Btw, I don't even remember the names of those players, neither for the 'criers' nor for the team that 'I was helping', so you can understand my huge interest to kill some random player in a random map. " 

Reporter : "I guess the work you do here on the game has a lot of challenges that keep you connected to the game, reveal to us the most intense challenges you have had lately"

Gion: "The most intense challenge around is to maintain the server and come up with fresh stuff, but with the help of ADMIN and the Council, I hope that we are managing this."

Reporter:" Every time a new database is released on OldSquad, a lot of new things appear, where do they come from?"

Gion: "Most of the things come from, obviously, the previous experience. That's why each of our new version is breaking a past record. We basically improve the game constantly, as I said, as a team."

Reporter: "One of your many new projects is The Council, what do you think about this project,
does it bring the expected results? Are these Council members active? Give us three examples of requests / discussions between staff and board members that have added value to the gameplay. "

Gion: "I think that this idea is the next step towards total democracy in MU, since we try to have a council member from 'each side' of the server. We do not discuss about Council in terms of activity, since there in only one channel where we debate the upcoming things, vote, suggest. I think that in this way we can hear you, the players, easier. I cannot name specific things, because we try to discuss everything there."

Reporter: "Have you ever played a normal character while being part of the staff?"

Gion: "Yes." 

Reporter: "What happened to Grom and DEADCATS, why were they banned and what is your opinion about ADMIN refusing to let them play for so long?"

Gion: "I think that when they were banned I was only the Event Manager, so I was not really into them things at that moment. But I am sure that they lost their right to be around here for a reason, because, as you know, we are giving paroles sometimes." 

Reporter: " Do you believe in superstitions? Do you think the Castle is Cursed?"

Gion: " I do believe in energies which may be translated into curses, so yes, I can say that I believe in curses."

Reporter :" Because you should already know what's next, It's time for challenges, and I've prepared five for you, do you accept them?"

Gion: " All of them, ese".

Reporter:" Challenge no 1: Tell us the funniest two memories related to MU online, one in which you felt ashamed of what you did and one in which someone else did something funny!"

Gion: " The funniest one , and I think that ADMIN can agree, was one time, long ago, when me and ADMIN were playing together on a server on which there was a special Elves' spot in Arena, with its entrance blocked, like when you tried to pass through it and you were not an elf, it pushed you back. Since the spot was only for Elves, any other character reported on that spot was getting one to three days ban , I don't remember for sure, but at least one day, and it was like this because that pushing entrance could've been abused with SM's teleport (as they knew until then, and they still don't know ^^). So I got into an argument at school with ADMIN which led us into a minor beef. I want to mention that at that moment ADMIN had a DL and he was ahead of me with a couple of resets, and it is obvious that when we got home after school, ADMIN was PKing me non-stop, chasing me everywhere, not letting me to do shit. I was mad as fuck, so later that night, when ADMIN went to sleep, I switched to my ~273 level BK, whose name ADMIN remembers as it was yesterday ^^, and started to move ADMIN from a regular spot towards the entrance of that Elves' spot, having in mind to sabotage him somehow, I was thinking to report him that he was trying to kill mobs from the outside of the spot/yard. But when I got there, I tried to do the impossible: I have skilled ADMIN until I pushed him THROUGH that gate. It was a premiere, and the last time when that happened. Now I had him pinned: he was inside the spot, still attacking, because at that time we used own clickers, but now I had to report him without anyone to notice my scam. I created another forum account and reported ADMIN. He tried to defend himself, he even told the staff that it was me, because he knew my alt, but no one believed so ADMIN ended up being banned and the case was closed. This is also the situation that I feel ashamed for, because that was simply not a fair win. But it was a win tho ^^^"

Reporter:" Challenge no 2: Tell us about one of the moments when you and Admin quarreled, with details of course, and how you managed to get over ! " 

Gion: " We do not argue over decisions here, on MU, because we take a decision by evaluating it from all points of view. But I've just answered previously to this one^^."

Reporter:" Challenge no 3: Tell us the three biggest guilds that have ever played on the server (in your opinion), and name 5 players you liked, with reasons of course." 

Gion: " The best three guilds, in terms of gameplay: (the order does not matter) Hardcore, Squadron, and a Greek guild from the 2019 Phoenix, I don't remember the name well. Also, I cannot name certain players, but I want to shoutout ADMIN, Mitsakos, Nina, also shoutout to Reporter and Wanheda, players which I will never forget. The list continues, but you asked for 5 namez."

Reporter:" Challenge no 4: What has been your biggest disappointment since joining OldSquad? " 

Gion: " My biggest disappointment is that the competition is not as it should be. Take for example the current case: first party from Inception is way ahead of the others. How is this possible? And I even hear guys complaining about it. How can you? How could they get so far while the other parties were killing them and stealing their mob's kills? Oooh, because no one PKed them, no one did what they did (party composition, decisions). That's why I am disappointed."

Reporter:" Challenge no 5: I know that being part of the staff and always having the need to make decisions, sometimes they can be wrong. Describe the moment when you made such a decision that you regretted and if you did anything to fix that decision."

Gion: " When we realize that we made a wrong decision we simply admit it and change it asap."

Reporter:" Thank you very much for your honest answers, keep up the good work you do!" 

Gion: " Thank you for having me, it was a pleasure ! Cheers ! "

 

 This was the interview of Gion, a young man, even though he is my editor, I learned a lot from him (despite the age difference between us) a man who brings great value to this community, yes, I know what's next to say, that the Reporter kisses his ass, well due to the fact that he earned my respect, I will make this sacrifice although (speaking only between us) I don't think he likes that :).

I hope him to continue the work he does, and that together with Admin to take this server to higher levels, still giving their best!

[Reporter]

New!

[noisyboy]

@Gion  don`t you remember the nice drama around the NONE Guild was teasing BDSM  by taking the castle :))

[Reporter]

2 hours ago, noisyboy said:

@Gion  don`t you remember the nice drama around the NOONE Guild was teasing BDSM  by taking the castle :))

He is young but he already has memory loss, any doctor here? I hope not, Makiavelli the dentist  
Now even I am frustrated! How is it possible for him to forget the epic battles between NONE and BDSM, what times! Everything is written in the history of the first Phoenix, with a funny video that I will never forget! https://www.captiongenerator.com/1427602/Yami-wants-to-win-CS Yami was the leader of Smurfs

Here you can read all about this amazing first Phoenix Edition!: 

 

[Spawn]

as a person, he may be good, but to understand the game, he is frankly shitty

[Reporter]

58 minutes ago, Spawn said:

as a person, he may be good, but to understand the game, he is frankly shitty

Can you please give us some details about your statements?

[Spawn]

 not ban the cheater (3-4 weeks) just because of their own confidence that it is impossible to use third soft ? or confuse internet connection with game/server bug ? 

[Reporter]

1 minute ago, Spawn said:

 not ban the cheater (3-4 weeks) just because of their own confidence that it is impossible to use third soft ? or confuse internet connection with game/server bug ? 

Honestly, I didn't understand anything, I believe in evidence, in complete stories, if you already started this, tell us the story of your disappointment about Gion

[Spawn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHFJk3lkIOg&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=MDShuryk

here he claims that the reason is my Internet connection.

https://youtu.be/ucETzxxPIDs

I specifically did not make this record publicly to see how long it will take before it is banned. As a result, it took about a month, and only for the reason that someone filmed a dude in raklion during the golds with speed, and many people were outraged.

https://ibb.co/VNsZPk2

 

[Reporter]

13 minutes ago, Spawn said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHFJk3lkIOg&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=MDShuryk

here he claims that the reason is my Internet connection.

https://youtu.be/ucETzxxPIDs

I specifically did not make this record publicly to see how long it will take before it is banned. As a result, it took about a month, and only for the reason that someone filmed a dude in raklion during the golds with speed, and many people were outraged.

https://ibb.co/VNsZPk2

 

And what is it about? However, I don't understand ...

[Spawn]

what u dont understand ? he dont ban chater having perhaps the best video, where you can see the movement of the cheater on the minimap. This chater play after this moment ~3-4 weeks. This is proof of his incompetence in the gameplay aspect that you asked for.

if you still don't understand anything dear Sparkle, it only means that your language is deep in someone else's....

[Hvman]

3 hours ago, Spawn said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHFJk3lkIOg&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=MDShuryk

here he claims that the reason is my Internet connection.

https://youtu.be/ucETzxxPIDs

I specifically did not make this record publicly to see how long it will take before it is banned. As a result, it took about a month, and only for the reason that someone filmed a dude in raklion during the golds with speed, and many people were outraged.

https://ibb.co/VNsZPk2

 

"He can't modify his movement speed value" =)))))))))) And there were people flying all over the place on phoenix =))))

[enTaroaduN]

OFFTOPIC: Most people here, acting like in 2020 hacks are inexistent, when you can easily pay some asian to create any kind of hack for you, for any type of game. Give him some 50$/month and he will update your hack everytime the server security has an update as well, easy as that. The server can have the most advanced security in the world, if someone really wants to play with hack on your server, he will. And let's not act like there are no hackers on this server either, there are, plenty of them, cause when a BK with 5rr, beats 4 people with 7rr in CC, there is surely something suspicious there, and don't give me the bulls**t, "He found the perfect build", there is no such thing vs players with 2resets ahead you and even better gears. Not gonna give the name of that BK cause I am not that type of person, everyone is free to do anything they please, hacker or not, not my business, but some of you might have an ideea who I am talking about. So stop with this ideea, there are no hackers on this server, multihit hack at its finest for lots of players here .

ONTOPIC: Great interview @Reporter, I did really enjoyed it along with my morning coffee.

[Spawn]

very interesting, who could it be ?)) @Zutto

[Zutto]

2 hours ago, Spawn said:

very interesting, who could it be ?)) @Zutto

Has to be a pretty good bk for sure

@enTaroaduN you got some wild fantasty there 😂

[Spawn]

1 hour ago, Zutto said:

Has to be a pretty good bk for sure

Or pretty good "Asian" 😁

 

[Reporter]

14 hours ago, Spawn said:

what u dont understand ? he dont ban chater having perhaps the best video, where you can see the movement of the cheater on the minimap. This chater play after this moment ~3-4 weeks. This is proof of his incompetence in the gameplay aspect that you asked for.

if you still don't understand anything dear Sparkle, it only means that your language is deep in someone else's....

From what I understand, you reported a hacker, he was banned only after 2-3 weeks, and you expected him to be banned instantly because you made the video? And the admins had to trust you 100% without doing any more checks, they had to ban him right in that second without any other evidence!
 

 

4 hours ago, enTaroaduN said:

OFFTOPIC: Most people here, acting like in 2020 hacks are inexistent, when you can easily pay some asian to create any kind of hack for you, for any type of game. Give him some 50$/month and he will update your hack everytime the server security has an update as well, easy as that. The server can have the most advanced security in the world, if someone really wants to play with hack on your server, he will. And let's not act like there are no hackers on this server either, there are, plenty of them, cause when a BK with 5rr, beats 4 people with 7rr in CC, there is surely something suspicious there, and don't give me the bulls**t, "He found the perfect build", there is no such thing vs players with 2resets ahead you and even better gears. Not gonna give the name of that BK cause I am not that type of person, everyone is free to do anything they please, hacker or not, not my business, but some of you might have an ideea who I am talking about. So stop with this ideea, there are no hackers on this server, multihit hack at its finest for lots of players here .

ONTOPIC: Great interview @Reporter, I did really enjoyed it along with my morning coffee.

 OFFTOPIC: I've never heard Admin or Gion say there are not hackers/cheaters on server, of course they were (ban rankings are proof)I am convinced that they exist and will continue to exist I am also convinced that eventually they will get caught, Spawn did a good job reporting and Gion / Admin did a job good banning the hacker. As long as it was banned in the end, what else matters? Ah, the players' pride that the Admins don't react instantly, just that the reporters are convinced of something does not mean that it should not be checked / reverified. 

[Spawn]

Dear reporter, some times u write like 5 years old boy when his mom ask who eat all cookies.

what other checks should have been done by the admin? it's not a steall, it's not a some else fraud it's a 10-minute thrash with 99999 speed, without hiding or trying to play neat.

even if you allow a small chance of verification, his (gion) answer "He can't modify his movement speed value" with clear evidence and not rumors, already speaks of his incompetence.

but judging by your posts on this topic, you are clearly interested in his (gion) protection, otherwise you obviously did not ask such STUPID questions.

[enTaroaduN]

@Zutto It's no fantasy what I said above and I've never said it's you, did I? Or maybe you are an asian yourself, jokes on you, Marlon ^^

@Reporter Of course there are hackers on this server, but the ones that are not banned yet, they will never be, because they are smart enough not to show off, so hats off to them, I appreciate them for that. And it's not about "player's pride", it's something else. So let me give you an example, I remember back on Phoenix edition, I actually pmed Gion about one player that I suspected of being a hacker, I just asked Gion to keep an eye on that player since I had no proof or video that I could post on forum so I said why not, let's talk to one of the admins, maybe they will keep an eye on him and they will catch him using the hack. You know which was Gion's answer? He answered to me: "That player is clean, he just found the perfect build, he is no hacker". I mean, yo..you didn't even bothered to check him, and you answer me that he is clean. My man, there is no such thing as perfect build when you are 1 against 4-5 people, I get it, you can balance your build in order to win any 1vs1 battles, but it's impossible to just kill so many people alone, while they are all attacking you and only you. You either go tanky build for that and yea, you can resist, but only resist, but you won't be able to kill none of them, or you go dmg build and you can make them drop like flies, but that, will make you a fly too, against so many people. So that's why I hate it when I get this non-sense answer "He found the perfect build".

Anyway, that's a different type of topic, let's all appreciate Reporter's interview and that's all. 

Enjoy.

[Hvman]

@Spawn i have to disagree with you. I don't like the speed of the response ratio either but, on phoenix i sent multiple messages to ADMIN via Facebook, even here on forum, i posted ONLY a screnshot with someone that we tought it's speedhacking in devilsquare (which he was) and they all got banned in MAX 12 hours and i'm far from being "friends" or whatever with each of the admins.

Maybe in your case they did not have the time at that moment to check, but i tell you, in my case at least, whenever i sent any (at best decent) proof, admin checked and banned them if they were speeding.

 

Do i believe there are no hackers? OFC no, but there is no mu server in the world that can do that, people were duping on WEBZEN from 2000s till now and they couldn't fix that.