Merlin

Name:	Merlin
Active Status:	Active.
E-mail:	merlin@rpgclassics.com
Contributions:	Co-maintains the Earthbound Shrine ; maintains RPGC's finances ; maintains the Server ; maintains the forums ; maintains the site history ; maintains the site charter ; co-maintains the quotes archive ; maintains Alexandria (the Database) ; is an Administrator of the RPGC forums ; is a chat room Operator ; maintains the staff section ; manages staff changes.
ICQ Number:	70936718
Join Date:	04/10/01
Chat Room Status in #rpgclassics:	Auto Operator (AOP)
Message Board Status:	Administrator
Quote:	Sephiroth Katana: Merlyn's Mind: Oh my god, why the fuck has he been talking at me for this long? It's times like these when I rue the day I joined this Internet site shit! All it does is sap my money and subject me to weirdass rants! Any more of this and I'll be late for that drunken frat party! Merlin: Merlin's Mind: I wish I had a peanut.

Staff Bio

Real Name:	??? (Sorry I get paranoid at times :P)
Other Nicknames:	Merlyn (used mostly to bug me :P), Duelist (in FPSers)
Gender:	Male...btw I really like Hiryuu's Gender joke.
Occupation:	Boston College Student (Junior), summer worker, official site "shoveler," and all around brunt of physical humor.
Major?	I'm a history and political science double major, in other words I read for 4 hours+ a day and then get to write papers.
Religion:	Some sort of vague Protestant, not sure really if there's a category for it.
Political Party:	I dunno, I'm sort of moderate right now most likely. Registered Independent.
Place of Origin:	Boston, Massachusetts, September 20, 1982
Place of Residence:	Boston College, Massachusetts (my home is also in that state)
Age:	21
Web Talents:	There was a time when I was a complete idiot in regards to HTML, I even had to ask ShaheenJim for help (who's technical inabilities web-wise were quite well-known). But now I can do almost all site work in notepad/wordpad, thanks largely to Cidolfas and the staff :P If you like doing html in code btw, download EditPlus2, it's extremely useful.
Strengths:	Relatively funny, modest, honorable, "does the right thing," sort of smart, tall (6'7''ish), resilient when made fun of (to a point), I tell the truth, have a general knowledge of most things, likes listening and talking to people, doesn't take things seriously. I generally volunteer to do a lot of things and I also try to lend people at least an objective and well-meaning ear.
Weaknesses:	I can be cynical and overly realistic, I get paranoid and overly suspicious at times, sometimes "reads too much into things," I don't take things seriously, I get down on myself too much, I tell the truth too much, I'm sometimes "mean" to people without really meaning to be. I take the principle of things too far, I don't feel like I do enough for other people sometimes. I can rarely make up my mind on favorites, which is why this profile is unbearably long. If you haven't noticed I count most of my strengths as weaknesses too. Also I procrastinate a lot. I also tend to overwork myself (i.e. load up too many things on my schedule at once). I also have very little RPG knowledge considering where I am.
Favorite Teams:	The Boston Bruins (hockey), The Boston Red Sox (baseball), and the US, Dutch, and Swedish soccer teams whenever the World Cup rolls around (unintentional pun unintended).
Likes:	Err gaming, following hockey and baseball, reading, watching GOOD movies, spending time with people who are important to me, almost every RPG I've played, most games in general, talking about cool historical/political/philosophical stuff, having intelligent conversations with people (surprisingly this does happen), clichéd action flicks (a guilty pleasure), most clichés in general, and just plain old joking around.
Dislikes:	I don't dislike much.
Beliefs/Philosophies:	I don't really know, but I do try to do what I believe is right for myself and others. I like the following passage from The Once and Future King by T.H. White too: "...Long ago he had been taught by an aged benevolence, wagging a white beard. He had been taught by Merlyn to beieve that man was perfectible: that he was on the whole more decent than beastly: that good was worth trying: that there was no such thing as original sin. He had been forged as a weapon for the aid of man, on the assumption that men were good. He had been forged, by that deluded old teacher, into a sort of Pasteur or Curie or patient discoverer of insulin. The service for which he had been destined had been against Force, the mental illness of humanity. His Table, his idea of Chivalry, his Holy Grail, his devotion to Justice: these had been progressive steps in the effort for which he had been bred. He was like a scientist who had pursued the root of cancer all his life. Might--to have ended it--to have made men happier. But the whole structure depended on the first premise: that man was decent."
Future Goals:	Ummm not too sure right now......live, liberate, and pursue happiness I guess. I also want to become the sort of person that other people know can be relied upon when they need somebody besides themselves.
Other Site Projects:	Basically to keep up with RPGC duties and build some shrines, in the future I hope to rather ambitiously overhaul this site in other areas, although that's gradually becoming realized. Time will tell. And such are the well laid-plans of mice and men.
Favorite Plays:	Julius Caesar, King Lear and Hamlet by Shakespeare. I also like some of the Greek tragedians, and Beckett's Waiting for Godot is interesting but I don't like it as much as the others.
Favorite Books:	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1984 + Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Once and Future King by T.H. White, In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien, Lancelot and The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, Gates of Fire by Steven Presfield, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, The Trial by Franz Kafka, and The Plague by Albert Camus. Most of what I read in my honors seminar courses (think of them as literature/philosophy classes) I liked too.
Favorite Movies:	I like too many movies, here are a few in no real order. Equilibrium, The Usual Suspects, Spider-Man, Aliens, High Noon, Crimson Tide, Face/Off, Reservoir Dogs, The Untouchables, Gladiator, Kill Bill, The Hunt for Red October, Proof of Life, The Matrix, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Blade Runner, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I like the action and science fiction genres the most.
Favorite TV series:	The Simpsons, 24, Arrested Development, and Seinfeld.
Favorite Food:	Pizza and Cake
Favorite Website:	The sites I visit the most are: FilmForce, ESPN.com, The Onion, and of course RPGClassics
Favorite RPGs:	Earthbound, Deus Ex, and FF6, the oft-maligned FF8, Super Mario RPG, Eternal Darkness, Majora's Mask.
Other Favorite Nintendo Games:	Banjo-Kazooie (my guilty pleasure), Maniac Mansion, Battletoads, Goldeneye (I achieved a 007 difficulty rating), Mario Kart, Smash Brothers, Bubble Bobble, anything Zelda, BTW, I suck at most games compared to others, which is why save/load is my friend :P
Favorite PC Games:	X-Wing, Warcraft series, Starcraft, Civilization 2, Doom series, Dungeon Keeper, Half-Life, the Max Payne series, The Sims, Medal of Honors Allied Assault, Counterstrike...Deus Ex! (this is an RPG too)
Favorite Music:	I like all genres and have a particular affinity for movie soundtracks. However, my tastes right now involve good rock and roll the most right now. I'm into a lot of older bands (the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, the Kinks, the Doors, etc.) through semi-old bands (The Smiths, Manic Street Preachers, Nirvana, Cake, Jane's Addiction, They Might Be Giants), and a lot of newer bands. Newer groups I like include The Strokes, The White Stripes, Interpol, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ladytron, Division of Laura Lee, the Flaming Lips, Deathcab for Cutie, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Belle and Sebastian, and the Starlight Mints. It's a lot of indie to semi-indie music there. I'm also a huge David Bowie fan.
Top Six Favorite David Bowie Tunes:	6. Space Oddity (Major Tom) 5. Diamond Dogs 4. China Girl 3. Teenage Wildlife 2. Drive-In Saturday 1. Heroes
Favorite RPG Characters:	I'd have to say Locke, Setzer, Kefka, Celes (FF6), Geno (SMRPG), Squall, Quistis, Seifer (FF8), and Olan from FFTactics.
Least Favorite RPG Character:	Probably either Mallow (SMRPG), Gau (so pointless), and of course....Selphie (grr)
First Went to RPGClassics	Err a while back, for a couple of days I posted under a weird alias (Call Me...Flying Man), then didn't go back for a while, then sometime around 1999 (I forget when actually) I started posting as Merlin. Since then I became more well known through the board to most of the staff, and started doing my jobs here at RPGC when Jim was fired April 10th of 2001.
Why did you come?	Well I first came for some info on FF6. Then I gradually came back because of the cool people and topics that went on at the webboard, and then I just sort of hanged out to the point where many people thought that I was actually staff when I wasn't (even Jim) :P
Why do you work for RPGC?	Well, when all the stuff about Jim finally began to show itself after a long time, I realized that if the site were to be successful again they needed people to help. I figured that I almost owed it to everyone here for being so cool for so many years that I had to do something. So I took a deep breath, and offered the staff to do most of what I do now. Ah well, a little clichéd isn't it?

I realized the moment I fell into the fissure that the book would not be destroyed as I had planned. It continued falling into that starry expanse of which I had only a fleeting glimpse.

I tried to speculate where it might have landed, I must admit however such conjectures futile. Still, questions about whose hands might one day hold my Myst book unsettled me.

I know my apprehensions might never be allayed, and so I close, realizing that perhaps, the ending, has not yet, been written...
     -Myst