Welcome to the fourth edition of our Member Spotlight. I apologize for having to skip over the scheduled date for this feature two weeks ago, but as most of you know, the Game Developer’s Conference took precedent over everything else. We’re continuing with our scheduled time frame of a bi-weekly member interview and this week we’ve coerced Hockeydude30 into talking to me. I’ve touched based on his experiences in gaming, life, and on the forum, so continue reading and enjoy.
Dave Wales: How has PSU.com impacted your life in terms of online friendships, gaming knowledge, and views in regards to other consoles?
Hockeydude30: It has definitely broadened my view on gaming in general. When I first came here it was because the forum I was on before, maxps3.com, got shut down. This is the first one that popped up on Google. When I first came here though I was basically a PS3 fanboy, and I was definitely as bad as they come. I couldn’t comprehend why any one would want to use another console. Now I am a lot more open. I don’t really care what console someone else uses and I would use an Xbox if I had one. I am a lot more open in that sense.
As to gaming knowledge, it has definitely given me a lot more information than I ever had. Heck the reason I started coming to forums was to find out answers to questions I had. Now I know a lot more about upcoming games, games that have come out, and technology in general. For me I love it since I really like technology and everything that goes a long with it.
The online friendships that I have made on PSU aren’t really that deep. There are only a handful of members that I would truly consider friends. I have always had some online friendships though, but by coming to PSU they have definitely become more involved and I talk to people a lot more now.
Dave Wales: PSU seems to do a good job of bringing everything under one roof. You seem to be a pretty relaxed and laid back guy on the forums, so it was weird watching you lash out towards Baki, does anybody else pull that from within you?
Hockeydude30: No, not really, some people do but I usually hold it in, I try not to get too “emotional” on the forums. I mean it’s only the internet, no reason to take it seriously. Some things just make me mad more than others. The last member to really get to me would probably be Atheist. But he got banned, so I am happy now.
Dave Wales: Yeah, you can’t get sweet redemption more-so than through a ban. Who are some of your favorite posters on the forum that you look forward to reading replies from?
Hockeydude30: Wow, that’s a hard one. The main reason I come to the forum is because of the people on it. It is hard for me to pick out a couple but seebs would be up on my list, he seems to know a ton about technology.
You’re another poster that I like to read replies from since you say what ever you want and you don’t care what anyone says. I like to read what Reflex says, especially in the Home Theatre section. He and a couple others like badz_ps3, ex-nihlo7, sonyfan, and other people that I can’t think of right now always have something interesting to say in the HT section.
One of my favorite things to do though is read what Uncool says after some one is banned or given an infraction. Uncool always says something funny in there. In the PC realm I usually read what GuitarasDeAmor, behemoko, Mecha_Daddy, and Appolyons have to say, they have helped me a lot especially recently when I was deciding on getting a 64 bit OS or not.
Just for posting though miamiman, Wons, leukoplast, ideno, Tribunal, and a ton of other people are always posting something worthwhile reading. I know I am missing a ton of people but like I said, the main reason I come to PSU is because of the posters.
Dave Wales: Uncool always tries to one up himself through his infraction reasons it’s the only competition he can find for himself. Let’s start a little “confirmed” rumor right off the bat. Is it true you’re next in line for the SMC spot that is going to be made available? You can tell us.
Hockeydude30: I have been told that I am in line for a promotion, I guess we will just have to wait and see when Morph does the next round of promotions, whenever that is, I hope it is soon though.
Dave Wales: I think you have a lot of support for that from people around the forums who know you. Are you a gaming collector or a trader like a lot of young guys are?
Hockeydude30: I try to be but money often comes into play. With school and my other hobbies I don’t get to work as much as I would like. I do try to collect as many games as possible but my collection is not even close to some other peoples. So I guess I wouldn’t really call myself a collector. As for a trader, no, I’m not so much a trader. I like to hold on to all of my games, even the ones I know that I won’t play again.
Dave Wales: Money does play into it, I know that all too well, sadly. Do any games hold sentimental value to you or perhaps an accomplishment in gaming that does?
Hockeydude30: Hmm….Not really. Ghost Recon 2 was the first game that I actually took seriously and was good at, so that kind of holds some sentimental value to me. NHL 2k5 is another, at one time I was in the top 100 so that is the first online game that I was actually good at. Resistance holds some sentimental value since it was the first PS3 game I got.
My consoles hold sentimental value though. I still have my PS2 even though it is broken and same with my Dreamcast; I just can’t part with them.
Dave Wales: You keep consoles that don’t work? That’s kind of off if I do say so myself. If you were choosing three people for the DS in order to help Fenwick out, who would they be?
Hockeydude30: Well Tribunal is really good at making sigs and avatars I think he should be picked. I’m only kidding, but seriously I would probably pick Shadowfyre since his style is really unique, I like the pop-out sigs he does. I would also throw Xelis out there, his sigs just seem to catch my eye; I would be asking him if I wanted a new sig. And finally, I would say SteelSamurai, his stuff always seems to catch my eye as well.
Dave Wales: Someone told me that FatalBeliever, Psypher, and SomaXD were the top 3 choices for the DS Squad, with ShadowFyre and Killler picked as the two alternates to make up the 5. I wonder if there is any truth to that exclusive information. A lot of people seem to be dying to know. It’s kind of funny to watch, but I’m sure the guys you mentioned would love the support. What’s your favorite thing about being a subscriber on the forum?
Hockeydude30: Probably the subscriber section. There are really fun conversations that go on in there that no one else sees, stuff that would probably be shut down in a second if it was in the normal part of the forum. It is nice because it is really laid back and relaxed, none of the forum “drama” that occurs in the rest of the forum really takes place in there. One thing that I am really looking forward to is the possibility of increased interest in the bank.
The main reason I became a subscriber though was to give back to the forums, I come here so much that it only seemed fair.
Dave Wales: I can attest to the Subscriber section being great, I spend most of my posting time there too. Hockey is obviously a big part of your life, what is it about the sport that pulls you in so much?
Hockeydude30: Well I used to live up in MA and my dad is Canadian so I was kind of born into it. He started me skating early and from there on out I would watch ever hockey game on TV and started playing when I was around 6 or 7. I like how it is fast paced and ever changing, you never really know what is going to happen next. The skill that is involved in it also attracts me.
Unfortunately, hockey didn’t really work out as planned. I got a Junior B contract but my mom told me I couldn’t accept it, she also told me this a week before pre season training had started and I was already to move down to Florida. That was really disappointing but I got over it. I reff a lot of games now and have season tickets to the Carolina Hurricanes so it is still a big part of my life.
Dave Wales: Funny you say that, not a lot of people know I was offered something quite similar growing up. I was scouted by the Cornwall Royals/Aces. Dale Hawerchuk and Owen Nolan played for them as well. I refer you to you often as, “that awkward guy.” Share with us some of your more awkward moments, try and give us a couple at least.
Hockeydude30: Well, I would say the most awkward moment would be that time in the subscriber’s section when I accidentally said something about your girl that I probably shouldn’t have, that wasn’t dropped for a long time.
Another awkward time was when I got done telling off a Best Buy employee and then I mistyped one of my posts so the information was incorrect and he came right in there and called me out on it, which was pretty awkward.
Another one would have to be the time I got my first speeding ticket in my car. I was driving home from a date and she was in the car. It was really awkward when the police pulled me over. Especially since I started getting really pissed off and moaning about how my parents were going to kill me. Needless to say we don’t go out any more, although we are friends.
There are more awkward moments from my hockey team that I can’t go into. One of the most awkward times was when we were trying to pick up girls at a mall, we pretended like we had just beaten this local team to try and impress them. What we didn’t know was that one of the girl’s boyfriends was on that team. So yeah, basically she found out and then told all her friends. It was pretty hard to get any phone numbers after that.
Dave Wales: We all make mistakes, well, most of us do anyways. It has been awesome talking to you man, and I’m sure this will give people a little bit of insight into a lot of things; especially what not to do in order to stay safe from awkward moments in life.
That concludes another Member Spotlight this week for PSU.com. I’ll be pulling the next interview from our readers opposed to the forum. If you’d like to be considered and take part, just send me an email at “memberspotlight [@] gmail dot com.” Make sure to include your comment/forum name as well, so I know who I’m talking to. If chosen, you’ll receive a reply with a handful of days. Check back in 2 weeks for the next installment and happy gaming guys.