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Member Spotlight: Kozgugore

September 18, 2018, 12:30:00 AM
Written by Kozgugore
Member Spotlight: Kozgugore

Made by Eepox


Though he's attempted to escape opening up his soul to the public for the past few months, he's finally given into the pressure: this month's Member Spotlight features none other than the Chief himself, Kozgugore Feraleye! Though he's been with us for nigh twelve years now, there may still be a few secrets regarding his time with the guild that he's not yet unveiled until now! We asked you to submit your questions, and here are the answers!

How is it that you've been able to keep up motivation for playing the game, let alone leading the guild so intensively, for so many years?
It wasn't always easy, I can tell you! I won't deny that even I have had my ups and downs when it comes to motivation to host events or even just play the game, and there were in fact a couple of occasions that I forced myself to take a step back and take a break - be it long or short. In the end though, there's just something about WoW - and the orcish race in particular - that keeps drawing me back in. Perhaps when you've stuck with it for such a long time - both the game as well as the race - it becomes a part of you that becomes very difficult to shake off. Especially when you're someone like me who needs to have a creative outlet for all that pent up creative energy that's swirling around in the head. I think above all else though, it's the people and the community that continue to bring me back into the fold. The first time I quit WoW a little more prominently was when I wanted to try out some other MMOs instead (Age of Conan at the time), but members staying in touch with me is what eventually brought me back. After that, the next time I would quit wouldn't be until some six or so years later when I was in a bit of a hard place and couldn't bring up the motivation to consistently play WoW for a while. Once again though, it were certain individuals that stayed in touch with me or who contacted me eventually that made me come back more permanently in the end.

I admit that it can still be a bit tempting to just drop all manner of responsibility and approach the game and the guild a little more casually as time moves on and real life priorities begin to shift, but I still very much enjoy what I do and enjoy the people that I get to play with even more! Perhaps when a 'worthy successor' presents itself at some point, I'll be able to find myself taking a step back without worrying too much about the consequences. But for now, I'm perfectly content with gently steering the ship where necessary. Granted, this past month has been a little taxing given the big campaign that I had planned (entirely my own fault, and I may have underestimated the amount of time that needs to go into it) and I may take it a little easier once it's over, but I look forward too much to what might happen in the future to suddenly vanish now!

Give us one of your most fond memories from all the years you've been in the guild! Seeing you're our longest standing member, there must be something that stood out above other things.
Arguably the hardest question in here! There are so many memories to choose from, after all. Perhaps I should write down a ridiculously comprehensive list at some point, but I'll try and narrow it down to a top three (though in no particular order and probably closely followed by some other, similarly memorable events).
  • Cheating a little bit here, but a great many RP-PvP campaigns were very memorable. Perhaps that isn't necessarily because they were pivotal in any way, but they are always a unique case that require a very different approach to the usual events or campaigns. Be it our many campaigns back in Defias Brotherhood, or even ones held in a more 'controlled' environment here on Argent Dawn. Despite some of the stress it brought with it, even the recent Drums of War campaign was quite memorable simply because of the people it allowed us to interact with, both Horde and Alliance. If I were to choose one in particular though, it would without a doubt be the first Anniversary War on DB that I organized, back in 2007. We would have some of the biggest, most unique battles I've seen to date just to celebrate the anniversary of DB as a server, the ultimate high point of which being the battle at the Path of Glory in Hellfire Peninsula. We fought back and forth all night and had some great RP in between all the chaotic fun, with Seiken (Krogon/Okiba's human warrior at the time) being Koz's ultimate rival.
  • The Orcs of the Red Blade reunion campaign that we held last year in order to bring the guild back together. Though I organized plenty of campaigns previously, this was kind of a turning point for me where I tried very hard to make the campaigns' stories and events as intriguing and engaging as I could make them. What's more important though, is that it brought the guild back together, stronger than ever before I dare say, after nearly an entire year long hiatus. It was very impressive and even quite heartwarming to see basically the entire, old community coming back together again and picking up where they left off, as if nothing happened. I feel it really goes to show the strength of our guild's community and how tightly knit they all are. I won't deny that it made me a little proud deep inside to be a part of such a movement, and to have helped get it back on track.
  • The plot leading into the Warlords of Draenor expansion, for several personal reasons. Certainly, the campaign was very impressive in and of itself, what with the big event to kick off the expansion by fighting the Iron Horde in the Blasted Lands, assaulting the Dark Portal and the ensuing plot to bring the orcs back together after they had gotten separated on Draenor. But it was also the time when some very important developments happened for Kozgugore as well as me as a person. Koz regained his title of Chieftain and was even heralded as a 'Wolfking' by some orcs following the ongoing plot, but it was also a time when I met Sinami in the process. Of course that was an important event IC as she became Koz's mate, but it also resulted in me meeting her in real life and hooking up with her there as well. We're still very happily together and even moved in with one another after some time! Who said WoW can't be any good for your social life?
How do you look at the way that the guild has evolved over time? Are there any specific things that are really different compared to when you joined?
I think I can safely say that the guild has changed quite a bit since I first joined it. Back then, I feel things may have been a little less 'serious' in the sense that there wasn't a very specific direction that the guild was intended to head in to. There were no overarching plot lines or consistent tones between events or members. It was all a bit of a potpourri of lots of different, crazy orcs doing their own thing. Events were more sporadic and more focused on social RP, such as tournaments, camp fires, tribe meetings, completely random attacks on Alliance settlements 'just because', etc. RP has become a little more 'sensible' in the sense that we now require a reason to attack an Alliance settlement, or don't just decide to spontaneously start dancing naked around a camp fire because 'it's fun' (I'm not counting Razaron here, because he's a very special case). What's more, there's no one screaming 'WAAAGH!' any more nowadays. You would be surprised at how that was totally okay back in the days.

Though I would explain all that as the guild and its concept having matured over time, I believe it's RP in WoW itself that has matured a bit as well. Intricately planned events and campaigns slowly became more common as people began to explore the possibilities of the game's RP, and even WoW itself slowly evolved from a more 'open playground' feeling to a bigger focus on storytelling and ongoing plots. I can see exactly the same kind of developments in the guild. Events slowly became more meticulously planned out and our event schedule more consistent. We went from casually raiding Astranaar after a random guild meeting to having plot-heavy campaigns that have yet another overarching plot connecting those campaigns together. I'm sure that there may be some who might actually prefer the 'old ways' and going about things a little less serious and more casual. Personally though, I feel it's a positive development when you look at all the many amazing events and memorable moments that it brought with it.

Did Kozgugore as a character in any way change over the past several years that you've been playing him?
There are definitely some very big changes that Kozgugore underwent as a character. Some of that is of course due to me maturing and 'wising up' over the span of the twelve years that I played him, but it's certainly because of in-game developments as well. When I first started out with him as a concept, I actually intended for him to become a shaman because I found the class appealing and felt it would suit his concept of a veteran of the Horde who had seen Draenor in its heydays before everything went south. Because the guild I had planned to join then (Sons of Draenor, sort of the predecessor to Orcs of the Red Blade as Akesha was briefly in it as well) had so many shamans in it already though, I decided to change him to a hunter while keeping some of the shamanistic traits. It's a decision that I feel has turned out for the better to this very day, as it has quite coincidentally become a part of the very core concept of his persona.

Whereas he started out as a pretty run-off-the-mill orc character with his occasional bouts of blood rage, drunken moments, lust for glory and a healthy amount of pride, he slowly became a more grounded and sober orc over time. Part of that was of course due to him suddenly gaining a great amount of responsibility after his explosive rise through the ranks of the Red Blade and eventually becoming Chieftain, but also due to a more personal journey. The history of the Warcraft orcs is without a doubt one of the most interesting story lines I had dabbled in, so I wanted it to be reflected in Koz's history and behaviour. Thus, the two became interlocked in the sense that Kozgugore's history is tied to that of the orcs'. First there is pride, lots of wanton blood and glory, but then there is defeat, falling from grace and then a subsequent return to shamanism and an attempt to pick up the pieces of a lost history and a return to humility. I feel Koz made a similar development over the years, having had his piece of glory, falling from grace after feeling like he lost everything when Morgeth disappeared from his life, and then returning as Chieftain and attempting to pick up the pieces again. Especially with the plot line that seems to be brewing in Battle for Azeroth, where the honour of the Horde and its orcs is being put to the test, seems like a particularly interesting time to see how that will develop further. Speaking of which...

Where do you see the see guild going over the next few years? And when you look back at your tenure so far, how do you want to be remembered?
Now that's pretty hard to tell! After all, if you would have asked me this question a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have been able to guess that we would still be around in 2018. Then again, it would have been just as unlikely for me to guess that 2017 might have been the year of our permanent end, as it briefly seemed to be, for that matter! So with that in mind, it's a little strange to imagine that the guild might just as well be gone again in one or two years' time, but who knows it might always be a possibility. As we saw last time, people lose their interest in the game or their characters every now and then, or simply need a break from things. I do feel the guild has enough potential and a big enough core player base to stay around for a while longer to come. But personally speaking, I do feel that might depend a little on its leadership as well. The guild has always had a bit of a challenge when it comes to having plenty of active officers who are willing to put their back into keeping the show running. I've always enjoyed organizing things for others in that sense and would happily continue to do so, but even I have my limits, of course! Ideally speaking though, I hope the guild will see many more years to come and might even end up having an interesting story line to play through with the tone that's being set in BfA! In fact, should I be able to stick it out for that long myself, I already have a bit of a road map written out when it comes to the guild's overarching story line. Remember what I said about that creative energy that needs to keep on flowing? Well, that's what you get... along with an unhealthy dose of over-ambition!

Looking back at the times we've had so far though, I feel it's a strange road that I (or we, as the road that the guild's taken is in a way interlocked with my own) have taken. There's definitely a sort of pride when I think of the amount of time that I've been able to keep things together and kept people entertained for so long (with the help of all the other individuals that were involved along the way as well, of course). On the other hand, I sometimes do think to myself "Has it really been twelve years? What am I still doing here? I should be putting my creative energies in home decoration or gardening with how much older I am now!" Then I think of all the things I've obtained from all of it along the way though. I wouldn't have met the many friends I made (and still am making!) through the game and the guild, I wouldn't have learned certain valuable life lessons that I indirectly learned through my interaction in WoW and the people I met in it and I certainly wouldn't have met my other half for that matter either! And each of those things are things I would never want to trade in for anything else for the life of me. WoW and ORB have both been an incredibly integral part of my youth, upbringing and social network. And unlike what some people have tried to make me believe in the past, that's totally okay. So with that in mind, I can only hope that I will be remembered as someone who has tried to give back as much as he has received from the community that's played an ever so important role in his life. Even if the guild were to one day disappear, my primary hope is that the community would still stay together and cherish the many bonds that have been formed through this wonderful medium. If that were to happen, I'm sure I'll be remembered the way I want to be: one of many friends that have been made through WoW and ORB.

About the author

Kozgugore registered at Orcs of the Red Blade on December 07, 2007, 11:48:24 PM and has posted 4215 posts in the boards since then. Last visit was November 15, 2024, 09:25:10 PM.