PlayTera.com – Interview with Katharina „Kaya“ Dohle
- How long has PlayTera.com been around? What gave you the idea to start the site?
[INDENT]PlayTera.com has existed as a website since 2009 and since the start of the year there’s also an extensive website attached to it. Motivated by our joint appreciation of TERA ‘Ashoka’ and I joined forces and we created the fansite within a month (including a few sleepless nights). We wanted to create a fansite which was made by fans for fans which provided a good and extensive source of information.
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- What does PlayTera.com offer its visitors?
[INDENT]PlayTERA.com is a non-commercial fan website and we’re very pleased that we’ve created the biggest and most active German TERA community thanks to our great and loyal members. 
We’ve been around since 2009 and we always keep up-to-date with all the latest information about TERA. If you take the time to peruse through our website you won’t just find news, you’ll of course find lots information on the game, a guild database, a signature generator, videos (trailers and user-created videos), a large gallery, the infamous DevTracker and much more. And since you the user form the community you can, of course, upload your own videos or pictures. There’s also lots of other great features in the pipeline!
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- How did you first come to hear about TERA?
[INDENT]Last year I was on the lookout for a great MMO and the gameplay videos from TERA excited me straight away. Ever since then I can’t stop talking about TERA and how much there is still to learn.
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- How old are you? And what do you do alongside working on PlayTera.com?
[INDENT] I’m 21 years young and study graphic design. So it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that I like to draw in my spare time and mess about with lots of different programs. 
But I also like cycling with my dog and spending a pleasant evening with my boyfriend.[/INDENT]
- Why do you call yourself Kaya? Is there a story behind it?
[INDENT] A friend once told me that ‘Kaja’ is the Swedish word for the German word for jackdaw, ‘Dohle’ which also happens to be my surname. Since then I’ve always used Kaja or Kaya when it comes down to picking a nickname.
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- What MMOs have you played before or do you still play actively?
[INDENT]It all started with Ragnarok Online when I was 14. After that came classics like WoW, WAR, Lineage 2, lots of F2Ps and finally, Aion. At the moment I can’t commit myself to one MMO so I’m waiting, very impatiently, for the release of TERA.
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- What do you hope Frogster will do in the future? Do you have any suggestions as to how you, as an active community member, could be made happy and content?
[INDENT]When I consider how much effort the team is giving to TERA I’m already very pleased. There’s nothing worth than a game with real potential simply dying just before or shortly after the release if the team loses its motivation or if there is inadequate customer support. Good support is the lifeblood of an MMO to its community.
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- What do you think of the stereotype of online gamers being male loners playing in their parents’ basement?
[INDENT] I’m shocked! This stereotype is no longer true, not since the release of Hello Kitty Online at least!
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- Describe yourself for us – only using adjectives
[INDENT] Hopefully this won't look like a bad Lonely Hearts ad: creative, likeable but sometimes a little too trusting.
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- Which class and race will be your main character next?
[INDENT]I’m going to be a female high elf – mage.
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- What do you like about MMOs? PVP, PVE, raids, crafting, chatting etc.
[INDENT]The opportunity to explore and discover the game with friends or with new people. Apart from that, I like seeing how your character ‘develops’ and how you learn more about the background of the game over time which lets you really get into the game.
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- Complete the sentence: “I want to play TERA because….
[INDENT] …the battle system actually puts your skills to the test.“
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- What are your plans for the future?
[INDENT]To do something I’m good at and that makes me happy. My dream would be getting a (secure) job in the games industry after having completed my Graphic Design course.
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- What makes the TERA community stand out from the rest?
[INDENT] Since I’m more active on playTERA than in the official forum I can only speak for this relatively small part of the entire TERA community. But I really like this group of people and it’s really fun having discussions with them. Even if you don’t necessarily share the same opinion there are very few pie slinging matches. This is how I would describe them: 
!
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- What do you hope to see in TERA (such as features etc.)?
[INDENT]I hope that player actions will have a massive on the game environment. For example, if there’s been a very bad government in office for too long and prices have been sharply increased, you can spend 10 minutes a day as a beggar on the streets or just sit down somewhere and other players can show their sympathy with a small donation or a little dance (/dance ;D) or other gestures.
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- Closing remarks
[INDENT] I hope that at least a few people have managed to read through to the end of my answers about myself (having to think up descriptions of yourself is difficult!). May the next time we see each other be in Arborea!
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- Link: PlayTera.com (German Fansite)
