Convinced he's not already dealing with crazy people.
True Underdog steps up this week to deliver you some Average Joe lovin'. If you're feeling lucky, scroll down and get access to his most intimate personal details. He answered every single question we asked without even a hint of hesitation.
Q. Who are you and what do you do?
A. My name is Victor and I’m a Psychology Major at Texas A&M University, but more importantly I’m the proudest member of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of 2010! A-Whoop! (That’s how we do our introductions down here).
I’m a full time student working a nearly full time job. When I’m not in class, I work as an office technician at a media center helping professors resolve any issues with the computers and projectors in lecture halls. It’s not a hard job and it works great with my school schedule. I’ve also been helping a graduate student with her research for the last year or so. I hope to get into grad school sometime in the next couple years and get at least a Master’s Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. No, I won’t be dealing with crazy people; it’s basically psychology applied to the workplace, make the place more efficient. If I’m feeling lucky, I may go for a PhD.
When I get time to relax, I spend time online with my Bungie.net buddies or go out for some drinks with my friends.
Q. Doesn't explain the user name. Where'd you did that up?
A. On the face of it, my gamertag is a reference to the movie “Dodgeball: a TRUE underdog story,” but it’s gained its own meaning over time. At LANs, I’d switch from True Underdog, The End, and Minerva (don’t ask). True Underdog seemed to be a favorite among my friends considering my team would come back and win in the final minutes of a game. The name has stuck with me since then.
Q. What forums do you stick with and why?
A. The three forums I frequent most would be the Septagon, The Halo 3 forum, and the Flood. I couldn’t really tell you which aspect of the forums I like the most because it’s a mixture of it all that makes the Bungie community the best community, hands down. It may sound like a wishy-washy answer, but it is what it is.
Q. So why gaming?
A. Gaming is something I do to relax in my spare time. I’m not very competitive and I’m up for playing whatever as long as I’m playing with my friends. Most all of my friends online are people I’ve met on Bungie.net. I play with one of my room-mates whenever we both have time, but that doesn’t happen too often.
Q. What was the first Bungie title you spent some spare time with?
A. The first Bungie game I played was Halo: Combat Evolved. I first heard about it after my dad told me about it. He told me I should check it out because it looks like it’d be a pretty big hit. I didn’t pay a whole lot of mind to the game until I played it with some of my friends at a LAN party; my first kill was with the almighty Needler. After that, I scrounged up what money I had to get an Xbox and a copy of Halo: Combat Evolved. The story is what got me into the Halo trilogy at first. It’s nothing short of epic. I still get chills at certain parts of pretty much any Halo game.
The multiplayer, however, is what’s made me stick around. Halo’s multiplayer offers up a cornucopia of different ways to play. I remember staying up into the wee hours of the morning with friends trying to run each other over with Warthogs in Blood Gulch, of course, the variety in the multiplayer experience has increased plenty since then.
Q. Are you surprised by your own increased involvement here at Bungie.net?
A. Oh definitely. I first joined with the intention of participating in discussion in Zanzibar and checking my game stats. I had no idea I’d be this active, years later. I’ve met some pretty cool guys and gals through the Bungie Community and have developed an attachment to the community overall. Even now, a notable potion of my time is invested in reading and posting in the forums.
Q. Invest in any other online resources?
A. I’ve tried to be as active on other forums as I am on Bungie.net, but it’s not going to happen. I’d say Bungie’s community is one of a kind and I’d be hard pressed to find another community that could measure up to it. I post in a few private groups like Mythic Members and You Are Not Welcome, but almost all of my time on Bungie.net is devoted to the public forums.
When I’m not on the forums, I’m an Operator in the #BungieNet IRC channel. It’s a community based chat room that originally started as a place for real time discussion about everything and anything Bungie, but we’ve become a place for anyone in the Bungie community looking to talk to like-minded individuals about pretty much anything.
Well, I suppose I do that even when I’m on the forums, too.
Q. Shout at said like-minded individuals.
A. First, I’d like to shout out to my fellow #BungieNet Ops: Primo84, Halo_Tru7h, Elmicker, Primum Agmen, and Nerd Boi. You guys make running a channel pretty damn enjoyable.
Next, I’d like to shout out to the folks I play with regularly online: Evilcam, Achilles1108, Qbix89, Ada Astra, Daft Whiteboy, Nedus, BreadOfWonder, gnome13, scapegoat413, eliper, ECOH Cam, Duardo, MAZ, Gerstung, Gzalzi, TGP, Halo3Recon, COB Ismo and everyone else on my friends list. Thanks for tolerating me.
Lastly, I’d like to thank my old man for pointing me in the right direction to the Tru7h and Bungie for providing a helluva lot more than 30 seconds of fun.
Us too. Thanks, Dad! And thanks to True Underdog for spending some time with us. We really feel like we've gotten to know him. Wonder if he'll borrow us some money now?
If you still have pressing questions for True Underdog, hit him up in the discussion thread attached. Just make sure you don't get all crazy.