Today's Average Joe is pretty well known around these parts. His work has been featured on our website more than once, and he's even been showcased in a more formal format, stowed away in the extras aboard the Halo 3 Legendary Edition Bonus Disc. How cool is that?
If you want to learn more about Helveck, scroll down and get acquainted, he's got a lot on his mind.
Q. Who are you and what do you do?
A. Most of the folks around here know me as
Helveck. Some don’t know me at all, which is odd, because, well, I’m kind of a big deal. If you don’t know me by now, you’re obviously a sheltered hermit. But I say that with love,
obviously.
Currently I have two occupations. One would be a Security Guard Site Supervisor, which unfortunately does not allow Gravity Hammers on the property to be used along with daily enforcement. The other is By-law enforcement, which I do part-time. I can almost guarantee that most of you have been ticketed at one time or another in your life and cursed that By-law enforcement officer as he walked away chuckling at your misery.
We get yelled at, chased down, and argued with all the time - same as with my Security Job. It’s a pain in the rear sometimes, but I’m a pretty relaxed person usually willing to compromise with sensible people, which actually makes my job that much easier when the other person realizes I’m not just some idiot who is trying to make their life more difficult.
For years I’ve drawn and I still do to this day. I like to just sketch things with pencil most of the time, and one time I actually decided to pick up a paint brush and go to town with a concept I had in mind shortly after the Halo 3 E3 announcement. The painting of the Master Chief ended up on the Legendary Edition Bonus disc of Halo 3, which was probably one of the greatest honors I’ve had towards my artwork. Ironically enough, it was also featured on the Bungie front page back in 2006, I believe.
Otherwise, I’ve always been a gamer. I work about fifty-eight hours a week (hoping to cut that down soon). Somehow, I still manage to lead a personal life, a social life, and a nerd life. Once a week I usually make note to stay up late and play some Halo 3 Matchmaking and Customs for a few hours. It’s always a great time.
Q. We'll talk later about get-out-of-jail-free cards. For now, how about you clue us into where you came up with your gamertag?
A. I came up with the name Helveck several years ago while I was writing a novel that still has not been finished, unfortunately. Regardless, the actual character I’d created was just something I was really fond of because it was basically the essence of all my creative juices and brainstorming mashed into one amazing character designed to be the epitome of badassery (made up words, FTW!). I just figured it was only suitable to use the name as my tag, considering all the pwning of n00bz wit ma 4 shotz MLG BR I would be doing. Okay that’s a lie - I suck with the Battle Rifle. Sadface.
Q. When you're not busy four-shotting scrubs, where do you hang out online and how do you spend your spare time?
A. Typically, I’m here on Bungie.net at least once a day. Sometimes I just flip through a lot of the threads, read what others have to say, and see what insight people have to offer on Halo 3 or Bungie stuff in general. I’ve been lurking here since around 2002, because right after I beat Halo: Combat Evolved, I literally googled "Bungie," found this site, and have been coming here ever since.
Finally in 2006 when Bungie held its first art contest, I made an account to put in my submission. I didn’t post a lot after that, because at the time I had my own little nest in the interwebz over at Xbox.net as moderator for a site which no longer exists…because I was the moderator. So I spent most of my time delving into Halo-related topics there, then I came here, and oh yes, how could I forget
HBO?! I found that site right around the same time as I did Bungie. I don’t post there as often but I visit once a day, because Louis Wu is a monster when it comes to keeping people up to date.
To be honest, Achronos and the Web Team know how crazy the forums can be. Sometimes we can make things a nightmare for them, but after settling in here for the past couple of years, I’ve really found it to be a unique place. I would take this site as my home for Halo 3 over any other.
In terms of what I prefer most out of the Community, such as fan art, montages, and so on, I’m really open to them all. I love watching people's montages, or machinima, and even just creeping art sites for Halo related art. I considering myself a creative person, I suppose, so I’m extremely interested in every creative aspect the Community has to offer.
Q. So we know what you prefer in terms of community. What about in terms of gaming? Do you play with friends and family?
A. I always played video games as a kid, but after I beat Halo: Combat Evolved, I realized by that time it was more than just "fun." It literally became a full time hobby and a passion of mine. I would spend hours playing on campaign, and I would never tire or get bored. Whereas any other game before then, or even now, cannot even come close to entertaining my brain for as long. I still game to this day because Bungie has continued to improve consistently throughout. And every single sequel, add-on, or whatever, only draws me in that much more. So I guess in a very odd way, Bungie forces its own mighty hand on me and compels me to play their own game. Is that even legal?
[
Editor's Note: We will make it legal - urk]
When it comes to actually playing with other people I know, typically that makes Matchmaking a lot more fun. I usually party up with some of the super cool popular kids I met on these forums, and we usually always end up having a blast...or I end up going A.D.D and betraying everyone if we’re not having enough fun. Hahaha!
Another odd ritual I have is playing a custom every night with my buddy, RaDekk7. I met him online over a year ago and added him, but never played with him much. Then I posted in the forums here one time, quoted him saying "nice post," and I expanded on his words. I realized afterward that he was the guy I’d randomly met in Matchmaking and added to my friends list! So, after awhile of playing we just became really good friends, and because he sucks serious cow udders, I 1v1 him every night to show him my ultimate and true MLS skillz. (For you BK’s who don’t know, MLS stands for Major League Serious. Yeah, it’s above MLG, no big deal.)
But really, he’s pretty slick, so it’s nice to have a fair challenge and take a game seriously, while at the same time have intelligent and interesting conversations.
Q. What was the first Bungie title you played?
A. The first Bungie title I played was Halo: Combat Evolved. When I was thirteen or fourteen, my older brother had seen how much I wanted an Xbox, and so for my birthday he got one for me.
I remember it clear as day, all wrapped up in a black garbage bag. He handed it to me saying it was just some old clothes he was handing down to me. I ripped the black garbage bag open, and found the Xbox box inside. He tried to run with the façade that the clothes we just stuffed in the Xbox box, and told me not to get my hopes up. Regardless, I believe I began to urinate in excitement ever so slightly.
*coughs*
Anyway. I pulled out the box from the bag along with a controller and this odd looking game with this weird looking green robot dude on the front of the case, called “Halo.” "Do I get to shoot angels?" I’m not even kidding, that’s what I pictured!
Needless to say I was pumped, but I had no clue what to expect. One thing I remember very clearly was seeing Captain Keyes’ jaw actually move as he spoke, which was a graphical feat of epic proportions at that time, and very rare to see in a game. It was one of those thing that if you saw, you knew the game was bound to be good.
And oh yes, killing my first three grunts with my pistol – hella hilarious, and hella fun.
As I played on, the actual storyline is what sucked me in. The mystery of who the Master Chief was, and what the Halo’s were all about, the Covenant suddenly running scared, blood splatters on the wall. It just got better and better.
Q. Are you surprised by how involved you are with the Bungie Community?
A. Um, I really don’t know how to answer this question to be honest. I like to involve myself in the Community, and as many people as I can within it, because it’s really a lot of fun to be involved with something that surrounds one of your favorite passions or hobbies. But I will never say I’m a top dog. I post quite a bit around Bungie.net, and sometimes over at Halo.bungie.org, and when I create something that is, well Halo related, I post it up or submit it places where other people from the Community can view it.
I have fan art stuff up on Deviant art (
my favorite sketch), and I’ve had videos I’ve created that have been put up on here in the Bungie blog and on HBO. I don’t know how or why any of my material is deemed worthy, but I am forever grateful that the work I put into things because I enjoy it, and because its Halo related, it has the opportunity to be shown to the rest of the Community.
Q. Are you involved with other entertainment-related hangouts?
A. I’m not really involved with other places on the internet when it comes to gaming. Halo.bungie.org is the only other site besides Bungie.net that I suggest every fan of Halo visit. I post there every now and then and the site itself has some great people on it. Louis Wu does a great job of organizing the site and constantly updating is front page so it seems as though there is always some new Halo-related material to look at every day.
Q. Anything you would like to add?
A. Anything I’d like to add, eh? Hm, well I don’t know if the guys even read this, but why the hell not? Thanks to all you hard working peeps over at Bungie, and thank you Urk for giving me the spotlight today and showing off some of my funtages.
A shout out to the guys over at the Intel-Agency! I know I’m never going to live THIS one down.
A super wicked awesome cool amazing thanks to RaDekk for making my Halo experience all the better. Cheers, buddy.
And to everyone in the Community, employees, mods, members, whoever…for making the past seven years of my life extremely interesting and super fun. I would have no clue where I would be right now in terms of my interests and hobbies if it weren’t for Bungie and the Community, but I can tell you for sure it probably wouldn’t have been as cool as this.
Cheers.
The man is nothing if not verbose. Cheers, indeed.
Thanks for the time, the answers to our questions, and the praise, Helveck. It's all very much appreciated. We're still not sure what this HBO thing you keep mentioning is, but maybe we'll get bored one day and check it out.