How to know if a villain is really dead

Do you know those movie sequels in which the bad guy always survives in the most unlikely of ways in a desperate attempt to squeeze a few extra box office appearances out of the movie franchise? The antagonists usually need to live the rest of their lives with varying numbers of annoying bodily deformations. They all have one thing in common however: They’re back, and they’re ready to make the streets dangerous yet another time!

When reading comics it’s usually advised not to assume that a character is gone until you’ve seen his/her corpse. And even then you can’t be sure.

Folks, I’m writing this post (it was either this or “Black Coffee II”) to let you know that I’ve risen from the ranks of the dead and decided to come back to haunt you some more. It’s what I’ve always said: Every healthy and growing community needs an undead community representative.

“Haunt” is however a very strong verb and I personally prefer to use “methodically monitor and interact with, using flying cutlery and strangely frightening woo-sounds”. At the end of the day you’ll find me doing a lot of the stuff I’ve been doing up until now. Eventually I might even develop, grow the precise amount of hair and brains needed to become an actual ‘forum monkey’ (abstract position of very high stature). A sinister creature that is out to make your local community a little bit less predictable and a little bit less safe. It may or may not technically be my new, actual title, but one that I’d like just as much as any other.

Amboss (German Community Coordinator) will be joining me for Seattle where we are moving into NCsoft West’s new headquarters (I’m picturing a green military tent with jeeps parked outside). Since everyone working on Aion here in the west will essentially be under the same roof (or tent), it will be much easier to communicate with the right people and drive important matters. This means that we’re looking at fruitful times and a lot of things going on in the shadow of Aion’s upcoming release.

Myself, I’ll be keeping an eye on the English communities together with Liv while Amboss will be looking especially so at the German ones. My greatly revered ex-boss Atreid will be remaining in Europe, joining the Marketing department for—wait for it—marketing work, although there will definitely be someone to keep an eye on the French communities as well once we get to Seattle.

So, how is that for a surprise?

Have a nice continued day everyone. We’ll see each other around soon!

(That is all.)