Helper. Imm. Builder. Trivia host. Epic leader. Questionable outerwear enthusiast. Over more than two decades in Aardwolf, Rhuli has experienced the game from just about every angle. We sat down with the former Imm to pull back the curtain on life upstairs, the areas he helped bring to life, and what keeps drawing him back to Aardwolf after all these years.

Gaardian: Hello everyone! During my recent interview process to apply to be an Advisor again, I had the honour of speaking with yours truly, Rhuli, during my Advisor interviews. It was during our chat that I found out Rhuli was a previous Imm, a repeat Helper, and a prolific area builder. We agreed that it would be cool to reconvene at a later time to discuss his time as an Imm and to hear what it was like. 

Fast forward to today, and I have the tremendous privilege of speaking with Rhuli again. 

Rhuli - thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today!

Rhuli: Hey Mandorallen and Aardwolfians! Always happy to sit down and talk a little about my experience here in Aard. Yes, I have tried almost every aspect of the game and had a blast along the way. I'm very happy to be a part of this amazing community and happy to share some perspective as well, so let's get into it!

Gaardian: Before we get into your time as an Imm, I feel obligated to address the most pressing issue first: Your current title identifies you as "Drooly Rhuli of Questionable Outerwear, Inc.". What exactly qualifies as 'questionable outerwear,' and should the rest of us be concerned?

Rhuli: Haha, I always seem to have issues coming up with clever titles, so this is a reference mostly to my current experiment playing around with the ranger Crafter subclass. Some of the mobs you can skin in this game can definitely qualify as questionable. I believe one of the first mobs I did skin was a boy flying a kite. So, my title was born. :)

Gaardian: Thank you for clearing that up! 

Gaardian: You've been around Aardwolf for a very long time (pretty much since the early days!) and have worn quite a few hats -  Helper, Imm, builder, trivia host, and now Helper again. How did you originally find Aardwolf, and what kept bringing you back?

Rhuli: I unfortunately don't have the year I first joined Aardwolf, but I do believe it was in the year 1998. I enjoyed watching the game go through its early phases, V1 V2 and V3. The huge changes were so exciting to see, and especially how they were done so well without crashing the game over and over.

As for what kept me coming back, 100% the community. The people who play this game are a great group of people. I've made so many great friends here and when I find myself away from the game for a while, I always like to come back and check on them. Then, I get sucked back into the game and the cycle continues.

Hopefully this time, real life will stay quiet for a while and I don't need another extended leave, though!

Gaardian: Take us back to when you became an Imm. How did that come about? Was it something you'd been hoping to do, or did it catch you by surprise?

Rhuli: Me becoming an imm was a pipe dream, and something I never really expected would happen. Sure, I had been in admin positions in a couple other MUDs, but definitely with a much lower player count at the time. At the time I applied, I was a tier 2 I think. I was a member of the Touchstone clan, playing a lot with Thirstan and Yavannah.

There wasn't even an opening in the imm team, but one day I just decided to go for it. To throw my hat into the ring. So, I took a couple days to write up the best imm app note I could. I think in the end it was much longer than I had originally wanted, but I wanted to be thorough, since it was obvious I was a pretty early player (tier-wise). They came back to me and gave me a few suggestions - get some experience with clan leadership and maybe try to become a helper as well. I did both, let them know, and they accepted my application.

I was honestly shocked. I didn't know a single person on the imm team. I was 100% the newbie imm and had that 'new game' feeling all over again. :)

Gaardian: Your old AardWiki profile says you joined the Imm team on July 3, 2012. Do you remember your first day as an Imm? What was going through your head?

Rhuli: Absolutely, I will never forget it. I was living with a roommate at the time and we were sharing a small computer. Little did they know, they wouldn't get any time on the PC for a very long time, as I learned exactly what it meant to be an imm for Aardwolf.

Eventually, he got his own PC.

Gaardian: Once you settled in, what did your day-to-day life as an Imm actually look like? Did you eventually find a particular part of the game that became "your thing" (like area building)? Were you like the Builder's equivalent of the HelpersHelper?

Rhuli: Yeah, every imm here falls into a certain role, whether that is being visible and helping people, doing manor upgrades, building, etc. I definitely feel I fall into the building/game running imm. I enjoyed very much running trivia games (see help trivia slam!), restringing items for people, or just randomly hiding stuff throughout the mud. I was never really the 'mean imm', the person who would hunt down cheaters and punish them, though they are very much in need! It was just never what I enjoyed doing.

Gaardian: I love hosting trivia games too! We should definitely connect more on this in the future.

Gaardian: What surprised you most about being an Imm that you never would have realized as a regular player? Having seen Aardwolf from the other side, was there anything that gave you a much greater appreciation for the Imm team?

Rhuli: I think as everything sank in and I became more comfortable, it shocked me how long you could stay visible as an imm and not receive a single tell from someone needing help. I guess I expected to be constantly needed for players who needed help with random stuff. I remember one time specially I had gone out for dinner and stayed visible. When I came back 6 hours later, I had not received a single request.

I think I ended up reaching out to others more than they reached out to me, just to chat and have a good time!

Gaardian: When you look back on your time as an Imm, what's the first story or moment that comes to mind? Was there I looked at [area building] as an art form.anything you worked on during your Imm years that you're particularly proud of?

Rhuli: I would say area building was what I enjoyed most. I really enjoyed area creation for the game and looked at it as an art form. I still get feedback today on a lot of my areas. A lot of it is good, and of course some bad. Hey, not ALL areas can be so easy!

Gaardian: When I look at the long list of areas you've created, I'm thinking Easter Eggs. Is there anything hidden in one of your areas - a mob's backstory, room description, joke, or reference - that has a story behind it that most players probably don't know?

Rhuli: Of course there is, some of which have long since been forgotten, even to me. I think most builders put little surprises in their areas. For me, one comes to mind that still has not been found. Sorry, no hints! Maybe it will go undiscovered forever, maybe not. :)

Gaardian: Immhood obviously isn't all games and building. What parts of the role did you find the most difficult or least enjoyable? How did you approach those situations? Was there a philosophy you tried to follow when making difficult decisions?

Rhuli: I'd say bot hunting was never really something I enjoyed doing. I did it sometimes and learned from other imms how to handle it, but it just slowly became something I wasn't interested in. There are plenty of imms out there who do very well at this - I let them handle it.

For difficult situations, I just tried to handle them one at a time. If I was unsure about something, I would definitely reach out to other imms for advice. 

Almost all of the imms on the team at the time were extremely helpful and welcoming for me. I will never forget all of them, though most of them are no longer around. Big shoutout to Rumour, Domain, Timeghost, Dreamfyre, and so many more!

Gaardian: Eventually you decided to step down from the Imm team. How did you know it was time? What did you miss most afterwards? And what did you very quickly realize you *didn't* miss?

Rhuli: I never really decided to step down, life decided it was time for me. I went through some pretty serious issues and just needed a year or two to get my life in order, so I decided it would be best to just take some time away instead of checking in every week or so.

I definitely miss running events, such as trivia, for everyone. I miss the random 'hey, will you set my whoname' tells that the players need the imms for. I guess I just miss being able to do those things for the players. 

As for what I do not miss, the time I always put into the admin side of the game. It's not by any means a requirement. I've just really been enjoying playing the game now instead. It's really opened up to a whole side of the game that opened up while I was away in imm-land.

Gaardian: You've seen Aardwolf evolve from several very different perspectives over the years. What changes have impressed you the most? And on the flip side, if you could wave a magic wand and change or add one thing tomorrow, what would you choose?

Rhuli: I was most surprised with some of the subclasses changes that happened a while ago. It really added a layer to the game that was desperately needed at the time. There were so many to choose from and it really was difficult to pick one.

To be frank, I wouldn't want to wave a magic wand and change anything about the game right now. Sure, there are some things going on all around us that could be improved upon or the game would be better without, but I have long since accepted it is not my position anymore to make changes to this game.
A lame answer, I know!

Gaardian:  What do you think Aardwolf does today that has helped it survive for so long when so many other MUDs disappeared?

Rhuli: I think having an active imm team that actually cares about the game has helped it thrive for so long. It is constantly changing (albeit kinda slowly) as the player's needs/desires change. New areas and epics have been exciting.

And of course, the community here is always so welcoming and willing to help new players learn the game. This, I think, has been crucial in helping Aardwolf survive as the game genre fades into history.

Gaardian: Three cheers for the Imm team, and amen to having newer areas to explore!

Gaardian:  And finally, congratulations on your recent wedding to Nordstierna! We have to ask - how did the two of you meet?

Rhuli: Thank you! We first met in the Boot clan in May and recently rediscovered each other as good friends Benitora and Nalani told me we have so much in common. Surely enough, we became great friends and have plans for each other in the near future. Those plans are just made a lot easier with certain commands that come with marriage in the game.

That being said, he's a wonderful human being and I am so glad to have met him in this game. Sure enough, we have more in common in real life than I ever thought we did.

Gaardian:  It was an honour to have you here and to get your perspective from your previous positions as Imm, Builder and Helper. Thank you so much for your time!

Rhuli: Thanks for doing this. I am happy to provide some perspective into the side of the game a lot of people know very little about. If anyone has any questions feel free to reach out to me! I'm an open book. :)

I have recently been getting into leading epics and teaching/mentoring new players in them. If you are interested in running an epic for the first time please reach out to me. Most new runners are so happy they gave it a try.

Take care!

And there you have it, folks. From Helper to Imm, builder to trivia host, and now epic leader and mentor, Rhuli has managed to experience nearly every corner of Aardwolf and somehow still came out wanting more.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that behind all the areas, quests, epics, Imm projects and questionable fashion choices, it's the community that keeps bringing people back.

Of course, one critically important question remains unanswered: somewhere in Aardwolf, one of Rhuli's areas is apparently still hiding a secret that nobody has discovered. So if you'll excuse us, the Gaardian investigative team has been put on an assignment.

This just in:
Gaardian productivity has plummeted 94% as the entire editorial staff has abandoned the next issue to spam 'look' at every noun Rhuli has ever written.