Solver:	Please tell us more about how the Firaxians noticed you!
Sirian:	I don't know the whole story, and that's the truth! Here's what I do know... 1. I created my fan site. I had to contact the company by email to get my site linked on CivIII.com. That was a simple process, but it took several weeks to complete, IIRC. 2. I added to my site. The game reports and analysis are the only thing there, but apparently this style of writing and the type of content differed from the usual "latest news" content on most sites. 3. Six or eight months later, I noticed my site had been moved to the "featured fansites" column. Somebody at Firaxis liked my CivIII commentary. 4. Soren [Johnson] contacted me directly, via email, just over a year after CivIII had come out. By that time, it seems he had been paying attention for some time. That's all I really know. I've never inquired as to the details.
Solver:	And what happened then? Did you become a beta tester for the products being worked on?
Sirian:	An infamous screenshot in Realms Beyond circles. This is from winter 2002, my first game on Deity level, large map, only eight civs, Conquest victory only. You see France's pink armies traipsing across my land, Joanie's knights and cavalry passing next to my regular warriors and minor spearmen. I coined the term "Deity RoP" here, for "Deity-style Right of Passage." As in "We are the AI, and you are the peon, so we're coming through, and you can complain about it if you want us to wipe you off the map, otherwise just shut up." Deity RoP: no need to formalize any agreement! Just waltz on through at your leisure! No. This is sort of a long story. When CivIII came out, I really liked it. I liked it right away, and I appreciated the AI. CivIII was very stable on release, but it went out the door with subtle flaws in the AI and the game balance that the testers did not catch. Soren was in charge of the patching process, and he wanted to tackle these issues. So he turned to the fans for help in these areas! A lot of fans voiced their opinions on the various forums. Soren tuned into that and used this feedback to help guide the patching effort. I was among those offering opinions on what was good or bad, what needed work, etc. There were a couple of things that I suggested be changed, which did -not- get changed in the first couple of patches. Somewhere in there, I sent a single email to the company, unsolicited, arguing for a couple of specific changes to how the economics were functioning. I'm pretty sure that email ended up on Soren's desk. Around about that time, the "low hanging fruits" had already been picked, and Soren needed more in-depth feedback to help him smooth the more difficult aspects of CivIII that were still in bad shape. The kind of feedback to help with the tougher problems... I believe he identified a few people to keep an eye on, and I was among the[m]. He could get extensive analysis on the latest game mechanics, and even some ideas for how to improve them, from my reports. I do not know how many others he was watching closely. I know I was not the only one. I made no effort to get involved in the first CivIII expansion, though. It was right after that went to presses that Soren contacted me directly. We had some conversations about the AI. I pointed out a few things it was not handling well and he worked to fix those in the patches for the expansion. He offered me a slot in the beta for the second expansion, Conquests, and I said "No thanks!" I had done the volunteer tester thing before. I had some good experiences doing that, and one very very bad experience, and I was simply not ever going to do that again.
Solver:	Yet you got involved in the development of CivIV, and not as a simple tester, but as a contractor consultant, too. How did that happen?
Sirian:	I don't know the whole story on that, either. Soren was already working on CivIV when the last CivIII expansion was in beta. There is a lot to like about CivIII: Conquests, but if there is anything to complain about, it is that the AI was not fully capable of making use of all the cool new features. This is directly attributable to Soren's absence. He -is- the AI master inside Firaxis [Games]. When Sid decided to hand the keys to CivIV over to Soren's care, that was the key moment that set up my involvement. Soren did a great job patching the initial version of CivIII, and he credits that in large part to help he got from the fans on the forums. If he can get accurate feedback on what is not working well, he can fix it. It's that simple! Soren felt that fans would be the most reliable source of feedback for CivIV. Jesse [Smith], the producer, felt the same. The two of them made all of this happen: the play session, this degree of fan involvement. Things weren't done quite like that at Firaxis, but they won approval to try some new things. Innovation? Perhaps. Soren wanted my input on the AI. Hiring me was the only way to get it. They made it happen.
Solver:	Are you physically at Firaxis, or have you been providing your input via the Internet?
Sirian:	I worked entirely over the Internet. That is probably the most radical departure from standard operating procedures at Firaxis. Soren had always interacted with me this way, though, and he was comfortable with it. We made it work. Civ fans can soon judge the results for themselves. :)

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