In this week's Friday Feature we continue our series, "Meet the Senators." Over the next several weeks we will continue to bring to you, a special look into the people who serve on the Galactic Senate.

This week we feature our Events Senator, "Jod_Iegemai." Let's take a few minutes to get to know her!

Forum Handle: Jod_Iegemai
Server: Starsider
Character Name: Jod

1. How long have you been a contributing member of the community that you represent?

This is a multiple level question for me, as I consider my "community" to include my guild, the server and the game. I started the game as a girl playing a guy in a male dominated pixilated world and wished to do my best to "hang with the big boys." That personal drive led me to go above and beyond the call of duty. Showing some initiative, I was then promoted within my guild to "Events Coordinator." From there, my love for events and making content from nothing became a passion that keeps me engaged to this day.

Working with Pex [former SWG Events Coordinator] helped establish and mold some of my skills in communication, event promotion, and presentation of events on the server-level. This, unknown to me at the time, was being noticed from afar. Before I was a Senator, hosting server events became a passion I couldn't get away from. Through those events, both within the guild and on my server, I was able to hone my skills and understanding. These years of events led me to the Event Senator position.

So, to answer the question, I have been actively participating and representing the event community for the better part of 5 years. In that time, I have hosted countless guild and server events as well, a few events that were not on my server as well as visiting events across the server boundaries. For me, that is what makes this game worth it.

2.  What type of gameplay style do you enjoy the most that is NOT specific to your Senatorial seat?

I would categorize myself as a PvEer. I, as with most of the Senators, delve into all areas and aspects, but I spend more time enjoying PvE content. Within that category, I am an avid badge collector and completionist. I can't stand when something is not 100% so I work as hard as I can (when not participating in guild/allied events and activities) to work toward my collections and badges.

3.  What is a typical gameplay session for you?

As many of my guild can attest, when I log on, I usually spend anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour working on communications, emails, tells, and answering of questions and working on the "to do list" of my guild's city.

After which, if there is nothing on the guild event calendar then I will see what "the boys" want to do. If it is a "solo" night, then I will pop over to my trader and work on my current crafting/decorating job, or flit over to an allied guild's vent and see if anyone needs help with anything. Most nights are PvE (heroics or quests) or a little PvP. I am not active in Restuss, so I will cue for a Battle Fields or head to Dearic, Bestine, or Keren to participate in the GCW invasions.

4.  What do you enjoy the most in SWG?

Obviously, I enjoy participating (either as a host or a participant/audience member) in events, Galactic Events, or high-end PvE. I often go to space (admittedly, I am not that good, but enjoy working towards Ace for the badges). All in all, I enjoy the versatility of SWG the most. At any given time, I make my own game and having that option is what I enjoy the most.

5.  How long have you been playing? (/getvet)

2116 days

6.  When not ingame, what are some of the things that you enjoy doing as a hobby?

I enjoy relaxing by reading or practicing my photography. I also enjoy attending theatre productions and listening to music. Between work, family, and gaming, however, I don't have a lot of time for other hobbies.

7.  What is your favorite emote and are there any stories surrounding that emote?

My favorite emote in the game is /kowtow. Why? Very simple, it was the first one that I learned in the game. The way that I learned /kowtow was that one of my mentors/guildies at the time was in the doorway of Jabba's Palace waiting for a group of twenty to show up for a Corvette run. Waiting to get that many people at the same place at the same time was impossible and we started playing with emotes. He did /kowtow and I loved the animation so I asked how he did that. I didn't even know of the full list ingame. He told me and my love for /kow began.

8. Who has been your favorite among Senators that you have worked with and why?

This is a horribly difficult question to answer because I have had wonderful opportunities because of the Senate. I have met so many amazing players. In addition, I have also met many of them in real life at the summits and faires in the last two years. From having lunch next to Bosco and hanging out with AP and Cebot in San Francisco to meeting so many others at FanFaire over the past years (Cig, Lasod, Ikewe, Neill, Anishor.knowing I have forgotten someone) to Twittering back and forth with MC, I think that the most interesting Senator to work with was Vince. He is a passionate player, extremely witty, well versed in the game in all areas and willing to help anyone at any time. He and I have worked on multiple events as well and dealt with running monthly meetings within the Senate. Meeting him was a privilege and I feel lucky to know him because of the Senate. Oh, and a killer accent when you are in voice with him. /hug Vince

9. Describe what it is like to work with the other Senators

You can tell a lot from the posts and it is extremely interesting when you hear a fellow Senator in voice as well. For those that don't know just how much we all collaborate on issues/bugs, we often spends weeks working on something as a group before it ever even gets put into proposals. We often bounce ideas off each other and have much correspondence, but realize there is a definite personality that comes across. We have leaders within leaders: the quiet ones who don't say a lot until it is needed, the people who argue for the sake of arguing, the "passionate" types and the laid back ones.

I think that is what is nice about the Senate. We have a community (for we are a guild and a community) of players from all over the world at different ages and experiences. We are truly a melting pot of personalities and it is nice to have had some great Community Managers to keep all of our personalities in check so that we can help our communities.

10. Who was/is your mentor in the game?  If you had to thank ONE and only person in the game, who would it be and why?

I have a hard time narrowing this down as I have had mentors in the game that were wonderful. Narrowing that down, my past guild leader, Svaartvadel, was my little Rodian friend that helped to mold me into a better player, leader, and coordinator. Although he doesn't play any longer, he still helps to admin our guild website and I still keep up with him. From him visiting my RL productions of my plays (see below answer), to helping me organize a RL guild event in Boston, to attending his RL wedding. He inspired me in the past and even now. I can't thank him enough for teaching me so much about life and myself within a pixilated world.

11.  What do you do for a living?

I am a high school theatre teacher and director.

12. What in-game item do you wish you had a RL version of and why?

I wish that I had an ITV in real life. That way I could travel more efficiently from place to place on the planet. If the mayor of a RL city had a shuttle, I could port right there. Seems like it would do wonders for my time in a car every day!

Thank you, Jod_Iegemai, for sharing some of your insights from the view of an Events Senator!

Click here to join the discussion

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