A Closer Look

A Closer Look is an interview program created by mdbro55.

Episode One: UC President camelfantasy 10/4/17

ONN: Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to tonight's edition of A Closer Look. I'm mdbro. UC election season is once again upon us, and outgoing president camelfantasy will not be running for reelection. Camel is here tonight for an interview before he steps down from the presidency. Camel, thanks for joining us.

camelfantasy: Thank you for having me.

ONN: First off, give us some insight into why you will not be running for reelection.

CF: Although I initially did have plans to run, recent events led me to decide to not run for reelection. The recent stagnation of UC activity as well as the screenshot controversy that occured a few days ago likely damaged my reputation, and as such I believe it be best for whoever succeeds me to boost the UC and hopefully bring it back to its levels of activity seen when it first started.

ONN: And while we're on the subject of the screenshot controversy, do you hold a grudge against CaptainChimpy for making the images public?

CF: I was initially quite irritated at him for essentially releasing what was supposed to be private information, but ultimately, our long-standing friendship still stands, not to mention that I personally am not the type to hold grudges.

ONN: What were your goals coming into your term, and do you believe you fufilled them?

CF: My most major goals were to reduce the extreme politicization within the United Cities, respond to the ineffectiveness of the Parks and Recreation Committee, and otherwise simply maintain the status quo. To some extent these goals have been accomplished; with the collapse of MRT International, there have been no debates simply along party lines, and many parties' influences have simply disappeared from the UC. As for the Parks and Recreation Committee, changing it to a legislative committee should have increased activity within the committee, but evidentally that was not the case and was eventually disbanded, which potentially was better off for everyone. The status quo was largely maintained as no radical changes were brought through during my presidency, with the adding of one committee and membership changes in others effectively aiding in that.

ONN: What do you think went wrong with the Parks and Recreation Committee?

CF: Mainly it was the relatively low activity levels of most committee members as well as a promised framework overhauling the system that never quite came about. Granted, there were a few members that accomplished the committee's goals quite well, but overall the committee just didn't work out well.

ONN: Last Sunday, you created a history committee, which UC members have seemed to be supportive of. What was the motivation behind the creation of this committee?

CF: The MRT is currently into its fifth year, and that is quite a lot of history. Given how there are sections on the wiki's history page that are completely empty, it can be annoying for newer members who wish to find out about how the server has evolved over time, as well as the various events that have occured. The history committee aims to fill in these gaps using a variety of methods to gather this information as accurately as possible, and to hopefully present a clearer and fuller version of the MRT's history.

ONN: Finally, what would you say to your successor on how to make the UC work better for the MRT?

CF: I would recommend them to find some goals or opportunities that will allow interest and activity levels in the UC to rise again, hopefully ones that will assist members and their towns on the MRT greatly and increase general enjoyment of the server.

ONN: Alright, camel, thanks for coming on the show. For camelfantasy, I'm mdbro saying good night. Thanks for tuning in.

Episode Two: RaiLinQ Founder, and inventor of warp-trains autobus22

ONN: Good Evening Ladies and Gentleman, and welcome to another edition of A Closer Look. I'm mdbro. These days, it seems that there are half a million warp-train companies out there, but tonight we have the man who started it all, autobus22. Auto, thanks for coming on the show.

autobus22: Ello.

ONN: So, how did you come up with the idea for warp-trains?

AB: So one day Baron made his station in Daneburg, Daneburg central and Regionalconnect wanted some modelled trains in there to make the station more lively. I ended up getting the job to make the train model (Which may or may not still exist somewhere) and subsequently started working on my airline I already had. At some point I realised, I don't know exactly when, that these modelled trains could be used to create more well scaled railways operating the same way as buses and planes. I subsequently tested my theory in the lab world and yes, it indeed worked and was permitted by admins who I asked if it was allowed.

ONN: Did you expect it would take off like it did?

AB: Well, no I did not. What basically happened tracks used to not be physically connected between stations but a rule change made it so stations had to be connected. I had a few stations which where open back then which I had to imidiately close due to the rule change. At that point warptrains came under scrutony from a back then near 50% of active members of the server for being bulky, taking up needless space, especially with the tracks outside of town and warptrains where specifically allowed under terms of realism. Which meant I, so long no one else with that realism standard would come alone, I would never have competition. Then Intra came along and the need for realism was apparently just gone at that point, people settled with it, and competition subsequently exploded. So no, I did not see that coming and I think we might not have the huge growth we have now, if the competition didn't start. (Notice: I am not saying intra is bad, intra just does not pass the realism under which staff initially allowed warptrains to continue existing)

ONN: Do you like having the competition, or would you rather be the only provider of warp-trains?

AB: I'd rather be the only (major) provider of warptrains but competition caused competition which causes more rapid expansion and access to especially smaller towns and eventually may have been partially responsible for rule changes in regards to who can have rail connections So I think though ideally, no from a companies perspective, BUT it's important there is competition for the growth and maintenance of warptrains, reputation and general quality of service to towns.

ONN: With the expansion of the new world, there is a much bigger area, and until the MRT expands, the towns that pop up in the expanded part of the world are not served. Do you think it's the responsibility of 3rd party rail to serve these areas?

AB: No, I do not feel like it is, I feel like it's the responsibility of the MRT network to give basic service, but as a caviat, as a personal company value I value a network that will serve all major development areas including ones that pop up in the Epsilon area. As that is what gives a good, and truly accessible network.

ONN: You and Intra are the 2 biggest warp-train providers on the server, and are always competing with each other. What do you think it is that puts RaiLinQ ahead of the competition?

AB: well certainly a strong point for RaiLinQ over Intrarail is our priority in aesthetics and realism, but also better network planning, more open stations with more dense coverage and more towns served, stations that fit in well with town centers and a diamond quality wiki page full of information including routestrips, pictures, rolling stock, station information (including local maps and images to determine if you found the station), Signage quality and servicing of more (larger) locations not really reachable by other transport like Chalxior, Pilmont, Verdantium, New Phoenix, Newton le Willows and many more also gives us an edge in how usefull our network is compared to intra.

ONN: And finally, what do you think is the future of transport on the MRT?

AB: I think we should more think about the future of the MRT as a server as well, the future of transport won't matter if there is no server for it to apply on. Past times every timespan of 2 months there is an increase of 10-20% in warptrain stations, a far quicker growth then any other mode of transport, so I think warptrains will really just stay the main drive of public transportation on the server for foreseeable future.

ONN: Alright, well thanks for coming on the show auto. And For autobus22, I'm mdbro saying good night. Thanks for tuning in.

AB: Baibaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiii