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 Continuing from http://uk.strikermanager.com/foros/hilo.php?id=302366 here we go again

Ps. IT'S LOOOONNGGG in the Cellogic way




<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> About ABJ, he did what he should not have done but don’t you think there was mistake of @’s in it too? Why were they not having knowledge of his quitting game? I guess he told you at start of last season itself….

<@CelloG> yes that was an awful situation and there was not unanimity amongst @ on how to handle it and confusion once it was handled
not our best moment

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> and nearly all fines were reversed back then

<@CelloG> the problem was abj was not actually leaving when he announced he was going to leave
so I didn't think of him as leaving the game, he was still buying players, trying to win games, etc. but we had dealt with other managers selling all their players at below market value when they left, and other really annoying problems. There was a lot of confusion, but it was mostly just different @ interpreting the rules differently.
so the method of dealing with managers who are leaving the game has become a lot more strict than it was even last season
Until recently, it was only illegal to help friends/sell too cheap, now it is flat out against the rules to buy from any team who is leaving the game, even I didn't realize this change had occurred.
<@CelloG> incidentally, my least favourite thing about @ is punishments, it doesn't feel good, and nobody likes being punished. We get yelled at every day on chat or in private messages

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> and after that And after that the controversy of mass fines and retains….. most effect was i14, how was that phase?

<@CelloG> that was not fun at all

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> but it's fun to watch from outside

<@CelloG> but on the bright side, we got a great up-and-coming manager in _RM_ to replace lantre99, there was a multi-page thread on the mod forum
I was driving across the U.S. and suddenly saw I had to find another manager on the first day of the new season
and found 3 other mercs with massive fines that had cleared the totals with fiscals, some had purchased at above market just to be legal, again, different understanding of rules by different @ caused that problem

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> hmm u seem to be too busy, what do u actually do? techy like some @?

<@CelloG> no, but I do travel a lot for my work, I have noticed a lot of the managers I've gotten to know better who are active and older work in tech, that is true

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> ok now how many GB did you spend till now?

<@CelloG> I have been a very good supporter of this game, about 35,000 golden balls so far

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> that's $200
then . I often find that you type long, point to point ‘not to miss a point’ type of posts on forum where there is an issue which you address, is that your tendency to give out whatever you know or just to make sure you do not leave out any point?

<@CelloG> I find that even-tempered, calm and respectful forum posts are far more effective at defusing a situation than any kind of force and occasionally that requires long posts

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> hmm if you remeber one post by blue where he started 'with all respects to @Cello' isn't it too tough when u have to make another @ accept ur point along with users?

<@CelloG> @ are just users with a squiggly in front of their name

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> you are a bitter critic of developers on forum, is this open criticism, not bringing a clash between you and @Rand and other developers?

<@CelloG> oh it definitely has caused a clash but most of my posts are appreciated because it has made the game better, occasionally they express irritation at me.
but very, very rarely, @Rand is a perfect gentleman.

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> so what was it like when grantis took a step forward n locked the threads and spanish came to aid of devs with that counter fight with threads?

<@CelloG> that was fun the end of the most frustrating run of developer ignoring us in history
end of 4 months of ignoring us, I had tried the "no stupid strikers, no slow defenders" campaign
<@CelloG> which was ignored, only grantis's nuclear actions got attention and forced action, since then they have taken very active steps to do better

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> remember, i made a remark many times that dev's won't care our renaming squads n stadiums

<@CelloG> my current campaign is to limit updates ONLY to season breaks

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> hahaha mr.rand promised it in my thread back then but i think he broke it, with recent update

<@CelloG> on mod forum, @ are united against the last update, it's a complete failure, it made offside trap effective again, and destroyed the behavior of mids and forwards in many situations
with the exception of bluegene, he said he hasn't lost a game since the update because his offside trap formation works again

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> well ask me, i ditched offside just a week back before it , now have no time to watch games n make changes.

<@CelloG> culeatopee was in relegation before the update, now he's in 2nd, my point is every change to the sim creates winners and losers.
that is inevitable and doing this mid-season is cruel, we need a level playing field for the whole season

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> well that's what i cried back then if u can recollect http://uk.strikermanager.com/foros/hilo.php?id=283120 n mr.rand promised not to do it again

<@CelloG> I loved rebsiot's reply to that post
and the post was necessary. I put rand on notice that the next unannounced update, I will resign @, and 5 other @ joined me in that pledge
Rand was VERY upset about that update, they had hired new devs who didn't follow protocol
they had hired new devs who didn't follow protocol

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> well I have allegation against you, I mean someone said this to me once, can I ask that? Actually it’s same matter from 2 persons in different ways.

<@CelloG> wow an allegation , I was not on the grassy knoll

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> When I asked soli, why doesn’t he involve Mercs in PL war normally, he said ‘cello doesn’t seem the type of guy who likes to fool around’ and about the same topic, I had another kind of view from certain other manager who said something meaning that you control what your PL members say or post on forum and anything action which you do not appreciate will not be tolerated…..

<@CelloG> I don't mind fooling around but don't feel the need to assert the primacy of i14
the results can speak for themselves. my energy for clever ways of making fun of pirates and ninjas kind of disappeared when I became @
as for controling what my PL says, that's laughable

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> why don't you happen to be much on chat? i mean on general chat?

<@CelloG> mainly because I have a daughter who takes priority over general chat
and when she's asleep, I have a wife, who takes priority over general chat

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> well i am trying to unstable your balance for some time now with my questions but you seem to so stable.. forgot to load your emotions programme while waking?

<@CelloG> haha
I find that thinking briefly before speaking is wise

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> yeah but isn't that being too formal, afteral this is just a game

<@CelloG> I'm surprised that anyone would think I could control my private league, honestly
they're a pack of wild stallions, which is why I drafted them
we do have some basic rules to keep things civil but they have to do with hostile clause and effort
a couple seasons ago, we tried to say no hostiling, and play all games at low effort, that didn't work out, so now our rule is play with any effort you want, and hostiling each other is fine, with the assumption you'll ask first to see if you can buy the player without hostile first
but honestly, neither of those rules came from me initially mainly I just want the guys to feel proud to be a merc and willing to challenge one another to get better

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> well i want to tell u a funny thing that just happened on gen chat
<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> <@bluegene> I lost

<@CelloG> that's not very funny

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> well there is a thing called commemorators curse
just a few min back u said
<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> <@CelloG> with the exception of bluegene, he said he hasn't lost a game since the update because his offside trap formation works again

<@CelloG> yup he posted that this morning just before the interview

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> that's what makes it funny , now he blue will make a cry baby face when he read the interview

<@CelloG> forgot to knock on wood, I guess. he did say he hadn't lost a league game
I have a very hard cup game next week against -ANCO-, he eliminated me from the cup last season
his insane 96 forecast DFM hurts when it touches your guys

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> Anco, i believe he is struggling too after the update

<@CelloG> I was lucky. I had to adjust my formation slightly, but it still performs as advertised, what I hate about sim changes is that it can destroy a long-term strategy. changing the importance of players you've spent 3-4 seasons developing
so it's not just winning/losing games that an update affects

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> How about winning the striker cup soon or any of your Pl mates trying to get that cursed cup?

<@CelloG> I don't think anyone in mercs feels he will win the striker cup this season. I am certainly focusing on league. I'd like to stay up in div. 1, the income difference from div. 2 is staggering, and that's a long-term structural advantage
the cup is essentially bragging rights, with slightly more income

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> i do not expect any drastic changes from ways devs will behave

<@CelloG> well, as I promised the devs, I will remain an annoying SOB gadfly until they do change their patterns, that much I promise you
regardless of any allegations, I fight constantly to make this a better game for everyone, with some success.
<@CelloG> I look forward to the day when I can just be silly and remove multi-accounters

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> like the great fermin?

<@CelloG> no, like the humble cellog
each @ has a specialty. Mine is ferreting out multi-accounts, I'm not so good with estimating market value

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> You said your specialisation is catching multi accounters, is it by choice or chance? I think practice is expert at the same, any influence of yours behind it.

<@CelloG> Both choice and chance. I don't like fining off-market transactions between actual managers, too much gray area for me.
As for practice, you should ask him who taught him how to find multis

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> hahaha u got response to ur recent love letter to them?

<@CelloG> yeah, some guys are afraid I'll delete their valid family member accounts
but I don't do that, delete is a last resort unless the cheating is egregious, the main thing is understanding the psychology, multi-accounters do it for only a few reasons
the worst offenders create teams to buy their players at inflated prices, others do it to try strategies or to help find good staff and some do it just to play with more than 1 team
once you know what to look for, a multi-account just feels different from legitimate ones, but I never fine or remove based on a feeling, only on hard evidence or a confession

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> ok i confess i have 3 more accounts all on gen chat now, @rishu, soli and lg, remove them now please
do u write similar letter to your love of life too? i mean so formal n sensitively filled with humour ?

<@CelloG> that was a very silly letter, and is more reflective of how I am in real life but I haven't written a love letter in years, I express my love in person
I don't know what that would look like at one very tense moment I retained another @ and was retained back, so I do know what that looks like

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> soli did it like daily for fun when he was made a fiscal

<@CelloG> have you ever been retained? it's a horrible experience, you can only watch from outside your team. sometimes it's hard to remember this is a game but that's one of the responsibilities of a @, is to use restraint
that's why I resort to messages and forum posts first, I only use retain for multi-account suspects and extreme cases of other abuse
one of my favorite things is to defuse a situation without using any @ tools, just

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> When are we going to see new Mercs @’s? only 2 @’s from you PL, isn’t it less?
<@CelloG> oh, I don't know, I don't think of @ in terms of PL
when practice became a @, he was recommended by me, pirates, and admins
same with solirocket, it's about the game

<@CelloG> for instance, when fermin was removed, I strongly suggested he be replaced by another spanish player and asked the spanish managers and @ to choose someone they felt would represent their interests best

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> There is a reason I asked this question to nealy all @’s I have interviewed, not many were able to say ‘It’s not about power, it’s about responsibility’, getting @ is being seen as just a means of power, what ‘s you say on it?’ )

<@CelloG> let me say now that I would be the first to reset/remove another @ who uses it to help their PL members or to cheat. well, if there is one absolute truth, it is that power corrupts very easily and so it is very important when you have power to be overly sensitive to its possible effects
I don't enjoy the powers we have unless it helps resolve a crisis, being able to get a quick answer from devs and admins is wonderful, to be able to report a bug that affects even a single user and get it fixed feels very good
to punish cheating feels awful, I am always looking for ways to avoid exercising my power as @ and instead to exercise my power as a respected manager and person to make the game better for others as well as for me
when my interests overlap many other managers (such as the stupid strikers campaign)

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> but not many listen to u, i experience it daily, people are becoming thick skinned, bending only to force

<@CelloG> it's important not to get jaded but this is not really a power question, that's just life
don't get too addicted to SM, don't get too jaded it's an unusual game.
Much less controlling of financial transactions than the other football managing games
it intentionally leaves room to cheat, you have to choose not to cheat.

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> hmm ok as u r reluctant to give any personal details, would you be ready to tell us your age and what made you the person you are now, composed n thinking?

<@CelloG> I'll be 36 next month, my experience working in very close quarters with other people in real life has taught me how to be measured

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> mm like?

<@CelloG> as in when you want to get better at something, and it involves other people, you have to assume the best of people, to treat them with respect, to hold your tongue until you've thought through what you really want to say
it's very easy to get annoyed and say something extremely hurtful personally, that takes very little energy, for instance, when it seems like a user is just being an a-hole in a private chat, asking why he's so mad and treating him with dignity has worked much better for me than a straight chat ban/retain

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> any impact from a specific person over u which made u this way?

<@CelloG> I work with a small team of a few people who I have worked closely with for almost 13 years when you work that closely, there are bound to be arguments often
trying to avoid this and to get better at what you do fosters what you see

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> any plans of putting in words about love for the lady in your life after my interview is packed up?

<@CelloG> she is so patient with me, and I love her dearly, I'm a hard guy to live with sometimes, and I'm lucky to have her as a wife and the mother of my children
go Arsenal!

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> Could you tell me again how to pronounce ur in game name?

<@CelloG> chellowjee

<ⱴỈᶘᶘỈ> so anything u want to add?

<@CelloG> mercs rule
thanks for reading



Thats' @CelloG for u guys hope you enjoyed it, you are always welcome with your feedback




Edited by vijji 14-08-2012 20:53 		14/08/2012 20:44
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 Nice and looong. Good work vij.. And answers were pure cello types..

When did I said with all due respect to cello thing??

Looks like I was the first one to read the whole thing..

Edited by @bluegene 14-08-2012 21:11 		14/08/2012 21:10
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@bluegene said:
Nice and looong. Good work vij.. And answers were pure cello types..

When did I said with all due respect to cello thing??

i do not want to search for it but as far as i remember his answer started like this 'Blue says 'With all respect to @CelloG but says what he wants to' or something like that. 		14/08/2012 21:12
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 Ok. Tell if you remember the topic 14/08/2012 21:15
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 it was not blue, it was gunner. 14/08/2012 21:37
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@solirocket said:
it was not blue, it was gunner.

prove it 		14/08/2012 22:09
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 you couldave searched it yourself...

http://uk.strikermanager.com/foros/hilo.php?id=268896

EDIT: Also, I just locked it because i know trolls will be waiting *_*

damn, the number of @s from that thread...grantis/ubuntu/patient/me/practice were not @s back then, all got @s

Edited by @solirocket 14-08-2012 22:32 		14/08/2012 22:27
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 Excellent interview vijj, your best work yet imo.
 15/08/2012 00:26
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@solirocket said:
it was not blue, it was gunner.


Ah now I know what he was talking about! Our cat fight over slow defenders and stupid strikers.

Rawr!

soli is right, of course, it was gunner 		15/08/2012 01:15
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 Oh , so that 's why i lost to Tdot in Monday ^_^ 15/08/2012 01:28
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