Pigmy: Describe how your pilot name came to be your pilot name.
Captain Zaphod: A long, long time ago (7th grade to be exact), I started playing a game called Escape Velocity (later, EV Nova). With the game being an RPG about space life beginning with getting your first shuttle craft and usually ending with being a powerful war lord responsible for the destruction of a corrupt secret organization which had control of the Federation (resulting in the Rebellion winning their war and joining back with the Federation), I had to think of a cool space name. Being a big fan of The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy at the time, I chose Zaphod Beeblebrox. The game gave me the prefix "Captain" being as in the game, you play as a captain of a ship. Since then, everywhere I go online has some different variation of the name "Captain Zaphod Beeblebrox", including Cpt. Zaphod Beeblebrox, Cpt. Zaphod B., Captain Zaphod, Cpt_Zaph, etc.
An important thing to note here is that my name will ALWAYS have some form of Captain and Zaphod. If there's no Captain in the name, I can guarantee it's not me. Zaphod is a pretty popular internet name, after all.
Pigmy: What drew you to the Descent Rangers in the first place, and who recommended you, if applicable?
Cpt. Zaph: I had recently rediscovered Descent at the time and was getting bored repeatedly replaying the game over and over again on the PS1. I had been craving online Descent action for what seemed like a year. I even bought a second copy of Descent with the intent of linking two PS1s and playing co-op.
And thus began the internet research. It really didn't take me long to find D2X-XL and Rebirth, but I avoided D2X-XL because of a bad experience with Diedel before I even got this computer. So I downloaded Rebirth, bought Descent from GOG.com, and got it set up. Got myself a USB to PS1 controller adapter and went to town.
The rest of the details are rather hazy, but I believe I found out about the Rangers on some random forums somewhere, but then I ended up applying, managed to get Mumble working after some work, and then next thing I know I'm in my first multiplayer match marvelling over how there were other Pyros in the level with me. I didn't even care that I got creamed, the important part is that I knew these were good people and I was excited to game with them. Looking back, I remember Tigeron being in my first game ever, and I believe I was sponsored by Kida, which influenced at least half of my decision to join Blue Lightning, of which I've been loyal to since.
Pigmy: How long have you been playing Descent for?
Cpt. Zaph: Eh, Idk. I played Shareware as a kid and never made it past level 7. I always used default keyboard controls, so looking back, that's pretty good considering Shareware only had 7 levels. Then I rediscovered it when I learned it was on my computer-at-the-time's other OS from before it got upgraded, and I jumped back in. Then I got the PS1 version and beat the game on Ace, so I never stopped using the PS1 controls.
Pigmy: What other kinds of games are you interested in?
Cpt. Zaph: Depends. Basically, I'll still occasionally play Minecraft, Sauerbraten, Company of Heroes, and Rigs of Rods. In the past I have played War Thunder, DayZ, and Battlefield 2. The only one of those that I wasn't fond of was DayZ, and that and Battlefield 2 are the only two games in that list I don't have installed anymore.
Pigmy: What hobbies interest you outside of Descent?
Cpt. Zaph: Electronics? I dunno. I like making fun of people for their grammar, I guess.
Pigmy: Would you recommend Descent to other people and would you recommend the Rangers to other people?
Cpt. Zaph: I have before, but nobody takes my suggestions, so I tend not to put any effort into recruiting.
