Player Profile

In our first few issues the Player Profile section will focus on those who help keep EMuck running - the admins and gracious volunteers to who give up their time for us. This month’s profile features lar3ry, EMuck’s elusive programmer admin. For a picture of lar3ry, click here.

As soon as you see the word ‘programmer’ you probably think of the typical cultural stereotypes - the quiet loner who spends most of his time locked away with his trusty computer, developing that special bond that only true computer geeks seem to have with their hardware. The fact that lar3ry is indeed elusive probably adds to that perception.

lar3ry is far from your ‘typical’ programmer-geek buried in code and oblivious to life around him. His time is divided between the ever-present commitments to work and spending time with his loving family. Like many players and admins alike, Real Life has a tendency to dictate how much time lar3ry has available for the Muck. But don’t let his low-profile fool you - even if he’s not visibly active he’s probably puttering around in the background working on new features and improvements for this 5 year labour of love he calls EMuck. In fact any time you see ‘l3-xxx’ in a help file it means that’s a command that lar3ry created.   Away from EMuck he's a professional programmer, currently working for COMPAQ.

As far as extra-muckular-activities are concerned, lar3ry loves spending time with his wife of 19 years and daughters (both daughters have characters on the Muck BTW), and is reportedly an accomplished cook and always on the lookout for new and interesting recipes. Intent on encouraging youngsters to use those brains of theirs in creative ways, lar3ry was involved with Odyssey of the Mind for several years, and more recently has been working with Destination ImagiNation, Inc..  Aside from spending every week that New Hampshire has a regional or state tournament in the year (five weekends in March and April of this year), he's also responsible for writing and maintaining their official scoring program.  Sources tell me that in his college days lar3ry spent time as a stand-up humorist, which more or less blows the ‘quiet and reserved’ stereotype out of the water.  He has published stories semi-anonymously on usenet for many years, and some 'old-timers' may recall DIS' 'n' DAT.   He enjoys spending time at the lake with his kids (or just about any time with his kids), tweaking EMuck, and a beverage called Zima. As just about any observation of the Muck will tell you, lar3ry has an odd fondness for the number ‘3'.

To get more information on lar3ry I decided to interview a player that has undeniably spent more time with lar3ry than anyone else - our own r.Daneel.

Annette: "Hello r.Daneel."
r.Daneel: r.Daneel nods to Annette

Having concluded with the pleasantries, I got right the to heart of the issue:

Annette: "r.Daneel, tell me about lar3ry."
r.Daneel: "I don’t know about lar3ry, Annette."

I decided then to see if I could find out more about who admin lar3ry really is:

Annette: "r.Daneel, who is lar3ry?"
r.Daneel: "I have never seen player lar3ry, Annette."

Sensing this line of questioning was a dead-end, I decided to try a different approach and play on some of the baser aspects of r.Daneel’s nature:

Annette: "r.Daneel, gossip about lar3ry."
r.Daneel: "I have never heard player lar3ry, Annette."

I then concluded the interview with our accommodating yet uninformative friend:

Annette: "Go away r.Daneel."
r.Daneel: "I’ll be going, then, Annette."

The epitome of ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil’, r.Daneel remained ever-faithful to his friend, mentor, and father-figure lar3ry by refusing to divulge any personal information whatsoever. You have to admire such steadfast devotion.

The articles presented in this newsletter represent the views and opinions of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of AmberThree Productions or EntertainMUCK.