Canada Rawks

By Jay Watamaniuk

I figured I would completely abuse my infinite cosmic power as Community Manager and do a BioWare Wednesday item on the Canadian connection to Neverwinter Nights. Don't try and stop me, I am mad with power.

BioWare, as most of you know, is completely, wholly, and totally Canadian owned and operated. The two Co-CEOs and founders, Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk, were both born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. They went to the University of Alberta to get their medical degrees, during which time, of course, they decided to take their medical education and start a video game company called BioWare Most of the original staff came from Edmonton, Calgary, and surrounding cities here in the province of Alberta.

A decade later, however, BioWare's 240+ diverse and ominously talented staff hail from a huge variety of far-flung places, most of which can be found right here on Earth.

Despite a growing international presence at trade shows, press tours, and game conferences, BioWare's fabled HQ is still situated in the very fine frozen northern city of Edmonton (pronounced 'Emmintin' if yer from 'round here). I got to wondering what other Canadian connections could be discovered through BioWare's Neverwinter Nights apart from a couple of our first forum Moderators, Urthpaw and Beerfish, who are from Emmintin as well.

One of NWN's biggest supporters has been a tireless fellow who also happens to be Canadian: the fabulous Maximus of the mucho excellent NWVault:

I hear you live in Montreal, Quebec. Is that true and how long have you lived there? I hear the food is better - care to elaborate?

Maximus: Almost my whole life, over 33 years now. It's a great city. The only bad thing about it is the infrastructure is getting old. There are potholes that would swallow your car. As for the food, it's definitely good and we're probably best known for our Poutine (French fries with gravy).

What is your view on Canadian game developers? (I hear you may have a selection of mighty fine developers right there in town.)

Maximus: Montreal is really turning into the gaming capital of Canada with the likes of EA and Strategy First, and if BioWare opened an office here that would be amazing! Canada is a great country, best in the world, and seeing developers reach the world stage is very cool.

Home of Maximus when he's not fighting in gladiatorial games

As a serious Quebecois citizen, are there any secret plans to invade the rest of Canada or the good bits of the US?

Maximus: No worries of that. There are certain powers that would love nothing more than somehow picking up the whole land mass and moving it off the continent. ;) Thankfully, it currently looks like Quebec will forever be a part of Canada and that's a great thing.

To find another Canadian connection we had only to look at one of the most active guilds in the NWN universe: Canada West NWN Players Guild. Squealing like I'm peeling my bleeding tongue off a steel chain link fence in winter, I asked founder Teal'c some questions as well:

Why the Canadian connection in your guild? Can you tell us about your guild?

Teal'c: I wanted to have a guild that was clearly defined as Canadian. At the time I created the guild, I definitely wanted to attract a Canadian audience. But, as things grew, the player base also went abroad. In the beginning, I went out and bought NWN in the hopes of playing on-line RPG games with no monthly subscription. I tried the online thing for a bit, then decided to try and set up a server. That went really well, so the next step was to start Canada West.

Your guild is one of the top 5 guilds in all the NWN multiverse. Is the Canadian theme a contributor to this vast fame and fortune?

Vicious Ice Monkey taunting its prey

Teal'c: It was mentioned on the guild home page in some of the posts made by active players on my server that the main contribution to having a successful server and guild is the friendliness and help offered by the DMs and veteran players. The builders of the module created an environment that was challenging enough to please the 'hard-core' gamer and at the same time make certain areas easy enough for beginners to adventure in. There is always a helping hand for new players if they get stuck or are looking for others to adventure with.

Once and for all, which city is greater, Calgary or Edmonton (for those who live outside these two cities, Edmonton is Springfield and Calgary is Shelbyville).

Teal'c: This answer would seem to be the toughest. I think Calgary and Edmonton both have their advantages and disadvantages. I have had the pleasure of living in both cities and found each to be appealing in certain aspects. I have spent more time in Calgary than I have in Edmonton, so I would have to say Calgary would be better...just because I am more used to the surroundings. Edmonton rocks because of West Edmonton Mall....and the Oilers in the Gretzky era, even though I am a hard-core Flames fan.

(Yaar! Teal'c has more tact than a house full of British diplomats! Aarr! - Pirate Jay)

Does Canada Rawk?

In a recent, completely official, tempered by the objective hammer of science, poll conducted with all that hypotenuse double-blind taste test stuff, we discovered that in response to this question, Canada does rawk by a humble yet commanding people's elbowesque margin of 1%. Darn tootin'.

More importantly, we discovered that 2483 people would actually stop what they are doing and answer a question like this and possibly believe that Canadian ice-monkeys are vicious. Game on!

Since we are talking about Canada, I thought it would be appropriate to debunk a few myths. By debunk, I mean exactly what is sounds like - kick those silly ideas out of the top bunk at camp when all the other kids look on and laugh as the myth tumbles to the floor and sprains one of its flappy myth arms when it lands on the unforgiving linoleum. That's how we do it in downtown Canada baby.

Myth 1: Canadians are polite.

Debunking: Actually that's true. Crap.

Myth 2: It is winter all the time in Canada.

Debunking: Not true. Although, the Prime Minister (kind of like a President converted to the metric system) can blast evil-doers with his freeze-ray pistol.

Myth 3: We can't say 'house' or 'about' properly.

Debunking: Yes we can! I'm crying on the inside. Shut up.

Myth 4: Canada can't be a real country because the Queen of England is still on their money.

Summer comes early to Edmonton

Debunking: KHAAAAAAANNNN!

That is pretty much everything you need to know about Canada if you happen to be non-Canadian, like everybody who chooses to live where the weather won't slap you like you stole something 7 months out of year. I think we all just got a little closer together and this time not due to trying to prevent frostbite and having to resort to setting our keyboards on fire to keep warm.

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