User:Winfield

This is Winfield's "user page". Also see Winfield's in-game character page.

Winfield (real life name Jerry Thompson) is a player community leader in Ultima Online (UO) (Chesapeake Shard) and in Shroud of the Avatar (SotA). He is also a webmaster, an electrical engineer, and a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. His primary community effort is building and operating the role-playing, immersive statehood and town of PaxLair in both games. He is also an in-game news reporter, event creator, and diplomat among the different player communities.

Ultima and Ultima Online
Winfield first became interested in the Ultima series of games in 1985 with Ultima IV. He leads the PaxLair Statehood in Ultima Online (since 1998) and the PaxLair player town in Shroud of the Avatar (since 2014). In 1985, he purchased and played Ultima IV for his Apple II+ computer and became interested in the Ultima type games. Ultima IV, Ultima VII The Black Gate, and Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle are his favorites. In 1997, he purchased and subscribed to Ultima Online (UO), starting in a guild called "The Band" on the Atlantic Shard. When the Chesapeake Shard launched on October 16, 1997, The Band moved to Chesapeake. On January 19, 1998, the player town of PaxLair was formed and Winfield became its first Mayor. He continued to lead PaxLair as Mayor, Caretaker, or Governor to the present day (2015) with PaxLair being continuously operated since 1998. He is currently the Governor of PaxLair in UO.

Shroud of the Avatar
In 2013, Winfield pledged at the Lord of the Manor (Founder) level in Shroud of the Avatar (SotA) during the Kickstarter Campaign. He was recognized and appointed as a Knight of the Order of the New Britannia Empire (ONBE) by Lord British for his contributions to player towns and communities.

Winfield currently leads the development of the PaxLair player town. Essential elements of PaxLair are being designed and tested in the pre-Alpha releases. Such elements are those that will make PaxLair a completely immersive and role-played town with unique story and history. He is also an in-game roving news reporter for the New Britannia Press (NBP). The NBP is being developed to report and document events and news for current reader interest and historians. Winfield also co-leads the Scholars of Novia, a player group devoted to promoting player-written stories and lore for SotA.


 * I enjoy being in the pre-Episode One development period (2013-2016) as one of the backers. My focus is game and community development.  I am learning new skills all the time and enjoy interacting with people.  When Episode One is published, I plan to "play the game" as immersively as possible.  So if I (Winfield the avatar) don't seem to "know" you in Episode One, that means we have not "met" yet.

Dragonlance
In 1985, Winfield became immersed in the Dragonlance world created by Tracy and Laura Hickman. He read the novels written by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. Starting with the Dragonlance Chronicles, he followed the tales of the companions through Krynn for decades.

He met Tracy Hickman for the first time at SXSW 2015 at the Linear Versus Nonlinear Narrative in Video Games panel discussion in Austin, Texas on March 14, 2015.

Sojourner Tales
In 2013, Winfield pledged through Kickstarter to become involved in the Sojourner Tales board game created by Tracy and Laura Hickman. The game is a non-linear story telling experience using eBook technology, a game board, and good friends around a table.

Sojourner Tales has templates for players to create their own eBook story modules that can be played in Sojourner Tales.

Member of Groups

 * Hearth of Britannia (HoB) - Legend of the Hearth (Wiki Page | Site)
 * New Britannia Press (NBP) - Reporter (Wiki Page | Site)
 * Order of New Britannia (ONBE) - Knight ( Wiki Page)
 * PaxLair Player Town - Governor (Wiki Page | Site)
 * Scholars of Novia - Grand Master of Scholars (Wiki Page | Forum)
 * SotA Role Players - Member (Wiki Page | Site)
 * SoTA Writing Round Table - Member (Wiki Page | Site)

Games of Interest and Kickstarter Backer
Information as of 21 Feb 2015:


 * Grey Goo - on Steam - in production (site)
 * iRacing MMO Racing online
 * The Long Dark - on Steam - Alpha (site)
 * Microsoft Flight Simulator
 * Shroud of the Avatar - Kickstarter backer - pre-Alpha (site)
 * Sojourner Tales Board Game - Kickstarter backer - produced and delivered (site)
 * Ultima Online - in Production (site)
 * Underworld Ascendant - Kickstarter backer - not in development yet (site)

Quotes

 * "[For our fully functional PaxLair player town,] I de-emphasize house ownership and over-emphasize teamwork. There will be some people who have house lots as owners to allow PaxLair to use, then there will be team leaders of ideas and establishments who don't have a house lot of their own. The idea for city management is to connect the two groups." - Governor Winfield statement in PaxLair Working Hours session on September 13, 2014
 * "I am very saddened to hear that Leonard Nimoy ("Mr. Spock" in Star Trek) died today. I was inspired by him and his acting role as Mr. Spock to pursue science and engineering. I became an Engineer in 1983 and I love engineering work to this day. Our footsteps are seen by others; we may inspire others too (I hope we all do). Rest in Peace Leonard. May we All Live Long and Prosper." - Winfield in IRC #SotA channel on Friday, February 27, 2015.

Positions held

 * Governor of PaxLair in New Britannia (March 9, 2013 to present)
 * Grand Master of Council of Scribes (Lore Council) (August 1 to September 5, 2014)
 * Grand Master of Scholars of Novia (September 5, 2014 to present)

Accolades

 * July 5, 2014 - Received the Order of the New Britannia Empire medal, awarded by Starr Long at RTX2014 and confirmed by Lord British during a Hangout.
 * July 26, 2014 - Governor Winfield knighted by Lord British in R8 for previously receiving the Order of New Britannia Empire medal (first knighting by Lord British's sword)

In the news

 * July 11, 2014 - "Update of the Avatar #81 – 2014.07.11: SotA a RTX Hit, PvP, Sword of Ba’Heer, ONBE Medals, We Need Your NPCs, and More!" by the Shroud of the Avatar Forsaken Virtues
 * Several team members and their significant others hosted the [RTX 2014] booth, including Starr Long, Rick & Brekken Holtrop, Finn Staber, Brandon Cotton, Joseph Toschlog, Ken Pfile, Geoff and Becca Mellon, Chris Spears, and even one of our Lord of the Manor backers, “Winfield”! They all said the response was 100% positive from everyone they demonstrated the game to!
 * July 17, 2014 - "Winfield, the PaxLair super master interview", by The Chronicles of the Vortex Llama.
 * September 4, 2014 - "Hangout of the Avatar ~ Nature to Nutrition", by Portalarium - mentioned by Lord British for becoming a Knight of the Realm of New Britannia (ONBE).
 * October 13, 2014 - "Interview One - Winfield, Governor of PaxLair", by Fireangel of SotA Role Players.
 * April 2, 2015 - "Interview With Winfield Of PaxLair On The First POT Release." on YouTube, by Lazarus of NBNN News Shroud of the Avatar.

SotA forum threads and posts of interest

 * PaxLair Player Town
 * Player-Ran Towns Welcome Quest Idea
 * PaxLair Player Town Fiction - interactive

Social media

 * Google+ - Winfield PaxLair
 * Facebook - Winfield PaxLair
 * Twitter - Winfield PaxLair

Contact Information

 * SotA Profile Page: Winfield
 * Steam Profile Page: Winfield

Wiki subpages
These are my personal test pages and templates to make my wiki writing faster.


 * User:Winfield/Test
 * User:Winfield/Building - template for PaxLair Building sub-pages
 * User:Winfield/Production Kit

Wiki Help Pages and Tools
These are pages that help me write Wiki Pages.
 * Generate Tables from Excel at http://excel2wiki.net/