Liam Rafferty

Liam Rafferty
CMDR Name: CMDR Mobius
Ambassador duties: BAFTA 2014

- What’s your earliest memory/experience with the Elite franchise?

My first experience with Elite was back in 1984 on a friends BBC computer, this was an era when the big games to own were Daley Thompson's Decathlon, jet set willy and Skool Daze, Ghostbusters and terminator were in the cinema and it was a great time to be a young teenager still in secondary school.

 these were also dark times for gamers as we were shunned by others for being geeky or nerdy and computer games were seen as Childs play things , during these dark ages the whispers began circulating about a 3D space combat game called Elite, this was the dawn of something new, something that hadn’t been done before and something that would change the face of gaming for years to come and I was part of it.

 Soon after seeing the Beeb version of elite, it came out for the Spectrum, I had to have it.

 I lost many hours playing elite but I never managed to make it to the fabled Elite status but that was never my goal.

When Elite 2 Frontier arrived in 1993 Gaming was in its golden age, this was a time when new ideas and boundary’s were being created, with classics like Syndicate, Doom and Xcom.

 Jurassic park, falling down and Mrs Doubtfire were playing in the cinemas and the home computer and its keyboard and mouse was losing ground to the consoles. Gaming was becoming trendy and most households would have either a Nintendo or a mega drive.

Elite2 Frontier as far as im concerned was the home computers swan song, I was 23 and lost many hours playing it on my Atari ST, and looking back I should have been out socializing and drinking during that time.

It would be some years before the internet was to arrive and again change how we play games, now 22 years later I am recapturing my youth again, this time around there is no need to sacrifice any social activities or drinking as I can now do both while playing elite and speaking to people from all over the world at the same time.

- What ship set-up do you go with when playing Elite Dangerous?

I like to go for an all-purpose ship, so far the ASP appears to be the best choice for exploration, Combat and trade, the imperial clipper would be my second choice the same reasons.

– What in-game faction, if any, do you align with?

My choice faction is the Empire, this wasn’t my first choice but as my named planet and station is in AZRAEL and is only 25ly away from the empire home world, I’ve decided to make it my home.

– What’s your preferred method of play in Elite Dangerous?

I keep it simple as managing the largest private group of pilots with over 4000 members, Role playing is the last thing on my mind, and I personally think that role playing should be kept behind closed doors.

– Do you have a favourite moment from Elite Dangerous so far? If so, tell us about it.

I have many moments; the first was seeing my named station for the first time in all its imperial majesty. Other moments would be meeting many forum members at the elite dangerous premier.

– Why did you apply to become an ambassador?

I had invested a lot of time and money into the games development, I was among the first 200 people to back the kickstarter project and I wanted the game to succeed, I felt the need to ensure that the elite hype train was something that everyone should be part of, over the first year of development I created many personalised forum signatures, co created community competitions.

 If I wasn’t playing the Alpha I was creating Desktop wallpapers, Posters, Mug Designs and fan book covers as well as Micky taking of the development team. I have built up a reputation on the forums as the go to person for various art projects. When the call came for the opportunity to become an Elite Ambassador, I kept quiet and sent an email to FD hoping that I would have a chance to meet the team and tell the world about the new Elite game, obviously they liked what I had to say and offered me the Position to be the First Ambassador for Elite Dangerous Bafta Event.

- What were your ambassador experience/s like? Any highlights?

A very long and hectic day. This was the first time that anyone had seen the Beta build with station docking so everyone was eager to see that, it was also my chance to put faces to names of those who worked for Frontier and to also meet David Braben.

 

Elite had prime spot for the baftas as it was the first thing that the public would see upon entering the game event. This one event made me feel like a kid again and I would do it again.