Two new Hunters have joined us this month past. One hails from the Netherlands, another from Ireland. One is known as “Maquannas," the other as “Ic3man2k." But we shall let them speak for themselves—our community squires, sentries, and scribes—and tell you of the journey they have taken to find us.
This is Janneke (Maquannas).
From a young age I knew I wanted to work in games; I loved games. I spent all day working on an amazing theme park in Roller Coaster Tycoon on my PC, and at night I was hiding under my blankets, training to be a Pokémon master with my worm light on my Game Boy. I still have a friendship book where I wrote that I wanted work in video games—I still have it—and it is unbelievably awesome to actually be doing what I wanted to do all those years ago.
Just a little bit about the path I traveled to get to where
I am today, a Community Manager at Crytek.
I have two diplomas in two completely different studies: Hotel Management and
Art & Technology. I was always creative, and I still use my creative skills
in my work as a CM. Four years ago I
started streaming on Twitch.tv, and after half a year I became a Twitch
partner. I started to make a little money from Twitch and got to travel to all
these amazing game conventions around the world, like gamescom, PAX, BlizzCon,
and TwitchCon. As a broadcaster I got to meet a lot of people and eventually was
asked to work for an indie developer called Data Realms. At PAX East in 2016, I had the chance to meet
with another indie developer—Proletariat—and this resulted in a job there as a
Broadcaster Development Manager as part of my graduation internship for six
months. When I returned to Europe, I immediately started looking for another
job in the industry and was excited when I saw that Crytek was hiring. So in
August of this year I started as the new Community Manager, and I am very
excited for the future of our games and also my personal growth in this
company.
All-time favorite
games:
Pokémon, To the Moon, World of Warcraft, Mario Kart 64, and Persona 5.
Current games:
Mario + Rabbids, Hellblade, Hearthstone, and PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS.
TV and movies:
I like watching a wide variety of movies, and I'm a huge Game of Thrones fan, but I mainly watch a lot of anime—both series and movies.
Biggest fear:
I always think that my greatest fear is death, but it's more the fear of missing out. I want to still see and do so many things on this planet—there are so many amazing sights, people, and places—I think my biggest fear is to miss out on seeing the world.
And this is Rick (Ic3man2k).
So, where to begin? Well I have been working in the industry for just over five years (with some breaks in between) and have had the opportunity to work on some of my all-time favorite franchises during this time. I got my break in the industry after applying to work on Star Wars the Old Republic as a Customer Support agent for BioWare back in 2011. This was a dream come true for me, not only to work for BioWare, but also to be a part of an amazing MMO (it helped that I am an avid Star wars fan). From here I progressed in the company, helping out the QA team during the early alpha/beta stages of the game right through to launch, when I worked primarily on their forums providing community support. This was a great experience, as I found working directly with the community to be very satisfying.
Over the last few years I worked for EA on the Battlefield franchise (BF 3, 4, and Hardline) as Senior Admin on Battlelog and as a Community Manager for Answers HQ. First person shooters have always been one of my favorite genres, so having the chance to work on these games was an amazing experience. During this time, I also had the chance to support a number of other games, such as Titanfall, Battlefront, Need for Speed, and many more.
When the Community Manager position at Crytek came up, I jumped at the chance. I had provided some support for Crysis 3 and really wanted the chance to work for one of my favorite studios. When I found out about Hunt: Showdown, I was really excited by what I saw (who doesn't love horror crossed with FPS?) that made the prospect of working for Crytek even more enticing, and that is how I ended up where I am today.
I am really looking forward to working closely with the Hunt: Showdown community, and can't wait to see the amazing things we will all be able to accomplish with this game in the future.
Now for the quick facts…
All-time favorite
games:
The Pokémon series, Streets of Rage, Goldeneye, and Conker's Bad Fur Day (by far the funniest game ever made in my opinion).
Current games:
Pokémon Go, Overwatch, Rocket League, and World of Warcraft
TV and movies:
I love horror, so pretty much anything with zombies, vampires, werewolves, and other general horror/fantasy stuff like that (The Walking Dead, Interview with a Vampire, the Crow). I am really into comedies, especially the likes of the Jay and Silent Bob movies. My favorite shows right now though have to be Rick and Morty and Archer. Star wars is probably my favorite series of movies ever, and I am completely obsessed (even have the tattoos to prove it).
Biggest fear:
My main and worst fear is spiders. As far as I am concerned, nothing on this planet should have that many legs and be able to disappear in the blink of an eye. Cows (don't laugh there is a valid story behind this completely irrational fear) and clowns are a close second and third.
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To greet Janneke and Rick personally, visit the Hunt Facebook and Twitter pages.