Behind the Mask: Chatting with Champions Online's wiki mistress

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was planning on interviewing some key members of the Champions Online community. There were a few questions raised to me on just what constituted a "key member." This week, I got to chat with CO's resident wiki mistress, Lohr. She's the owner and administrator of the biggest Champions fansite on the internet, Champions Online Wiki.

CO-Wiki is the largest repository of information on the game available anywhere on the internet, and it includes everything from information on missions to powers and levels. Early in its youth, CO-Wiki was not the biggest, being dwarfed by a Wikia site dedicated to Champions Online (which is still being updated). However, CO-Wiki drew contributors and quickly became a striking success. Today, players can access CO-Wiki directly from the Champions Online website.

Lohr and I chatted about how she got to where she is now and what she thinks about the path the game is taking. Hit the jump to read the full scoop!

Massively: So, what got you interested in CO?

Lohr: I played City of Heroes for maybe four years and had a stable of 50s. I just sorta got bored. I registered for the forums as soon as I heard about CO.

It seems like you're pretty familiar with the lore -- were you a PnP player? Or did you just read the books after playing CO?

I've never played a PnP game, so all of the knowledge came after, mostly via updating the wiki.

So why did you start doing CO-Wiki? As I recall, there was a wikia for the game back in beta; why didn't you update there?

I love collecting data. I was pretty involved with the Protector server when I played CoH, and I knew that when I was in the closed beta for CO that I wanted to be involved with something from the beginning. I had looked at the wikia and decided to a go a route that didn't have ads, and I thought it would have been easier to start from scratch.

How many contributors do you have at CO-Wiki? Is it mostly a small group, or is it done by a lot of people?

It's always been a handful of players/contributors, though it's rotated a bit over the last year and a half. Those who helped initially no longer play. I'd say since the first Blood Moon event it's been the same four or five of us contributing. But there are tons of other people who make updates, corrections, and that sort of stuff. Those contributors help with the fine-tuning.

So what are your feelings about the current state of the game, the F2P launch, and the recent updates?

Well, with the launch of F2P, I was very excited. We made sure that we had the wiki up and ready to go when it went live. It's still very exciting. I'm hopeful that the guys at Cryptic are going to deliver on all the things they've mentioned in the state of the game.

What do you think the biggest things that need to be addressed right now are?

I'd say content. People need more leveling paths so that rolling an alt doesn't mean they have to do the same set of missions every single time. And we need more endgame content with more challenges and more upgrades/devices/costume pieces, etc. I think in the last state of the game, Cryptic mentioned Comic Series, which sounds like it would be very cool.

What do you think about the integrated voice chat coming to CO?

I'd be interesting, that's for sure. I don't know if I'd actually use it, though.

Well, it's good to be able to communicate without typing, especially in lairs. CO's kind of a busy game, so stopping what you're doing to chat is often dangerous.

True. I'd be more likely to chat with people I know vs. a pug.

So what kind of traffic does CO-Wiki get?

A lot. The wiki was just moved to a larger server as it outgrew where it was hosted. Now the wiki will be able to grow with CO.

How much time do you put into the wiki in an average week?

That's a good question; I'm not sure I ever counted. I do know that it's a lot less than it used to be. But it ebbs and flows with what's going on in my non-comic book world. I'd say maybe 5-10 hours a week, more if there's a big update. I know I have a tendency to do a lot of play testing when adventure packs come out. It's pretty much a part-time job. Plus it's only less now because so much of the information is already up there. Before it was more wiki, less playing. Now it's more playing and less wiki.

There's still a lot of missing stuff, though, especially when it comes to the crafting/gear sections.

Crafting. I have excel sheets upon excel sheets of upgrades and things that need to go up. Part of me is extremely hesitant about completing it all because, well, let's be honest, crafting needs work. The little devil on my shoulder keeps chirping in my ear telling me that as soon as I put it all up, it's gonna change.

Haha, I think we have a ways yet. When I talked to Ame, he did say they're looking at it, but he couldn't tell me anything because they were still pitching ideas, basically.

As for all the other stuff, upgrades/devices/items. I think the most complete stuff is costume items. That's always important, especially when the costume drops were added via VB. After that are all the unique devices and drops. I do have to give major props to Dardove, since he tracks those things down like a bloodhound. But there are things that definitely need more information on. I believe Dardove just recently posted a call to arms for the wiki, asking for people to help with adding stuff that isn't on the wiki. Crafting and items are at the top of the list.

Is there anything else you'd like to say? Any shoutouts or thanks you'd like to make?

Sure. I'd like to thank the wiki guys: Dardove, Mr. Funsocks, and Vladcul. They've been outstanding as editors. And probably all of the CO community -- they've been so supportive of the wiki, and that goes a long way. Oh, and Cervando, for my forum title.

Aren't you the only person other than HeroSteve with a custom title?

Haha, yeah. I even made a wiki mistress character to help with F2P.

Thanks for the interview, Lohr!

When he's not touring the streets of Millennium City or rolling mooks in Vibora Bay, Patrick Mackey goes Behind the Mask to bring you the nitty-gritty of the superhero world every Thursday. Whether it's expert analysis of Champions Online's game mechanics or his chronicled hatred of roleplaying vampires, Patrick holds nothing back.