When Dean Met Dianiss

This is a true story.

Once upon a time, I decided to try out a Star Wars MMO.  I'd never played an MMO before, so I didn't really know the ins and outs, the terminology, nor the expectations.  The game was relatively new (patch version 1.2--"Legacy"--had JUST been released) and the whole "Family Tree" thing had gotten me thinking about my characters (4 at the time) and the interrelationships between them.

Noob that I was, I took a very "Role-playing" approach to the game, despite having chosen a PVE server, "Zez-Kai El", because I didn't really know the difference.  Eventually, I came to chat with some people from the "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" guild and was graciously invited to join.  (AAMOF, it was Anew who originally invited me.  Thanks!)

Little by little, I watched the green chat text and learned who was who, and started engaging more and more.

And by "engaging", I mean role-playing the particular character I was using, which in the case of Dianiss means flirting (as well as, when using Galadina, complaining about Dianiss' behavior).

On one particular Op, I was playing around as usual with /flirt, /wink, /clubdance, and the like with the other male characters to see who would play along.  The best reactions that I got at the time were from Rafalskimi ("Rafalskimi hides in fear at the sight of you.") and Drav, who was flirting back and had even gone so far as to dress up his Kira Carsen in the same outfit as Dianiss.

At the end of the Op, I got a whisper from Zethas, who informed me that she was, in fact, Drav's real-life wife, and that she didn't appreciate the flirting.


It was at this point that I made a severe tactical error, one that set in motion a chain of events that would become a guild legend.

I responded, "Well, just because a girl is a Jedi, it doesn't mean she doesn't have needs."


I can only speak second-hand about what followed.  I am told that Zethas complained to Dean (aka Trelenia, the GuildMaster at the time) about me. (EDIT: she actually complained to Jomae, who later informed Dean.  Thanks for the clarification, Vin!)  Dean, confident single man that he was, cooked up an innovative solution to the problem: he was going to go "hit on" Dianiss himself.

Keep in mind that at this point, I had not revealed my real name, nor any personal information to anyone--nor had I spoken in Vent (aka Ventrilo, the most common/popular voice chat client of the time) because I hadn't yet figured out how to get a microphone working properly.  I had only recently been promoted to Corporal (the second-lowest rank) for registering on the guild website.

When the guild put out a call to do the +10 Fleet Datacron, I eagerly joined.  Jomae (as he did from time to time) was leading a group of people around Corellia collecting datacrons (and the crystal) there before coming back to the Fleet.  Meanwhile, I waited on the Gav Daragon with Dean.

So, finding myself with a little unexpected one-on-one time with the GuildMaster, we struck up a conversation.  I thanked him for the promotion, and he began asking me a little about myself.

Having never been hit on by a guy in real life, I suppose I was oblivious to the signs.  Instead, my thinking was more along the lines of "Well, if I'm going to trust someone with personal details, I suppose the GuildMaster should at least be reasonably trustworthy."


And so I told him my real name.  I also  told him about my web site (not THIS one, but another which had, among other things, my resume), where he found more information.


We chatted a little while longer, but he quickly lost interest in chatting with me.  At the time, I wondered why.

What I didn't know at the time was that he was on Vent lamenting to everyone "There are no women on the Internet."  At least he could tell Zethas that she had nothing to worry about.

But the truth was out.  Behind the female character Dianiss, the player behind the mouse and keyboard is a dude with an obviously-male name.

. . . who is . . . it would seem . . . a fantastic actor.
(...or at least a very convincing woman.)

True story.

P.S.  I DID get the +10 Fleet datacron that night.