Ikioi Interview

By: Maj R3V3R

R3V3R: Welcome and thanks for agreeing to do this interview IKIOI. I know you have been around a very long time. How long have you been IKIOI for?

IKIOI: I was born in 1978 in a small farming community where my parents found me in a crashed meteorite, they named me Clark. I’ve been IKIOI for several years now, before that I was Goliath, before that, I was Ye Ol’ Biznatch.

R3V3R: Ye Ol’ Biznatch have not heard that one before.

IKIOI: I changed from Ye Ol’ Biznatch to Goliath when CyberArmy created an actual user database, and not just a signed cookie authentication system

R3V3R: So, IKIOI: why so many nick changes?

IKIOI: I had to change from Ye Ol’ Biznatch because spaces weren’t allowed, nor apostrophes. I changed from Goliath to IKIOI: just for the heck of it. I had a custom car named Goliath, so I went with it. When I got out of cars, I no longer felt the name had any real meaning for me.

R3V3R: Sounds like fun, were you ridding those cars with boys? I understand you have a very, I guess you can say flavored history within CA.COM/CA.net. Care to share any of that?

IKIOI: My history with Ca.com/net would fill a book, as would anyone who’s been around the organization over 10 years. There’s more than I could tell in a brief period. I’ve been a nobody, a challenge winner, a staff member, a CinC contender, a brigade worker, a C/O, a top level C/O of 3 different brigades (which may even be a record), and I’m one of the few people to personally possess the actual domain.

R3V3R: Hope it was all peaches and cream!!! So, I know many know all what you did do for our organization, but there are n00bs that may not. What do you consider the most important thing that you did your legacy?

IKIOI: One of the few to posses the domain.

R3V3R: You were part of the bid to purchase it from Pengo?

IKIOI: That’s a tough one and an easy one at the same time. It’s easy because a legacy isn’t built on what you did, but what people remember. And for me, that’s definately zZine. But it’s also a tough one, because there were so many things that I personally felt were more important, and without, CA may not even exist today without dedicated people working on those other areas, such as the ISPAN organization. I was the one entrusted with CyberArmy.net for a long while when we moved. There was severe distrust of a CinC having the domain again. And long story short, I ended up with it. I was not only the logical choice for technical reasons, but also for legal reasons, as I was Vice President of ISPAN, which contractually held the domain for CyberArmy And of course, I was trusted by that current leadership. If you want to know more about that, I’d honestly direct you to the zZine archives and forum posts concerning the Pengo/CA.com/CA.net situation we dealt with years ago, and which I think is best left with old dirt on it, no reason to dig it up again. :)

R3V3R: I know the story well. I get it every time I want to talk to you oldtymers. So, now I am the leader of the predecessor of the zZine. We hope to make it as good as you folks had the zZine. Where did all that inspiration come from?

IKIOI: I can’t honestly take credit for the inspiration for zZine. I apologize to anyone if I get this wrong, but my memory puts the original idea within CA Staff for an official zine with Chawmp. Of course, being X/O of CAPR, I immediately found it a perfect thing to do, and we were just hitting the blogging fad back then online. My C/O, CHiCoSTo, and I mulled over ideas, and arrived at zZine, which became zZine.org. I often get credit for being the creator/founder of zZine, but it’s not quite as simple as that. As with most things in CyberArmy, no one individual can truly claim full ownership of an idea and its implementation. Now, the things that inspired us running it, that’s a different question entirely.

R3V3R: I thought you were a major influencing factor in its creation. I know you already stated that you were in many different brigades and possibly hold the record for most C/O-ships. Do you have a favourite? And what was the things that inspired you and your team in running it?

IKIOI: Yes, I was a major influencer. From start to finish it was my baby, but no man is an island, and I won’t steal credit where credit is due. Without tremendous writers, it would have been nothing. I have a favourite brigade I was in, and I never held a C/O spot in it ever.

R3V3R: This is something I can attest to first hand. But really? What brigade was that?

IKIOI: The brigade was CAPF, the first brigade that people really got excited about, and unfortunately the first one to go on the chopping block.

R3V3R: For the new guys can you give me a quick explanation about it?

IKIOI: CAPF stood for CyberArmy Pedophilia Fighters – They searched out and reported pedophile child porn sites. Unfortunately, federal law changed, making our activities illegal, so the brigade died very mercilessly. Even typing in a search term was punishable by jail time, and even for our international members, we just couldn’t risk it. I was in the PR department, with my life long C/O CHiCoSTo. We were transferred to CAPR, CyberArmy Public Relations. We were not happy, but as writers and producers, we simply changed what we wrote and produced about. At that time, I believe we were both Lt. Kernels.

R3V3R: Never giving up. So CAPF was kind of like the Marines of CA it seems. Did he rise to Marshal as well?

IKIOI: Well, hehe, I think Red Division was the Marines. We were more like a special ops team with a very focused mission. Originally, the brigades were all going to be specially focused, and over time, they became more generalized. Yes, he became Marshal before I did.

R3V3R: I have honestly never heard of him before I spoke with you.

IKIOI: Otherwise, him and I gained ranks at about the same pace via the Zebulun challenges up to the General level.

R3V3R: Do you think that specialized brigades would help CA grow again?

IKIOI: That’s how we met, we’d finish a level within days of each other early on, and we kinda started trying to race each other.

R3V3R: Ah zebulun a very missed project. Under our new leadership there are talks about creating a better challenge.

IKIOI: Definitely, but I don’t want to step on toes either. My opinion about what CyberArmy should or should not do is just that, an opinion. And like noses, everyone has one and they all smell. Well, CHiCoSTo was influential in his less public dealings. Like many staff, he may not have been very public, but he was very valuable. I think challenges had their time. I am not sure if we will ever see anything like Zebulun again.

R3V3R:Yes, I do understand. This is an opinion article anyways. Speaking of opinions what else do you think could be done to improve CA???

This is the first part of a two part interview. Read the second part of this interview with a Cyberarmy legend next issue. If you have any member that you would like to see interviewed please contact us, and we will do our best to make it happen.

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