Is there a story behind your user name?
Hahaa Actually yes, there is... Sort of. I grew up watching 'Yu-Gi-Oh!', and my favourite character was always Duke Devlin; I just loved his vanity and how he was different to the other characters. Through school my group of friends grew to start calling each other by names from the show, and I of course was called 'Duke'. So when I joined ET all that time ago, it seemed natural to choose that as my username. :)


Bawww memories :')

Do you play many collectible card games?
I don't anymore, but when I was younger (and didn't have evil university and stuff in the way) I used to play Pokémon card games, and the Yugi-Oh! Duel Monsters game. But aside from those I've never really tried playing others, like Magic The Gathering or anything. I've always been more into pretending, and roleplays. :)

Do you role play via table top role playing games, text based role plays or live-action role playing?
I tend to do role play more through text than anything else. I've never done live-action, and only tried table top role playing once or twice; it wasn't really for me. Text based role plays call to me more simply because of the words - I'm a writer. However, if you mean text-based like the ones found online, such as Torn, that's not really my scene anymore. But if you mean the text-based role plays like we have here on Elftown, then that's exactly what I love, and have loved for the past seven years since joining.
The roleplays on Elftown seem to have more character, and be a lot more personal than others I have found out there - yes, they don't tend to be played in the same way (I mean, how many of us really use the D20 feature on wikis?) but they have an autonomy and personality that no others seem to. I've gone through so many heartbreaking stories, and uplifting battles through my characters here, and I don't think you get that kind of feeling with other kinds of role play. It's easy to get really attached to your characters when you're building their lives up constantly. :)

Other than role-playing what all do you do on Elftown?
Aside from role-playing, well... It's been a while since I've been particularly active on Elftown - I mostly just hang around now to check messages, and keep conversation with some old friends. I've always been interested in the writing competitions available here, and I like to contribute to those whenever I can. I also like to peruse the art of fellow Elftowners, and follow their careers through the council and Herald and such. :) I wanted to contribute regularly to the Herald, and I may still try to do so, but when I really wanted to a while back college and university got in the way. :( If I become a regular on here again, and continue to spend as much time here as I have in past years, then I intend to participate in more contests, and official things!

What inspire you to write?
I find inspiration to write everywhere! Even when I've hit a writers block, I find that if I sit and listen to music as I try to write, I can usually shake something loose even if it isn't a masterpiece. :) As an artist as well as a writer, I also tend to find writing inspiration by looking at the fantastic works of other, more talented artists. Though this can sometimes give the opposite effect, I believe that persistence is key. ;) One sure-fire way I've found of forcing myself to write is to make my writing public, and give myself the obligation to post something every day; this is what I've been doing on Tumblr lately. :)

What do you like most about science fiction and fantasy?
I think that what I like most about science fiction, and especially fantasy, is that is has this outstanding level of implausibility, and yet it always seems to me to be so believable. I mean, I know that there aren't dragons roaming around, for example, or elves and orcs, but when I'm reading (or watching, or role-playing) fantasy that doesn't matter; they are as real to me in that moment as the earth I'm standing on. We all have the ability to get lost in a tale, and become a part of it, however temporarily, and that is just simply easier for me to do with science fiction and fantasy.

What are your hobbies and interests outside of Elftown?
Outside of Elftown I spend most of my time on the internet :P I waste a lot of time on Tumblr, and Facebook, but that's just when I'm lounging around at home! Aside from the internet, I love looking after our snakes (we have 12 :3), and spending times with friends relaxing. I play a lot of Xbox 360; games like Fable, C.O.D, Left 4 Dead and addictive little games like Hexic HD! When I'm not being lazy, I like to help [Beautiful Lie] with her photography shoots, and wander through my tiny town :3 Obviously I love to write as well, and drawing in biro is another great love of mine! :)

Can you tell me more about your pet snakes?
Of course :) Well, we mostly have Royal pythons all of which are 1-4 years old, but we also have a female Mojave (who is the meanest snake ever, in my opinion... But my mother disagrees... It's strange, all of our snakes are beautifully behaved, and then there is Missey :/). We also have a 10 foot Burmese python, called Charlie :) He's adorable, and probably the most docile snake I've ever had the fortune to meet :) We got him as a rescue through a friend of my parents, so it was really unexpected to find he was so sweet :)
The first one we got was for my brother, who named him Whiskey; he actually disappeared for two months, after my brother's girlfriend left the tank open! Then one day, he just slithered back onto my brother's bed, happy as can be! :)

What are photo shoots like with you and [Beautiful Lie]?
Well we mostly just do casual things; sometimes we'll take a walk through a derelict area, or a nature setting, while sometimes we go the opposite way and just shove some paint on each others faces! She's adamant to be a professional photographer in the future, but for now she's working on building up a portfolio - so I try to help her in any way that I can, whether it's simply holding a prop, trying to act natural, or letting her put a million different face-paints and make-up on my face as she needs!
In fact, she wanted to do a 'sinister clown' type shoot, so I obliged, and before I started university someone who would be in my house added me on Facebook, and subsequently was terrified to move in with me - she was afraid of clowns :P

Do you have any favorite wiki pages?
I don't have any as such anymore, but I used to adore Bob's Diner, just because of the atmosphere that it had at the time, and I used to love the original few run-throughs of the Werewolf game wiki on here. I think the reason that I preferred these two, was because they sort of draw people together - the latter because it allowed us all to join in a game that didn't involve a great talent (so people couldn't be excluded on artistic grounds). If I'm looking at Official wikis, then one of my favourites is the Featured Story. I also enjoyed Silvie's Reading Challenges from the past few years. :)

How did you end up on Elftown?
I actually ended up on Elftown because of a few friends in secondary school. We were all a kind of 'outcast' group, and as I mentioned before, we did little role-plays (notes and such). Now one of them, or a few of them (they used to call themselves The Awesome Foursome ;P) found Elftown, and it was instantly a hit among our group; it was the place to be. :) I guess for some of us, it still is <3

What is your message for all of Elftown?
My message would be: Remember to always be yourselves; and above all don't compromise on your dreams. Where would the world be if we all settled for the easiest option, rather than fighting for what we truly want?

Any comments or critiques on a specific Elftown matter?
The only thing I'd like to comment on is the lack of activity here of late; for such a wonderful website, and what was once a thriving community, it is sad. But I believe that if we all work together to come up with viable solutions to increase interest in our community, then we'll one day be back up there where we belong :3 <3