Interview with Granado Espada CM Hrin

Game! Magazine’s Arjay “The Doctor” Dela Cruz recently had the privilege to interview Hrin Danielle Kuek, Granado Espada’s Community Manager. If you have been following the game’s development, then you have surely have seen her updates and her replies to community emails via the Granado Espada Singapore Website.

Hrin took a bit of time out of her busy schedule to talk to us about her role with the Granado Espada Community and what’s in store for players of Granado Espada:

[ images above from left: Hrin at work, Hrin with GE Product Manager Jonathon Sze. Images were submitted by Ms. Hrin. Copyright Anime Desho. ]

Game!:Please share with our regular readers (and your fans) some information about your gaming background:
Hrin: I’ve always been an avid gamer, with MMORPGs being the Achilles Heel of my life. After graduating from NUS (National University of Singapore) in B.Computing, I worked as an Operations Manager for garment accessories in Vietnam for about a year. I had been thinking of relocating back to Singapore to work and so when I was back in Singapore for a break, I received some job alerts in my email. When I saw that it was for a community manager position for an MMORPG, I knew I just had to go all out and do whatever it took to get that dream job. Thank God I did!

Game!: Please tell us a bit about the company behind Granado Espada in South East Asia, Infocomm Asia Holdings:
Hrin: IAH was officially launched in September 2006 with a vision to unite the entire South East Asia gaming market as one market, and with the news that it has secured two top licenses, Granado Espada and Hellgate: London. While GE will be the first game IAH will host, the management team of the company has much experience in hosting games in other countries, most notably World of Warcraft into China. IAH is based in Singapore, while our servers support players from around Southeast Asia, and Australia and New Zealand.

Game!: Since you cater to various parts of South East Asia, are you planning to have different local servers or the players will just play on a Multi-national Server?
Hrin: Our current servers are hosted in Singapore and are catered for the Southeast Asian region. However, we are constantly looking for more ways to improve latencies as we do realize that this is an important element to any gamer. Ultimately, it is our sincere desire that our customers have an optimized game play experience. Thus, we are currently exploring future potential options such as working with our regional partners to host the game servers locally.

Game!: What does “Granado Espada�? mean and why did they name it that way?
Hrin: “Granado Espada�? means distinguished sword. Why did they name it that way? Now where would the fun be if I told you the answer? =). What I can tell you though, is that it is based on the background story of the game. As you progress through the game and continually assist the various NPCs with their quests, they slowly ‘warm up’ to you and tell you the ‘story of their life’, so to speak. Each of their life stories is like a piece of jigsaw puzzle to the enigma that surrounds Granado Espada. By the time you have completed all the quests in the game, you would have pieced together the entire story of Granado Espada. On a more personal level, I am truly seduced by the storyline of Granado Espada. It encompasses all the very elements that make us so human. War, Conspiracy, Mystery, Passion, Betrayal, Friendship, Love… one cannot help but get drawn deeper into Granado Espada as you explore it further.

Check out Part 2 of our exclusive interview with Granado Espada Community Manager Hrin >>