About Me
Hello! I'm Gaile Gray. I served ArenaNet as Community Relations Manager (2000 - 2008); Support Liaison (2008 - 2014), and Communications Manager (2014-2019). This is my page; thanks for stopping by.
- What's your history with ArenaNet? I started with ArenaNet in September 2000. Ultimately I was Employee #2, after Mike O'Brien, our president. I was thrilled when the ArenaNet Co-Founders -- Mike, Pat, and Jeff -- reached out to me to invite me to join the team. It was refreshingly different to know that ArenaNet looked at community relations as a critical part of their company, and not as something that could be added just before the release of a game. Of course, joining so early means I was answering fan letters and working on communications long before Guild Wars was even announced. As you can read in a 10-year Retrospective I authored, we've had a lot of wonderful experiences through the years. My roles involved interacting with players, liaising with the dev team, and communicating about the company and the game for all those 18+ years, and I enjoyed every day.
- What did you do? I started as Community Relations Manager. Then, between April 2008 and September 2014, I served as Support Liaison, a player advocate and "bridge" between the development team and our support teams in North America, Europe, and Asia. In September 2014, I was promoted to Forums Team Lead, managing the GW2 official forums and the moderation team. As I began writing and editing more of our public-facing messaging; monitoring player feedback and relaying it to the dev team; hosting Community Showcase Live, a livestream about fanart; coordinating our guild and fansite programs; organizing in-game events; and traveling to and engaging at fan events I ultimately was given the title of Communications Manager. On February 25, 2019, I opted to leave ArenaNet as part of a company-wide layoff. It was a difficult decision, but I am glad to know that someone else on the team was able to stay because I elected to leave.
- Messaging: You can leave me a message any time on my talk page or drop me an email through the GWW email system. You could also feel free to say "howdy" when I'm in the game, any time.
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In Tyria
Playing I have a lot of accounts in both Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. Some were for work, some were for playing, and, inveterate pack rat that I am, quite a few remain used simply for storage. I think I have pretty close to 50 characters, although most have not completed all the GW campaigns or made Level 80 in GW2. I admit that I am very impressed by those who have dozens of max-level characters -- that sort of passion and dedication is inspirational!
My Characters Here are some of my Guild Wars characters:
- Gaile Gray -- My main girl for visiting with players
- Wintersday Gaile -- Item bearer for my favourite holiday
- Gaile Gray Holiday -- For Halloween and other holiday items
- Critter Collector -- Babysitter for my Miniatures
- Critter Keeper Too -- Back-up caregiver for more minis
- Dyekiesha Joie -- Storage for dyes and keys
- Runetomei Escrollia - Storage for runes, tomes, and scrolls
- Windy Gaile -- Bow Collection Storage
- Gailes Collection -- Storage for special collectible items I like to keep
- Gaile Gray Cantha -- For visits requiring political neutrality :)
- Gaile Gray Elona -- Couldn't wait to make a Paragon
- Keeper O The Greens -- She who stores all Unique Bows
- Party Thyme -- Collector of all things for the Party Animal, and more
The Frog I am fortunate to have a very special friend in Guild Wars, a native Tyrian "older than the cobblestones of Lion's Arch." You'll find his portrait at the top of this page, each modeling his various looks: The Frog, The Halloween Frog, The Wintersday Frog. The Frog and I have been buddies for years, and we still are the closest of friends. In fact, my amphibian friend was a major part of the strangely-named Farewell to Gaile event. I say "strangely named" because, well, I did not leave the company, I merely moved to a different role. So the farewell party was a little unusual, but it was a very, very fun event and I know the players and I enjoyed it a bunch. Froggie is still my buddy and is still a very important part of my fun in Tyria.
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