Meet the Community Manager: Pat Nguyen

I’ve commandeered this blog! Today’s introduction is for none other than the new Lead Community Manager at Ocean Drive Studio—what my role is at the company, my history with games, and where I’ve come from.

Quick Intro

Name: Pat Nguyen
Your Role: Lead Community Manager @Ocean Drive Studio. My role is to keep players up to date with all things Ocean Drive Games! You’ll see me regularly writing blog posts, managing our social presence, and occasionally livestreaming!

What else?: I spent several years livestreaming as a profession long before I entered the video game industry. Back in 2014 I became a Twitch Partner and my success with streaming came mainly in the form of playing new MMORPGs as they came out. I’m a huge MMORPG enthusiast, and I’m hoping that one day I’ll have the opportunity to work on my own.

Coincidentally, my foray into the gaming industry came as a chance opportunity back in early 2019 when I was regularly streaming Nexon’s new MMO MapleStory 2.

I used to really enjoy playing tabletop games but since moving away from my hometown I don’t have anyone to play them with anymore. I really enjoy shows in general including original series (I recently watched through Alice in Borderland which was great) but even more so I enjoy seasonal anime. I also love learning about new tech and if I have to choose between coffee and tea I elect tea!

Why did you join Ocean Drive Studio?
Probably the concept of ‘self-exploration’. I came from a complacent mindset in an environment I was comfortable in prior to joining Ocean Drive Studio. Generally speaking, there is a lot of risk involved when joining any new start-up. Will it be able to deliver a product? Will the leadership be sufficient? How about them company benefits?

Despite these concerns, I put my faith in the leadership of someone who I’d worked with before in the past and knew was more than capable. I saw the games that they were working on which clicked with me and their philosophy on creating experiences that players would genuinely enjoy which I liked. Keep in mind, prior to this I worked exclusively on MMORPGs so this is basically a completely different sector of the game industry than what I’m used to.

When the offer was extended to me, I found it difficult to say no. It was an opportunity to spread my wings and learn new things. Also the benefits are pretty sweet too!

Games as a Gamer

Favorite Games:
My favorite genres are JRPG and MMORPG. I could easily say that the original Final Fantasy Tactics was my favorite game growing up. I spent an innumerable amount of hours and playthroughs trying different things each run, as well as internally fighting with myself on whether or not I’d recruit the overpowered Cidolfus to the roster every time.

While I played dozens of games other than that, FFT would inspire my search for a multiplayer game which employed similar systems. This led me to the French MMORPG Dofus and later on after spending many years on that game—Wakfu.

Both of these games used a grid-layout turn-based style with a bunch of classes, vertical progression, unique art, and witty humor. While a little archaic nowadays, they’re both still regularly updated many years later and I find myself occasionally returning to them for fun, especially their seasonal servers.

Other MMORPGs I played include FlyFF, Eden Eternal, Dungeon Fighter Online, Tree of Savior, Revelation Online, Final Fantasy XIV, MapleStory 2, Elyon, and Lost Ark. I always try to stay informed about new MMORPGs coming out and do my best to at least try them out and find what they do well.

Previous Communities:
Prior to Ocean Drive Studio, I worked at Nexon on the title MapleStory 2. After that game, I briefly worked on Mabinogi, followed by the original MapleStory. I went by the handle CM Kyrios there! Here’s to hoping passerbyers who might’ve played those games might recognize me here!

Favorite Game Studios:
First thing that comes to mind is Team Cherry and their wonderful work on Hollow Knight! The game was stellar and it’s very inspiring to watch how a small team crafted such a meaningful game that fans love to play and talk about. Really looking forward to Silksong!

What have you been playing lately?:
I’ve mostly been sticking to my daily grind in the Korean MMORPG Lost Ark. I tried out some other games recently too, including the Korean launch of Elyon and the Japanese beta of Blue Protocol. I haven’t been able to play many single-player games as of late, though the last one I enjoyed was Yakuza: Like a Dragon. I avoid Genshin Impact like the plague because I’m scared my wallet will completely empty out if I start playing it.

I also don’t play MOBAs or Battle Royales or competitive shooters in general. I’m absolutely terrible at both of them. Then again, I natively set my mouse to 2,800 DPI which could be a cause of that.

Sometimes at late nights when I have nothing else better to do I find myself wandering into friends’ Discord channels to see if I can join in on some party games such as Killing Floor, For the King, GTFO, Phasmophobia, and more!

To me, this step in my journey is an important one. Working with talented individuals to bring awesome games to life from the ground up is an experience that I’m wholly looking forward to. I can’t wait to get to share the next steps with y’all!

You can find me on Twitch & Twitter.