Community Spotlight - Carrie

It's that time again – yes, Community Spotlight time – and for this latest deep dive into the life of another of our creative community members, we catch up with the multi-talented Carrie, otherwise known as Chocmoojoo.

Carrie is a familiar face on our social channels and has spent the past several months channelling her enjoyment of gaming into staying close to faraway family, as well as teaching the next generation of gamers all about streaming. Not to mention being quite creative to boot. Over to you, Carrie!

[Q]: Can you tell us a little about what got you into gaming?

[A]: I got into gaming as an early teen, my dad picked up our first family computer and we spent hours every day playing Space Quest, the Myst and Riven series together. Myst is the game that got me passionate about gaming and world-building in general. You know there are some games that you see and play, and you can just feel the passion the creators had for the title. Myst was the first game that made me feel that while playing.

[Q]: Were you a Rare fan before Sea of Thieves? Do you have any favourite Rare games?

[A]: I had never played a Rare game before Sea of Thieves. I missed a lot of titles because I jumped from ColecoVision to PC and sort of missed most console play until my son was ready to jump into gaming. I have recently picked up Rare Replay and am loving the ability to go back and play all the games I missed out on. Currently playing my way through Banjo-Kazooie and loving it. I kinda get a kick out of seeing the Rare humor in all the old games, it's neat to see how it has evolved over time.

[Q]: What other games are you currently playing? Any favourites?

[A]: I always have a Skyrim game going (currently hiking through the map), and I also play Fallout 76. I tend to gravitate towards open-world games or cool indie titles. I enjoyed Seasons After Fall and What Remains of Edith Finch (watched a friend stream that title not long ago). Work has me playing a little bit of a lot of different titles, but Sea of Thieves was my main for the last year and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

[Q]: What was it that first drew you towards Sea of Thieves and its community?

[A]: I saw the game promoted and instantly thought my dad would love it and that it might be a great title for us to get back into gaming together. So, I picked it up for the house and my son was playing on day one (I on the other hand had to discover the wonders of motion sickness meds before I could play regularly).

I entered the community by happenstance. I got a recommended Twitter post about Loot and Lore, and eventually managed to check out FrostE's stream. I became an active member of his community and sort of branched out from there. I love all the creativity that exists within the community, it's constantly driving me to be more creative myself.

[Q]: So you play Sea of Thieves with your family, which is awesome! How has the game brought you together?

[A]: My parents live over 300 miles away and I don't get to see them more than a few times a year. Playing Sea of Thieves gives me the opportunity to 'hang out' with my dad a few times a week. My mom is often around watching and popping into the conversation as well, so it has really helped us all stay close even though we live so far apart. The best part is getting my son and my dad in-game together.

[Q]: You stream too! What first got you into streaming, and how is it going for you?

[A]: I teach gaming on the weekend and part of what I cover is content creation. I saw right away that it was going to be hard for me to really be helpful in teaching and supporting young streamers without having personal experience, so I hopped into it. So far, I really enjoy it. Most of my streams are just me out sailing with my dad AKA Papa Choc, so it's a very chill family stream. I have met some great people through streaming and love the little community that is developing.

[Q]: We noticed that you build ship model kits, adding a custom Sea of Thieves flavour. Can you tell us more about that?

[A]: I have always been keen on making things but never built a model ship. My parents got me the first kit for Christmas, and I decided it needed the SoT treatment. The first ship represented me as a player featuring the livery I most often use. It was a blast to make so I picked up another model and this time I'm going with a "what could be" SoT theme, designing it to be representative of a possible Arctic region. I enjoy the attention to detail and customization that comes with ship-building. Now my Tuesday mornings pretty regularly consist of watching the Dev stream and ship-building.

Q]: Do you have any standout Sea of Thieves moments?

[A]: For me it's those times when I get to give back, playing with my dad or son and running across a new player, abandoning our voyage to spend our time helping them learn the game. Or when you see how you're impacting others, watching people who haven't created art in a long time getting back into it because of the work that you or the other members of the community are doing. Those moments mean the world to me and drive home the power that this game has in connecting people in so many different yet meaningful ways.

[Q]: What are you looking forward to most in Sea of Thieves’ future?

[A]: I'm really excited to see where Rare take us over the next few years. To see what gets added in, and how the community grows and changes as a result. I look forward to meeting new people as each update brings in new players. It's a fascinating game to watch progress, so for me just being around to get to see that is really cool.

[Q]: What is your greatest achievement in a game, Sea of Thieves or otherwise?

[A]: Hmmm, that's a hard one. For me gaming is so very much about the social connection. I play with the people that I love, my family, my friends, not so much for achievement, that's never been a real driving force in my gameplay. So maybe it's the connections I have made or maintain via gaming.

[Q]: If you had to choose a pirate name, what would it be?

[A]: Wait, other than Chocmoojoo?! Hmmm, possibly Bilge-rat Boatman (my maiden name).

[Q]: What kind of hobbies do you enjoy outside of gaming?

[A]: I'm a teacher and creator at heart, so work is a big hobby as is art in any form. I am also an avid book hound (reading recommendations are always welcome), and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen as I love to cook. 

[Q]: Share a fun fact about yourself. Anything is fair game!

[A]: Well, I was once a competitive saber fencer, and my first job wasn't teaching but Avian Rehabilitation, and I don't float (thankfully virtual pirate me does).

Another great Community Spotlight has come to an end. A big thank you to Carrie for taking the time to chat to us and for your support! It's great to see how your passion for Sea of Thieves and videogames in general has manifested, and we're looking forward to seeing what else you get up to as the game continues to grow.

We'll be back in a couple of weeks with another Community Spotlight, but until then you can check out dozens of previous Spotlights and keep up to date with everything else going on in Sea of Thieves by keeping an eye on one of our many social channels below!