From Hellgatewiki.com

Bill Roper is the CEO of Flagship Studios, and one of the nine cofounders. Bill's duties include every sort of game design and development, as well as media relations, constant travel and promotional duties, and basically serving as the ever-smiling public face of Flagship Studios. He is a demi-god in Korea thanks to his association with Starcraft, and his PR-fu is legendary, thanks to his mastery of sidestepping overly-probing questions without obviously dodging them, his ability to answer a new question with old info and make it sound fascinating, and his generosity in giving substantial, interesting replies to the most inane queries.

Contents 1 Official Biography 2 Personal 3 Features 4 The Poxy Boggards 5 Interviews 6 Photos

Official Biography

Bill Roper has been a well-known figure in the worldwide gaming industry for over a decade. He served as a Vice President of Blizzard North and was a Director of Blizzard Entertainment]. Bill oversaw and managed all external projects, coordinated internal development teams, and headed Blizzard's project oversight teams where he was instrumental in shaping the direction of the games.

From 1994 to 2003, Bill worked directly on numerous million-selling games in varied producer positions and played a key role in the success of the Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo series. Roper also served as a producer on several Macintosh versions of these games and worked as a member of the project oversight teams for the console versions of Warcraft II: The Dark Saga, Diablo, and StarCraft 64.

Bill applied his education in Commercial Music with vocal emphasis from California State University, Long Beach, by both acting in and assisting with the direction of the voice recording for the Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft franchises. He also personally representing the games to the global gaming community.

He left the company in 2003 to co-found Flagship Studios where they are creating Hellgate: London. When Bill isn’t busy gaming or working on the next Flagship title, he attends too many sporting events, performs with a strangely compelling renaissance singing group and spends time relaxing with his wife, one cat, three dogs and four cars.

Personal

Bill talked about his cars in a 2004 interview.

My everyday commute car is a 1998 Toyota RAV 4. We also own a couple of classic cars that have been in my wife’s family for years. I have never been a real car fanatic, although I do appreciate the craftsmanship and sheer fun of driving a high-performance vehicle. If I could, I would love to own a London taxi cab because they are fun, functional, and certainly unique in California.

Features

Bill spoke to the RPG Vault in April 2006 about his plans for the upcoming E3 convention.

I'll be showing off Hellgate: London to everyone from press to gamers to buyers to, well, just about anyone who wants to see it when I'm around!

I seldom get time away from the booth, so when I can steal a few minutes, it's a mad dash to see whatever everyone is talking about. I'm obviously looking forward to hanging out with my industry friends at the great parties in the evenings, and to staying up far too late at least one night.

In addition to being a game guru and spokesperson, Bill is a real person with a history and private life. He doesn't often reveal them, but when he does it's always a good read. Here's one of Bill's best interviews, courtesy of Chris Marks and Diabloii.net. In this one Bill really opens up about his early days at Blizzard and the various games he worked on during his nine years with the company. A quote:

When I started at Blizzard, it was the total and complete dream job. I had been playing games for as long as I could remember, so any chance to work at a company and actually get paid to make them was almost inconceivable. I had a close friend who worked as an artist at Blizzard and he told me about some contract work they needed done for music on the PC version of Blackthorn. I sent in a demo tape, and then followed it up immediately with another for voice over work when he told me they needed someone to narrate a demo for this game they were making called Warcraft. When the chance to stay on full time came up - or more accurately I begged my way in - I quit my other job and started what has been a wonderful career.

The Poxy Boggards

Bill is also a member of the Ren Faire-terrorizing singing group, the Poxy Boggards, "The drinking group with a singing problem." You can learn more about the Boggards on their home page or from their Wikipedia entry, and we recommend that you listen to Bill talk about the Boggards and play some of their music in this official podcast. Some of their music was featured in Warcraft II, and once you've heard it, it will play forever in your dreams. And nightmares.

Although they'd probably deny it, being able to sing is a useful skill for a Poxy Boggard, and Bill talked a bit about his singing chops in a June 2006 interview with PC Zone UK.

We've heard on the grapevine you're a talented baritone. Do you flex your vocal chords often?

Bill Roper: I'm fortunate in that I can get down to a serviceable bass if I'm recording in a studio and have microphones to help me. I'm also a tenor by experience, so singing almost anything is a lot of fun for me.

I do try and sing as often as possible with my group, but since they're based in Southern California and I'm up in San Francisco, it isn't enough, by far. I've been thinking of attending an open mic jazz night here in San Francisco, since that was my first love vocally, but it all depends on how many hours we're pouring into Hellgate - and right now, that's a lot. I guess I'll just have to head over to our sound booth and do some more demon growls instead.

Interviews

Bill Roper has been quite possibly the most-interviewed individual in the entire gaming industry over the past decade. He's been an official spokesman for Diablo, Warcraft, Warcraft II, Diablo II, Warcraft Adventures, Starcraft, Warcraft III, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Starcraft: Brood War, Starcraft: Ghost, World of Warcraft, the departure of the "Big Four" from Blizzard North, the foundation of Flagship Studios, Hellgate: London, and Mythos. Not necessarily in that order. Here are some highlights.

• May 1998, GameSages.com, Diablo.

• August 2001, CVG, Diablo II.

• May 2002, RPG Vault, World of Warcraft.

• October 2002, Starghost.com, Starcraft: Ghost.

• May 2003, Diabloii.net, Diablo II v1.10 patch.

• July 2003, Gaming Illustrated, Warcraft III.

• July 2003, UGO, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft, and merchandising.

• July 2003, Planet Diablo, leaving Blizzard, forming a new company.

• July 2003, Gamespy, leaving Blizzard North.

• October 2003, The Helper, leaving Blizzard, founding Flagship Studios.

• October 2003, PC Gamezone, foundation of Flagship Studios.

• January 2004, Diabloii.net, how he got started in the industry, memories of Blizzard games, plans for Flagship Studios.

• November 2006, Gamer's Info, Hellgate: London.

• March 2007, WetaHolics, Hellgate: London concepts and the Hunter faction.

Photos

See photos of Bill Roper in the image gallery.