Jeffrey Butler

Jeff Butler joined Verant Interactive as Customer Service Manager in early 1999, and was promoted to Producer in 2000. Butler managed the EverQuest Live teams dedicated to ongoing content and development while simultaneously co-producing the first EverQuest expansion, EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, and producing EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin and EverQuest: The Scars of Velious.

Jeff has been an avid player and collector of pen and paper RPGs since 1976, including the cult favorite Empire of the Petal Throne (TSR), Dungeons and Dragons, Gamma World, Chivalry and Sorcery, et.al. He is also a dedicated console RPGer, beginning with the golden oldies Atari 2600 through Intellivision, and eventually the blockbuster that was the NES, focusing on Zelda, and Final Fantasy. Sega Master System introduced the then-unmatched opus that was Phantasy Star, forever changing his outlook on console/computer games. SNES raised the bar with Square’s fantastic product line, and then Genesis offered Phantasy Star 2.

Jeff joined the PC gaming crowd late, expanding his personal business at the time to include a small cybercafe. Titles included Might and Magic (all), Doom II, Quake Team Fortress, Duke Nukem, X-Wing/TIE Fighter series, Bethesda’s Arena: The Elder Scrolls and Daggerfall, and everything Blizzard ever published. He owned and operated a successful retail store devoted to open gaming, collectible card games, role-playing, and miniatures for six years prior to joining Verant Interactive.

Jeff first joined the MMOG community as an avid player of Ultima Online. He was then one of the first EverQuest Beta testers and joined the EverQuest Guide program early in Beta. Jeff was hired by Verant Interactive as the EverQuest Lead GM in February of 1999, and promoted to Customer Service Manager shortly thereafter. In March of 2000 he left customer service and became the producer of the EQLive team, responsible for the ongoing content and development of the game, in addition to wrapping up the Ruins of Kunark expansion, and shipping Scars of Velious and Shadows of Luclin.

Jeff’s interests include playing MMOGs, designing Massively Multiplayer Online Games, and talking about persistent world multiplayer online gaming. He is also an avid collector. He has been known to say “If it sits still long enough, or is slow enough that it can be caught, fits in the garage, and is animal, vegetable, or mineral, it is eligible for collection.”

Currently, Vice-President of Sigil Games Online where he is co-producing the new massively multiplayer online game Vanguard: Saga of Heroes with Brad McQuaid.