Who Is Groden?

Over the years EverQuest II game developers have inserted sample text into component templates all over the default UI. We saw some humorous examples earlier this year. Each time we load up the game, those bits of text get replaced with live information that is relevant to us -- item names, quest steps, character stats, etc. As players, we never see any of the templates unless something has gone wrong technically, so the sample musings lurk perpetually undetected beneath the surface.

There are no cases that I know of where these samples impact the function of the UI in any way. It's all just dead text added during development for the purpose of seeing how everything will look in a practical setting: font choices, alignments, colors, etc.

And so I was particularly puzzled by today's update where eight UI files were replaced, with the only change being removal of the sample text Rothgar, replacing it with the name Groden. Rothgar is the online name of a long-ago game developer who moved on to other roles or perhaps other opportunities. He was always very cordial and helpful to me back when devs openly roamed the lands of Norrath.

Two of our custom files were affected by the change, but only for those Darq Side members who use the Extras package. Those files have been dutifully updated just in case there is an underlying reason behind the seemingly superfluous change.

The eight default files themselves are not large, but that's still a lot of bandwidth expended by the company to update many thousands of game installations for the sole purpose of wiping out a hidden bit of text containing the name of an erstwhile developer. Items in-game have also been affected. Here are two instances from EQ2U where the item name shows Groden but the tooltip still shows Rothgar:

The old ZAM database still references Rothgar.

I ran over to Kaladim, and sure enough the lead singer for The Burglars has been replaced by Groden. What's going on here? Is Rothgar back on the team with a new name? Is this the Witness Protection Program for NPCs?

And the bigger mystery: Why am I suddenly hungry for McDonald's?