Today we bring you a special community interview!
Geda Yumi needs no introduction in our community.
As a Highlander fatale, she has a great collection of well-loved and creative glamours, with a distinct sense of style.
As one of my personal close friends and Free Company leader, Geda has seen the birth of Eorzea Collection and has stood by it all.
She was even our first female model for our gearset collection a few years ago!
So this month, I finally got to ask Geda what's it like working with me and being a moderator, as well as how she comes up with her stunning glamours.
So read on Eorzea Collection's exclusive interview with Geda!
Hey, Geda!
To start us off, can you tell everyone more about yourself?
Hello everyone!
I’m Geda from Shiva, and you can usually find me afk-ing on a street in Shirogane next to either my house or my FC’s house.
I’ll probably be alt-tabbed working on some new spreadsheet!
In real life, I’m a 32-year old administrative worker from Portugal.
I suppose FFXIV is my main interest, but I do try to play some other games in my spare time (hey there, Animal Crossing NH, my latest obsession)!
Other than that, I’d say Netflixing, listening to music, and most importantly checking out the latest cute corgi pics on my social network feeds.
Yes, dogs are probably 60% of my feed, and I’m not even ashamed, cause dogs are life!
How long have you been playing FFXIV and what drew you to it?
I’ve been playing since 2.0 hit. I was an ex-wow player at the time, and I was basically on this insane quest to find the next MMORPG that would hook me in. If this was dating, imagine I was going on dates every other night, and every one of them ended up in disappointment. (all too familiar, right?)
That was, until a friend told me about FFXIV and I decided to give it a try. And guess what, it was the one!
I suppose several things mattered: the aesthetics of the game played no small part in it (we all know looks are important), but the
story and lore mattered too, even though, back then, it wasn’t by far as good as it is now (WoL nodding at every other cutscene).
Also, the fact that you could have every job on the same character piqued my interest too. I thought that was a refreshing feature.
What is your favourite thing about FFXIV?
Oh, picking one is hard!
The visuals are insanely good, but the main story has been incredible as well.
I’ve cried a lot, so that should say something about how attached I am to this story.
Were you always as invested in glamour or did that interest develop over time? Did sharing leadership over a Free Company with me affect your interest for glamour?
Well, I always cared about how my character looked, but nowhere near did I invest that much time into coming up with an outfit back then.
Sharing leadership over an FC definitely made us closer and playing the game in your company enriched my experience in lots of different ways.
So my interest for glamour also grew as I got to see you developing Eorzea Collection.
Everytime we met in real-life, you have been stunningly dressed!
Are you as fashion-conscious in your everyday life as your are in the game, or do you think you're even more?
Oh, stahp it! *blushes*
I'd have to say yes, I like to invest time planning what I choose to wear in real life, and I guess that could even surpass my glamouring ingame.
Though I dress to please myself, and not others.
Growing up that didn’t make it easy for me, I was that girl at school that would dress differently, cause I would get an idea of an outfit or piece of clothing and I would run around the stores trying to find what I had pictured. Sometimes I would find myself wearing something really odd, and other kids would make fun of me, and say a year later everyone was wearing that. I was ahead of the crowd now that I look back on it.
I’m not as different or visionary nowadays, but I like to look good and true to myself every time, even if I’m just taking the garbage outside. *laughs*
Can you walk us through your process of creating a glamour?
It depends, really. Sometimes I get a general idea of a theme I want to achieve, and look through several items
to try and achieve that idea. And other times, there’s just one item I’m hyped about getting, and try to come up
with an outfit where I can show it off in style!
In any of the cases though, it amounts to long periods of time trying out lots of gear until I’m happy with the result.
After having come up with the glamour per se, I then look for a way to present it on EC. So choosing a place for screenshots
is the next step.
I have to say that browsing the #places-to-go channel in the Eorzea Collection’s discord has helped a lot, cause this community
has been incredible in sharing the most stunning places!
And then, the fun begins in /gpose. It could go for hours as I’m a perfectionist, so I sit there, take dozens of screenshots, and sometimes will only adjust the frame by a couple of inches until I’m pleased with the angle! Yep, it’s that bad.
Do you have a go-to glamour or gear piece?
Well, since I usually main Machinist, you’ll probably see me running around with goggles or hats which I adore! Boots are also
important to me - I love boots IRL, and that shows in the game as well.
If I sit on a glamour I like, I’ll use it for a considerable amount of time, though sometimes I make little variations of it so I don’t get bored.
What about a favourite in-game colour?
Wine Red has no competition.
- Xennon Song, 11/05/2020
This. Unfortunately, since my character has red hair (hence favourite colour), it won’t always match so well, so I dive into blacks (gunmetal rocks) and browns (Bark or Loam to get that leather feel depending on the item). I guess you could say I’m not into very bright colours.
We know glamour is the true endgame, but I'm actually your raid leader, so I know you enjoy raiding too! Can you talk a bit about raiding and any other activities you enjoy doing?
Oh, yeah! I love raiding and PvE, and this game does not disappoint there either.
My love for raiding goes back to my WoW days, when I had a lot more hours available to invest in it. Nowadays, in FFXIV, my approach is a lot more casual (even though I consider FFXIV’s endgame a lot more challenging than WoW’s). But hey, we’re old people now, so time is short and we have more stuff to do.
But I do have to say that you do an excellent job leading our team!
We have a very positive and fun atmosphere, which is essential to persevere through hours and hours of getting our asses kicked!
I usually spend the rest of my time trying to level everything up to the current max level. I try to do it before the next expansion comes, to satisfy my OCD of having the full list completed. Yeah, I have issues I know.
Oh and let’s not forget my spreadsheets, I have personal ones, I have FC ones and I also have EC ones! I love them!
If you could wish for one thing in FFXIV, what would it be?
More slots!! More inventory slots, more Glamour Dresser slots!!
I’m a bit of a hoarder and my bags are always a mess.
You can probably remember how badly I celebrated when Yoshida announced the Inventory Expansion on the fanfest!
Since you've been there from the very beginning, do you still remember when I told you about this new website I was creating called Eorzea Collection?
Of course! I feel extremely privileged to have witnessed the whole process up close.
I remember being really impressed by your strive, by the passionate way you talked about it, all the plans you had for it. Even while working a full-time job, leading the FC with me and raid-leading our group, there you were with this crazy and yet extremely exciting plan of creating a tool for the FFXIV community!
I think we used the #truendgame every time we could back then! *laughs*
That's right! We even made silly skits in shout to let people know about Eorzea Collection!
So how would you describe these last 4 years for EC? How have these years affected you as an integral part of EC?
It’s amazing to see how much it has evolved, and how much it grew.
It started as a gear catalogue and I had the honour of being chosen as the first female model (oh yeah, female Highlander modelling, cause real women have curves, ya know)!
Back then, I wasn’t officially part of it as I am now, but I always tried to help wherever I could, even if by only giving feedback and encouragement on some cases.
Then an opportunity arose for EC to turn into glamour itself. There was a necessity in the community and you took that shot, and we’re all extremely thankful for it!
And the talent, effort and professionalism you put into everything you do could only mean that it would turn into this amazing website - THE website for glamour.
And finally I also got to be a part of this last year, that I think was one of the most important years for EC, because it was the moment you created the Discord, a place where
you could communicate with the users and get real feedback. Basically, a place for the community to grow!
And I’m extremely thankful to be a part of the team. I'm happy to continue to help EC strive and better serve the FFXIV community!
We've been to two fanfests together representing EC. How has that experience been to you?
It was so much fun!
We wore our Eorzea Collection hoodies, and we wore them proudly!
On the first fanfest, I remember how surprised we all were that so many people recognized it already,
and that the website already had so many fans back then! <3
We had a bunch of EC keychains and postcards saying "Thank you for being glamourous" and we gave them away to people cosplaying!
And the second one had a really fun moment too. We got there late, right before the keynote started, and there were no seats left.
So we just sat down on the ground whenever we could, because we were a large group.
But then, someone working on the fanfest came up to us and told us we couldn’t sit there cause we were blocking a passageway.
As we got up, he noticed ruby red EC hoodies and tells us we can take the reserved seats that were empty right in the front row!
So that’s how the EC team got their front row seats. It was meant to be, I know it!
I'm looking forward to the next fanfest, when the pandemic we’re living in hopefully resolves.
What is it like working on this community as a moderator? And what is it like working with me?
It’s a very positive community that makes my life, as a moderator, extremely easy to be honest! *laughs*
I feel that we have a very good atmosphere going around on our Discord, and I’m just happy to help!
We moderators recently got a little more work, now that the 
Moogle Police is here,
but even that is done with the help of the community.
As for working with you, since we’ve been managing the FC together for years, it just feels kind of natural to me by now, even though in EC you’re technically my boss!
But you haven’t been bossy, yet…
I jest of course, you’re a very laid back boss, you’re easy to work with and you’re very open to feedback and suggestions!
And what do you love the most about the website itself? If you could wish for one thing, what would it be?
I love the diversity it presents.
How it’s a tool to share one’s artistic expression, because that’s what glamour is, really - a form of expression!
My wishes for the site are already in the works, profiles being the main one!
I suppose I’d also like to see content grow even more, with more articles and maybe getting the community to participate
more besides glamour submissions.
Thank you so much, Geda!
Do you have any closing remarks?
I want to give a shout out to NAVIA - our portuguese FC - for putting up with me throughout these years!
I've made some real friends there, and I hope I can make even more! My FFXIV experience would have never been the same without you, guys!
Also to the entire EC Discord community! It’s a really friendly and talented community, and I hope everyone keeps sharing their wonderful creations with us for many years to come!
A shout out to my fellow Moderator colleagues, we do good teamwork, kupo!
And finally, thank you, Edeon, for even thinking I’m worthy of featuring the website cover for a full month!
I feel really honored, cause I think I’m nowhere near the talented people that have occupied this cover before!
So thank you for letting me take part in this project of yours. I'm really proud to be a part of the EC team!
