Benjamin "Loaf" Lesnick was the Director of Community Engagement and Content Strategy at CIG Los Angeles.[1]
Work at CIG
He has known Chris Roberts since the late 90's, corresponding with him in his Origin Systems and Digital Anvil days, more and more when he was putting out the Wing Commander movie.[2]
His help was instrumental with the original website thanks to his experience running the WIng Commander Combat Information Center website.[3]
He was one of Cloud Imperium's first employees in 2013.[4] He was also the host of various CIG-related shows, including Wingman's Hangar, Around the Verse, and Reverse The Verse.[citation needed] Since May 2018, he has worked remotely from his home in Maryland.[5]
He never set out to work in games, he only ran the Wing Commander Combat Information Center out of his love for it, and would get calls from projects trying to bring back Wing Commander in various forms such as a TV serie to help with promises of a job if it worked, which he didn't expect to work out, until Star Citizen.[2] He joined as community manager thanks to his experience running the Wing Commander community.[6]
He left CIG in October 2022.[1]
Quote
"My favorite thing about Star Citizen is that we're making something people love the way I love Wing Commander! -Ben Lesnick[7]
Trivia
- Ben is known for his love for the Wing Commander series.[4]
- He invented Ben Dance.
- He is the cofounder of the Wing Commander Combat Information Center.[8]
- He spent two years living in France due to his father working there for IBM.[9]
- He's the one who came up with the idea of creating a choose your own adventure and an airline to promote the Genesis Starliner.[10]
- Growing up he would play Space Vikings on Apple II with his familly.[2]
- He grew up watching Star Trek.[2]
- in 2006-2007 Electronic Arts did a Wing Commander Arena top down shooter for X-box live arcade for which Ben Lesnick did some lore, wrote the manual, and brought it in line with the Wing Commander continuity. There were plans for a Privateer DLC which did not come to fruition
- Greycat is named after Ben's cat Gray.[11]
- While they were working on the Endavor, Ben Lesnick learned that his Starship Troopers tattoo had been designed by Jim Martin.[12]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ben Lesnick on LinkedIn
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 SCAA Interviews 001 Ben Lesnick, Nichole D'Angelo, YouTube, 1 Feb 2014
- ↑ Inside Cloud Imperium Games . Behind the Community, Star Citizen, YouTube, May 2, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1
- ↑ Ben Lesnick's tweet on working remotely from home
- ↑ Star Citizen Addicts Anonymous - Interview with Sandi Gardiner pt 1, Nichole D'Angelo, YouTube, 2 Mar 2015
- ↑ "My favorite thing about Star Citizen is that we're making something people love the way I love Wing Commander!", @banditloaf, Twitter, May 12, 2017
- ↑ "My name is Ben Lesnick, and I’m the co-founder of the Wing Commander Combat Information Center (WCNews.com.)" Preserve Wing Commander Academy! GoFundMe
- ↑ Star Citizen : The 1 year's TradTeam interview - VOSTFR, pulsar 42, YouTube, 15 Mar 2017
- ↑ The Friday Night Show Interview: Jared Huckaby, The Base radio, October 17th, 2015
- ↑ "Star Citizen behind-the-scenes fact--here is the actual grey cat the buggy is named for", @banditloaf, Twitter, October 6 2013
- ↑ "Jim Martin is an amazing talent and an incredibly nice person! Here he is when we were developing the Endeavor science ship for Star Citizen and we realized he had designed my tattoo:", @banditloaf, Twitter, Nov 27, 2020