Community Spotlight: An Interview with Catherine Sikora

One of Seekers Notes’ most passionate and insightful players

We’re thrilled to bring you an in-depth interview with Catherine Sikora, a cherished member of the Seekers Notes community. Catherine’s deep knowledge and dedication are well-known—especially through her personal project compiling and ranking every location in Darkwood, an initiative that sparks rich discussion across our Facebook groups. Also, Catherine co-hosted 2 podcasts with Sunny Reads, another active community creator, bringing you diverse player perspectives and insider looks at game updates.

Dive into Catherine’s story, gameplay insights, community highlights, and her hopes for the future of Darkwood!

To start, could you please share a little about yourself? This could include your interests, background, and how you became a part of the Seekers Notes community.

I am Catherine Sikora. I have been married to my wonderful husband, Steve Alexander, for 29 years. I live in Austin Texas and I run the Austin Scotch Lovers, an educational and social group for whisky lovers, and also am the co-director of Galaxy Whisky Gala, a whisky show that is a fundraiser for Bears for Bairns. This is a charity that brings teddy bears to children stuck in the hospital at Christmas.

When I first started on FB it was only for my work so I used the name Austin Scotch. Later when I found the Seekers Notes community on FB, I was already here as Austin Scotch so that is my FB name, but I prefer you to call me Catherine when you interact with me. I am Catherine in Darkwood, too! I have been playing Seekers Notes since May 2018. I joined the private FB page Seekers Notes started as soon as I saw it and am also part of other FB groups related to Seekers Notes.

Can you share how you first discovered Seekers Notes, and what initially drew you to the game?

I saw an ad for Seekers Notes and was captivated by the artwork and beauty of the game. When I first started playing I enjoyed the premise of the story and the locations. But pretty quickly I realized that there was a lot more to this game than meets the eye initially and that really started drawing me in. I like how educational it is, and that it is very elevated in the material presented, referencing so much literature and history.

I loved that there were many layers of complexity that you could engage in, but you didn't have to to enjoy it. For example, I didn't have friends at first. And when I first joined there were no guilds. And far less side games, no guardian quests or bloom festival and maybe no guardians at all, but I can't quite recall if that is true. But I was enjoying the games, searching in the locations and playing the puzzles.

I started googling it after a while because I wanted to learn more and then I found the fandom site and the FB site and really started studying and researching the game. I found that connecting with others through social media was the best way to learn things and get information, and get my questions answered. But you can truly enjoy this game in a customized way. You can be as engaged as you wish to be and find something to enjoy at any level.

Throughout your time with Seekers Notes, has there been a particular event or update that you found especially impactful or enjoyable? What aspects of Seekers Notes do you find most enjoyable and engaging?

I really wanted an avatar that I felt was a good representation of me in the game and I was really excited when there was a chance to buy the avatar I use because I really love that one. She is from the Dark Square and that location was introduced before I came to the game. That was a turning point for sure. I think once I got that avatar, I really felt more a part of the game and community and started playing daily. Once we could start having frames, too, that really was and is a very favorite part of the game for me.

What aspects of Seekers Notes do you find most enjoyable and engaging?

Once I understood how friends worked and started getting friends, it also became important to be in the game daily to give gifts. Seekers Notes has a great philosophy about giving and friendship that is wonderful. So much of the game is designed to reward you the more you give to others and I find that lovely. The community is really kind and helpful, and once we got to have guilds and actually chat that really stepped things up so much! Being able to send Darkwood mail is great too as not everyone is on FB and this is a good way to connect with your in game friends.

I really love Anomalous Alliance. I like the mode where you have to quickly find one of three items. I find this so fun! AA is another example of how Mytona designs Seekers Notes to be geared toward your friends and others. The benefit you receive for this event is really something that is a benefit to your friends. You being a Philanthropist (even the name gives this away) is something that benefits your friends when they hire you or when you visit them. Now if I could get you to tweak how we get and give the Blue Mist, it would be even better!

As an experienced player, do you have any strategies or tips that you would recommend to new players trying to navigate through the game's challenges?

It is a personal mission of mine to make sure everyone knows how important it is to do the Main Story Line quests, which are located on the left hand side of the map. Many people do not know that they need to move the main story along through completing these quests, which will open the pages in the journal and tell you the next part of the main story. This will open up the ability to earn fixers as rewards for gameplay and also as random gifts.

And as I have already stated, it is so important to have friends and give gifts to your friends. Mytona gives us an opportunity to give a free daily gift to each friend, up to 100, that costs us nothing but time. It doesn't come out of our inventory and not only helps your friend, but also helps us as we get a random gift from Mytona for doing this.

I also encourage people to use their wishlists more actively. This is a huge gift from Mytona that I feel like many people do not understand or feel awkward using. I would love to help people use this wonderful tool as it is intended, to help us give each other things we need and to keep it flowing by updating it as you receive things and keep the flow going for your friends as well. I would say only about 30% of my friends use their wishlists properly, with many keeping the same items there for weeks and months, and leaving items there that no one has to give them, items that they need to craft themselves or are relics from the past that we don't use now.

How has playing Seekers Notes influenced you personally? Have you developed any skills or friendships through your time in the game?

I have many friends in real life now from playing the game! That is a great boon! I love the complexity of this game as it keeps me very engaged to work all the different angles, and I also love having a place to learn from others and be able to teach others some of what I have learned. This is really a wonderful aspect of the game and FB group.

My vocabulary has grown from playing Seekers Notes as I often learn new words, and even some of my tech skills have improved as I wanted to get better at FB so I could interact with the community more.

Could you share a memorable moment or achievement from your time playing Seekers Notes that stands out to you? What made it special?

I think one of the happiest days was when I finally opened the journal page that allowed the Silver Bird fixer, the final one, to drop. When Guardian Quests started, I was doing them much more than the Main Storyline quests and didn't realize how important the Main Storyline Quests were. I started asking questions on social media about how come I was earning some fixers but not all. When I learned that I had to keep doing the Main Storyline quests, that was a revelation and the joy I felt when I finally had the ability to earn all of the fixers myself was huge!

I also loved it when I started my Guild, Scotch Lovers, and had people want to join! That was a great experience and getting to have a way to play with a group was nice, and that was also a big change for the good in the game.

How has this community enriched your gaming experience?

I have covered that quite extensively but let me use this opportunity to say that there are so many generous and extremely knowledgeable people on FB who really enrich the experience. It is really so helpful to have so many fellow Seekers willing to give their time and energy to help us all be better players.

As we celebrated the 10th anniversary of Seekers Notes, what are your hopes or expectations for the future of the game and its community?

Ha ha! That is a big question! I do respond to the surveys and have loads of ideas for improvements and ways that Seekers Notes can be better, even though I adore it immensely and it is an important part of my daily life!

But let me give you a short answer, choosing some things that are really important to me. I hope that Darkwood will continue on strongly for many many years to come, and that we will have many new locations to explore always. I hope the Mist will finally be dispelled and that we can join Darkwood in rebuilding! The fact that the timelines are showing people coming from a future where they have access to the outside world gives me hope that we will solve the mystery and that we can then continue to enjoy all that Darkwood has to offer, learning more about the residents and what they do and where they go!

On a practical level I do hope that many older aspects of the game will be renovated and updated to come in line with the modern way we play now. I know everyone likes a shiny new thing, but Darkwood will be better in so many ways when all the locations' rewards are all aligned and collections and fixers are all available through gameplay and gifting.

I also would love it if you implemented some of the ideas mentioned in the FB group about how we can enjoy some variation in the premium locations. This is a big topic that I hope will get some love and attention soon.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your Seekers Notes journey, or any message you’d like to relay to fellow players?

Obviously I always have much I want to share, ha ha! I can talk about Seeker's Notes for hours and often do!

I would say as a final thought that I hope you will join me in sharing your thoughts about each of the locations on the posts I have for each location in Darkwood! It is really a great way to share some love and opinions about the places we spend so much time in, and to get to connect to each other through these places.

I truly am rethinking some of my opinions about the locations and love seeing them through other players' eyes! I am finding it fascinating to see who loves locations I don't love and why they do! There is always something to talk about related to this game and I am grateful for your private group and also so grateful that you care about what we want and actually ask our opinions and follow up on what we say to you. That is really an immense gift and I appreciate that about Mytona and the developers of Seekers Notes so much.

Thanks for reaching out to me to ask me these questions and for all you do for us!

Bonus: Don’t Miss the Podcast!

Catherine recently joined Sunny Reads in Episode #3 of the Sunny Reads Seekers Notes Podcast, where they discuss the latest game updates, including the new Art Gallery, the Treehouse makeover, and the Off Script event. Plus, Catherine shares her unexpected love for fine whiskies!

 Watch and listen here:

Thanks again to Catherine for sharing her Seekers Notes journey with us! Your passion and insight inspire us all.

Want to join Catherine’s conversation about locations or share your own thoughts? Head over to the Seekers Notes Facebook group (link) and get involved!