First, tell us a bit about yourself.  What got you into D&D?  How did you get involved with the RPGA?  How long have you been with them?

I was ten when I colored my first dice with a crayon. That was about twenty-four years ago. I’ve been hooked ever since.

I, like a lot of people thought the RPGA served up canned adventures that could never match the home game experience. When I started playing Living Greyhawk a few years ago, I found out that I was only partly correct. Organized play can never replace a home game, and it doesn’t presume to. The strength of Living Greyhawk, and now Living Forgotten Realms is the shared world experience. You can play with anyone, anywhere, anytime.  

What are your duties as a point of contact?

I am here to answer questions, and facilitate play. I’m “the grease” in the gears.

How many people are there in your region?

I don’t have a total count, but its’ in the thousands.

What do you think the RPGA’s biggest selling points are?

Free adventures, instant community, and WotC support. Unlike previous shared-world campaigns, LFR is at the core of D&D, not an afterthought.

Any detracting points?

You just won’t get the intimacy and immersion of a long-running home game. There is simply no replacement for a group of good friends playing together regularly with the same DM.
That said, there is no reason why a DM couldn’t use LFR adventures as content for a home game. The DM can work LFR into a home game. You’d just need to keep a campaign legal version of your character if you intend to play him at a public event. This maintains an even playing field for all players where your home game may be generous or stingy with rewards.

What’s the easiest way to get involved for a player? for a DM? For an adventure writer? An event organizer?

Learn all about LFR here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/lfrx/welcome
You’ll find information about creating a character (just like the book really), events & local clubs, and information about writing adventures & organizing events.
The best thing to do is to learn what you can on the LFR section of the D&D Website, then find your region, and join the discussion group (yahoo Groups for now). It’s the fastest way to find other players, get questions answered, and get plugged-in to the campaign.
Feel free to contact me directly (especially if you are in the Southeast USA) at michaeljameslee at gmail dot com.

Name the coolest thing (that you can tell us) that will be happening in the future for the RPGA.

LFR and 4th edition are fully integrated. The support for this campaign is phenomenal. We just saw an amazing success for the first World Wide Living Forgotten Realms Game Day last month which features a special one-time all day adventure. We’ve seen an explosion in the growth of the RPGA since 4e.
With new adventures releasing every week, and a record number of players, it’s my personal opinion that we are entering a golden age of organized play. Don’t miss out under the assumption that this is supposed to be the ONLY way to play D&D. It’s just another, VERY fun way to play. If you haven’t already, you need to try LFR.

So, for those who have yet to participate in the RPGA, here’s what good about it?

It’s Free.  Just go to a con, sign up and play.  You can get an RPGA number and that’s all it takes.  No membership fees means you lose nothing if you can’t participate or don’t like it.

Take one character everywhere.  The structure of the RPGA ensures that characters will be made to a certain standard across the board.  That means it’s no problem to take your character to someone else’s RPGA game, and no problem with their character coming to yours. You can take the same character to conventions and play all weekend, as your schedule dictates.  It’s a great way for strangers to play together with as few arguments as possible.

Structured play.  RPGA adventures will have a skill challenge or two, some combat encounters, and some basic roleplay opportunities.  The adventures are designed to fit within a four hour time span. There are standardized ways to assign treasure.  Every time you participate in an RPGA adventure, you know what to expect. This format allows for tons of variation, so you don’t have to worry about playing the same adventure with different set pieces, but there’s an advantage to knowing that you’re not going to bring your uber-buff fighter into an intrigue-filled game, or vice versa.

Lots of games.  From cons to open games run from the home, there are a lot of opportunities to play.  You can even set up RPGA games for on-line play.  It should be much easier to find a game.

Say bye bye to prep.  If you’re GMing RPGA games, you have a whole stock of adventures at your disposal.  Just familiarize yourself with the adventure and you’re all set.

So is RPGA just another another way to say “Paradise”?  Unfortunately, nothing in this world is perfect.  some of the negatives:

No time for roleplaying.  you’ll get to do some roleplaying for sure, but the adventures are structured to be plot-driven, not story-driven.  This is a sacrifice that has to be made in the time limit of a convention RPGA game, but possibly something that can be opened up for a home game.

A tendency to min/max.  being combat-driven, the RPGA games are going to encourage people to min/max.  I don’t think you can truly avoid this, but you certainly need to prepare for it.

Paperwork.  I’m not so sure I can call this an outright flaw, but the paperwork that must be filed after each game for the GM and the players is a bit of a bringdown.  Again, I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker, and is definitely required for the concept to work at all, but be prepared to acclimatize to it.

Overall, I’m not sure the format is for everyone, but the price point is perfect and is worth a try.  I definitely am enjoying it thus far.