![shaftwhores only by [EXE]dann](/files/avatars/2007/51852-shaftwhore.gif "shaftwhores only by [EXE]dann"){kind=small}
Congratulations on another event that seems to’ve been enjoyed by all. How have the Challenge events evolved since your first vision back in 2006?
They've gone from being a sporadic idea to being a massive achievement on my CV and now apart of something much bigger. They have evolved into the point where random Warcraft and CS players ask me how they're going, they've made the front page of every major western eSports site and I'm hugely proud of that. More than that they're a demonstration of a (barely) viable business model within eSports that is not now massively buggered because of the Credit Crunch.
Just prior to CC5 Adacore said “My big goal for this event is to prove that we can run entirely to schedule without delays”. Did you achieve this at CC6?
Entirely meaning 100%? Unfortunately not, but within a reasonable margin of error? Yes! Adacore pulled off one hell of a coup with the new scheduling method of less change overs and no set times per match, but set times per round of matches. It meant there was less waiting around and people could acclimatise themselves to their machines much better.
Ok it took 6 events to get it nailed, but I've seen events worth millions of dollars lose almost entire days of play. The fact that Adacore can pull it off with nothing more than heavily scribbled on notepad is testament to his ability.
To be appropriately introspective can be a virtue, what was the biggest failing of CC6?
Other than pinkgorillas coming 4th in the RTCW tournament? :P
We didn’t take enough advantage of the weather, it was glorious outside and I'd like to have done more with that. More football, more BBQ's more something! People spent a great deal of time out there and indeed my funnest memories are of being out there with everyone, so I'd like to have done more there.
I feel the event missed out on not having the cabins, they're a great feature and having people staying miles away is really unfriendly.
However other than that, it was not only the best event from an organisational point of view but I feel we've got a product now that is well honed. Most of what could come as extras, would come at a cost.
Crossfire Challenge 6 did not feature Call of Duty. Was this a massive setback and do you envisage further supporting the CoD series in the future?
It wasn't a setback it was a tactical gamble by myself and one that paid off. The warning signs were there at CC5 that CoD was on the downward slide and although the community didn’t want to admit it was proven on the CC6 weekend. There was another event, LAN79 for CoD that weekend so I dropped CoD from CC6 because competing would have hurt us both and it turns out only 8 non French (local) teams turned up. It’s not financially viable to support a game with high demands for prizemoney but only 8 internationally travelling teams.
Will CoD be back? Yes. Modern Warfare 2 will be out at the end of the year, I envisage the scene returning to activity and the competition returning to Enschede.
What was the best aspect of the online coverage offered last weekend?
It has to be Toxic and R0SS casting? Aside from that, I think the whole coverage team poured there hearts out and did a bloody awesome job. I'm not going to pick out one part because that would be unfair on a team that worked their arses off, however I will say that the popularity of the videos surprised me the most.
How important are the Community Awards organized by overdrive, Ronner and others attending CC's over the past few years?
They're the way to get the people who aren’t in Mamut, ButtonBashers and co on the mic and feeling involved, which is the most important part. CC is one big story and there are 200 characters in that story, this is the time to tell all 200 peoples part in it. They are crucial.
Do you think people are grateful for the work and effort put in by yourself and others to run the CC events & maintain the ET scene?
Yes - at least from my perspective, I get a lot of gratitude thrown my way which boosts the old e-penis' size, I didn’t use to feel it was appreciated at CPC1/2 but latterly it has grown that way. The only thing I would ask is that although I am the front man for it, I am not the only man for it and without the other volunteers this just wouldn’t happen. The only point I would stress is that I do think without CC ET would be long dead, so next time you want to go and piss off one of my admins to the point they don’t want to come again you're shooting yourself in the foot!
One week before the competition, having paid his entry fee and arranged travel and accommodation MOTiF was banned from competing due to a ClanBase cheating ban. Since the tournament MOTiF has been unbanned from ClanBase and subsequently Crossfire. Do you think it was the right thing to do to exclude him from the competition and would you like to apologise to MOTiF for his exclusion?
I don’t apologise for any of those actions individually. It’s a blanket decision, you either decide you're gonna go 110% to discourage cheating or you're not. The victims of friendly fire along the way are unfortunate but necessary to send out the right message, that is a sentiment echo'd by zeku. Zeku was banned with motif, he lost so much more money yet still came to CC6 and was an absolutely awesome character. So I guess I apologise only for the inconvenience not the motive.
Following this case, and the views expressed by people such as Ronner over the weekend, do you believe Killerboy is a positive presence within the community and is he a reliable source to base Crossfire bans on?
Who else is going to do it? There isn’t another Bulld0g going to step into his shoes and until there is he’s the best and only person for the job.
What action will you take to ensure that similar things such as this don’t happen again?
None - I take council of the cheater aware Crossfire admins before doing anything like banning Zeku and Motif, they all agreed with Killerboys decision so in that situation what can you do? Its one of those situations where in hindsight you look bad, but there is an understanding that you were 'doing the right thing'.
Crossfire Weekender - Crossfire goes Club 18-30, what the hell?!
Fuelled from my biggest regret of CC6 and not taking advantage of the sun. I want to create a small social atmosphere without the massive workload and finances of a CC event, more classic friendly gaming than full on eSports. There will be a tournament there but it'll be secondary to everything else and with little to no money, the money will be on getting people a cabin bed in their ticket and getting them fun activities to do over a weekend. As an idea it was received very well, the cabin dates weren’t so good for us though the only weekend we can do it is in early September, however the sun will still be shining then so I'll still try to do it. Expect, Football, Poker, BBQ's and more!
Given that most teams don’t actually win any prize money from the event, is there not a scope to completely give in to the community element and organise a tournament using BYOC / rented PCs without prize money?
Interesting idea and it’s certainly an area to improve upon in expansion of the events, however there are enough Dreamhacks out there if people are interested in that type of an event. I want to find the perfect blend between social gaming and pro gaming, at CC we're closer than almost anyone out there, and those aren’t my words but words of many of the CoD managers from pro teams that have come to our events.
Do you think online competitive ET is viable?
We have adversely created a LAN and NoLAN community, something that has pretty much illegitimised online ET if its not won by someone that’s LAN proven. So CC's success has been onlines failing, however there are so many idiots out there that want to remove PB that I don’t think that makes a difference. The moment PB goes is the moment I stop playing my 1 ET mix with Baggiez a month (he will be heart broken). So yes I do still think it’s viable the problem is in 99% of tournaments the people that win wont care that they've won.
Now, the question everyone’s waiting for. Will there be a seventh Crossfire Challenge and what games will it feature?
Will there be another event? Yes
Will it be titled CC7? Maybe
Will there be ET? Maybe
Will there be Wolfenstein? Maybe
Right now everyone is going to have to wait, there will not be a 2nd half of the year couple thousand euro event like normal for one simple reason. Wolfenstein. Everyone is waiting to see whether it will be any good and it will take them three months to decide whether they like it enough to play it, or hate it enough to want to come back to ET. The moment those three months are over taking you from July (release) you to October I will plan the next major event for the Crossfire community, considering one of the golden rules is that we need 3 months notice to get maximum team numbers you are realistically looking at there not being another Challenge in 2009. I would say the same dates for CDC4 will be the same dates for the next event and that Modern Warfare 2 will be there next to which ever Wolfenstein game is popular.
I've tried to explain this to many people and they just read what they want to read when it comes to why wont there be one sooner, the reality is until you've incurred a financial loss on a LAN event you'll realise that you want to plan every move carefully so not to do it again!
Do you not think that by waiting to announce and / or organise any tentative seventh event involving ET you’re creating a self fulfilling prophecy?
No because I've just given myself a long lead up time in the previous answer :P
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is officially six years old on May 29th, you’ve been there at the top for the entirety of it, what’s your greatest memory?
Crossfire Quakecon team, most of you have seen the trailer. Its a bloody special trailer and you can (I hope) feel some of what I was feeling throughout that event, it was a real rollercoaster for me emotionally in the build up to it to pull that project off. Its a week of my life I will never forget and I hope other people wont either.
Many thanks once again for the insightful answers. I hope the readers have enjoyed the read and ferociously pick apart your answers – now, to finish in the same vein as we started…
If Cash & Adacore were animals, what animals would they be?
Cash would be an Eagle, he has a great ability to see things from a 3rd perspective (i.e. up above) and thats one of his biggest assets, he reads scenarios and situations brilliantly as a result and has stopped my making many mistakes courtesy of that!
Adacore would be sheepdog because they work the hardest and 'the core' works the hardest at a CC event without a doubt.
They've gone from being a sporadic idea to being a massive achievement on my CV and now apart of something much bigger. They have evolved into the point where random Warcraft and CS players ask me how they're going, they've made the front page of every major western eSports site and I'm hugely proud of that. More than that they're a demonstration of a (barely) viable business model within eSports that is not now massively buggered because of the Credit Crunch.
Just prior to CC5 Adacore said “My big goal for this event is to prove that we can run entirely to schedule without delays”. Did you achieve this at CC6?
Entirely meaning 100%? Unfortunately not, but within a reasonable margin of error? Yes! Adacore pulled off one hell of a coup with the new scheduling method of less change overs and no set times per match, but set times per round of matches. It meant there was less waiting around and people could acclimatise themselves to their machines much better.
Ok it took 6 events to get it nailed, but I've seen events worth millions of dollars lose almost entire days of play. The fact that Adacore can pull it off with nothing more than heavily scribbled on notepad is testament to his ability.
To be appropriately introspective can be a virtue, what was the biggest failing of CC6?
Other than pinkgorillas coming 4th in the RTCW tournament? :P
We didn’t take enough advantage of the weather, it was glorious outside and I'd like to have done more with that. More football, more BBQ's more something! People spent a great deal of time out there and indeed my funnest memories are of being out there with everyone, so I'd like to have done more there.
I feel the event missed out on not having the cabins, they're a great feature and having people staying miles away is really unfriendly.
However other than that, it was not only the best event from an organisational point of view but I feel we've got a product now that is well honed. Most of what could come as extras, would come at a cost.
Crossfire Challenge 6 did not feature Call of Duty. Was this a massive setback and do you envisage further supporting the CoD series in the future?
It wasn't a setback it was a tactical gamble by myself and one that paid off. The warning signs were there at CC5 that CoD was on the downward slide and although the community didn’t want to admit it was proven on the CC6 weekend. There was another event, LAN79 for CoD that weekend so I dropped CoD from CC6 because competing would have hurt us both and it turns out only 8 non French (local) teams turned up. It’s not financially viable to support a game with high demands for prizemoney but only 8 internationally travelling teams.
Will CoD be back? Yes. Modern Warfare 2 will be out at the end of the year, I envisage the scene returning to activity and the competition returning to Enschede.
What was the best aspect of the online coverage offered last weekend?
It has to be Toxic and R0SS casting? Aside from that, I think the whole coverage team poured there hearts out and did a bloody awesome job. I'm not going to pick out one part because that would be unfair on a team that worked their arses off, however I will say that the popularity of the videos surprised me the most.
How important are the Community Awards organized by overdrive, Ronner and others attending CC's over the past few years?
They're the way to get the people who aren’t in Mamut, ButtonBashers and co on the mic and feeling involved, which is the most important part. CC is one big story and there are 200 characters in that story, this is the time to tell all 200 peoples part in it. They are crucial.
Do you think people are grateful for the work and effort put in by yourself and others to run the CC events & maintain the ET scene?
Yes - at least from my perspective, I get a lot of gratitude thrown my way which boosts the old e-penis' size, I didn’t use to feel it was appreciated at CPC1/2 but latterly it has grown that way. The only thing I would ask is that although I am the front man for it, I am not the only man for it and without the other volunteers this just wouldn’t happen. The only point I would stress is that I do think without CC ET would be long dead, so next time you want to go and piss off one of my admins to the point they don’t want to come again you're shooting yourself in the foot!
One week before the competition, having paid his entry fee and arranged travel and accommodation MOTiF was banned from competing due to a ClanBase cheating ban. Since the tournament MOTiF has been unbanned from ClanBase and subsequently Crossfire. Do you think it was the right thing to do to exclude him from the competition and would you like to apologise to MOTiF for his exclusion?
I don’t apologise for any of those actions individually. It’s a blanket decision, you either decide you're gonna go 110% to discourage cheating or you're not. The victims of friendly fire along the way are unfortunate but necessary to send out the right message, that is a sentiment echo'd by zeku. Zeku was banned with motif, he lost so much more money yet still came to CC6 and was an absolutely awesome character. So I guess I apologise only for the inconvenience not the motive.
Following this case, and the views expressed by people such as Ronner over the weekend, do you believe Killerboy is a positive presence within the community and is he a reliable source to base Crossfire bans on?
Who else is going to do it? There isn’t another Bulld0g going to step into his shoes and until there is he’s the best and only person for the job.
What action will you take to ensure that similar things such as this don’t happen again?
None - I take council of the cheater aware Crossfire admins before doing anything like banning Zeku and Motif, they all agreed with Killerboys decision so in that situation what can you do? Its one of those situations where in hindsight you look bad, but there is an understanding that you were 'doing the right thing'.
Crossfire Weekender - Crossfire goes Club 18-30, what the hell?!
Fuelled from my biggest regret of CC6 and not taking advantage of the sun. I want to create a small social atmosphere without the massive workload and finances of a CC event, more classic friendly gaming than full on eSports. There will be a tournament there but it'll be secondary to everything else and with little to no money, the money will be on getting people a cabin bed in their ticket and getting them fun activities to do over a weekend. As an idea it was received very well, the cabin dates weren’t so good for us though the only weekend we can do it is in early September, however the sun will still be shining then so I'll still try to do it. Expect, Football, Poker, BBQ's and more!
Given that most teams don’t actually win any prize money from the event, is there not a scope to completely give in to the community element and organise a tournament using BYOC / rented PCs without prize money?
Interesting idea and it’s certainly an area to improve upon in expansion of the events, however there are enough Dreamhacks out there if people are interested in that type of an event. I want to find the perfect blend between social gaming and pro gaming, at CC we're closer than almost anyone out there, and those aren’t my words but words of many of the CoD managers from pro teams that have come to our events.
Do you think online competitive ET is viable?
We have adversely created a LAN and NoLAN community, something that has pretty much illegitimised online ET if its not won by someone that’s LAN proven. So CC's success has been onlines failing, however there are so many idiots out there that want to remove PB that I don’t think that makes a difference. The moment PB goes is the moment I stop playing my 1 ET mix with Baggiez a month (he will be heart broken). So yes I do still think it’s viable the problem is in 99% of tournaments the people that win wont care that they've won.
Now, the question everyone’s waiting for. Will there be a seventh Crossfire Challenge and what games will it feature?
Will there be another event? Yes
Will it be titled CC7? Maybe
Will there be ET? Maybe
Will there be Wolfenstein? Maybe
Right now everyone is going to have to wait, there will not be a 2nd half of the year couple thousand euro event like normal for one simple reason. Wolfenstein. Everyone is waiting to see whether it will be any good and it will take them three months to decide whether they like it enough to play it, or hate it enough to want to come back to ET. The moment those three months are over taking you from July (release) you to October I will plan the next major event for the Crossfire community, considering one of the golden rules is that we need 3 months notice to get maximum team numbers you are realistically looking at there not being another Challenge in 2009. I would say the same dates for CDC4 will be the same dates for the next event and that Modern Warfare 2 will be there next to which ever Wolfenstein game is popular.
I've tried to explain this to many people and they just read what they want to read when it comes to why wont there be one sooner, the reality is until you've incurred a financial loss on a LAN event you'll realise that you want to plan every move carefully so not to do it again!
Do you not think that by waiting to announce and / or organise any tentative seventh event involving ET you’re creating a self fulfilling prophecy?
No because I've just given myself a long lead up time in the previous answer :P
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is officially six years old on May 29th, you’ve been there at the top for the entirety of it, what’s your greatest memory?
Crossfire Quakecon team, most of you have seen the trailer. Its a bloody special trailer and you can (I hope) feel some of what I was feeling throughout that event, it was a real rollercoaster for me emotionally in the build up to it to pull that project off. Its a week of my life I will never forget and I hope other people wont either.
Many thanks once again for the insightful answers. I hope the readers have enjoyed the read and ferociously pick apart your answers – now, to finish in the same vein as we started…
If Cash & Adacore were animals, what animals would they be?
Cash would be an Eagle, he has a great ability to see things from a 3rd perspective (i.e. up above) and thats one of his biggest assets, he reads scenarios and situations brilliantly as a result and has stopped my making many mistakes courtesy of that!
Adacore would be sheepdog because they work the hardest and 'the core' works the hardest at a CC event without a doubt.