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It’s not the first time you leave cybersport and come back. Last time before shutting the door and leaving cybersport you defined it when called “Cyber-bullshit”, which troubled the society as the result. And so the reasonable question is: “Why did you come back?”
Hello everyone, the question is not reasonable at all (laughing)! First of all, I wasn’t leaving anything and I’m not coming back anywhere. Is this some sort of a circle or a hobby group? People may leave home in the morning and come back in the evening.
This “occupation” is what I either do or not do. Either seriously or so-so. So far my activity in “cybersport” has been 5 hours of playing quakelive “for fun” for the last two months. Before that I played 125fps and FACEIT tournaments in the evenings. Last autumn I had an offer to visit a 4x4 championship to replace the 4th player in 102 team and I accepted it, because the spirit of competitions and teamplay has always been with me and also kicking some asses for motherrussia is not a big deal (smiling). We trained for a couple of weeks and won. Well-deserved. I give my personal respect to all the members of 102 for that unforgettable event. I used to be more active, because I considered earnings with $/hour formula more profitable. Cybersportsmen’s salaries and earnings are very distorted and pretended. Although soccer players and racing drivers of Formula-1 can provide several successive generations with money in their 5-10 year careers.
Second of all, I expressed my opinion based on my personal experience and conclusions. I’m not forcing my thoughts on anyone, so let everyone decide for himself. Wasn’t it an interview after all? And there’s no need to criticize me, I’m not taking my words back. If people don’t understand what I say they will grow up soon and get the point (smiling). By the way, I’ve recently watched an amateur show hosted by Ivan Demidov (SK-Soul). He compared poker and “cybersport” and made a conclusion that poker’s got 95% losers and 5% winners, while cybersport is in even worse shape – 99.9% of players lose their time and money and get beaten with a 2:0 score! I think I agree with him. Nobody made him say that. The guy went through it all himself.
Actually everything has its own pluses and minuses, material and non-material values. So if we look at the subject from that perspective, here’s what we have: I got a chance to see the world, make some money and meet different people, tried to develop myself and reach my goals. It was a type of education and forming good character and skills.
As for the rest, all these words like “cybersport”, “contracts”, “teams”, “competitions”, “disciplines”, “batriders”, “gyrocopters” – they are all terminology rather than reality. And that terminology is mainly for those who make it profitable to earn some money and to make it larger. “And what about The International” – the question is - “there are millions of dollars out there, aren’t there?”. Well yes, there are, but those who give these millions make tens of millions on us (haven’t you bought a postman in dota and gave 30% to the prize pool?), so everyone will follow the dream – to play dota and win instead of reading literature and developing your talents in more perspective occupations, efficiency factor of which will give you much more IN PERSPECTIVE. And there is also a small nuance meaning that, for example, a billion of people dream, but the prize pool goes to a few teams with 50 members in total. That is exactly that 0.01% I told about earlier. And no, I’m not urging everyone to refuse computer games and this sort of hobbies at all, I’m just recommending to be more rational and careful with games, not to lose your mind shirking school and forgetting about your own development. The perfect combination is to extend your knowledge and to be on top in games.
You were driving a Ferrari on the day of your marriage. Did you borrow the car or was it your own? How do you like being a husband? Do you have any problems in your family life? What did your wife’s relatives think of your achievements in cybersport? Does anyone in your workplace know you’re a legend of quake?
Cooller: Yeah, that was my Ferrari. I bought it with my quake winnings (laughing). No, actually that Ferrari belongs to a friend of mine. And he actually did the right things instead of taking part in cybersport, I can tell, though we played UltimaOnline a lot in our time (smiling). So when I came out the house he handed me the key and said “today it’s your transport”. And that was quite a surprise.
Then we are coming back to the question of rationality and everyone’s personal choice. Everything has its pluses and minuses. There are more pluses and stability in my family life, there are some minuses though, which, I think, everybody will agree with. Life is actually not really different, you just have a decent teammate (laughing). So I think this is a good thing overall, but, once again, I’m not urging or imposing on anyone.
I’ve never tried to reach any status or authority with my quake achievements. In fact, I usually hide it and prefer anyone not to know about it in most cases. It’s easier for me – that’s the kind of person I am.
Of course people at work know of my accomplishments for the motherland (smiling), but that is rather because the field is close – games development and operation, that kind of stuff. At the moment we are working on some very expensive and essential product www.dirtybomb.ru, which, I hope, will be successfully released. I’d like to succeed in this.
Why did you let your brother be your manager? – He has a medical education. Tell us about his influence on your career; his support; duties; any special program or methods of how not to overload you with hard training.
Is being a doctor a panacea? It doesn’t mean that the man and his abilities cannot be all-round, does it? There’s no connection between being a doctor and a manager. He’s a true fan of my game so he takes every opportunity to watch it or to be involved. Besides, he’s a true patriot and loves quake and he goes to championships mostly as a pro-fan and for support. And I’d like to note that several titles were taken because of his knowledge of how human’s biological processes work, so a couple of chocolates with hot tea and lemon were eaten and drunk at the right moment, the same as a decent dinner with chicken (smiling). As I said before, everybody has his secrets or methods of winning. Someone always keeps a can of redbull during competitions, some people meditate and pray. All is fair, you know.
Plus, real support at the right time is always important and deserves credit. When you have it and feel it, the results will definitely be better. And it doesn’t matter if it’s right behind your back or thousands of kilometers away. Special programs and activity? – it’s my own responsibility, nobody can work on it except me.
Then maybe professional teams need to think about having that kind of doctor in their squad, what do you think?
Cooller: It may be worth it, but I don’t think anyone has every thought about it. To be honest I doubt that cybersport will reach the level where teams will start adding medical assistance. And what’s more, it’s more useful for physical aspects rather then psychological ones which are more important in our field. I think at this point players can use ordinary helpers: caffeine, glucose, vitamins, extracts.
You said about Fatality “It’s the only and exclusive case when a cybersportsman managed to develop his business to such a level”, but at the same time you tried to create and promote your own brand – developing your website, communities, steaming. Why was it not successful?
OK, step by step. First – Fatality didn’t develop his business himself. He was offered cooperation and big investments and he agreed. 90% of all business of his company is done by other people using his reputation. His market success is a huge marketing and branding tool that shows him as a champion in many games. He may be the one in Predator and Painkiller, but not in Quake3/Quake4/CS/DOOM3 for sure. When 99% of professional opponents are playing other disciplines you can always use it to win (smiling). When the world’s top sportsmen are preparing for the winter Olympics, the world championships are won by completely different people. If he participated in current QL championships we wouldn’t give him a chance. No doubt he’s a talented and charismatic person, but he’s not the best. I’d like to notice though that my attitude toward him is very positive.
Second – I wasn’t trying to create my own brand. I was not developing a website, communities, I wasn’t streaming. If you want to make a decent profit on it you will need serious investments and a product that is in popular demand. And what is that product in my case? Streams? A website? Communities? That’s why there was no success (laughing).
Currently I’m co-operating with ZOWIE and together we produce professional goods for top players. One of the best world aimers (PURRI, SPAWN, PAVEL, NEO, DOSIA, HEATON, SPARTIE, ZERO4!!!, COOLLER, TAZ, SNAX, BYALI and many others) chose ZOWIE on their own initiative, which means a lot. I’m planning to develop myself in this field and hopefully I’ll get some good results. We’ve recently announced a new gaming mouse ZOWIE eVo CL which is available for everyonr who wants it. I don’t want anyone to take my words as a commercial, I’m just saying and I’m not making anyone do anything.
Is it better for pro-beginners to join a stable company (for example – mousesports) or to go Fatality’s way? Today there’s a company promoting players – eMG. Have you heard anything about it? Have you thought of signing a contract and relying on professionals?
Pro-beginners should show their results and then pick anything from available options. And before that they should do everything to show the results. When I was 15 I had only one thought – a dream to become a champion and to beat ZERO4 (he was the coolest in Quake 3 at that time). At the age of 16, I won WCG 2002 Russia, though nobody considered me even as a top 3 candidate (I was a dark horse (smiling)). Then ironically the group seeds on WCG 2002 let me fight against z4 and now you know what happened. Unfortunately I was very unlucky with the map draws during the play-offs (there were no tosses, the maps were randomly picked for every round, which was very stupid in my opinion). But all uNkind’s rounds were played on his two best maps (ztn and tourney4). So in my first world championship I got to top8 and took gold in tdm 2x2. I think it was 2002 when our country took the first place in medals and I’m glad that I with Death and uNkind humbly contributed to it. Later I won QLAN 2003, ESWC 2003, WCG Russia 2003 and a couple of small championships. In autumn of 2003 I was flooded by offers including ones from SK and fnatic. The only thing I could do was to choose the most interesting one and I picked MOUSESPORTS for my best.
I’ve never heard anything about eMG, so I have nothing to say about it. I’ve already signed a contract and trusted to ZOWIE, so I’m not considering any offers at this point. In fact I’m not that close to “cybersport” to make it really important to me. Now it’s a completely different life episode and I’m not worried with the activity of Quake competitions that my winnings could depend on. Moreover, if it’s necessary I can attend any tournament at my own expense and not be worried if I show bad results. I felt very uncomfortable about it in M5.
According to the information from one portal you earned about $500.000 in your career (including money from contracts with sponsors and winnings), is that correct? Where could you invest or spend the prize money? When you played for mousesports, what quality of living could you afford according to Moscow standards?
Well yes, that’s what I got. But if you divide 500k by 120 months (10 years of a decent gaming career) you’ll get $4166 a month. It’s not that much money to show off in Moscow. Well, I always had a nice car, clothes, ability to go to an expensive restaurant, but nothing more. I didn’t have that much to invest or spend. That is exactly the illusion. If I had gotten that amount of money at one-time, I could have made something more from it just banking it for example. As a matter of fact, that money was chopped into many little pieces that were enough for only routine expenses and living. Plus inflation, taxes, courses of oil and currencies… Nevertheless, I tried to invest the largest part of my winnings to my family, so I either gave them to my parents or invested in something my family was working on.
Although if you think about it and extend my career time from the very beginning till now, it’s going to be like 15 years or 180 months at $2777 a month. This level can be reached by any young specialist in any field. The only difference is a cybersportsman has no perspectives, while a young specialist will increase his qualification and abilities, which will let him make more serious money if we’re talking about it. Now hopefully people will understand what kind of trap “cybersport” can be.
There was a story that said you called M5 “a swindle” – What caused such a sharp criticism against the company? Did you have other similar moments in your career? What must be done to prevent “swindles” by players and organizations?
It’s very simple. We had agreements and contract terms. I’m not calling it a swindle, but rather “non-compliance of contract agreements”. In fact, I didn’t get a half of what I was supposed to receive according to the contract terms. That was recorded on paper with signatures to prevent any risks to me, so that’s why I refused the most stable organization for me at that time (mousesports), which was very hard for me. As a result I was left high and dry and without mousesports. And that’s a shame.
At one time you were teaching newbies the nuts and bolts of Quake. Tell us about that experience. In your opinion, if a professional player runs his website, updates the news, streams and teaches – how much money will he be able to make? And will it be worth the time and effort?
The experience was good, but not that interesting and relevant for me to make me keep doing that. I think that success in that field depends on the popularity of the game and coach’s skill, which could determine good relevance. You need to spend a lot of effort and time to make it profitable. I don’t think you can make much money at it, though you’ll have to go all out. It will be relevant as long as the gaming discipline will be on cybersport market. Probably 5 years, no more. So it’s quite a questionable business in my opinion. I do know that good poker coaches make 300-500$ per hour. That’s impossible in cybersport.
Under what organizations’ flags would you like to play? Except 102, did you have any other offers? What opportunities for players does 102 provide?
You need to understand that organizations live due to gamers’ popularity that does advertising (the same thing can be seen in big soccer, for example). And gamers’ popularity depends on their achievements and the game’s popularity in markets. Game popularity is determined by the number of players and tournaments.
Today there are almost no competitions on quake; the community is pretty small because of that. That’s why the gamers are not that relevant. Team 102 keeps alive by enthusiasm of people’s group, and the project itself is rather amateur, so there can’t be any serious opportunities. Partial financing from COOKE’s own pocket is just enough to be acceptable (smiling). If quake was played by as many people as are in LoL or Dota, then maybe opportunities of 102 would be much better.
A flag of a company is a one thing, but what country I represent is a different one. All my achievements belong to me, the person with the Russian flag, which I’m very proud of and it doesn’t really matter what organization I am representing or will be representing. I think I’ll stay in 102 because all the members are Russian and together we win and make power in the world DUEL / TDM QuakeLive. It’s a very important aspect for me and it’s much more valuable than money.
Do you have any plans for the next version of Quake? Tell us about your activity as a Dirty Bomb tester, do you really aim at making the game playable or is it rather for money?
It’s a hard question. Depends on how popular and interesting Quake will be in the future. But again, if there is something like DOTA / LOL, I think my recourse will be enough to combine both my job and professional Quake career. But currently I don’t have any plans and I deleted dependence on cybersport from my mind a long time ago.
About Dirty Bomb. In Dirty Bomb I am responsible for in-game balance (special for Russia) and for community-management, especially cybersport part. We expect to create a nice online-shooter and make our own leagues and ranks system with LAN-finals. Today the game is under development-testing, some new content is added everyday, because in that game the developers of Splash Damage have switched from classes ordinary for that genre and focused on mercenaries. Everyone has his own equipment, special abilities and strong personality.
Your thoughts on Shootmania and the tournaments.
The product is not in my taste. Can’t tell you much about the tournaments except there have been 3-4-5 of them with small prize pools, besides it’s 3x3.
As for monetization of the project, different people are responsible for that, so I’m moved by unselfish goals only (smiling). The most important thing in the game for me is interesting competition, which defines how successful the game will be.
As far as I know, you are good at teamwork, did you think earlier about starting to play Counter-Strike 1.6? – At least for PR, like Fatality.
If I hadn’t been able to do something I was master in, I would have started to look for something I can be master in. Probably I’d have paid attention to CS. It happened as it happened. Teamwork has a very important advantage – collective actions add interest, zeal. The whole process gets funnier, which you should use and be inspired with. As for the rest it loses in all aspects. I started from teamplay and it felt very bad when I was losing because of weak teammates. After that we had disputes, insults and that kind of shit. And then after I left to a stronger team to make my own progress they called me a traitor (laughing).
I think I have quite enough PR myself to go to CS for that. Fat doesn’t have any achievements in CS, he has shown his level but not his achievements (IMO). Obviously I could have shown my level in CS too if I had spared no effort. “A talented person is talented in everything”. When I started to play, I was a member of two teams at the same time: the first one of Quake (1x1, 2x2, 4x4), the second – of CS (5x5). My CS teammates were: HOST, who played later in forZe with Xenitron; BLINSTON, who now works in mail.ru on Warface project.
How about that kind of PR (smiling)?
What are your plans for life and cybersport in 2014? Are you thinking of visiting QuakeCon in Dallas?
I’d like to run DirtyBomb project in 2014. I’ll keep an eye on Winter Olympics and our national team. Especially we will wait for biathlon. There is a man Ole Einar Bjørndalen, he’s 40 and he owns 20-30 year old guys. To my knowledge he wants to win another Olympic medal and finally finish his history. (HE MADE IT!!!! GRATZ!!!) And also there is a very progressive Frenchman who looks like Strenx so much. (TWO TIMES OLIMPYC CHAMP!!! GRATZ!!!) I heard that StarLadder was going to add QL to the list of disciplines. I’d like to play in their leagues… I’ll visit DreamHack in Moscow for sure if there’s QL there, but as for QuakeCon – can’t tell you much. If the flight didn’t take that much time, I’d go 100%, especially because I can compete with the world’s top players and I have good chances. I’ve started feeling bad about air transport lately and I’d like to avoid flying. One day my wife and I were flying to Turkey to rest and we felt the “ecstasy” of free fall of the plane for 10-15 seconds. After that I feel panicky when I see an airplane.
Have you ever lost your match on purpose in cybersport? Have you heard about such things?
One day I gave my win to Av3k on IEM EuroFinals. He was very unlucky with the first spawn, I took control of the whole map and started to dominate. He got very upset and started to kind of whine. (EVERYONE knows bad spawns can happen). I restarted the map and lost. I was playing to win but my mood was already screwed up and I didn’t play the best game in my life. But I don’t regret it.
I heard there has been a totalizator. And I heard that people bet on their own losses and loose to get the winnings in the totalizator. Everyone has known about match fixing in real sport for a long time. The same will be in cybersport while there is betting for real money. That’s nothing new.
What do you think of criticism to you? Does it happen that it drives you crazy?
I feel absolutely ok about it if the criticism is reasonable and makes sense. I think that criticism can specifically disturb anyone’s comfort zone. Important things are who is criticizing, under what circumstances it’s being done and how we react to it. If I’m told that I am “a bad guy because I breathe wrong”, I’ll be inclined to laughter and aggression simultaneously (smiling). And if someone says I am “a bad aimer”, I’ll agree, because my main weapon is understanding my opponent’s game, although I think my aim is not bad.
How did you struggle against game recession?
I tried many methods. In the beginning I thought that the key to success was intensity and quantity of training and I was training a lot before competitions. Then I thought that I could achieve something only for a limited period of time because of waning abilities that were being diminished because of my age, which made me let down. But it turned out to be easier. It all depends on what mindset I have. If I aim at something like “I can be the best in the World” which I must really believe in, then everything goes the right way. People usually consider goals and dreams as something impossible. And you should do that the other way – to consider impossibility as goals and dreams. I hope you’ll understand me. Of course it doesn’t mean that I’ll just put my mouse and mousepad in my bag and go for a win, you can’t win without a war…
How often do you attend a gym? What program do you use for your training? Do you have any idol among bodybuilders?
I don’t have problems with frequency of my visits. I have a problem with my motivation. I think a lot people face that. I don’t have any problems with fat, so the main question is if I want big muscles. I’m slim by default (thanks to my genes) and “looking cool with muscles” is not always necessary and important in my life. That’s way I interrupt my training for long terms to make myself “want to come back”. If a human wants something he will aim at it, but if he doesn’t, he’ll fail. It’s hard to always make yourself eat specific food, go to bed in time etc, and these are key moments.
My training programs are pretty standard. I usually work out 3 times a week with no fanaticism. Bodybuilding is a competition which is too serious and I can’t say that I’m very impressed by muscles of that size. Fitness is better for me. Can’t say I have any idols in this field, but there are some people that have a similar point of view of how a body should look like. Dmitriy Yashankin, Viktor Simkin (from Yashankin Team).
A Swedish team NiP has released an interesting project – “NiPShow”. Have you ever thought about making a movie or a film about yourself?
What for? It must make some sense. Either commercial or creative. I don’t have goals to become more popular or cooler. If I’m cool - I’m cool and I have no need to show it or prove it to anyone. I’d rather prefer people to make their own conclusions. Although you can’t forget about ambitions and it’s hard to stop them, but they get weaker as you get older. I guess mine have gotten so.
I think NiP has rather a commercial goal to attract more attention and monetize that. And you can’t deny the fact that GeT_RiGhT gets very inspired by lots of attention and then he inclines the team to win with that… That’s how it works (smiling).
Did you use any flash-apps to improve your reaction?
Nope. I have a lion sign of zodiac and tiger year of born. Cats have always had good reaction by nature (smiling). Just kidding.
You’re always trying to say something about inexpediency of cybersport, so what would you recommend to the young generation, what could they do and what skills could they get and use in their life? Do you regret losing school lessons?
No, I’m trying to inform people about irrationality of cybersport, when irrationality means an irrational attitude to it, you got the point?
There are good things in cybersport, but there are too many negative ones. I can’t advise what to do, it’s too individual. Finding yourself in life is a very important success that doesn’t come to everyone. So you need to start with “what preferences do the young cybers have”, let them ask that question themselves. Because the main achievements come to a person that does what he likes the most. But if the only thought that you have in your mind is “to punish on the middle with my gut feeling” then you should just play and enjoy, what else you can do… (smiling).
I’d recommend developing the skills that will be useful in your life always and everywhere. Such as assiduity, perseverance, reflection and analysis, psychological aspects, emotional stability and control over your behavior, positive mood. Professional cybersport gives all that and many other things.
Would you like to go back to the past to get that knowledge?
I’d like to go back to the past to get MUCH MORE KNOWLEDGE.
Tell us the most exciting story about skipping school lessons.
I almost never skipped my school lessons, but one day, when I was doing exactly that, I raised my eyes after another bad word towards my opponent in a computer club and saw my father. And than there was some excitement… (laughing).
Tell us about your fan-zone, have you had any incredible cases? Do you meet with your fans?
It’s quite banal. I usually speak to all comers if I have time and interest. If someone asks me something like “How did you learn to play that well?” – he goes to a trash can immediately. I speak a lot in the Internet and social networks. I’d like to note that there are many people developed in different spheres, which is very good.
I don’t meet with my fans, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. And besides there aren’t that many fans to make press-conferences or something like that.
One day I came to Bank to pay for my public utilities and an employee put a piece of paper into a small window with an offer of giving him an autograph (smiling). Well, that’s something too ordinary in my opinion.
Do you store devices somewhere after winning them?
I supply my entire neighborhood with them. There’s already a queue for them (smiling).
And finally: when will the community see your new developments in the sphere of peripheral devices?
As I said before, a ZOWIE eVo CL mouse has already been developed and available to all the dealers of the Grafitec Company in CIS. Currently we cooperate very well, so we are releasing COOLLER MOUSEPAD very soon. I’d like to thank everyone for their support and feedbacks that I receive.
I’d like to thank Virtus.pro portal for interviewing me.
Hello everyone, the question is not reasonable at all (laughing)! First of all, I wasn’t leaving anything and I’m not coming back anywhere. Is this some sort of a circle or a hobby group? People may leave home in the morning and come back in the evening.
This “occupation” is what I either do or not do. Either seriously or so-so. So far my activity in “cybersport” has been 5 hours of playing quakelive “for fun” for the last two months. Before that I played 125fps and FACEIT tournaments in the evenings. Last autumn I had an offer to visit a 4x4 championship to replace the 4th player in 102 team and I accepted it, because the spirit of competitions and teamplay has always been with me and also kicking some asses for motherrussia is not a big deal (smiling). We trained for a couple of weeks and won. Well-deserved. I give my personal respect to all the members of 102 for that unforgettable event. I used to be more active, because I considered earnings with $/hour formula more profitable. Cybersportsmen’s salaries and earnings are very distorted and pretended. Although soccer players and racing drivers of Formula-1 can provide several successive generations with money in their 5-10 year careers.
Second of all, I expressed my opinion based on my personal experience and conclusions. I’m not forcing my thoughts on anyone, so let everyone decide for himself. Wasn’t it an interview after all? And there’s no need to criticize me, I’m not taking my words back. If people don’t understand what I say they will grow up soon and get the point (smiling). By the way, I’ve recently watched an amateur show hosted by Ivan Demidov (SK-Soul). He compared poker and “cybersport” and made a conclusion that poker’s got 95% losers and 5% winners, while cybersport is in even worse shape – 99.9% of players lose their time and money and get beaten with a 2:0 score! I think I agree with him. Nobody made him say that. The guy went through it all himself.
Actually everything has its own pluses and minuses, material and non-material values. So if we look at the subject from that perspective, here’s what we have: I got a chance to see the world, make some money and meet different people, tried to develop myself and reach my goals. It was a type of education and forming good character and skills.
As for the rest, all these words like “cybersport”, “contracts”, “teams”, “competitions”, “disciplines”, “batriders”, “gyrocopters” – they are all terminology rather than reality. And that terminology is mainly for those who make it profitable to earn some money and to make it larger. “And what about The International” – the question is - “there are millions of dollars out there, aren’t there?”. Well yes, there are, but those who give these millions make tens of millions on us (haven’t you bought a postman in dota and gave 30% to the prize pool?), so everyone will follow the dream – to play dota and win instead of reading literature and developing your talents in more perspective occupations, efficiency factor of which will give you much more IN PERSPECTIVE. And there is also a small nuance meaning that, for example, a billion of people dream, but the prize pool goes to a few teams with 50 members in total. That is exactly that 0.01% I told about earlier. And no, I’m not urging everyone to refuse computer games and this sort of hobbies at all, I’m just recommending to be more rational and careful with games, not to lose your mind shirking school and forgetting about your own development. The perfect combination is to extend your knowledge and to be on top in games.
You were driving a Ferrari on the day of your marriage. Did you borrow the car or was it your own? How do you like being a husband? Do you have any problems in your family life? What did your wife’s relatives think of your achievements in cybersport? Does anyone in your workplace know you’re a legend of quake?
Cooller: Yeah, that was my Ferrari. I bought it with my quake winnings (laughing). No, actually that Ferrari belongs to a friend of mine. And he actually did the right things instead of taking part in cybersport, I can tell, though we played UltimaOnline a lot in our time (smiling). So when I came out the house he handed me the key and said “today it’s your transport”. And that was quite a surprise.
Then we are coming back to the question of rationality and everyone’s personal choice. Everything has its pluses and minuses. There are more pluses and stability in my family life, there are some minuses though, which, I think, everybody will agree with. Life is actually not really different, you just have a decent teammate (laughing). So I think this is a good thing overall, but, once again, I’m not urging or imposing on anyone.
I’ve never tried to reach any status or authority with my quake achievements. In fact, I usually hide it and prefer anyone not to know about it in most cases. It’s easier for me – that’s the kind of person I am.
Of course people at work know of my accomplishments for the motherland (smiling), but that is rather because the field is close – games development and operation, that kind of stuff. At the moment we are working on some very expensive and essential product www.dirtybomb.ru, which, I hope, will be successfully released. I’d like to succeed in this.
Why did you let your brother be your manager? – He has a medical education. Tell us about his influence on your career; his support; duties; any special program or methods of how not to overload you with hard training.
Is being a doctor a panacea? It doesn’t mean that the man and his abilities cannot be all-round, does it? There’s no connection between being a doctor and a manager. He’s a true fan of my game so he takes every opportunity to watch it or to be involved. Besides, he’s a true patriot and loves quake and he goes to championships mostly as a pro-fan and for support. And I’d like to note that several titles were taken because of his knowledge of how human’s biological processes work, so a couple of chocolates with hot tea and lemon were eaten and drunk at the right moment, the same as a decent dinner with chicken (smiling). As I said before, everybody has his secrets or methods of winning. Someone always keeps a can of redbull during competitions, some people meditate and pray. All is fair, you know.
Plus, real support at the right time is always important and deserves credit. When you have it and feel it, the results will definitely be better. And it doesn’t matter if it’s right behind your back or thousands of kilometers away. Special programs and activity? – it’s my own responsibility, nobody can work on it except me.
Then maybe professional teams need to think about having that kind of doctor in their squad, what do you think?
Cooller: It may be worth it, but I don’t think anyone has every thought about it. To be honest I doubt that cybersport will reach the level where teams will start adding medical assistance. And what’s more, it’s more useful for physical aspects rather then psychological ones which are more important in our field. I think at this point players can use ordinary helpers: caffeine, glucose, vitamins, extracts.
You said about Fatality “It’s the only and exclusive case when a cybersportsman managed to develop his business to such a level”, but at the same time you tried to create and promote your own brand – developing your website, communities, steaming. Why was it not successful?
OK, step by step. First – Fatality didn’t develop his business himself. He was offered cooperation and big investments and he agreed. 90% of all business of his company is done by other people using his reputation. His market success is a huge marketing and branding tool that shows him as a champion in many games. He may be the one in Predator and Painkiller, but not in Quake3/Quake4/CS/DOOM3 for sure. When 99% of professional opponents are playing other disciplines you can always use it to win (smiling). When the world’s top sportsmen are preparing for the winter Olympics, the world championships are won by completely different people. If he participated in current QL championships we wouldn’t give him a chance. No doubt he’s a talented and charismatic person, but he’s not the best. I’d like to notice though that my attitude toward him is very positive.
Second – I wasn’t trying to create my own brand. I was not developing a website, communities, I wasn’t streaming. If you want to make a decent profit on it you will need serious investments and a product that is in popular demand. And what is that product in my case? Streams? A website? Communities? That’s why there was no success (laughing).
Currently I’m co-operating with ZOWIE and together we produce professional goods for top players. One of the best world aimers (PURRI, SPAWN, PAVEL, NEO, DOSIA, HEATON, SPARTIE, ZERO4!!!, COOLLER, TAZ, SNAX, BYALI and many others) chose ZOWIE on their own initiative, which means a lot. I’m planning to develop myself in this field and hopefully I’ll get some good results. We’ve recently announced a new gaming mouse ZOWIE eVo CL which is available for everyonr who wants it. I don’t want anyone to take my words as a commercial, I’m just saying and I’m not making anyone do anything.
Is it better for pro-beginners to join a stable company (for example – mousesports) or to go Fatality’s way? Today there’s a company promoting players – eMG. Have you heard anything about it? Have you thought of signing a contract and relying on professionals?
Pro-beginners should show their results and then pick anything from available options. And before that they should do everything to show the results. When I was 15 I had only one thought – a dream to become a champion and to beat ZERO4 (he was the coolest in Quake 3 at that time). At the age of 16, I won WCG 2002 Russia, though nobody considered me even as a top 3 candidate (I was a dark horse (smiling)). Then ironically the group seeds on WCG 2002 let me fight against z4 and now you know what happened. Unfortunately I was very unlucky with the map draws during the play-offs (there were no tosses, the maps were randomly picked for every round, which was very stupid in my opinion). But all uNkind’s rounds were played on his two best maps (ztn and tourney4). So in my first world championship I got to top8 and took gold in tdm 2x2. I think it was 2002 when our country took the first place in medals and I’m glad that I with Death and uNkind humbly contributed to it. Later I won QLAN 2003, ESWC 2003, WCG Russia 2003 and a couple of small championships. In autumn of 2003 I was flooded by offers including ones from SK and fnatic. The only thing I could do was to choose the most interesting one and I picked MOUSESPORTS for my best.
I’ve never heard anything about eMG, so I have nothing to say about it. I’ve already signed a contract and trusted to ZOWIE, so I’m not considering any offers at this point. In fact I’m not that close to “cybersport” to make it really important to me. Now it’s a completely different life episode and I’m not worried with the activity of Quake competitions that my winnings could depend on. Moreover, if it’s necessary I can attend any tournament at my own expense and not be worried if I show bad results. I felt very uncomfortable about it in M5.
According to the information from one portal you earned about $500.000 in your career (including money from contracts with sponsors and winnings), is that correct? Where could you invest or spend the prize money? When you played for mousesports, what quality of living could you afford according to Moscow standards?
Well yes, that’s what I got. But if you divide 500k by 120 months (10 years of a decent gaming career) you’ll get $4166 a month. It’s not that much money to show off in Moscow. Well, I always had a nice car, clothes, ability to go to an expensive restaurant, but nothing more. I didn’t have that much to invest or spend. That is exactly the illusion. If I had gotten that amount of money at one-time, I could have made something more from it just banking it for example. As a matter of fact, that money was chopped into many little pieces that were enough for only routine expenses and living. Plus inflation, taxes, courses of oil and currencies… Nevertheless, I tried to invest the largest part of my winnings to my family, so I either gave them to my parents or invested in something my family was working on.
Although if you think about it and extend my career time from the very beginning till now, it’s going to be like 15 years or 180 months at $2777 a month. This level can be reached by any young specialist in any field. The only difference is a cybersportsman has no perspectives, while a young specialist will increase his qualification and abilities, which will let him make more serious money if we’re talking about it. Now hopefully people will understand what kind of trap “cybersport” can be.
There was a story that said you called M5 “a swindle” – What caused such a sharp criticism against the company? Did you have other similar moments in your career? What must be done to prevent “swindles” by players and organizations?
It’s very simple. We had agreements and contract terms. I’m not calling it a swindle, but rather “non-compliance of contract agreements”. In fact, I didn’t get a half of what I was supposed to receive according to the contract terms. That was recorded on paper with signatures to prevent any risks to me, so that’s why I refused the most stable organization for me at that time (mousesports), which was very hard for me. As a result I was left high and dry and without mousesports. And that’s a shame.
At one time you were teaching newbies the nuts and bolts of Quake. Tell us about that experience. In your opinion, if a professional player runs his website, updates the news, streams and teaches – how much money will he be able to make? And will it be worth the time and effort?
The experience was good, but not that interesting and relevant for me to make me keep doing that. I think that success in that field depends on the popularity of the game and coach’s skill, which could determine good relevance. You need to spend a lot of effort and time to make it profitable. I don’t think you can make much money at it, though you’ll have to go all out. It will be relevant as long as the gaming discipline will be on cybersport market. Probably 5 years, no more. So it’s quite a questionable business in my opinion. I do know that good poker coaches make 300-500$ per hour. That’s impossible in cybersport.
Under what organizations’ flags would you like to play? Except 102, did you have any other offers? What opportunities for players does 102 provide?
You need to understand that organizations live due to gamers’ popularity that does advertising (the same thing can be seen in big soccer, for example). And gamers’ popularity depends on their achievements and the game’s popularity in markets. Game popularity is determined by the number of players and tournaments.
Today there are almost no competitions on quake; the community is pretty small because of that. That’s why the gamers are not that relevant. Team 102 keeps alive by enthusiasm of people’s group, and the project itself is rather amateur, so there can’t be any serious opportunities. Partial financing from COOKE’s own pocket is just enough to be acceptable (smiling). If quake was played by as many people as are in LoL or Dota, then maybe opportunities of 102 would be much better.
A flag of a company is a one thing, but what country I represent is a different one. All my achievements belong to me, the person with the Russian flag, which I’m very proud of and it doesn’t really matter what organization I am representing or will be representing. I think I’ll stay in 102 because all the members are Russian and together we win and make power in the world DUEL / TDM QuakeLive. It’s a very important aspect for me and it’s much more valuable than money.
Do you have any plans for the next version of Quake? Tell us about your activity as a Dirty Bomb tester, do you really aim at making the game playable or is it rather for money?
It’s a hard question. Depends on how popular and interesting Quake will be in the future. But again, if there is something like DOTA / LOL, I think my recourse will be enough to combine both my job and professional Quake career. But currently I don’t have any plans and I deleted dependence on cybersport from my mind a long time ago.
About Dirty Bomb. In Dirty Bomb I am responsible for in-game balance (special for Russia) and for community-management, especially cybersport part. We expect to create a nice online-shooter and make our own leagues and ranks system with LAN-finals. Today the game is under development-testing, some new content is added everyday, because in that game the developers of Splash Damage have switched from classes ordinary for that genre and focused on mercenaries. Everyone has his own equipment, special abilities and strong personality.
Your thoughts on Shootmania and the tournaments.
The product is not in my taste. Can’t tell you much about the tournaments except there have been 3-4-5 of them with small prize pools, besides it’s 3x3.
As for monetization of the project, different people are responsible for that, so I’m moved by unselfish goals only (smiling). The most important thing in the game for me is interesting competition, which defines how successful the game will be.
As far as I know, you are good at teamwork, did you think earlier about starting to play Counter-Strike 1.6? – At least for PR, like Fatality.
If I hadn’t been able to do something I was master in, I would have started to look for something I can be master in. Probably I’d have paid attention to CS. It happened as it happened. Teamwork has a very important advantage – collective actions add interest, zeal. The whole process gets funnier, which you should use and be inspired with. As for the rest it loses in all aspects. I started from teamplay and it felt very bad when I was losing because of weak teammates. After that we had disputes, insults and that kind of shit. And then after I left to a stronger team to make my own progress they called me a traitor (laughing).
I think I have quite enough PR myself to go to CS for that. Fat doesn’t have any achievements in CS, he has shown his level but not his achievements (IMO). Obviously I could have shown my level in CS too if I had spared no effort. “A talented person is talented in everything”. When I started to play, I was a member of two teams at the same time: the first one of Quake (1x1, 2x2, 4x4), the second – of CS (5x5). My CS teammates were: HOST, who played later in forZe with Xenitron; BLINSTON, who now works in mail.ru on Warface project.
How about that kind of PR (smiling)?
What are your plans for life and cybersport in 2014? Are you thinking of visiting QuakeCon in Dallas?
I’d like to run DirtyBomb project in 2014. I’ll keep an eye on Winter Olympics and our national team. Especially we will wait for biathlon. There is a man Ole Einar Bjørndalen, he’s 40 and he owns 20-30 year old guys. To my knowledge he wants to win another Olympic medal and finally finish his history. (HE MADE IT!!!! GRATZ!!!) And also there is a very progressive Frenchman who looks like Strenx so much. (TWO TIMES OLIMPYC CHAMP!!! GRATZ!!!) I heard that StarLadder was going to add QL to the list of disciplines. I’d like to play in their leagues… I’ll visit DreamHack in Moscow for sure if there’s QL there, but as for QuakeCon – can’t tell you much. If the flight didn’t take that much time, I’d go 100%, especially because I can compete with the world’s top players and I have good chances. I’ve started feeling bad about air transport lately and I’d like to avoid flying. One day my wife and I were flying to Turkey to rest and we felt the “ecstasy” of free fall of the plane for 10-15 seconds. After that I feel panicky when I see an airplane.
Have you ever lost your match on purpose in cybersport? Have you heard about such things?
One day I gave my win to Av3k on IEM EuroFinals. He was very unlucky with the first spawn, I took control of the whole map and started to dominate. He got very upset and started to kind of whine. (EVERYONE knows bad spawns can happen). I restarted the map and lost. I was playing to win but my mood was already screwed up and I didn’t play the best game in my life. But I don’t regret it.
I heard there has been a totalizator. And I heard that people bet on their own losses and loose to get the winnings in the totalizator. Everyone has known about match fixing in real sport for a long time. The same will be in cybersport while there is betting for real money. That’s nothing new.
What do you think of criticism to you? Does it happen that it drives you crazy?
I feel absolutely ok about it if the criticism is reasonable and makes sense. I think that criticism can specifically disturb anyone’s comfort zone. Important things are who is criticizing, under what circumstances it’s being done and how we react to it. If I’m told that I am “a bad guy because I breathe wrong”, I’ll be inclined to laughter and aggression simultaneously (smiling). And if someone says I am “a bad aimer”, I’ll agree, because my main weapon is understanding my opponent’s game, although I think my aim is not bad.
How did you struggle against game recession?
I tried many methods. In the beginning I thought that the key to success was intensity and quantity of training and I was training a lot before competitions. Then I thought that I could achieve something only for a limited period of time because of waning abilities that were being diminished because of my age, which made me let down. But it turned out to be easier. It all depends on what mindset I have. If I aim at something like “I can be the best in the World” which I must really believe in, then everything goes the right way. People usually consider goals and dreams as something impossible. And you should do that the other way – to consider impossibility as goals and dreams. I hope you’ll understand me. Of course it doesn’t mean that I’ll just put my mouse and mousepad in my bag and go for a win, you can’t win without a war…
How often do you attend a gym? What program do you use for your training? Do you have any idol among bodybuilders?
I don’t have problems with frequency of my visits. I have a problem with my motivation. I think a lot people face that. I don’t have any problems with fat, so the main question is if I want big muscles. I’m slim by default (thanks to my genes) and “looking cool with muscles” is not always necessary and important in my life. That’s way I interrupt my training for long terms to make myself “want to come back”. If a human wants something he will aim at it, but if he doesn’t, he’ll fail. It’s hard to always make yourself eat specific food, go to bed in time etc, and these are key moments.
My training programs are pretty standard. I usually work out 3 times a week with no fanaticism. Bodybuilding is a competition which is too serious and I can’t say that I’m very impressed by muscles of that size. Fitness is better for me. Can’t say I have any idols in this field, but there are some people that have a similar point of view of how a body should look like. Dmitriy Yashankin, Viktor Simkin (from Yashankin Team).
A Swedish team NiP has released an interesting project – “NiPShow”. Have you ever thought about making a movie or a film about yourself?
What for? It must make some sense. Either commercial or creative. I don’t have goals to become more popular or cooler. If I’m cool - I’m cool and I have no need to show it or prove it to anyone. I’d rather prefer people to make their own conclusions. Although you can’t forget about ambitions and it’s hard to stop them, but they get weaker as you get older. I guess mine have gotten so.
I think NiP has rather a commercial goal to attract more attention and monetize that. And you can’t deny the fact that GeT_RiGhT gets very inspired by lots of attention and then he inclines the team to win with that… That’s how it works (smiling).
Did you use any flash-apps to improve your reaction?
Nope. I have a lion sign of zodiac and tiger year of born. Cats have always had good reaction by nature (smiling). Just kidding.
You’re always trying to say something about inexpediency of cybersport, so what would you recommend to the young generation, what could they do and what skills could they get and use in their life? Do you regret losing school lessons?
No, I’m trying to inform people about irrationality of cybersport, when irrationality means an irrational attitude to it, you got the point?
There are good things in cybersport, but there are too many negative ones. I can’t advise what to do, it’s too individual. Finding yourself in life is a very important success that doesn’t come to everyone. So you need to start with “what preferences do the young cybers have”, let them ask that question themselves. Because the main achievements come to a person that does what he likes the most. But if the only thought that you have in your mind is “to punish on the middle with my gut feeling” then you should just play and enjoy, what else you can do… (smiling).
I’d recommend developing the skills that will be useful in your life always and everywhere. Such as assiduity, perseverance, reflection and analysis, psychological aspects, emotional stability and control over your behavior, positive mood. Professional cybersport gives all that and many other things.
Would you like to go back to the past to get that knowledge?
I’d like to go back to the past to get MUCH MORE KNOWLEDGE.
Tell us the most exciting story about skipping school lessons.
I almost never skipped my school lessons, but one day, when I was doing exactly that, I raised my eyes after another bad word towards my opponent in a computer club and saw my father. And than there was some excitement… (laughing).
Tell us about your fan-zone, have you had any incredible cases? Do you meet with your fans?
It’s quite banal. I usually speak to all comers if I have time and interest. If someone asks me something like “How did you learn to play that well?” – he goes to a trash can immediately. I speak a lot in the Internet and social networks. I’d like to note that there are many people developed in different spheres, which is very good.
I don’t meet with my fans, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. And besides there aren’t that many fans to make press-conferences or something like that.
One day I came to Bank to pay for my public utilities and an employee put a piece of paper into a small window with an offer of giving him an autograph (smiling). Well, that’s something too ordinary in my opinion.
Do you store devices somewhere after winning them?
I supply my entire neighborhood with them. There’s already a queue for them (smiling).
And finally: when will the community see your new developments in the sphere of peripheral devices?
As I said before, a ZOWIE eVo CL mouse has already been developed and available to all the dealers of the Grafitec Company in CIS. Currently we cooperate very well, so we are releasing COOLLER MOUSEPAD very soon. I’d like to thank everyone for their support and feedbacks that I receive.
I’d like to thank Virtus.pro portal for interviewing me.