last 5 min of interview - conclusions: cooller is not happy ,becose he is from mascow and in moscow there is a lot of millionares and badass-rich people. Being an esports-icon doesn't help him to be a millionare. If he would spend time in other way, he thinks he could earn a friends who would help him to get a "way" to real richness. Atm he is mid moscow guy and not elitist badass-rich madafaka.
It's that time of his life, though he is not getting the whole picture. Doesn't he co-own a bmw dealership? Without his e-sports earnings (or rather cut them to half because *e-sports*) he won't have that at 26 years old, and his fame could get him some deals in the future. Plus he met some friends (and razer girls) there but seems like he doesn't appreciate jibo enough lol.
And he'll surpass roman abramovich anyway. He's cooller.
Edited by megaman3 at 13:06 CDT, 24 September 2012
what he probably means is that if hed spend all that time and effort on smth else hed be much further in life by now - which is hard to argue with considering how quake turned out. on the contrary there isnt much people who had 6 figures before the age of 20, although i have no idea how long that money gets you in moscow.
coffe cup cost 10$ in moscow everage, so his earned money in moscow is a joke. and you are to young or you don't get the point, what realy people are thinking. telling " I like you" , doesn't always means that this guys likes you for real.
and don't get me wrong, to be average in moscow is more then OK!
and you are to young or you don't get the point, what realy people are thinking. telling " I like you" , doesn't always means that this guys likes you for real.
well im 25, but for example dont get the point in this =) what u trying to say?
I was thinking something more along the lines of how a russian accent would pronounce the word... not picking on him for a spelling mistake, just an unintentional pun. ( of sorts. )
Or how about simply the combination of an upcoming marriage, the self-reflection of his accomplishments, his ambitions and his age all worked together for him to come to the judgement that it's time to move on to a different stage in his life. A few months pass and this brings us to the interview here.
Czm didn't accidentally pursue a career in academia due to jealousy of everyone with a PhD, Thresh didn't venture into creating gaming-oriented businesses out of spite towards Bill Gates, and lexer didn't become a surfing instructor in Bali out of fear and loathing of surfer movies, they all just followed their ambitions, that's all.
It's easier to read between the lines in your statements in this thread, than in the COOLLER interview by the way c:
There was an interview with Lexer on a Russian gaming portal, circa 2010. He moved to Indonesia, and became a self-employed surfing instructor for tourists
(afaik Rat from CPM also moved to do a similar leisure and tourism career, but in Turkey (the second one is more of a rumour though))
my english is to poor to get real point of your reply. don't get me wrong, I am not saying cooller is a noob and so on. even i know i don't like him, I can say he is a great guy overal with ambitions and ego as you told, thats good , you need that to get good in a life. just 3/4 interview about past he talks with fire in his eyes (you can clearly see what) and last 5 mins he talks with an little angry , so you need to "read between lines", I maybe red it a bit not corectly, but in good direction I am sure.
How do you know? Could you translate some interesting parts so we can all 'read between the lines'?
I've seen Cooller itw before, and he seemed a bit obsessed with money.
Plus I remembered he said a few years before retiring he was only playing Quake for money.
At the "ZSSR" times there was only ideology, now Russian people have everything except ideology, most of them don't believe in nothing. No surprise that there is new god for them: money.
i am living in russia, there is no such thing like a money fixation. with a little, but bright standing out exceptions. you better check your sources. don't know why you are thinking that somewhere people are too different from anyone on earth.
the trick is not to care about if somebody "likes" you or not.
and if you need money to have friends or to feel good or feel better than "average", you are a fool.
About memorable victories or events. Refused to name any, saying that each moment or event stood out for him in different ways. Mentioned that he was going to cheat about his age to get into WCG 2001, but some people stopped him for "personal reasons". Mentioned that his first ever tournament was in St. Petersburg where he placed 4th along names like LeXeR and felt really pleased about it.
About motivation. He found himself most motivated at times when he was close to winning but lost, he wanted to prove he could still win in future. But he was motivated to keep his status as a winner after winning, too. Expressed bewilderment about players who win once and lose their passion about winning.
About sponsors. The only real sponsor he worked with was Mousesports, all others were a joke. M5 promised him a lot, but didn't keep their promises. Expressed frustration with all Russian teams in general: they "talk big", but that's about it.
About quake and how useful it can be for life. It can't be, quake skills aren't transferrable to real life. Quake contacts aren't transferrable, either, he didn't manage to make close friends in quake community. He doesn't regret his quake past, but realizes that he could've been doing other things instead that would pertain more to his real life and future. The interviewer hinted at how quake victories could show that one can be victorious in real life, too, and he agreed that in some sense his quake past is inspiring.
About the future of esports. It has no brilliant future, according to him, otherwise it would've already gone big.
Expecting your Quake career to help you irl is naive, I don't get how players can think they're gonna make a real living out of gaming.
It's a dead-end. Very few actually make it.
Find a job that allows you to take enough time to practice before events (it's not that hard honestly if you really wanna have that life), so you have a normal life and don't risk to find yourself lost like Cooller seems to be atm.
Plus sponsors always fuck players over, so really money and gaming don't get along at all.
I think it's ok to be fanatical about a game. Nobody in their teens understands adult life or plans for it, people at that age do what they want. It's the only stage in life with enough free time to be fanatical about something.
The issue is when you realize that real life is not the way you imagined, that it revolves around earning a living, and that your free time is scarce. If it's 20-22 it's ok, nobody realizes it sooner. If it's 25-27 you're going to feel like you're lost years of your life, that you should've realized everything sooner and should've acted differently.
I believe this realization is a normal moment in life that has two age-dependant outcomes, and you're either lucky or unlucky. And then at 26-27 people always find themselves in turmoil about career and family and worry a lot. Nothing is reliable and stable yet.
" About the future of esports. It has no brilliant future, according to him, otherwise it would've already gone big ".
not sure there is no brilliant future for esport but at least we can all admit it feels like a never ending beta (starcraft excepted maybe)
Its not just quake guy. PC gaming in general is still dying. Deader then its ever been since the 90s. Since Big companies started abandoning the pc in 2005. A Steady decline...just like quake... which is just a microcosm of pc gaming in general.
only rpg games like wow or LoL and Sc2 are popular. But they still haven't stopped the general decline. Most people have moved to consoles.
that is until these lame hackers also take over console gaming. Right now in PC fps games....they are the only communities. These hackers are the only ones buying games......
Hacker communities are the only reason quake is even alive. They are the only ones that buy the game dude.
People who actually respect the game and take it as serious as a pro athetlic sports or like chess or poker....are almost non existent. So therefore society will not respect it. And this seems to only be getting worse.
look at this forum. When i call quake a sport i get made fun of and demeaned. I get told its only a game. Meanwhile professions althletic sports provied millions of jobs around the nation and saves lives. Fuck you nerds.
Ironic as it is, we are in the information age, the age of aquarius, where social networks like facebook are changing earth. But at the same time E-sports are less popular.....fkn ironic.
I guess thats why i always get the, its just a game response when it comes to video games and hackers...theres no revolution here...hackers run free..noone cares. Even you nerds pretending in this thread don't care......or else how could u even ask the question why Cooller is leaving. and companies like ID feel there is nothing that can be done or they are too afraid to try. And this doesn't look like it will change in the next 20 years even.....Hopefully they can surive making single player console games.........Until it becomes as easy to bootleg on consoles too.....then maybe we see a revolution against the hackers.
this is awesome, but it'd be better if someone did like a sick hour long interview w/ cooller with subtitles and everything, possibly having community questions or smth.
They kept him waiting for hours for his match, inconvenienced him a good deal for whatever reason, I don't really know how legitimate his complaint is, so don't quote me.
So in all his games, he kept on spamming a nasty phrase directed at the faceit staff, in russian of course. Apparently it took them a while to translate it, and when they discerned it's true meaning, warned him several times to stop. Which, like a champ, he didn't.
He was then kicked midgame for it. Which I thought was totally fucked. He was killing it, so they decided to unfairly punish him...
Bummer!
and lemme just add. relations with Russia in general are getting worse. Hackers ruining quake are a good example as to why ...hahahaha
also look at these guys... these guys are constantly snorting their nose up in the air. Such a fkn arrogant presence. It makes you def not trust either of them. In fact i kind of want to beat them up. I bet the interviwer runs a sleezy hostel with prostitutes. haha
I always say take the game seriously....but these guys are a little too serious. Who wants to sponsor this arrogant unfriendly asshole. can someone pull that stick out of his ass.
I bet they went to go steal some Americans credit card after the interview.
He's wrong about the skills not transferring. There are lessons to be learned in any sport. Sport should serve as a simplified environment in which one tests and develops skills that they use in the real world. It's because of that that Quake has helped to make him who he is, whether he likes it or not. If he hasn't kept any of the friends/acquaintances he made in the sport then that's a personal issue.
However I think his negative comments about esports are a fair warning. It is well and truly a pipe dream to throw 100% of your time and energy into any such activity. Too many young people get sucked into it and find nothing in the end. It's important to have diversity and to plan ahead.
How you see the World is up to the experiences you have. If you talk like 5 hrs with the ambassador of Death your life can change radically. For human individuals games are the same like for little lions. Prepare for life. Anton is an intelligent guy so thats why he understands after he looked around what is the function of time. Part of lifetime. Even if hes master of timing. Hes leaving is a complex of reasons. This is just one of them.