The truth about r0y

The first steps in the World of CS

Roy with Nostra (ELC-crew)

Let’s go cliché. A lot of the ‘pro gamers’ got introduced to the game by a friend. Now, that friend already stopped for quite a while but the other is still hooked. How did it all start for you?
I’ve told you before, when I was younger I didn’t do the things I was supposed to do; so you didn’t find me at school very often. I rather hung out with friends and do some bad things in the neighborhood. Young and innocently, we thought the world was ours as 16-year-old kids.

At that time, one of my friends played a lot of Counter-Strike and when he invited me to drop by, I instantly got hooked. I already liked playing video games but I wasn’t lucky enough to have a computer of my own with internet. So, I went a lot to his house to play because it opened up a new world for me; playing against real people over the internet and to be able to beat those persons drove me the most to get better and better, also on the publics where I set my first footsteps.

The game Counter-Strike… What does it mean for you and what makes it so special?
At the moment, the game doesn’t mean a lot to me anymore. The only reason I’m still playing this game is because I don’t feel that I’ve achieved everything I can.

For me, Counter-Strike is special because of the competition - the level these days is really high – and the emotions you feel when you win a major game. Add the months of practice to become a structured and organized team, makes this game first-class. When you invest a lot of time and effort to become a good team and you actually achieve your aims; it will be a good lesson and experience for in the future. It’s a surplus that you know – at such age – that you’ve have to work hard to achieve a goal, even if you have to sacrifice a lot of time – time that you aren’t willingly to invest at the first moment. I think it’s a first step to maturity.

I also think the difference with what Counter-Strike and probably Quake and WarCraft have, compared to other new games played in e-sports, is that some players are just simply better than others and keep winning their tournaments because they’re superior. What I like about those “true” e-sport games is that most of the winning teams / players are hard working individuals who really have the desire to win.

You haven’t achieved everything you can. That’s sounds like persistence. What keeps you going after all and what do you want to achieve before you cut off the wire of your mouse?
Basically, I want to become a top team with the people I play with. My desire and goal is to finally play – become by practicing - a good contender at a big and notable event. It has been far too long that the Benelux-region didn’t have a good performing Counter-Strike team.

I still think with the proper training and guidance that any team with good players can become a top team; it’s just what you are willing to do for it.

The first steps in Counter-Strike are always fun. Enjoying public servers and trying to obtain the first spot on the scoreboard. How did you get invited into your first clan?
My first clan was actually the same clan where two of my friends played. It was basically just a clan who played a lot on public and sometimes on the ladders of ClanBase. So, it wasn’t really an invite – I wasn’t that good yet – but just a friend who got me onboard for the fun of wearing a tag. When I got better and learned about IRC and the community itself, I played in a lot of random teams and even made a few teams of my own.

Do us a favor and share the funniest clan name with our readers. Hold in mind, we don’t stop you from revealing us the tag you invented to represent the team’s pride and glory.
The funniest clan tag I invented dates from a few years ago, when I just explored the world of IRC and its community. The name is warGasm. At that time, it just sounded really funny to me.Not so long ago, I saw a team copy this name.

I think the best clan tag however I devised was with somebody else, the name conzto. The name originates from from the Latin word consto; which means something like consistent.

The years passed and you got better and better. Which clan deserves the most credit for your way to the top – I’m talking about the very beginning of your career when you joined the legendary mySOD-team. What tournament was crucial for that step and who was your sensei?
In 2003, I joined a team called Calibre. I’m not quite sure how I got in but I think it was Striker or Marcus who invited me. It was my first team who had the will and desire to achieve certain goals. Marcus, our in-game leader wanted to become one of the best in The Netherlands where our goal was to make the daily lives of the best teams at that moment a bit harder – named re-flex and mySOD.

I played and trained a lot with this team – also had loads of fun. Luckily, I even had the chance to play with Reinold (madb) and Tommy (snakeye) – who joined as stand-ins for an online league. With that team, we were able to beat mySOD on de_train (16-13) – a lot of credits go to madb for that. Believe me, it was a much disputed result since we had never attended any LAN at that time.

The rumors of us being onliners floated around in the scene which boosted our motivation to repeat the success on LAN. We decided to attend a LAN with a sort of mix line-up of Calibre: Wim (w1mpio), Luc (MasterMe), Dennis (muh) and Danny (han-g). The tournament itself went quite good, ending on a respectable second place and losing a close game against mySOD – on de_nuke. After the tournament, I played a lot online with Reinold (madb) – who played for mySOD at that time – and he managed to get us in when Ferdi (xire) and Arie (ilzu) left.

In my mySOD-period I learned a lot, and played with The Netherlands’ best in-game leader of that time, Maikel (CrimsoN). He was the guy with the most experience – nationally and internationally – and he showed us the tricks of how to play Counter-Strike at its best. So for me, like most other good players, we learned a lot from him directly or indirectly – when I and my team mates passed on our experience to others.

mySOD was seen as one of the most promising teams and organizations of the Benelux. At a certain moment, the site grew like the speed of light. What do you think that led to the disbandment of mySOD?
I think a lack of trust led to the disbandment of the successful mySOD. The organization grew double-quick; also the ideas and ambitions of its leaders grew. Dinish (Steelo) and Frenk Tames (Juvenile; the original founder) were our managers. From that moment, I went wrong as somewhere the trust in Frenk got less; mainly because of stories and speculations. We kind of forced him to give Dinish the powers completely. That was a big mistake, as last one mentioned was a great guy but he preferred to use sponsor money to buy Christmas gifts for the crew, instead of investing that money to enlarge the organization even more and the team it was built on; the CS-division.

I remember that F. Tames – when he returned from an inactivity period – announced that he could no longer go on under mySOD as his replacement (Steelo) made a mess. You, just a player, how did you experience that move?
It was all very logical. The tag didn’t really matter that much, as we didn’t knew anything about building a brand. We just knew that if we wanted to get anything at that time, we needed to play for Frenk as he was the only one who fixed us stuff. He got us new computers and sponsors, so we just went for that and kept playing.

Yeah, but when you attended a French lan – I don’t remember the name anymore – it went wrong. You lost and the resources were out of stock (or gone?). What happened then?
Yeah, that is a good example of a very bad organized trip. Before we started our trip, our manager told us that when we ran out of money, we just had to ask a guy from Qpad for the necessary resources.

In the end, we didn’t had enough money to drive back. We had to beg the guy for money – which eventually he did – but he knew nothing about the deal our manager talked about.

CEA at ESWC 2005 r0y, minto, xyLo, MasterMe & xire

Let’s quit about the dark side and move up to some interesting things. You have a wealthy past of famous clans/teams. Chose one clan/team where you experienced the most intense and enchanting moments.
If I had to name one, it would be CEA. Before, we used to make mistakes; organization- and decision-wise. From that moment, we all knew what we wanted and were really anxious to achieve that goal and this resulted in the birth of CEA.

With CEA our first international success came along. Let’s go back to the Spanish event e-sensation where we had to get a flight. Four of us where on the flight, only Maikel (CrimsoN) didn’t make it – because of big storm moving over The Netherlands. I rebooked his flight and he arrived the next day, where he had to search and find a bus from Madrid to where we stayed. In the end, we managed to win this event rather easily against all those Spanish teams. Unluckily, x6tence wasn’t there but the feeling wasn’t less. It’s such a magnificent feeling if you conquer teams on foreign soil.

As the community didn’t consider this as a real win – x6tence wasn't on the event, a top 10 team in the world at that time  – we were persistent to prove their wrong when we attended the GameZone e-Masters tournament in Antwerp. We succeeded to finish second, defeating the Spanish stallion x6tence and losing to fnatic in the finals. From that day onwards, I really felt that we achieved something what people didn’t expect from us, beating a top team in the international scene. That’s – at the moment – for me the most enchanting moment in my career.

Let’s fantasize. A star falls and you could wish the comeback of a former team player. Who would that be and why that particular person?
To be honest, I wouldn’t really want to bring someone back who doesn’t want come back spontaneously. It shows that they don’t have the same ambition as me and the people I play with right now.

If you force me to name someone, it would be Mike (xyLo). He was the kind of player who had the full package. He didn’t care too much if we didn’t practice but he was always there if needed. From a player perspective, he was a great all-round player and a funny guy – he always sounded moody but he never was. You would never hear him whining or complaining, he was just a really good player to have on your team.

What capabilities are crucial for you to step into an adventure with a certain player?
Ambition, discipline, skill and a good character above all. A lot of players, who are considered to be good or have talent, think they know everything. It prevents them to shift into higher gear and improve themselves and their team. The most important factor of a player is their influence on the team; even more importantly than skill, at anytime. That’s the reason why a lot of teams fail in their objectives because they forget this aspect; the player’s influence. They keep playing with players for their skill – when you actually don’t want to – due to a lack of good replacements. In the end, if you want to improve as a team and player you need to be able to listen, work hard and exert your influence at the same time.

This brings us to our next question. What’s for you the most all-rounded, best player from the scene at this moment?
Nordien (minto) is one of the best players in the Benelex ever. His skill is unseen and indisputable but his other talents make him even a better player. Nordien is the type of guy that is willing to improve the team and himself; a disciplined gamer who is always on time and generally, a good guy to have around.

Let’s cease asking questions about the past. Let’s move up to the next chapter: ‘A change of environment”.