Interview with Spart1e - Interview with Spart1e

Sebastian "Spart1e" Siira took the time to have a chat with me about his gaming career and his thoughts about Quake LIVE

Sebastian, could you start by telling a little bit about yourself?

I'm a lazy, kind person. Living 2 miles outside of gothenburg in sweden where I also work.

What do you do outside gaming?

Spending alot of time at work where I make different exclusive sallads like shrimpsallad, also dressings and sauces. Trying to work out at gym during weekdays and weekends are when I enjoy life the most. Mostly drunk with my friends and just livin my life while I still can.

What many people maybe don’t know, is that you were a successful Q3CTF player before you started focusing on duel. Why did you make this switch from CTF to duel?

Started to play 1on1 to compete at CPL 2006. But kept playing CTF meanwhile.

Do you still play CTF or are you hardcore duel player now?

Played my last CTF game a few months ago. Would still be playing it if the netcode in OSP was better. I enjoy CTF alot. If there will be any nice ql cups and some good maps I will be playing CTF again. Maybe Quakecon? :O)

Let’s talk a bit about Quake LIVE. What are your thoughts about the game in general?

The game is really good. It's like q3, but with better weaponbalances. It's lacking some good maps, but it's nice to play something else than the good old q3 maps. Hopefully the economics will be better soon and we will see alot of ql tournaments in the future!

Did you set any goals for Quake LIVE already?

Try to play some ql online cups to see if I can compete with the most active players untill there will be some lan tournaments. If there will be enough with lantournaments later with the right prizemoney i might go more serious.

Do you think Quake LIVE will indeed be an interesting game for both oldskool quakers AND newcomers?

Quake is harder than other games and it's the more serious gamers that enjoys quake. It's an interesting game and hopefully if there will be enough with cups in different modes it should attract alot of people. I think FreezeTag would be a good mode to show new players how fun Quake actually are. Was cause of FT that I started to play q3 btw.

Quake LIVE can be very frustrating for newcomers. What do you think is the best way for newcomers to have fun and increase their skill level at the same time?

Playing ClanWars, where TDM is the best mode for increasing skill. 1on1 is best for increase skill if the player can handle his emotions and wanna be serious. Always fun to play with people you know, and beeing at a voiceprog at the same time could be an idea to have fun at the same time. Like anything, you need to spend alot of time to get good at something, but with the right praccing you will get better faster.

6 new maps in 6 weeks. Do you like the maps?

Yeah, 6 new maps! Didn't try it yet :)

New maps is what this game needs, obviously. What other features could make this game even better?

Hard to tell. A few cfg tweakings, GTV? I would like a better checker for stats. FreezeTag mode would be fun. Ingame votings. Private servers would be cool. But private servers could be bad for the community. I know that alot of good players would only be playing on private servers then. Weaker players wont be able to play vs a few better players and harder for them to improve. But yes, it's needed for clanwars, or some good voting.

Thank you very much for this interview.

You're welcome