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You can expect to find these "Vulgar Display" interviews popping up here on theSGL on a weekly basis each Sunday. The first in this ongoing series taking aspects of gaming which aren't usually looked at - here in the first article Ecto discusses life in general with Begrip player JWH :
Hey, Well lets start off quickly by you introducing yourself, you are someone who might not be terribly known to many within the overall gaming scene so could you tell us all a little about yourself, how you got into gaming on the whole and how you ended up working for such a prestigious organisation as Begrip?
I'm Jan Willem 'JWH' Hofstede, from the Netherlands and I'm 20 years old. I've been gaming for quite some years now and it all started in Soldier of Fortune II. About 3~4 years ago I started playing Counterstrike: Source in the UK scene mainly. Some might remember Imagine and Team Minimal. I quit this due to lack of time. Then about 1 year ago I decided to play Trackmania Nations, just for fun. But around half a year ago it started to get serious. My team, formerly in Insidiae, started to get good results but we had some issues with the organisation. So we decided to look elsewhere and got in contact with Begrip.
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How is Begrip as an organisation, they were noted a while back for loosing a very infamous Counterstrike 1.6 team and players who had been with them for years, the organisation has been home to top class individuals and one wonders why they are still not at Begrip, do you always get all of the support you need or is Begrip just a stepping-stone for something more in the future?
We know that Begrip has been in a 'slump' recently. However we have the feeling it will go up again in the near future. with some promising teams in the organisation. So far we have had the support we wanted, however the lan season for Trackmania is yet to start. So we'll see how things will evolve then.
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Well speaking of the out-of-season time you have at the moment, how do you keep yourself busy online? We have yet to see any of the Begrip members in theSGLs Monday night Trackmania GP, sponsored by fucapo, do you participate in any other leagues or events?
It hasn't exactly been 'out-of-season'. Online we've been active in the ESL Premiership which took around 3 months. This has so far been one of the highest tournaments ever organised in this game. Also some 1 day cups have been around meanwhile. For myself, I'm busy training for ESWC as I'm qualified and active in the Clanbase Summercup 1on1. Also in about 3 weeks the Stadium Team Championships and Nations Cup is starting again. So we have our sights set to that.
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Well it certainly seems like your keeping busy, I noticed that Begrip has a lot of Trackmania players within the Squad, the game really is becoming more popular every day, is there much rivalry within the squad? Or do you all see one of the members as the best?
Trackmania squads are relatively large when compared to Call of Duty or Counterstrike squads. This is mainly so certain players can concentrate on different tracks or cups. For example in the latest ESL Premiership, we had to play 5 sub-matches in each match. These sub-matches were 1on1's, 2on2's and a 5on5. So we could easily let players concentrate on a 1on1. While we have plenty
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If you had to be honest, who would you say is the best squad in the world at the moment, I know the scene is very competitive but if you really had to choose one squad you wouldn't want to come up against, ever, who would it be?
I have always seen n!faculty Seasonic and WebOne as major competitors. n!faculty consists out of some of the best players in Germany and Austria, plus some European top players. WebOne on the other hand is a fully French squad which is basically the top of France. Seeing the ESWC France Qualifications, the 4 players in the finals were all WebOne players.
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Sounds very competitive indeed... This really is the other side of TMN though, most people see the game as a mess about where you can just drive around a track with your friends and pull some crazy stunts, its hard to get away from that side of the game so if anyone wanted to get into the competitive side, how would you recommend going about it? Indeed how did you first start?
I started of, like many, in a fun team named FSR. They built their own tracks and had their server where you could play them. Had loads of fun. Slowly I lost a bit of interest and wanted more. I entered a 1-day competition and managed to win it. This got me in interest by some competitive teams. This is where I played my first matches and trained tracks for matches. Started to enjoy this and improved big time. Also competition based websites starting with adding more accessible leagues for every team to start with. So this is a good start to get to know how things go. Or drop by at training servers for like ESWC or ESL and you will see some of the major players play and train. This is a good experience and will give you an impression.
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Well it sounds like you have a fair bit of a reputation in the scene, In theSGL's competition on a Monday night we have two guys who normally run away with it, Those being Darky and Nemesis, are these players you know? how do you rate yourself in comparison with them?
I know Nemesis, as we both were training the ESWC June/July pack for the nation qualifiers for the ESWC. I have helped Nemesis a bit in the start with training. Darky on the other hand is quite unknown to me, seen him online a few times but that's all.
Ok well, that's all the basics covered, but here's an interesting question for you. The scene in general, how does it compare to that of say, the counter-strike scene, which is very competitive, and in some ways very immature, is the TMN scene the same or are there noted differences?
There are quite some differences. The scene is much smaller and therefore more players know each other and there's more of a friendly atmosphere. I have had impressions of the CS Source scene and the recent CoD4 scene. But it's nothing like those, luckily. Of course there are some teams and players you just wish to avoid, but every game has that.
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Well finally, Who is your tip for the ESWC crown this time around in TMN, do you think it's yours for the taking or do you see anyone specific running away with it?
My chances are quite small, due to a lack of time to train seriously. I think the finals of the ESWC
Masters in France about a month ago are a good indication of what the top is currently. However I see Frostbeule possibly win it this time.
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Seems a shame you don't have more faith, but be assured we at theSGL will be cheering you on, well, into second place anyhow behind the UK competitor! ;) - If you would care to make any shouts, now is the time!
Uh! Shout outs to anyone that know me, or I know. Cheesy, i know. Thanks to all of the sponsors of Begrip, especially SteelSeries we couldn't do it without you! Roll on theSGL GP tomorrow night, I shall be flying the Begrip flag!
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saM ;)
dr nepal
Mesa
XriS <3
spN
Pauly1
Uzi on 10th Aug 2008 @ 9:05pm - 4 Comments
