GGL Wire

John “ZeRo4″ Hill is one of the most accomplished Quake 3 duelers in history with three QuakeCon titles, a World Cyber Games 2001 gold and the CPL Babbages championship, to name just a few. In an interview, ZeRo4 talks about a possibility of a comeback for the ESWC 2008 and throws down the gauntlet to one of his biggest rivals, Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel.

The last we’ve heard of you was VSports All Stars 2005 when you played a couple of show games. Real competition was as far back as QuakeCon 2004. What happened between then and now?

Wouldn’t want to bore you too much with that, Carmac. Finished up with college, chasing girls, looking for jobs. Basically just starting my life. Moved back into my parents’ house and I need to get out ASAP.

You and competitive gaming: why did you quit?

Well, I mostly played when I was in high school. 2003 I went to college where I never really played except those few tournaments I went to.

Many former gaming professionals often say that they want to continue working in gaming. It did not seem like it was the case with you. Is that a fair assumption to make?

I’ve definitely had the opportunity to grow up with esports, which has been fun. Right now though, my priority is getting my life on track. Esports will always be in the back and I will continue to watch and help it grow. I almost guarantee that esports will have a lot of business in the near future which I could definitely see myself getting into. As I’ve seen, though, this market is very volatile at the moment and I just need some security.

What did you make of Quake 4?

I only played it for a few days. I really felt like that software company [Raven] got so lazy and just imported Quake 3 to another engine and added a nail gun. The problem with the game mostly was that it was more of the same. What people/software companies haven’t realized is people don’t want more of the same. Look at the evolution of Quake-Quake 3. Each game was completely different from its predecessor with completely different guns, physics, strategies and tactics. What made all the Quakes fun was learning the game, finding new secrets, new jumps, etc. New quality games provide new blood, new competition, and even out the playing field. That’s my take on the matter at least.

Is that why you did not compete in Q4?

That and I was busy with college and the rest of my life.

Back in the days when you played Quake 3 at a high level, Toxic was there also and never had results as good as yours. Were you surprised to see him dominating Quake 4 like he did?

Not really. When you only have a community with a handful of people like PainKiller, the compeition is going to be pretty low no matter what the talent pool is. Not to take anything away from Toxic, because I’m sure he deserved it but I wouldn’t put too much thought into it.

Deathmatch in general has degenerated as an esport. There are fewer players and no tournaments by now. Why do you think this is?

I think I can accurately say deathmatch in esports was at its peak during the early days of Quake 3. It’s because it was fun, easy to set up, and had a draw that made you want to get better at the game. It was also a game where no matter how high the competition got, there was always something new to discover. This was intriguing for people and thus grew a pretty big-sized community. I really think that creativity toward new fps games has been lost over the last few years. Without the fun and easily accessible aspect, you don’t have a community, and you don’t have esports tournaments.

In the years that you haven’t played competitively, did your fingers itch to play again?

Yah, every once in a while I itch for the competition. I love to compete and challenge myself in everything I do and competing in esports was always fun.

The Electronic Sports World Cup has announced a Quake 3 tournament. Can this mean that we will see ZeRo4 compete again?

Well, I’ll tell you this. I’ve been a little bored at home playing a little Quake 3 for fun and I thought of something when I heard about the announcement. I thought back to the time when Fat [Fatal1ty] beat me on DM6 in 2k2 for some reason and the amount he bragged about it. Every article in the next two years included some form of him beating me in that tournament. Now back in the day I was pretty modest and rather looked ahead than respond to such garbage. I never talked about the time I beat him on T2 where he was “unbeatable.” Or the other time where I dropped him on his head in the finals of QuakeCon 2001 and he accused ME of running. But now that I’m not so active I think the community could use a little something. So I’ll tell you this. If you get the Tiger Woods of esports to come out of “retirement” and go to ESWC I would for sure go.

What do you think about playing VQ3 on the CPMA mod as opposed to OSP? It seems like it was just a CPL-induced fad that stayed for some reason.

Yah, the CPMA I’ve been playing on sucks. The movement is reduced, there is some bug in which rockets don’t hit, and the guns seem like there is a permanent -50 timenudge on them. I don’t understand why they would ever switch from OSP in the first place… it was flawless.

After Quake 3 was done, there was a lot of talk about the best player that played the game. Many would claim it is between Fatal1ty, you, czm and Cooller. What is your take on this?

There is a big problem with that question. I’ve always thought the best players were the ones who created the newest tactics/strategies and brought the game to a new level. Fat definitely set the first bar but I feel it was due to him excessively playing the game. After his initial leap, people got the hang of the game and caught up rather quickly. I think I took the game from the “standard” way of playing to a completely new look at the game which took me to a pretty decent winning streak. After 2001-2002, the number of players that played died drastically. Then came Cooller and czm who came into the mix, who basically perfected the game based off past strategies of mine and Fat. They never really provided unique styles rather than just emulated what me and Fat had paved for them. They probably would look at it differently but I’ve seen the game evolve since the Q3Test. So as far as originality and paving the road I would say myself and Fat take the cake. Filling in the gaps it would probably lean more toward czm and Cooller, but even while not playing much I still wasn’t too far behind.

Who was your greatest rival?

Greatest rival was always the guy at the top. For some reason no matter how much I won, I was never the favorite. Probably because the way I managed to win games looked so unorthodox compared to my opponents. Back at Babbages CPL, Lakerman and Fatal1ty were there to take home the bacon and I won. Then came QuakeCon 2k1 where new maps and new gameplay would greatly favor Fat and czm LAN escapades and I won. Then there was WCG where the Russians looked like robotic animals who couldn’t lose but I won. The reason everybody underestimated me was because I made the game look slow and easy. I never ran around guessing. I got in my opponents heads and picked them apart, which never made sense. I really stopped playing around 2k2 in which I would only come back month or so before a tournament. So again whoever was the hyped player usually stood out as my “rival.”

You may have been asked this question a million of times - what makes you so good on pro-Q3Tourney4?

It was the only map that required quick thinking and adaptation. There was so many different ways to play that map that you couldn’t just pick one strategy and stick with it. There was no set “pattern” like on DM6 where a bad player could easily maintain control of the map and cycle through the powerups. Also pro-T4 is the only true rocket heavy map, which I felt was always my best weapon. Some would argue that the map is all rail but I’ve taken out players with twice the rail aim as me strictly using rockets and position to my advantage.

And in general, what made you better than other players?

Outsmarting my opponents to give me high percentage shots. My aim was good but it looked even better than it really was because all my shots were usually easy high percentage shots. Or the opposite, where they were hard shots with a very low percentage chance that my opponent couldn’t do too much damage to me. I originally played RTS games like Warcraft 2 and StarCraft so the overall strategy stemmed from a basic concept. I starve my opponents of armor/health while building myself up then take a calculated risk with position to hopefully kill my opponent. With this strategy the cleaner the kill, less damage taken, the more probable I could go around spawn killing and running the map. Sounds pretty basic but you would be surprised how many people either just go for kills no matter what or just run the map ignoring their opponents. I incorporated all of it and thats what kept me on top I feel.

Which player would you want to face in Quake 3 now?

I’d like to probably play Toxic in Q3. See if he really got that good or just abusing aim in an inferior game. Other than that, I’ve played everybody and seen everything. Of course if Fat would go to ESWC that would be an enjoyable but probably disappointing game. But again, this is the problem with deathmatch esports at the moment, because the level of entry is so high it’s nearly impossible for there to be new players.

On another note, I’ve seen some of the current USA players in Q3 and they seem pretty good. I would love to see players like Rapha and Walter actually step out of their shells and join a tournament like ESWC. I don’t think what they do would work on LAN but it would account for a much more interesting tournament.

When you look at Fatal1ty, do you think “damn, I could have done the same”?

I could have done the same. I chose not to.

If you were to play at the ESWC, would it be a one-time comeback by John Hill, just for old times sake?

Most likely yeah. I would love to see esports blow up like I know it will but also need to make a living and live a balanced life. I’ll always be in the shadows of esports watching and maybe come back time to time, but I don’t se anything permanent ever.

What is your plan for the rest of your life?

Well, right now I’m trading futures while living at home. I plan doing this for a while or getting a different job soon. Like I said, I plan to move out in the next month or two, depending on what I decide to do.

Do you have anything to say to your fans?

Thanks for supporting me. Play games but also live a balanced life. Too much of one thing is never good.

Almost forgot. What if Fatal1ty does not make a come back for Q3? Is there still a chance we could see you play again?

Yah, I’ll probably go if I am not too busy or committed to whatever I’m doing. But if he does go I’ll mark my calendar now and give him a real reason to retire.