Digital Games interview: dragua

I just got a chance to speak with European PC FIFA ladder leader dragua, who I had never encountered before. Not being a huge FIFA aficionado (comes with the territory of being a fat, ignorant American), I was curious to know his history and motivations in the Digital Games tournament. Without further ado, here’s the interview!

GGL: Please state your real name, age, and occupation.

My name is Artem Dragunov. I am 22. I am from Latvia. I study in the Riga Technical University on the Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunations and I work in an insurance company as a database-support operator.

GGL: What attracted you to play in the Digital Games tournament?

I decided to take part in the Digital Games, because it was quite interesting for me to represent my country among the FIFA-players from all over the world in a competition, which is a part of the Olympic Games in China.

GGL: Why FIFA? Are you a huge futbol fan, did you grow up playing it?

Yes, you are right. I like football very much. I was playing football at the professional level for 5 years. Unfortunatelly, I had to give up football because of the intensive studies, but I always play football with my friends in my free time, so it is an essential part of my life. And FIFA is almost the only game I play.

GGL: How long have you been playing games competitively?

Well, concerning exactly FIFA-series - I`ve started playing FIFA when I had a Sony PlayStation - it was  1997 and FIFA 97 respectively :)) In the year 2000 my parents bought me a PC and starting from year 2000 I started playing FIFA on a PC. But my first online game experience was in 2004, when I found the Latvian Fifa Community over the internet.

GGL: What is your primary gaming focus? Is it just for fun, or something you hope to make a living off of?

Well, of course I have some goals and plans for this season. In July I will visit 2 big FIFA tournaments in Belgium and Denmark, where almost all the best world FIFA players will fight for quite a good prize. I hope to do my best there, and of course in WCG Latvia 2008 as well. And Digital Games is one my goals for this season as well, I will do my best here. So, it’s not just for fun :)

GGL: Who is your toughest opponent in the competition so far?

So far, the toughest opponent in this tournament for me was pavjke. He is one of the best players in Russia. (and a good person as well (: )
He is a very high-skilled player and being an ex-member of Dignitas for a long time just proves it. He is doing a very impressive 9-win streak, so I think he will be my number one opponent.

GGL: How often do you practice FIFA?

I play some 4-5 games per day. Not more.

GGL: FIFA has changed quite a bit over previous years’ iterations. Is it harder? What exactly has changed?

Yes, it definitely has. In my opinion, it is improving more and more with every year! Yes, it’s harder to play, but the harder it is, the more interesting is the gameplay process. But still, a lot of things schould be done, concerning the game process. Still, EVERY YEAR there are a large amount of bugs, and some of them are so serious, that they spoil the game process very much.

And it would be good, if more patches would be created by EA to fix these bugs. And one of the main things, which could increase the popularity of FIFA enormously - the videostream. I mean, like HLTV in Counter-Strike. Watching FIFA-matches LIVE would be a fantastic improovement of the game!

GGL: Spain recently won the UEFA championship. If the Spain vs. Germany final had played out in FIFA, would the result have been the same? Why or why not?

Well, it would depend on the FIFA-players, who would play with the mentioned teams. But overall, in FIFA, team Spain has better stats, then Team Germany, so most probably the result would be a win for Spain :)

GGL: If the Digital Games had a EuroCup style FIFA competition, which country would win?

I think France would be the winners.