SK|rapha: ‘French food is bleh’ and other deathmatch musings

Joe “nineX”  Szymkowicz had a chance to sit down with Shane “rapha” Hendrixson, of SK-Gaming, after his trip to the ESWC Masters Quake 3 competition. Exhausted from the combination of jet-lag and an intense field of competition, Rapha talked about his future in gaming and some topics swirling around the deathmatch community.

GGL: So you’re back from Paris; how do you feel? What did you think of your play in the tournament?

Hendrixson: I am so glad to be back where I could eat some really good food; French food is bleh :o It’s going to take a few days to get back into the swing of things, and I’ll slowly start practicing again. I think I did well, despite all the problems I was having.

GGL: After already seeing much of the competitors at the Masters event, how do you feel about the upcoming finals event in San Jose?

Hendrixson: Gonna be a tough event but as I said before I’m looking forward to it. The gap isn’t real big between most of the players that’ll be going to the finals, there are going to be some fantastic games. I feel good going into it and I’m glad I still have a month to try and prepare for it.

GGL: You’ve played plenty of times on LAN in the US; what was it like playing in your first international event?

Hendrixson: Going into it I thought it would be a bit more difficult because of the jet lag and I was right but all in all it was a nice experience :)

GGL: What was your practice schedule like leading up to the Masters event?

Hendrixson: I played online when I could and then I went to LAN with zer04 about a week and a half before we had to leave. We got a lot of good practice in and seeing San Diego for the first time was really cool. Place is absolutely gorgeous :D.

It was cool to see all those players from different parts of the world around and it’s hard to take in that experience and being in another country because to do well you have to focus on the task at hand and that’s one game at a time just like any tournament.

GGL: Do you plan on attending more International events?

Hendrixson: It depends on if there would be any worthwhile tournaments to go to. If they are I would love to go overseas again to play. Just playing in big Quake 3/Quake Live tournaments to me is a blessing. The fact that quake3 is still being played today is a miracle alone.

GGL: There was talk that some of the players where having hardware problems at the event; were you one of the effected, and if so, do you think it affected your play at all?

Hendrixson: Yeah, I had major issues with my mouse during my matches. I think it was a driver issue with my logitech mouse to the quadcore I believe it was that they were using. I talked to some players back here in the states who have used logitech mice when they’ve upgraded to dual and or quad core systems and they stated they had that same issue.

The mouse would randomly drop Hertz, so during the course of the match there were periods of time I had no idea when I’d move the mouse exactly where it would go and what not. Or I’d be in a perfect situation to get a kill and obtain total control, yet I couldn’t go into the fight because I could feel the Hz drop dramatically. It affected how I wanted to approach a lot of situations. K1llsen had the same issue from what I heard and he said it got so bad he decided to forfeit.

I chose to continue to play and take all the experience in that I could and learn some new things from styles I’ve never played before. I knew regardless of whether I got out of the group or not with all those problems the event was going to be beneficial for me. I still stand by that thought right now preparing for the Finals.

GGL: For the most part of your gaming career, you’ve gone without any sponsors of any sort; how have you liked playing for a major team, like SK Gaming?

Hendrixson: What would there be to complain about, I’m getting sent around to play video games. I’m getting the chance to do something that I love. If anything has gone wrong it hasn’t been catastrophic so what’s there to complain about. The guys from SK are great, really nice guys who care about how you’re doing and try their best to make sure everything goes smoothly for you. They all have a good sense of humor too, helps when you can lighten up around people and you don’t have to be so tense :P.

GGL: Now that you’ve seen some of the other playstyles from across the world up-close-and-personal, how will you modify your practice for that competition?

Hendrixson: I’m going to play as much as I can, try new things and study the demos that are available. I don’t feel far off at all, there’s just those little things that are going to need adjusting. The Finals are going to be a big challenge but I don’t know why someone wouldn’t go with the mindset that they can win it, there’s no sense defeating yourself before you’ve even played. Regardless of how tough it’s going to be, I’m looking forward to it :).

GGL: With the exception of ESWC Finals and the Warfactory event in October, what do you have planned in the upcoming months? Will you continue to actively play some form of Quake?

Hendrixson: I’ll practice as often as I can and any tournaments I can make to I will. I’m going to try to stay as active as possible.

GGL: Where do you see deathmatch gaming headed in the next year or two? Is there anything you would like to see happen?

Hendrixson: Quite frankly I have no idea where it’s headed at all. Of course, I would love to see a bunch of Quake 3/Quake Live tournaments pop-up and have the opportunity to continue to get better and go to those events would be great. If the AGP takes off like it should, I think it’d be a great tournament series to watch with all the different styles in the separate games.

As long as they find a way to break it down to the average gamer who doesn’t completely understand the game will be the key reaching a wider audience. If they can do that it should be great. Other than my hopes I don’t have a clue where it’s headed :o

As for the community though, it will go as far as it allows itself to. The key is making sure players who are just starting realize getting really good isn’t impossible. It’s just that not enough people want to help anyone. I don’t know if it’s a fear of what if this player ends of getting better than me or what it is but it needs to stop for the community to actually grow and have a larger core of really good players.

GGL: After already seeing much of the competitors at the Masters event, how do you feel about the upcoming finals event in San Jose?

Hendrixson: It’s going to be a tough event but as I said before, I’m looking forward to it. The gap isn’t really too big between most of the players that’ll be going to the finals, but there are going to be some fantastic games. I feel good going into it and I’m glad I still have a month to try and prepare for it.

GGL: QuakeCon announced that it will be using Quake Live, which is still in beta stages. What are you opinions of the game and what do you think about a tournament using a game that not everyone has played or much less had access to?

Hendrixson: So far, I think the game is headed in the right direction and to be honest, I didn’t expect them to be as far as they are right now. That being said I feel the game has a lot of potential once all the kinks are worked out.

GGL: Taking a step back, before this resurgence of Quake 3, you were playing Quake 4 in both 1v1 and 4v4 CTF. What were your thoughts on the game as it virtually died alongside the World Series of Video Games? Would you like to see the game make a comeback?

Hendrixson: I didn’t enjoy Quake 4 as much as I have Quake 3, and I really wouldn’t want to see it as a standalone game for a world tour or anything. However, I do think it belongs in the format that AGP is going to use. It’s a very exciting game to watch in my opinion, with the elite core that it’s had but it just doesn’t seem like a game that could get outside of those boundaries. But having that core group of players playing it for a season seems like a good idea for Quake 4.

GGL: I think this is a question many have wondered about as they watched you play; You seem to have a fascination with the Russian play style, where did this come from. Do you think you will ever play in one of the ASUS cups in the near future?

Hendrixson: Ha, I had had severe wrist pains about 2 years ago, so I decided to try and sit how some of the Russians sit and what not and see how that would help seeing as how it involves more arm motion than wrist and I’ve stuck with that sitting position since and there’s not really a reason to go back so it’s going to stay for now.

As for the style, when I didn’t have a connection I would watch a lot of their demos so it’s no surprise that maybe some of the style has rubbed off on me. I don’t have a definite answer on whether I’d be able to go play at an ASUS cup. There’s so many factors that would go into whether I’d be able to go or not. Would I love to go; sure I would.

It would be awesome to go up against all those different styles with so many good players from that region of the world. Especially to play players like evil or nobap, who havent really been to the international tournaments. Even players as of late like killmas, question, and nike whose skill has gone up considerably in the past year. Fortunately for nike, he’s going to get to go to the ESWC Finals, it’d be an interesting match if I had to play him :P

GGL: Got any shoutouts, Shane?

Hendrixson: I’d like to thank SK-Gaming for being well….. SK-Gaming. And thanks for the interview Joe :P