Sphere Clan Interview - Dawg & Carnage  Conducted by -beta ________________________________________________________________PROFILE

About Dawg
Real Name: Ryan Yu
Birthday: 11/03
Location: Toronto, Canada
Previous Nick: Kwickie
Current Clan: Sphere & Kung Fu
Current Game: Quake 3

Fav Movies: American Pie series, Van Wilder
Worst Movies: Queen of the Damned,
Changing Lanes
Worst Games: Counterstrike
Fav Foods: Steak & Potatoes w/ gravy

About Carnage
Real Name: Daniel Sturdivant
Birthday: 10/28
Location: Texas, USA
Previous Nick: Asskilla
Current Games:
 Q3, Savage, DAoC,
Stepmania, Halo, UT2k3

Worst Games: Counterstrike
Fav Foods: Jack In the Box

_____________________________________________________________INTERVIEW

[LadyGamers]:
Tell us about your clan. How long have you been around, and how did the clan form?

[dawg]:  Sphere has been competing in Rocket Arena 3 since the summer of 2002.  We've been around for more than a year now. Our roster back then and now has grown quite a bit but the core players (dawg, doomerx, exobist) have stuck around and are still here. Sphere was created by dawg, doomerx, ace, REM, and exobist after the retirement of Team SIT. We decided that after SIT had retired we were not ready to move on. Thus, we created Sphere to continue the reign of power housing this mod. It did not take long for us to begin picking up very talented players such as rezist and dragon. We began our matches on rocketarena.org and began our steps to the number one spot. Ever since, we have spread off to other big ladders, winning the RA3 Cup as well. We're currently #1 onRA3's two biggest ladders - Onlineladder.com - Jumpladders.com as of 09/18/03. Furthermore, we are looking forward to moving on to other games in the near future.

[Carnage]: I've been in Sphere about four months. Good bunch of guys, they are always fun to make fun of, especially Ryan, because of his azn pp :( I really don't know the history of it all though :D

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[LadyGamers]: Do you think RA3 should be an official tourney at QuakeCon? What makes it qualified to deserve that kind of attention? Will you be attending Quakecon 2004 even if RA3 doesn't make it into the events schedule next year? Would you compete in another mod in 2004 if that happens?

[dawg]:  Yeah, I strongly think that RA3 should be an official tourney at QuakeCon. I've played RA3 since it first came out 3 years ago and I still enjoy it very much. Why? It requires aim, and plenty of knowledge for each map. A lot of OSP players may not agree with me and say it's a mod for newbies, but from many cases, when I see a great OSP player come play RA3 - they are nothing (no offense).

The fact that you start with all weapons makes the OSP players believe there is no skill involved. I'm also an OSP player myself (being in KFC and Pm) and both mods have its own challenge and skill. There is a reason why RA3 is so popular and it's because it is a fun game to play. It also has great competition and it is active at almost all times. This is why I believe QuakeCon should give it some credit and make it an official tourney. If QuakeCon 2004 hosts an official RA3 tourney I would definitely try my best to attend it. If not, I would still try and go for TDM, CTF, and other games. It would also be a great experience as I haven't been to a huge LAN before.

[Carnage]: I think RA3 should be a side tournament like it is now because a lot of good players don't play it; no offense to anyone, but most central players are decent, not exceptionally good as opposed to east/cannuck players. But I will be at Quakecon 2004 no matter what. I will participate in the 1v1 and hopefully get top 5. This year Ii got top 10 :)

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[LadyGamers]: How has your clan been preparing for upcoming CAL matches? Do you have a set schedule of practices or just get on when you see others?

[dawg]:  Most Sphere players have been playing this game for years so practicing anymore wouldn't really raise our skill-level. We don't need to be practicing methods or techniques to play better because our playing style is so similar. What we do is wait for a clan to ask to scrimmage and if we have 4 around that's when we usually play as a team. Other than that, we just show up whenever have a match with a little warm-up on a public server.

[Carnage]: Honestly? We used to scrim all the time when I first joined, now scrimming has kinda stopped. I haven't scrimmed in like three weeks which is very unusual. No, we haven't been practicing. Most of us just pub because we never have four players around, and if we do, one of them is jerbear, and he's horrible. :(

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[LadyGamers]: Of all the RA3 focused clans out there what was it about the one you joined that attracted you the most? 

[dawg]:  Actually, I'm the leader and creator of this clan. But the reason I created this team with the players I chose was because I've known them for years and have been friends since. Sphere's core is formed by a close group of friends such as me, doomer, exobist. I have known doomerx for 12 years from Junior School and exobist for 6 years since Middle School. We live about 5 minutes apart from each other and we attend the same school now. We are close friends which helps make this game fun. We try to recruit people who have a good personality, are loyal and talented. This way we can keep the fun running. Some members were recruited into Sphere after we met them at a LAN, such as icetink. Ever since we have been good friends in and out of the internet world.

[Carnage]: I've always like the whole Sphere crowd, they were a bunch of funny guys and they were competitive. I also played DAoC with a few of them :)

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[LadyGamers]:  Do you think your clan has a chance of being the champion of your division in the CAL finals? If not, who do you think will be?

[dawg]:  I certainly believe Sphere has a shot at winning it all in CAL RA3 as we have proven ourselves to be a highly skilled team in the last RA3 tournament (becoming champs of RA3 Cup). We have a strong lineup that is consistent and well-rounded on almost every map. However, if Sphere is unable to win it, I would predict 4 Eyed Fist Fight to win it all because they are one clan that gives us a difficult challenge.

[Carnage]: I think we have a great chance, all of our guys are really well rounded players :D  I think we'll take it.

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[LadyGamers]: Are there female players in your clan? If not, why not? Do they participate in CAL and the playoffs? 

[dawg]:  Nope, Sphere has not had the opportunity to welcome a female player in to our team. Mainly because we don't know many east female RA3 gamers who aren't already in an all-girls-clan. However, if the opportunity was available, I wouldn't mind taking her in. I believe girls can play just as well as guys if they played the same amount as we (nerds) do. :p

[Carnage]: No females are at the level we are at, at least that play RA3 :[

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[LadyGamers]: Have you ever fallen down in public?

[dawg]:  Haha, fallen? Nope. Tripped and almost fell? Yes!

[Carnage]: No, but I saw Kitty-Kat fall in public and hurt herself? damn it was funny :(

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