A former ET player himself, I caught with 
zr0 who is now manager of fnatic! zr0's main outting into ET was alongside our beloved 
RaZa, who now works alongside him at fnatic. The interview starts off talking about ET and Quakecon and then moves onto a more broad range of eSports topics. This interview was made for both xfire and esreality and is posted on both.
TosspoT zr0 when you and I first met, it was playing ET! Back when you were LeM.zr0. As a Quaker and now an eSports manager, what was your view on ET and what made you stop playing?
zr0 Actually i was a quaker before i was an ET player, i went from q3 to CPMA, to ET. ET I loved because i think it was the first game that really involved heavy tactics, and you could spend hours going over tactics with your team mates before matches, and when they pulled off it was very rewarding. I stopped playing around December 2003 January 2003, because I really didn't have as much time to commit, and there were no competitions that were rewarding. I took up the management of Kreaturen instead. Basically, night time was when I was going out alot at uni, and its also when the ET guys like to practice :)
TosspoT Since leaving ET you've been extremely eSports focused, did/do you see a time when a game like RTCW or ET could be pushed into the eSports scene?
zr0 Sure, I thought ET was the next big game when it came out, a free downloadable game that anyone could play, I thought it would be massive especially as it was fun, and spectating it was also fun. Now you realise that it was a little bit of a dream because 6 person teams are logistically hard, and without the following of a game like counterstrike its not going to be worthwhile for sponsors or events to invest into. Plus commercially, developers and publishers weren't that interested in marketing it, as it was free, and it wasn't that hardware intensive for the sponsors.
TosspoT Have fnatic ever looked into picking up an ET team? for example, last years Quakecon
zr0 The thing with picking up teams is regardless if they're the best in the world and their going to win an event, one event just doesn't cut it. With fnatic and with most multigaming teams, you have to look at teams in terms of appeal to sponsors, gaming publicity, and reward for the players. If we took on a team in ET, there is only online leagues and one big event, with possibly some minor events more localised, this means there isn't the reward for the players, nor do we get much MAIN STREAM publicity, or gaming publicity via coverage on the likes of esreality/gotfrag/sk gaming/club fnatic. Plus sending 5-6 players to America is never cheap, with no guarantees of winning.
TosspoT What type of mainstream publicity did you get from winning the Doom3 tournament at Quakecon?
zr0 Well, sending one player to Quakecon is a lot cheaper than sending 6. Gopher had been with fnatic a while already, and although we had no guarantees, we believed in him for the future as well as for this event, so we sent him to Dallas. We didn't get much mainstream publicity, but we did add to our persona as one of the best if not the best fast paced fps team in the world, with Vo0, Lauke, and Gopher. Honestly, we believed gopher would win it, and being a friend of mine personally I wanted to see him get his revenge on rocketboy ;)
TosspoT How has the death of those 3 fps games (UT/D3/PK) effected fnatics realistic aspirations for 2006?
zr0 Sander still gets a lot of publicity in Holland, and is playing a fair bit of quake 4, lauke is now trying his hand at quake 4, but generally I don't think it has effected us that much. Last year and the year before we were all about fast paced fps with the fnatic team, cause that's where the management came from, but now I think we have successfully diversified into CS and Wc3 so I believe were a safe bet to be around at the end of the year :) Plus, fnatic as a whole is trying its hand in a few more fields such as a community website = clubfnatic.com, and the soon to be myfnatic.com, and the fnatic outlet.
TosspoT Is it possible that you'll be living off the success of 2005 for these outlets, rather than building on that success? In the months since PK's death, fnatic is yet to really stamp their authority on any game
zr0 Well months being 2, I wouldn't count us out yet... our new CS team has been doing very well and I'm extremely happy with them, a young bunch of guys who have so much potential in the likes of f0rest, dsn, archi and co. In warcraft 3 we have picked up some great Europeans to lead the charge like DIDI8 and Winner, but the success of fnatic isn't down to any one squad, and success in itself is a subjective word. We may loose everything but get ALOT of mainstream publicity, and this could be classified as success, the thing people don't realise is that were backed not just for our results, but because we can be stable and get main stream exposure. I love the team, and I strongly believe it will be as successful in 2006 as 2005 if not more so.
TosspoT I note that you're not including your Quake 4 team in listing of your potential success stories for 2006. Do you regret not landing Ice Climbers as your Q4 team?
zr0 Hehe, I didn't say anything about quake 4 because I feel we have less to prove in quake 4 than the other games. I know all the players are top notch, and when the LAN events start coming, I believe you will see the true strength of our team. If you mean Tox and gopher, well they were in fnatic last year and their great guys but I made the decision about our quake 4 team based on friendship and the bond between each of the players that's not to say tox and gopher couldn't have been friends with the guys, but we had unmatched, and 2 other world class duellers at our fingertips, why would we think of any other team?
TosspoT The unmatched portion of your Quake 4 team have failed to set the world on fire with their performances, as a manager what action have you taken to get the best out of them?
zr0 Well stelam is officially inactive, doing stuff in his offline life. As for the others, neok hasn't had an internet connection until february and has moved into his new apartment now. Regarding the whole team in general, there are little lans coming up at the moment for them to be practising for. We have a team of guys that are used for heavy bootcamping before events, once we have a set schedule of events and something to play for they will be playing hardcore. To some extent i feel the whole scene is just waiting for major events, sure eurocup is an event, but as much as it has been said before, it is not the perfect competitive arena with ping issues, server issues etc, its not sufficient on its own to keep everyone playing.
TosspoT Which players will fnatic be offering World Tour support to next year?
zr0 We're just going to have to wait and see, we will give all players the opportunity... if its clear they wont be competitive I'm pretty sure they would rather not go than go and not get a good placing.[/i]
TosspoT If you are stelam, after painkiller, what does zr0 do if he wants to recruit him? What do you offer a player, and what is the legality of your offer?
zr0 "Hey, how do you feel like getting to sleep with me for a year?!" stelam "YESSS PLEASE!!!" :) hehe, with the Quake 4 guys it was natural they boot camped with us, went out with us we were all friends.. when it came time to make a quake 4 team we approached each other in Milan "whats your plans for next year?" For a while ste and benno wanted to recreate unmatched, and asked if i wanted to manage them but it wouldn't be right to manage two teams, so they came on board with us.
TosspoT What do the players get for being fnatic?
zr0 A chance at being a professional gamer, wages, travel, hardware, management of press, handling all bookings and accommodation, managing of prize money (one of the hardest things in eSports), and generally to be a part of something bigger, being friends and watching your team mates succeed. We try to be as professional as possible, paying wages on time always, sending out prize money as efficiently as possible, booking in advanced as possible. I think it would surprise the average gamer how unprofessional some of the supposed "professional" teams are.
TosspoT Regarding wages, how does it work? If I work in McDonalds I get £4 an hour, if I work in fnatic I get?
zr0 You get an amount per month.. depending on the team and player to the amount.
TosspoT Would it be fair to say someone like Vo0 gets more than a new member like neok?
zr0 Actually, no everyone in the quake 4 team earns the same.
TosspoT And of Vo0's winnings, seeing as you centralise the winnings payments, does he see all of the winnings?
zr0 He sees the vast majority of his winnings, we take a percentage to cover further costs and to provide a varied form of revenue so that we dont 100% rely on sponsorship payments to keep afloat. Its similar to any player managing firm, or even in acting the agent takes a percentage.
TosspoT Would Vo0 not have been better off financially in 2005 playing without fnatic? Hiring a manager and seeking individual sponsorship, almost the Fatal1ty model of playing
zr0 Hiring a manager? You say that like its an easy thing to do, you have to be able to trust the people you work with, and know that they are doing the most for you. Sander has been a close friend of mine since we played CPMA together, he trusted us and I believe we treated him well, we got him hardware, we sent him to all events, we paid for food and costs at events. What if's and Maybes are all well and good in hindsight but fatal1tys model didn't come about over night, he has worked for years, regardless of his success to build these partnerships with companies and how do you know he earnt more financially than Vo0 did in 2005? There's no figures released? he paid out of his own pocket for zen and others..
TosspoT You seem to be dodging the point, if Vo0 had secured individual sponsorship like Fatality or Moon in warcraft3, do you not believe he could have made more money out of 2005?
zr0 You forget that Vo0 wasn't very well known prior to the world tour outside of gaming circles. Its the mass market where there is money, and it wasn't until the end of the tour that his publicity significantly increased across the board.
TosspoT Would you argue with the statement that once recruited, in 2005 fnatics warcraft and counterstrike teams achieved nothing and returned nothing on fnatics investment
zr0 I would argue with that for sure, I went into these games as a novice and over 6 months I'm pretty confident in my knowledge of what makes a good player, and what makes a good team. The warcraft 3 placed top 6 in the hardest league in the world the WC3l, and every week our stats would be improved due to their games, they also offered a diversity from pure FPS gaming which we had been before and helped to solidify the fnatic team's as a multigaming organisation. I would argue that without a good quality CS team, an organisation cant present itself as a serious contender in esports, as its by far the most competitive game in Europe and probably in the world. Our squad had mixed results, and sure didn't prove to be as high class as our Painkiller squad, but boy what a mantel to live up to, they did well enough for the first 6 months as can be expected. But then again, what do you classify as achieving nothing? The cs team had adverts on tv played for months in Singapore I call that a success in itself ;) as well as a bit of fun.
TosspoT So 6th place in an online league, and CPL Singapore which my gran could have won are acceptable for the money invested? I would guesstimate that you've likely spent some $20,000 on the two teams together
zr0 If your arguing that the wc3l is not competitive then you should look into it :). We were requested to go to CPL Singapore for razer and everglide showmatches and to be used in their booth, they paid so we went, simple as that. Winning was an extra. Team 3D didn't win anything for nearly a year and a half, other than wcg which was paid for, yet I bet they spent considerably more than that in those years. We are happy with all the choices that were made :) and again in hindsight things could have been done better but such is life.
TosspoT Fnatic has not too long ago launched club fnatic - What is the official line on its relation to the team?
zr0 Officially, it is under seperate management with the Cheif editor being Spirit, we are trying to separate it as much as possible from the fnatic team. Orginally we were going to launch the club first, back in eswc 2004 so as to stop the exact problem that is happening now where people see us as a team only, the problem is, a team seemed to come easier, and coding a community site is never easy. The whole concept of fnatic is that it is a sign of quality, the fnatic outlet is done by fnatic, not outsourced to another company just to take a percentage. We want to make it fully fnatic coded and warehoused and shipped with a wide range of products, its the same with the club, and the team, and eventually the media branded fnatic life.
TosspoT What role do the teams sponsors play in the website?
zr0 We have separate team sponsors to global sponsors, a global sponsors supports the entire fnatic organisation, such as Intel, intel centrino mobility, intel desktop boards, nvidia and everglide. Where as we have the likes of sennheiser, 0wned hosting, the game syndicate, HLO, who are specific to our team.
TosspoT How tight is the line between the teams website and club fnatic? Club fnatic failed to cover the teams defeat to mousesports, and has in the past advertised for people to make team movies[/b]
zr0 I dont control the coverage, if no one posts then no one posts, regarding the advertising we were in search of fnatic media crew to cover future events as well as the positibility to make team movies. It was not an initiative related to our team other than the fact that we may make a team move, the same way as we make make a movie of the next club fnatic European all stars, or the next CPL event. And I understand what you're trying to get at, but we are thinking about every move to stop confusion and I believe over time we can separate the sections fully, maybe it would have been wiser to brand it just the club or something along those lines but who knows, just to stop the misconception.
TosspoT club fnatic has been highly advertised on esreality and people have often sited the sites links to the team as a lack of legitimacy and its credibility has been called in question. Its something for which you personally have seen alot of criticism for, how do you counter the arguments that have been levelled at you? Would you perhaps say it has been mis-promoted? As Carmac does not get the same criticism that you do.
zr0 We make every effort to keep a separation between the club and the team, but I think the people that don't truly understand are those that have never come to the club to read stuff, and still see fnatic as a team. I don't blame them for this because we were a team first and we may have indeed promoted it wrong some times. I dislike peoples views that we are a capitalist organisation, senselessly trying to promote the team to gain millions in sponsorship, the fact is we want to offer quality to the readers and we feel we have the ability to offer that which other sites may not because of lack of resources. But whoever thinks the GGL is not in it to win it, need to get their facts straight :) they have significant investors behind them who expect returns.
TosspoT What do you get out of being manager of fnatic
zr0 Satisfaction.. the ability to meet with loads of people in locations all around the world, seeing upsets, and winners, watching people grow over time to be some of the best players in the world. Alot of things. It was always my hobby when it started and over time it grew into more, but that was never the goal, everyone involved just had a passion for esports, as do most of the readers of this interview. I find one of the most enjoyable things is working with the development team on new projects, I love creating with the designers and coders, watching as things come together and then released to the public. If i was in any other massive company you wouldnt get such a personal feeling of reward because every decision has to go through a hundred people. Personally, I can't wait to go more full time into it, after i graduate from Uni in July, its definitely exciting.
TosspoT Finally - Do you think that fnatic would be where it is today without Vo0 and painkiller?
zr0 In short the answer is Yes, whether we would have had the same impact and same speed to this level is another question but the goals have been there since the beginning and he has not been the only success of our team since our inception. Vo0 was to some extent a lucky break for us, but then SK rose to its heights because of the success of its cs team. We picked a winner and supported him, and we are here now!
TosspoT Thank You for your time!
zr0 And thank you for some interesting questions ;) I would like to thank all the players who have made fnatic what it is today, and of course the sponsors such as intel, everglide, nvidia, and sennheiser whose support have really made this dream possible.
zr0 who is now manager of fnatic! zr0's main outting into ET was alongside our beloved RaZa, who now works alongside him at fnatic. The interview starts off talking about ET and Quakecon and then moves onto a more broad range of eSports topics. This interview was made for both xfire and esreality and is posted on both.TosspoT zr0 when you and I first met, it was playing ET! Back when you were LeM.zr0. As a Quaker and now an eSports manager, what was your view on ET and what made you stop playing?
zr0 Actually i was a quaker before i was an ET player, i went from q3 to CPMA, to ET. ET I loved because i think it was the first game that really involved heavy tactics, and you could spend hours going over tactics with your team mates before matches, and when they pulled off it was very rewarding. I stopped playing around December 2003 January 2003, because I really didn't have as much time to commit, and there were no competitions that were rewarding. I took up the management of Kreaturen instead. Basically, night time was when I was going out alot at uni, and its also when the ET guys like to practice :)
TosspoT Since leaving ET you've been extremely eSports focused, did/do you see a time when a game like RTCW or ET could be pushed into the eSports scene?
zr0 Sure, I thought ET was the next big game when it came out, a free downloadable game that anyone could play, I thought it would be massive especially as it was fun, and spectating it was also fun. Now you realise that it was a little bit of a dream because 6 person teams are logistically hard, and without the following of a game like counterstrike its not going to be worthwhile for sponsors or events to invest into. Plus commercially, developers and publishers weren't that interested in marketing it, as it was free, and it wasn't that hardware intensive for the sponsors.
TosspoT Have fnatic ever looked into picking up an ET team? for example, last years Quakecon
zr0 The thing with picking up teams is regardless if they're the best in the world and their going to win an event, one event just doesn't cut it. With fnatic and with most multigaming teams, you have to look at teams in terms of appeal to sponsors, gaming publicity, and reward for the players. If we took on a team in ET, there is only online leagues and one big event, with possibly some minor events more localised, this means there isn't the reward for the players, nor do we get much MAIN STREAM publicity, or gaming publicity via coverage on the likes of esreality/gotfrag/sk gaming/club fnatic. Plus sending 5-6 players to America is never cheap, with no guarantees of winning.
TosspoT What type of mainstream publicity did you get from winning the Doom3 tournament at Quakecon?
zr0 Well, sending one player to Quakecon is a lot cheaper than sending 6. Gopher had been with fnatic a while already, and although we had no guarantees, we believed in him for the future as well as for this event, so we sent him to Dallas. We didn't get much mainstream publicity, but we did add to our persona as one of the best if not the best fast paced fps team in the world, with Vo0, Lauke, and Gopher. Honestly, we believed gopher would win it, and being a friend of mine personally I wanted to see him get his revenge on rocketboy ;)
TosspoT How has the death of those 3 fps games (UT/D3/PK) effected fnatics realistic aspirations for 2006?
zr0 Sander still gets a lot of publicity in Holland, and is playing a fair bit of quake 4, lauke is now trying his hand at quake 4, but generally I don't think it has effected us that much. Last year and the year before we were all about fast paced fps with the fnatic team, cause that's where the management came from, but now I think we have successfully diversified into CS and Wc3 so I believe were a safe bet to be around at the end of the year :) Plus, fnatic as a whole is trying its hand in a few more fields such as a community website = clubfnatic.com, and the soon to be myfnatic.com, and the fnatic outlet.
TosspoT Is it possible that you'll be living off the success of 2005 for these outlets, rather than building on that success? In the months since PK's death, fnatic is yet to really stamp their authority on any game
zr0 Well months being 2, I wouldn't count us out yet... our new CS team has been doing very well and I'm extremely happy with them, a young bunch of guys who have so much potential in the likes of f0rest, dsn, archi and co. In warcraft 3 we have picked up some great Europeans to lead the charge like DIDI8 and Winner, but the success of fnatic isn't down to any one squad, and success in itself is a subjective word. We may loose everything but get ALOT of mainstream publicity, and this could be classified as success, the thing people don't realise is that were backed not just for our results, but because we can be stable and get main stream exposure. I love the team, and I strongly believe it will be as successful in 2006 as 2005 if not more so.
TosspoT I note that you're not including your Quake 4 team in listing of your potential success stories for 2006. Do you regret not landing Ice Climbers as your Q4 team?
zr0 Hehe, I didn't say anything about quake 4 because I feel we have less to prove in quake 4 than the other games. I know all the players are top notch, and when the LAN events start coming, I believe you will see the true strength of our team. If you mean Tox and gopher, well they were in fnatic last year and their great guys but I made the decision about our quake 4 team based on friendship and the bond between each of the players that's not to say tox and gopher couldn't have been friends with the guys, but we had unmatched, and 2 other world class duellers at our fingertips, why would we think of any other team?
TosspoT The unmatched portion of your Quake 4 team have failed to set the world on fire with their performances, as a manager what action have you taken to get the best out of them?
zr0 Well stelam is officially inactive, doing stuff in his offline life. As for the others, neok hasn't had an internet connection until february and has moved into his new apartment now. Regarding the whole team in general, there are little lans coming up at the moment for them to be practising for. We have a team of guys that are used for heavy bootcamping before events, once we have a set schedule of events and something to play for they will be playing hardcore. To some extent i feel the whole scene is just waiting for major events, sure eurocup is an event, but as much as it has been said before, it is not the perfect competitive arena with ping issues, server issues etc, its not sufficient on its own to keep everyone playing.
TosspoT Which players will fnatic be offering World Tour support to next year?
zr0 We're just going to have to wait and see, we will give all players the opportunity... if its clear they wont be competitive I'm pretty sure they would rather not go than go and not get a good placing.[/i]
TosspoT If you are stelam, after painkiller, what does zr0 do if he wants to recruit him? What do you offer a player, and what is the legality of your offer?
zr0 "Hey, how do you feel like getting to sleep with me for a year?!" stelam "YESSS PLEASE!!!" :) hehe, with the Quake 4 guys it was natural they boot camped with us, went out with us we were all friends.. when it came time to make a quake 4 team we approached each other in Milan "whats your plans for next year?" For a while ste and benno wanted to recreate unmatched, and asked if i wanted to manage them but it wouldn't be right to manage two teams, so they came on board with us.
TosspoT What do the players get for being fnatic?
zr0 A chance at being a professional gamer, wages, travel, hardware, management of press, handling all bookings and accommodation, managing of prize money (one of the hardest things in eSports), and generally to be a part of something bigger, being friends and watching your team mates succeed. We try to be as professional as possible, paying wages on time always, sending out prize money as efficiently as possible, booking in advanced as possible. I think it would surprise the average gamer how unprofessional some of the supposed "professional" teams are.
TosspoT Regarding wages, how does it work? If I work in McDonalds I get £4 an hour, if I work in fnatic I get?
zr0 You get an amount per month.. depending on the team and player to the amount.
TosspoT Would it be fair to say someone like Vo0 gets more than a new member like neok?
zr0 Actually, no everyone in the quake 4 team earns the same.
TosspoT And of Vo0's winnings, seeing as you centralise the winnings payments, does he see all of the winnings?
zr0 He sees the vast majority of his winnings, we take a percentage to cover further costs and to provide a varied form of revenue so that we dont 100% rely on sponsorship payments to keep afloat. Its similar to any player managing firm, or even in acting the agent takes a percentage.
TosspoT Would Vo0 not have been better off financially in 2005 playing without fnatic? Hiring a manager and seeking individual sponsorship, almost the Fatal1ty model of playing
zr0 Hiring a manager? You say that like its an easy thing to do, you have to be able to trust the people you work with, and know that they are doing the most for you. Sander has been a close friend of mine since we played CPMA together, he trusted us and I believe we treated him well, we got him hardware, we sent him to all events, we paid for food and costs at events. What if's and Maybes are all well and good in hindsight but fatal1tys model didn't come about over night, he has worked for years, regardless of his success to build these partnerships with companies and how do you know he earnt more financially than Vo0 did in 2005? There's no figures released? he paid out of his own pocket for zen and others..
TosspoT You seem to be dodging the point, if Vo0 had secured individual sponsorship like Fatality or Moon in warcraft3, do you not believe he could have made more money out of 2005?
zr0 You forget that Vo0 wasn't very well known prior to the world tour outside of gaming circles. Its the mass market where there is money, and it wasn't until the end of the tour that his publicity significantly increased across the board.
TosspoT Would you argue with the statement that once recruited, in 2005 fnatics warcraft and counterstrike teams achieved nothing and returned nothing on fnatics investment
zr0 I would argue with that for sure, I went into these games as a novice and over 6 months I'm pretty confident in my knowledge of what makes a good player, and what makes a good team. The warcraft 3 placed top 6 in the hardest league in the world the WC3l, and every week our stats would be improved due to their games, they also offered a diversity from pure FPS gaming which we had been before and helped to solidify the fnatic team's as a multigaming organisation. I would argue that without a good quality CS team, an organisation cant present itself as a serious contender in esports, as its by far the most competitive game in Europe and probably in the world. Our squad had mixed results, and sure didn't prove to be as high class as our Painkiller squad, but boy what a mantel to live up to, they did well enough for the first 6 months as can be expected. But then again, what do you classify as achieving nothing? The cs team had adverts on tv played for months in Singapore I call that a success in itself ;) as well as a bit of fun.
TosspoT So 6th place in an online league, and CPL Singapore which my gran could have won are acceptable for the money invested? I would guesstimate that you've likely spent some $20,000 on the two teams together
zr0 If your arguing that the wc3l is not competitive then you should look into it :). We were requested to go to CPL Singapore for razer and everglide showmatches and to be used in their booth, they paid so we went, simple as that. Winning was an extra. Team 3D didn't win anything for nearly a year and a half, other than wcg which was paid for, yet I bet they spent considerably more than that in those years. We are happy with all the choices that were made :) and again in hindsight things could have been done better but such is life.
TosspoT Fnatic has not too long ago launched club fnatic - What is the official line on its relation to the team?
zr0 Officially, it is under seperate management with the Cheif editor being Spirit, we are trying to separate it as much as possible from the fnatic team. Orginally we were going to launch the club first, back in eswc 2004 so as to stop the exact problem that is happening now where people see us as a team only, the problem is, a team seemed to come easier, and coding a community site is never easy. The whole concept of fnatic is that it is a sign of quality, the fnatic outlet is done by fnatic, not outsourced to another company just to take a percentage. We want to make it fully fnatic coded and warehoused and shipped with a wide range of products, its the same with the club, and the team, and eventually the media branded fnatic life.
TosspoT What role do the teams sponsors play in the website?
zr0 We have separate team sponsors to global sponsors, a global sponsors supports the entire fnatic organisation, such as Intel, intel centrino mobility, intel desktop boards, nvidia and everglide. Where as we have the likes of sennheiser, 0wned hosting, the game syndicate, HLO, who are specific to our team.
TosspoT How tight is the line between the teams website and club fnatic? Club fnatic failed to cover the teams defeat to mousesports, and has in the past advertised for people to make team movies[/b]
zr0 I dont control the coverage, if no one posts then no one posts, regarding the advertising we were in search of fnatic media crew to cover future events as well as the positibility to make team movies. It was not an initiative related to our team other than the fact that we may make a team move, the same way as we make make a movie of the next club fnatic European all stars, or the next CPL event. And I understand what you're trying to get at, but we are thinking about every move to stop confusion and I believe over time we can separate the sections fully, maybe it would have been wiser to brand it just the club or something along those lines but who knows, just to stop the misconception.
TosspoT club fnatic has been highly advertised on esreality and people have often sited the sites links to the team as a lack of legitimacy and its credibility has been called in question. Its something for which you personally have seen alot of criticism for, how do you counter the arguments that have been levelled at you? Would you perhaps say it has been mis-promoted? As Carmac does not get the same criticism that you do.
zr0 We make every effort to keep a separation between the club and the team, but I think the people that don't truly understand are those that have never come to the club to read stuff, and still see fnatic as a team. I don't blame them for this because we were a team first and we may have indeed promoted it wrong some times. I dislike peoples views that we are a capitalist organisation, senselessly trying to promote the team to gain millions in sponsorship, the fact is we want to offer quality to the readers and we feel we have the ability to offer that which other sites may not because of lack of resources. But whoever thinks the GGL is not in it to win it, need to get their facts straight :) they have significant investors behind them who expect returns.
TosspoT What do you get out of being manager of fnatic
zr0 Satisfaction.. the ability to meet with loads of people in locations all around the world, seeing upsets, and winners, watching people grow over time to be some of the best players in the world. Alot of things. It was always my hobby when it started and over time it grew into more, but that was never the goal, everyone involved just had a passion for esports, as do most of the readers of this interview. I find one of the most enjoyable things is working with the development team on new projects, I love creating with the designers and coders, watching as things come together and then released to the public. If i was in any other massive company you wouldnt get such a personal feeling of reward because every decision has to go through a hundred people. Personally, I can't wait to go more full time into it, after i graduate from Uni in July, its definitely exciting.
TosspoT Finally - Do you think that fnatic would be where it is today without Vo0 and painkiller?
zr0 In short the answer is Yes, whether we would have had the same impact and same speed to this level is another question but the goals have been there since the beginning and he has not been the only success of our team since our inception. Vo0 was to some extent a lucky break for us, but then SK rose to its heights because of the success of its cs team. We picked a winner and supported him, and we are here now!
TosspoT Thank You for your time!
zr0 And thank you for some interesting questions ;) I would like to thank all the players who have made fnatic what it is today, and of course the sponsors such as intel, everglide, nvidia, and sennheiser whose support have really made this dream possible.
