Interview conducted by CSF41
01. Hello, firstly please introduce yourself in short: what kind of a person are you in the normal life, and what are your hobbies?
Hey – my name is Pascal Jäger, I am currently living in Recklinghausen, Germany (near Cologne) and attending the thirteenth class of my grammar school. Besides online-gaming and the world wide web, I do a lot of different sports like badminton, volleyball and some jogging now and then.
02. Which games did you play before, and when did you start playing Need For Speed? Tell us something about your clan history too!
Well, I have to admit that I started playing games online with Counter-Strike … I guess it was version 6.5 in that times. When it became boring, I looked for something new and I found Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which I played for almost two years, as well as the follower Enemy Territory. I’ve always been quite successful in those games, but never made it to the very top … besides ET I was also playing Need for Speed Underground with my team mate vect0r, who is well known in the German ET scene. I belonged to the top5 for a long time in Germany, until I had to stop gaming for several months because of personal issues.
03. Did you play Enemy Territory, too? Oh, my God, that's my game. Please, tell us in which Enemy Territory teams did you play and when!
Yea, I liked Enemy Territory a lot. I played it from the very beginning and I started in the famous Austrian team plan-B together with rapture, n2y, vect0r, guy, potter and some others. We were the best team in Europe for the first 4-6 months, we had won the first multiplay.uk cup against clans like GunSlingers and goodfellas, until our team broke up. From that point on, I played for essence of evolution and later again for team foundatioN, but we never became as strong as we used to be before.
04. Plan-B was a top team in that time, you played in EuroCup? Tell us something about your teammates and results!
To be honest, I am not quite sure, whether we played in EuroCup, because in the beginning of ET there were not that much leagues available. As I’ve already mentioned, the key players in our team were: vect0r, darky, rapture, n2y, guy and potter and the biggest success in that time was the winning of the multiplay.uk cup, where Europe’s best clans participated. It was really great organisation at plan-B, the team spirit was awesome, but in the end we unfortunately wanted to build up an ‘empire’ in ET and therefore recruited a second team with a lot of skilled and talented players from the former goodfellas team. Yet, it was in the same time our death, because having two squads in one clan did not really work out … sadly :/
05. Potter, darky, rapture. They are still the top players of the game, attending the biggest LAN events of ET nowadays, like QuakeCon, Crossfire LANs, PGA and probably they will attend sHgopen in Denmark too in February. Did you enjoy playing with them?
Ye, I have heard that some of them are still playing Enemy Territory successfully. I was and I am still proud of having played with them in one team … they have a great experience tactical-wise and all of them got a great aim. I wish them the best of luck for their future games 
06. Finally you decided to leave the game, and to continue with racing games. Can you tell us some details about this?
As I have already mentioned above, I had to stop gaming due to personal issues. But I would have stopped playing Enemy Territory anyway, because after some time it became too spammy in my opinion. I prefer having a game, where u can mostly rely on your aim and your gamestyle, but ET was dominated by teams with great tactics, using a lot of spam, perfectly placed mines and artilleries, panzerfausts and stuff like that. So I looked out for a new challenge and found it in racing-games.
07. Are you still playing ET on publics or somewhere sometimes, or did you totally finish it?
Nah, I did not totally finish it. I am not playing regularly on publics, but from time to time I play the game with my old mates, because it is still fun, that I can compete with others … the aiming is not too hard in that game, so you cannot really forget about it 
08. So, about Trackmania, you are one of the bests in that, finished 3rd on ESWC in Paris. I like that game too. Do you think that it is too different from fps games?
Ye, true – I am very glad about my placing at ESWC. Beforehand, I expected to finish top8, but the third place was a huge surprise for me. Of course, it does not have a lot in common with FPS … Trackmania Nations requires many different skills in comparison. You do not need reflexes for example, but on the other hand skills like the ability to concentrate over a certain amount of time and the ability to have your nerves under control are of great importance for being successful in that game. In addition, you need to be able to learn the tracks to perfection … sometimes you really have to play several hours on one track, until you finally make your maximum of time.
09. Tell us something about your best results, and about the best games you remember of!
My best results …
in RtCW: having played EuroCup, being in the national team, best 2on2 team in the ESL.
In ET: wining several cups, member of the national team again.
In NfSU: top5 in Germany for a long time
And the big success started with Trackmania Nations, where I started playing in some ESL ladders, been on the very top for several months now in four of them. Then I finished first at the German championship, placing third at the ESWC Grand Final, having won some smaller cups after the ESWC by beating the ESWC-Champion Carl. Placing 6th a the VeriZon Playing Tournament (1000$ prizemoney).
The best game I remember is definitely Return to Castle Wolfenstein … I loved the game from the very beginning and still do so. I really hope, that the second part will be released as soon as possible – can’t wait for it, it is a MUST for me to play it 
10. You play Need For Speed sometimes, too. What do you think about that game?
In general I like the game, but there are some issues I really hate and I do not understand EA not to fix those. Being faster by riding along walls is simply unrealistic and not fair at all. People try to find the best possible line in a usual way and then get fooled by players, who have found an even faster wallride. That is one thing … another is the really weak support from EA. It seems like they just want to sell as many of their games as possible, not considering to include some useful and necessary features. Why for example did they not include a LAN-modus into their latest part Need for Speed Carbon?
11. I know you've heard about The Fast and the Furious Cup and you wanted to join it, but finally you decided not to join. What do you think about it, and what about the skill level of the tournament?
Ye, I have first signed up, but I simply do not have enough time to play a third game besides TMN and Q4 TDM in EuroCup.
It would have been a great experience for me I guess, just because a lot of famous players have signed up for this cup. I like the idea of having some prizes for the top placed players and due to this Europe’s best players attended. As you know, I do not have that much knowledge about the NfSC scene, but as far as I’ve heard, those guys from USSR might play an important role for the victory of the cup. By the way, the Russians are also quite good in Trackmania 
12. You may follow the cup, who do you think the final winner to be?
My guess: USSRxMrRASER
13. The Fast and the Furious series is one of my favourites. Tokio Drift is a bit different from the others, but I like it. Do you like the movie and the trilogy, too
Hehe ye, I like those three movies, too. But since it is mostly the case in trilogies, the first part appealed the most to me, just because it was something new and you did not expect a movie like that. The following parts were just a widening of the already existing idea.
14. What about your training, how many hours are you practicing day by day? You need a good condition for concentrating, do you mix real sports and eSports?
Yep, that’s a good point. I used to have a balance between eSports and real sports … I think it is quite important, that you are physically fit, as well. I guess it will help you in crucial and intense situations, such as playing on stage in front of several hundreds of spectators.
I cannot really say, how much I usually practice. In Trackmania Nations, there are new tracks for each tournament … for example I do not yet know, which tracks are going to be driven at the upcoming ESWC, so there is no need of practicing. But as soon as I know the tracks, I usually have two intensive weeks of practice before the event, spending like three up to six hours in TMN.
15. Where are you playing normally? At your home, or in Internet cafés, LAN clubs?
- Normally at home … we do not have that much comfortable internet cafés around here, plus I have never tried one 
16. Which will be the next event that you will attend? What about the future of NFS and other racing games? Do these games get enough support? If not, please tell us some possibilities that could be of assistance!
- I will definitely attend some small German LAN-Parties before the upcoming ESWC Germany. And there are always some cups in the Internet, where some prizes are to be won.
Concerning Trackmania, the game does get a lot of support from its publisher Nadeo and of course from the community, which is really unique. For NFS I can only repeat, that EA should really listen to the community and make the game more competitive, instead of adding more and more “mainstream-features”.
I am really excited about the future of eSports and which genre will become accepted most by the public. There were some famous clans I do not want to mention right here, having had faith in games, which are closer to the average character, like football games or racing games and therefore released their FPS teams. It seemed like a really good plan to concentrate and combine real sports with eSports, but that plan did not really work out. First person shooter are still very important for multigaming teams and are not to be left out. I would prefer seeing all different kinds of games on future events to simply attract the widest field of interests as possible.
17. Need For Speed is a very good game, but something is missing. Do you think a good spectator mode, like "NFS TV" can help something?
Of course it would. If you followed the recent discussion about using Quake3 or Quake4 for next year’s CPL World Tour, that point was the most deciding one, that is a good spectator mode. Quake3 has GTV, Quake4 has nothing … I guess that was the main reason for CPL to choose Quake3 as THE game.
NFS TV would be just awesome – there are a lot of people out there, who do not play NFS, but still would love to see some intensive matches between the best racers in NFS. So please EA, work on it! 
18. Speaking about the controller, what is your opinion: what is the
best for racing games, and why!
- That depends on the game … for Trackmania Nations you can use a gamepad or a keyboard, that is what I prefer to use. With a gaming-wheel you are doomed, because you simply do not get from the very left to the very right as fast as with a gamepad and/or keyboard.
Live for Speed for example requires a gaming-wheel, because you have to steer very precisely. And concerning NFS … well, I figured out that I am faster with a wheel, but as far as I know, most people play with a gamepad.
19. If you can say something to the players who like the game and they just wanna start playing racing games competitively, what would you suggest them?
Really try to find your own gaming-style, instead of asking the already professional players to hand out some useful tips. I have made the experience that developing your own style is better than strictly following someone’s advices. And which is important, as well: practice … as much as you can invest 
20. Great, thanks for the interview. Now you can make some shoutouts to your friends! :)
Thank you, too  I would like to greet the whole Team-Dignitas crew, would like to thank our sponsors ABIT and Creative for all their support in the recent time and some shoutouts to: vect0r, medic, soucy, MadneSS, XeNoGeaR, bio`hAzzard, Steffan, my brother Fabian, ODEE, Sprinter and those I forgot 
01. Hello, firstly please introduce yourself in short: what kind of a person are you in the normal life, and what are your hobbies?
Hey – my name is Pascal Jäger, I am currently living in Recklinghausen, Germany (near Cologne) and attending the thirteenth class of my grammar school. Besides online-gaming and the world wide web, I do a lot of different sports like badminton, volleyball and some jogging now and then.
02. Which games did you play before, and when did you start playing Need For Speed? Tell us something about your clan history too!
Well, I have to admit that I started playing games online with Counter-Strike … I guess it was version 6.5 in that times. When it became boring, I looked for something new and I found Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which I played for almost two years, as well as the follower Enemy Territory. I’ve always been quite successful in those games, but never made it to the very top … besides ET I was also playing Need for Speed Underground with my team mate vect0r, who is well known in the German ET scene. I belonged to the top5 for a long time in Germany, until I had to stop gaming for several months because of personal issues.
03. Did you play Enemy Territory, too? Oh, my God, that's my game. Please, tell us in which Enemy Territory teams did you play and when!
Yea, I liked Enemy Territory a lot. I played it from the very beginning and I started in the famous Austrian team plan-B together with rapture, n2y, vect0r, guy, potter and some others. We were the best team in Europe for the first 4-6 months, we had won the first multiplay.uk cup against clans like GunSlingers and goodfellas, until our team broke up. From that point on, I played for essence of evolution and later again for team foundatioN, but we never became as strong as we used to be before.
04. Plan-B was a top team in that time, you played in EuroCup? Tell us something about your teammates and results!
To be honest, I am not quite sure, whether we played in EuroCup, because in the beginning of ET there were not that much leagues available. As I’ve already mentioned, the key players in our team were: vect0r, darky, rapture, n2y, guy and potter and the biggest success in that time was the winning of the multiplay.uk cup, where Europe’s best clans participated. It was really great organisation at plan-B, the team spirit was awesome, but in the end we unfortunately wanted to build up an ‘empire’ in ET and therefore recruited a second team with a lot of skilled and talented players from the former goodfellas team. Yet, it was in the same time our death, because having two squads in one clan did not really work out … sadly :/
05. Potter, darky, rapture. They are still the top players of the game, attending the biggest LAN events of ET nowadays, like QuakeCon, Crossfire LANs, PGA and probably they will attend sHgopen in Denmark too in February. Did you enjoy playing with them?
Ye, I have heard that some of them are still playing Enemy Territory successfully. I was and I am still proud of having played with them in one team … they have a great experience tactical-wise and all of them got a great aim. I wish them the best of luck for their future games 
06. Finally you decided to leave the game, and to continue with racing games. Can you tell us some details about this?
As I have already mentioned above, I had to stop gaming due to personal issues. But I would have stopped playing Enemy Territory anyway, because after some time it became too spammy in my opinion. I prefer having a game, where u can mostly rely on your aim and your gamestyle, but ET was dominated by teams with great tactics, using a lot of spam, perfectly placed mines and artilleries, panzerfausts and stuff like that. So I looked out for a new challenge and found it in racing-games.
07. Are you still playing ET on publics or somewhere sometimes, or did you totally finish it?
Nah, I did not totally finish it. I am not playing regularly on publics, but from time to time I play the game with my old mates, because it is still fun, that I can compete with others … the aiming is not too hard in that game, so you cannot really forget about it 
08. So, about Trackmania, you are one of the bests in that, finished 3rd on ESWC in Paris. I like that game too. Do you think that it is too different from fps games?
Ye, true – I am very glad about my placing at ESWC. Beforehand, I expected to finish top8, but the third place was a huge surprise for me. Of course, it does not have a lot in common with FPS … Trackmania Nations requires many different skills in comparison. You do not need reflexes for example, but on the other hand skills like the ability to concentrate over a certain amount of time and the ability to have your nerves under control are of great importance for being successful in that game. In addition, you need to be able to learn the tracks to perfection … sometimes you really have to play several hours on one track, until you finally make your maximum of time.
09. Tell us something about your best results, and about the best games you remember of!
My best results …
in RtCW: having played EuroCup, being in the national team, best 2on2 team in the ESL.
In ET: wining several cups, member of the national team again.
In NfSU: top5 in Germany for a long time
And the big success started with Trackmania Nations, where I started playing in some ESL ladders, been on the very top for several months now in four of them. Then I finished first at the German championship, placing third at the ESWC Grand Final, having won some smaller cups after the ESWC by beating the ESWC-Champion Carl. Placing 6th a the VeriZon Playing Tournament (1000$ prizemoney).
The best game I remember is definitely Return to Castle Wolfenstein … I loved the game from the very beginning and still do so. I really hope, that the second part will be released as soon as possible – can’t wait for it, it is a MUST for me to play it 
10. You play Need For Speed sometimes, too. What do you think about that game?
In general I like the game, but there are some issues I really hate and I do not understand EA not to fix those. Being faster by riding along walls is simply unrealistic and not fair at all. People try to find the best possible line in a usual way and then get fooled by players, who have found an even faster wallride. That is one thing … another is the really weak support from EA. It seems like they just want to sell as many of their games as possible, not considering to include some useful and necessary features. Why for example did they not include a LAN-modus into their latest part Need for Speed Carbon?
11. I know you've heard about The Fast and the Furious Cup and you wanted to join it, but finally you decided not to join. What do you think about it, and what about the skill level of the tournament?
Ye, I have first signed up, but I simply do not have enough time to play a third game besides TMN and Q4 TDM in EuroCup.
It would have been a great experience for me I guess, just because a lot of famous players have signed up for this cup. I like the idea of having some prizes for the top placed players and due to this Europe’s best players attended. As you know, I do not have that much knowledge about the NfSC scene, but as far as I’ve heard, those guys from USSR might play an important role for the victory of the cup. By the way, the Russians are also quite good in Trackmania 
12. You may follow the cup, who do you think the final winner to be?
My guess: USSRxMrRASER
13. The Fast and the Furious series is one of my favourites. Tokio Drift is a bit different from the others, but I like it. Do you like the movie and the trilogy, too
Hehe ye, I like those three movies, too. But since it is mostly the case in trilogies, the first part appealed the most to me, just because it was something new and you did not expect a movie like that. The following parts were just a widening of the already existing idea.
14. What about your training, how many hours are you practicing day by day? You need a good condition for concentrating, do you mix real sports and eSports?
Yep, that’s a good point. I used to have a balance between eSports and real sports … I think it is quite important, that you are physically fit, as well. I guess it will help you in crucial and intense situations, such as playing on stage in front of several hundreds of spectators.
I cannot really say, how much I usually practice. In Trackmania Nations, there are new tracks for each tournament … for example I do not yet know, which tracks are going to be driven at the upcoming ESWC, so there is no need of practicing. But as soon as I know the tracks, I usually have two intensive weeks of practice before the event, spending like three up to six hours in TMN.
15. Where are you playing normally? At your home, or in Internet cafés, LAN clubs?
- Normally at home … we do not have that much comfortable internet cafés around here, plus I have never tried one 
16. Which will be the next event that you will attend? What about the future of NFS and other racing games? Do these games get enough support? If not, please tell us some possibilities that could be of assistance!
- I will definitely attend some small German LAN-Parties before the upcoming ESWC Germany. And there are always some cups in the Internet, where some prizes are to be won.
Concerning Trackmania, the game does get a lot of support from its publisher Nadeo and of course from the community, which is really unique. For NFS I can only repeat, that EA should really listen to the community and make the game more competitive, instead of adding more and more “mainstream-features”.
I am really excited about the future of eSports and which genre will become accepted most by the public. There were some famous clans I do not want to mention right here, having had faith in games, which are closer to the average character, like football games or racing games and therefore released their FPS teams. It seemed like a really good plan to concentrate and combine real sports with eSports, but that plan did not really work out. First person shooter are still very important for multigaming teams and are not to be left out. I would prefer seeing all different kinds of games on future events to simply attract the widest field of interests as possible.
17. Need For Speed is a very good game, but something is missing. Do you think a good spectator mode, like "NFS TV" can help something?
Of course it would. If you followed the recent discussion about using Quake3 or Quake4 for next year’s CPL World Tour, that point was the most deciding one, that is a good spectator mode. Quake3 has GTV, Quake4 has nothing … I guess that was the main reason for CPL to choose Quake3 as THE game.
NFS TV would be just awesome – there are a lot of people out there, who do not play NFS, but still would love to see some intensive matches between the best racers in NFS. So please EA, work on it! 
18. Speaking about the controller, what is your opinion: what is the
best for racing games, and why!
- That depends on the game … for Trackmania Nations you can use a gamepad or a keyboard, that is what I prefer to use. With a gaming-wheel you are doomed, because you simply do not get from the very left to the very right as fast as with a gamepad and/or keyboard.
Live for Speed for example requires a gaming-wheel, because you have to steer very precisely. And concerning NFS … well, I figured out that I am faster with a wheel, but as far as I know, most people play with a gamepad.
19. If you can say something to the players who like the game and they just wanna start playing racing games competitively, what would you suggest them?
Really try to find your own gaming-style, instead of asking the already professional players to hand out some useful tips. I have made the experience that developing your own style is better than strictly following someone’s advices. And which is important, as well: practice … as much as you can invest 
20. Great, thanks for the interview. Now you can make some shoutouts to your friends! :)
Thank you, too  I would like to greet the whole Team-Dignitas crew, would like to thank our sponsors ABIT and Creative for all their support in the recent time and some shoutouts to: vect0r, medic, soucy, MadneSS, XeNoGeaR, bio`hAzzard, Steffan, my brother Fabian, ODEE, Sprinter and those I forgot 
Merry Christmas :>
And besides, there not just the standard questions, good job Cs4f1 !
My name is Fabian Gabor, hy brother .....
His brother is most likely called Fabian Jäger, not Gabor. It's not like you're the only person called Fabian.
That's what happening with me atm sux bigtime
nice interview!
gl hf
Nice interview.
GL in the future Gallo.
Merry Christmas @ all