I caught up with former Idle manager and Quakecon 2005 bronze medalist Galahad. The man that successfully guided Idle to glory and raised many an eyebrow as he aided shipping of Estonians to Texas, not once but twice has many questions surrounding his departure from the gaming circuit, its time to find out the answers.
Since the Crossfire lan, nobody has seen Galahad, where did you go?
Well, as some may know I had said already before the CPC that this will be my last even together with idle. After the event I officially stepped down from idle and since then I haven't been as actively involved in anything ET.
And why is that?
Well, difficult to say, I haven't really been playing the game since 2005 quakecon, and then the failed attempt to put kujuneb together for Eurocup after that. So after I wasn't a manager for the idle.ee ET team anymore, I guess I just didn't really have anything to do with ET other than the occasional pub play and watching some ETTV.
So what does a regular Galahad day consist of?
Usually it consists of waking up as late as possible to still get to work in time. Then working. And then random fun things in the evening. But it really hasn't been the case for a couple of months now. Well, it hasn't been a case the past couple of months because I was taught a valuable lesson in life. I got offered a new great job and I decided to quit my old job two weeks before I was supposed to start to get some time off, but in the end of it all I ended up not getting the new job despite everything. So after a few weeks off I started searching for a new job and didn't have all too much luck, until recently!
Now with your role in Idle you had under your control at one point warcraft and CounterStrike teams who were well thought of in the eSports world, what differences were there between the ET squad and the players in the more professional games
Well, I myself always had a somewhat closer relationship to the ET squad, mainly because thats where it all got started for idle and thats the game I used to play myself. The biggest difference in squads was probably their expectations for the organization. As one might assume, the CS and WC3 teams expected a lot more than the ET team although in the end the ET team got to travel to USA twice, while for the cs and warcraft teams europe was all there was.
Was there a different personality or mentality of a cs/wc3 player to that of an ET player?
I wouldn't say the differences really came from the games people played, but simply from the different personalities of the individuals. But the CS teams and Wc3 teams knew their worth a lot better. Other than that, there were nice guys in all of the teams and there were people I really didn't stand all that much - but once again, it had nothing to do with the games they played :P
You experienced something many managers or players ever had and that was handling a budget for gaming. How much was an average Idle budget during the peak of the side? And how did you prioritise it?
There was never such a thing as an average budget for week. Despite all the best intentions there were a lot of things we did not know how to do the right way. Our sponsors helped us out when we asked for help for certain events and what we were short we took from our own pockets most of the time. There was never a situation in idle when we had free money and we had to make choices what to spend it on. It was always the other way around. We had to raise a certain amount of money for a certain event and we had exactly four days to do that.
As for priorities. Although in the end the ET team seemed to travel around the most it was never really planned this way. We didn't value them above other teams. We tried to offer an equal amount of opportunities to all of the players and teams.
It was widely known that your departure from Idle was under a cloud, do you regret it? And do you plan to re-enter the gaming management circuit?
I do not regret the decision. At the end it had become clear that we are not going anywhere I wanted us to go with the way things were going and I just decided that it wasn't worth it to use all of my spare time on idle just to delay its crash. I have thought about re-entering as a manager a lot. I was more interested right after than I am now. There were even a couple of ideas that almost made it to being plans, but for one reason or another they didn't fully materialize then and I do not really regret that at this point.
Right now I am just trying to figure out whats happening to the eSports scene. With the recent changes in the scene I would say that there is a fair chance that multigamingclans as we know them today could cease from existing. And it could all go down the road where leagues own the teams participating. Before I understand what is going to be the direction I will most likely not take any big risks and will not become a manager of a team at this point.
You once told me you believe in eSports more than anybody else, what is it you believe in?
Well, I still do believe in esports. eSports has amazing potential to be the pastime of the future. The scene is growing older each passing day and as more people who are familiar with the eSports concept grow up the more potential money is out there for the scene the more regular people are out there who could enjoy it from a tv screen and so on and on. Unless something else comes along, something I can't think of right now (much like most people in their 30s and up never could have imagined esport to become reality), I belive eSports will grow to become more and more popular
What is your greatest gaming experience?
There are so many, and they are rather difficult to compare. Just about everything related to Quakecon 2005 of course. Getting there, placing on money, meeting people and playing in front of so many people. As a manager it was amazing to be there when the ET team won both Quakecon 2006 and the CPC event. I also will probably always remember the time idle CS team finished 4th in SHG Open 2005 taking down so many great teams on the way and proving everyone who accused them of cheating online so so very wrong. I wasn't there myself, but I talked to one of the players on the phone after their game that secured them the 4th place finish, and it was amazing. I was happy about them doing well and they seemed really happy that we had trusted them and invested in them so that they could prove the world wrong.
I have just one great memory as a player though, most likely because I was never really all that good. But in Qcon 2005 when we played I believe Kinetic on radar for the 3rd place. They had the docs and a chance to tie the game, but this is one of the only times I have made a few clutch kills in a row to secure the docs and send them home in 4th place. Oh, beating my brother in NBA Live games is always great too. :D
Lastly Galahad, on April 13/14/15 where will you be?
I assume these are the dates for CPC2. Hopefully I will be there then to spectate some great games and meet some great people. And beat potter in poker.
Since the Crossfire lan, nobody has seen Galahad, where did you go?
Well, as some may know I had said already before the CPC that this will be my last even together with idle. After the event I officially stepped down from idle and since then I haven't been as actively involved in anything ET.
And why is that?
Well, difficult to say, I haven't really been playing the game since 2005 quakecon, and then the failed attempt to put kujuneb together for Eurocup after that. So after I wasn't a manager for the idle.ee ET team anymore, I guess I just didn't really have anything to do with ET other than the occasional pub play and watching some ETTV.
So what does a regular Galahad day consist of?
Usually it consists of waking up as late as possible to still get to work in time. Then working. And then random fun things in the evening. But it really hasn't been the case for a couple of months now. Well, it hasn't been a case the past couple of months because I was taught a valuable lesson in life. I got offered a new great job and I decided to quit my old job two weeks before I was supposed to start to get some time off, but in the end of it all I ended up not getting the new job despite everything. So after a few weeks off I started searching for a new job and didn't have all too much luck, until recently!
Now with your role in Idle you had under your control at one point warcraft and CounterStrike teams who were well thought of in the eSports world, what differences were there between the ET squad and the players in the more professional games
Well, I myself always had a somewhat closer relationship to the ET squad, mainly because thats where it all got started for idle and thats the game I used to play myself. The biggest difference in squads was probably their expectations for the organization. As one might assume, the CS and WC3 teams expected a lot more than the ET team although in the end the ET team got to travel to USA twice, while for the cs and warcraft teams europe was all there was.
Was there a different personality or mentality of a cs/wc3 player to that of an ET player?
I wouldn't say the differences really came from the games people played, but simply from the different personalities of the individuals. But the CS teams and Wc3 teams knew their worth a lot better. Other than that, there were nice guys in all of the teams and there were people I really didn't stand all that much - but once again, it had nothing to do with the games they played :P
You experienced something many managers or players ever had and that was handling a budget for gaming. How much was an average Idle budget during the peak of the side? And how did you prioritise it?
There was never such a thing as an average budget for week. Despite all the best intentions there were a lot of things we did not know how to do the right way. Our sponsors helped us out when we asked for help for certain events and what we were short we took from our own pockets most of the time. There was never a situation in idle when we had free money and we had to make choices what to spend it on. It was always the other way around. We had to raise a certain amount of money for a certain event and we had exactly four days to do that.
As for priorities. Although in the end the ET team seemed to travel around the most it was never really planned this way. We didn't value them above other teams. We tried to offer an equal amount of opportunities to all of the players and teams.
It was widely known that your departure from Idle was under a cloud, do you regret it? And do you plan to re-enter the gaming management circuit?
I do not regret the decision. At the end it had become clear that we are not going anywhere I wanted us to go with the way things were going and I just decided that it wasn't worth it to use all of my spare time on idle just to delay its crash. I have thought about re-entering as a manager a lot. I was more interested right after than I am now. There were even a couple of ideas that almost made it to being plans, but for one reason or another they didn't fully materialize then and I do not really regret that at this point.
Right now I am just trying to figure out whats happening to the eSports scene. With the recent changes in the scene I would say that there is a fair chance that multigamingclans as we know them today could cease from existing. And it could all go down the road where leagues own the teams participating. Before I understand what is going to be the direction I will most likely not take any big risks and will not become a manager of a team at this point.
You once told me you believe in eSports more than anybody else, what is it you believe in?
Well, I still do believe in esports. eSports has amazing potential to be the pastime of the future. The scene is growing older each passing day and as more people who are familiar with the eSports concept grow up the more potential money is out there for the scene the more regular people are out there who could enjoy it from a tv screen and so on and on. Unless something else comes along, something I can't think of right now (much like most people in their 30s and up never could have imagined esport to become reality), I belive eSports will grow to become more and more popular
What is your greatest gaming experience?
There are so many, and they are rather difficult to compare. Just about everything related to Quakecon 2005 of course. Getting there, placing on money, meeting people and playing in front of so many people. As a manager it was amazing to be there when the ET team won both Quakecon 2006 and the CPC event. I also will probably always remember the time idle CS team finished 4th in SHG Open 2005 taking down so many great teams on the way and proving everyone who accused them of cheating online so so very wrong. I wasn't there myself, but I talked to one of the players on the phone after their game that secured them the 4th place finish, and it was amazing. I was happy about them doing well and they seemed really happy that we had trusted them and invested in them so that they could prove the world wrong.
I have just one great memory as a player though, most likely because I was never really all that good. But in Qcon 2005 when we played I believe Kinetic on radar for the 3rd place. They had the docs and a chance to tie the game, but this is one of the only times I have made a few clutch kills in a row to secure the docs and send them home in 4th place. Oh, beating my brother in NBA Live games is always great too. :D
Lastly Galahad, on April 13/14/15 where will you be?
I assume these are the dates for CPC2. Hopefully I will be there then to spectate some great games and meet some great people. And beat potter in poker.
n1 iview :>
good work both
See you at CPC2 galahad! :D
<o/