Following the RTCW History movie I decided to sit down with some of the stars of the movie to have a small talk about the past, the present and the future.
Hollywood who during his prime time in RTCW placed 3rd on Quakecon 2003 and won the second Battle of the Beachhead tournament with Team Affliction only recently drew attention to himself making a comeback in Wolfenstein and winning the TGL Intel Wolfenstein Championship. He also has had success playing RTCW:ET and ET:QW.
Team Affliction on Quakecon 2003 (from left to right: Time-Bomb Hollywood Illumina Brian Nail)
Hey, could you please introduce yourself shortly first.
I'm -a-hollywood I'm the leader of Team Afflction. In the real world, my name is Rob Fisher. I currently work for a telecom company in Atlanta, Georgia that subcontracts low voltage work for major corporations around the United States. I’m currently married with a Wife that sometimes ;) encourages me to play online video games competitively.
Tell us about your gaming history – what did you start with, how did you find your way into rtcw
Back in 1995 my neighbor got me addicted to a game called Duke Nukem 3d and computer gaming. We would play 1v1 death match to late hours into the night. At this time I was addicted to first person virtual combat. I did not have a fast enough computer to handle Duke Nukem or the internet for that matter. In late 1996 I finally got a computer that could handle most new games and an internet connection that wasn’t AOL.
I started online competitive gaming back in early 1997 on online gaming networks called Kali, Heat, and TEN for Duke Nukem 3d. I was amazed on how you could play other people around the world while at home. When I played Duke Nukem I used a Microsoft Sidewinder 3d pro joystick and keyboard as controls and not a mouse and keyboard. I was able to be in command of over all three leagues and was very successful at the game.
One day in 2001 someone posted a link on Kali (like mirc) to the “new wolfenstein demo/game”. I downloaded the demo and got addicted to it ever since.
With the exception of brian no members of the Afflicion team that you were part of and that went to take the third place on Quakecon 2003 were on the previous quakecon. Where have you been back then? Picked the game up too late?
I picked up rtcw when it was still a demo before the full version was released in 2002. I never had any experience with team based fps or using a mouse and keyboard as my primary controls. I adapted to the game quickly and joined a team called “team tip” with some other skilled players. Team Tip did well in the battle of the beach 1 tournament (place top 16) but we were nowhere near the talent and team coordination of the top teams experienced teams such as Darkside and the Doctors who previous dominated other games.
After the battle on the beach 1 tournament Team Tip disband as a couple of the players went to Clan Kaptial and Darkside to take the game more seriously and prepare for Quakecon 2002. I was asked to join deathtouch and competed for the upcoming CAL online Season. Many members didn’t plan on going to Quakecon 2002 because of lack of preparation, did not make proper travel arrangements. At the time deathtouch did not take the game seriously as I would have liked.
After Quakecon 2002 Dimmak and I revamped the deathtouch roster and found people that were motivated to play rtcw at a high level of competition and put in the time and effort to strive to get better as a team. These players included brian, chrome, illumina, nail and decka. I mostly handled the team aspect with developing strats and making sure all six people on the team were on the same page.
Around early 2003 the North American rtcw community was preparing their rosters for the upcoming battle of the beach 2 and Quakecon 2003 tournaments. The problem with these teams is that most of them were highly skilled shots “rambos” and did not put in the effort to focus on teamwork. We were able to have an edge of these teams by having developed solid teamwork the couple of months prior and gelled very well.
A couple of days before the battle on the beach tournament a few of the players on deathtouch had internal conflicts issues with one of the original founders. The majority of the team felt it was best to part ways. We were the same team as deathtouch; just playing under Affliction. Brian was one of the original members of Affliction in which we recruited a couple of months prior to play on our deathtouch roster. Brian was the only member that played on the 2002 affliction roster that participated at quakecon tournament in 2002. The other five people on the team had zero lan experience but were determined to finish on top.
With deathtouch and later afflicion you have played most of the top clans that have ever played the game. Which team was the hardest to play against.
The hardest team to play against was the doctors prior to the 2002 quakecon. At the time the roster I was a part of did not take the time and effort to strategize and basically pubbed our scrims and matches. I was amazed that all of the doctor’s players were on the same page. I couldn’t believe on how well their teamwork performed during every phase of the map. Everyone on their team knew what to do when to do it. Their offense would just conquer the whole area of the map in a blink of an eye and setup a spawn camp. They would play aggressive on defense when you weren’t ready and would mix it up by falling back to a nasty crossfire that you couldn’t break. They were very unpredictable and most of my theories of teamwork and strategies from all of my competitive team-based fps games come from a couple of scrims against them.
Attack Strats of Team Afflicion on mp_base
Affliction were one of the only teams to pick up Wolfenstein when it was released. Do you think it isn’t as bad as most feel about it or did you just play it for the money?
The players on the team including myself feel Wolfenstein isn’t as bad as most people in the community felt about it. Many people didn’t give the game a chance or just can’t (or won’t) adapt from other games such as rtcw or w:et.
The only members that played Wolfenstein from the previous rtcw Affliction team was decka, chrome and myself. Decka played with us during the first 3 weeks after release and had to leave due to personal reasons. The other members, boi, michaeld, vid and I were all use to the idtech4 engine from quakewars and were used to the sloppy movement and shooting.
We enjoyed the layouts of the maps and the quick round times. The game was very buggy but it was playable if you had a good computer and were able to get over 200 frames per second. I feel if they didn’t rush the multiplayer and had a private beta to polish it could have been successful. After the TGL Intel Extreme tournament it was clear that no one would play this game for competition any longer. During the lack of scrims/pracy the team decided to venture into other games.
A common thing to hear from oldschool RTCW players that kept on playing in other games such as ET or ET:QW is that back in the days competing was more fun. Often referring to teams just being more dedicated to the game and behaving in a more mature way. Do you agree with that or do you think it's the nostalgia speaking?
I 100% agree with the old school rtcw players. I played w:et, et:qw and wolfenstein and was very successful in each game. Rtcw felt more polish for competition even without a mod. W:Et was a very fun pub game but I never could take it serious for competition with the amount of spam during the first year of playing. ETQW like w:et was great for public play but it included vehicles, spam and large maps that turned many people off. Plus the ID Tech 4 engine was not very forgiving in terms of smoothness as compared to idtech3. If you grew up playing rtcw in 2002-2003 you would probably agree.
Wolfenstein seemed to be made for competition with smaller maps and less spam but wasn’t finished when released with many bugs.
What elements from what games would you take to create the perfect game?
I enjoy team base stopwatch style of play with a wave respawn system. You could take elements from rtcw, w:et, et:qw and wolfenstein to create the perfect game. As far as each element, what to include etc. that could be debated for another discussion =)
Are you following the development of Brink? Do you think it could be the next big game for wolfenstein fans?
I’m very interested in brink but like all these new games I have my doubts whether it will be successful. Splash damage is working on Brink and they are known for long drawn out maps; 7:00 to 20:00 minute rounds which include a whole lot of spam and full hold. The reason rtcw was successful is that one bad spawn time or playing overly aggressive on defense could lead to a quick cap of 2:00 minutes or less. Rtcw revolved more around teamwork then just team deathmatch with a 15 to 20 second “low” defensive respawn time.
To the new teams, what advice would you give them in order to be successful?
Play with people you get along with. Make sure each player can devote the time to practice in order to compete at the highest standards. Try to avoid ringers and backup players as much as possible. Focus on having the starters always playing at the same time.
Don’t expect to win off the start. One cause of new teams folding is the large expectation they put on themselves to win. Many teams accumulate talent from around the league and associate talent with winning. Talent is necessary, but so is teamwork, strats and execution. You will learn more from a tough loss then winning.
Make sure all players on the team are on the same page. Think to you self when making strats. If the opponent pushes the map one way... how is your team going to execute? Who goes where, who does what? On offense, think of ways to exploit the defense in order to take control of the map. Focus on shifting and make sure everyone gets them self in position for a good cross fire. Learn each map inside and out and develop nicknames for each area of the map. This will improve communications and help develop teamwork.
When a player on your team dies make sure they don’t get all emotional and blame the physics of the game or opposing player skill level on how he spammed the crouch button or proned while in a duel. The only information that should be coming on voice is how many opposing players are coming in his area and where they are going. Good communication is key to success!
Be kind to other teams and don’t take winning or losing scrims seriously. Scrims are practice and the more you practice the better you and your team will succeed for when it counts “matches”. Force yourself to play only good teams and learn from them. If you happen to be very successful against a team in a scrim don’t brag about it. Be respectful and keep it to yourself. Just remember scrims are PRACTICE. The more practice the better you will be!
What is your greatest memory from the rtcw days: All of the scrims and matches playing together as a team would no doubt be the greatest memories from rtcw. I also remember watching wolftv with warwitch, sabo, trillian and justice shoutcasting. Stuff like this doesn’t compare to any new game.
Best RTCW player: My vote goes to –a-brian
Best RTCW team: Team Affliction bob2 team: brian (medic), chrome (medic), decka (lt), hollywood (panzer/med), illumina (engineer/lt), nail (lt/panzer)
Coolest Clantag: either stickmen o-X or locked on target )x(
Thanks for taking your time!
Hollywood who during his prime time in RTCW placed 3rd on Quakecon 2003 and won the second Battle of the Beachhead tournament with Team Affliction only recently drew attention to himself making a comeback in Wolfenstein and winning the TGL Intel Wolfenstein Championship. He also has had success playing RTCW:ET and ET:QW.Team Affliction on Quakecon 2003 (from left to right: Time-Bomb Hollywood Illumina Brian Nail)
Hey, could you please introduce yourself shortly first.
I'm -a-hollywood I'm the leader of Team Afflction. In the real world, my name is Rob Fisher. I currently work for a telecom company in Atlanta, Georgia that subcontracts low voltage work for major corporations around the United States. I’m currently married with a Wife that sometimes ;) encourages me to play online video games competitively.
Tell us about your gaming history – what did you start with, how did you find your way into rtcw
Back in 1995 my neighbor got me addicted to a game called Duke Nukem 3d and computer gaming. We would play 1v1 death match to late hours into the night. At this time I was addicted to first person virtual combat. I did not have a fast enough computer to handle Duke Nukem or the internet for that matter. In late 1996 I finally got a computer that could handle most new games and an internet connection that wasn’t AOL.
I started online competitive gaming back in early 1997 on online gaming networks called Kali, Heat, and TEN for Duke Nukem 3d. I was amazed on how you could play other people around the world while at home. When I played Duke Nukem I used a Microsoft Sidewinder 3d pro joystick and keyboard as controls and not a mouse and keyboard. I was able to be in command of over all three leagues and was very successful at the game.
One day in 2001 someone posted a link on Kali (like mirc) to the “new wolfenstein demo/game”. I downloaded the demo and got addicted to it ever since.
With the exception of brian no members of the Afflicion team that you were part of and that went to take the third place on Quakecon 2003 were on the previous quakecon. Where have you been back then? Picked the game up too late?
I picked up rtcw when it was still a demo before the full version was released in 2002. I never had any experience with team based fps or using a mouse and keyboard as my primary controls. I adapted to the game quickly and joined a team called “team tip” with some other skilled players. Team Tip did well in the battle of the beach 1 tournament (place top 16) but we were nowhere near the talent and team coordination of the top teams experienced teams such as Darkside and the Doctors who previous dominated other games.
After the battle on the beach 1 tournament Team Tip disband as a couple of the players went to Clan Kaptial and Darkside to take the game more seriously and prepare for Quakecon 2002. I was asked to join deathtouch and competed for the upcoming CAL online Season. Many members didn’t plan on going to Quakecon 2002 because of lack of preparation, did not make proper travel arrangements. At the time deathtouch did not take the game seriously as I would have liked.
After Quakecon 2002 Dimmak and I revamped the deathtouch roster and found people that were motivated to play rtcw at a high level of competition and put in the time and effort to strive to get better as a team. These players included brian, chrome, illumina, nail and decka. I mostly handled the team aspect with developing strats and making sure all six people on the team were on the same page.
Around early 2003 the North American rtcw community was preparing their rosters for the upcoming battle of the beach 2 and Quakecon 2003 tournaments. The problem with these teams is that most of them were highly skilled shots “rambos” and did not put in the effort to focus on teamwork. We were able to have an edge of these teams by having developed solid teamwork the couple of months prior and gelled very well.
A couple of days before the battle on the beach tournament a few of the players on deathtouch had internal conflicts issues with one of the original founders. The majority of the team felt it was best to part ways. We were the same team as deathtouch; just playing under Affliction. Brian was one of the original members of Affliction in which we recruited a couple of months prior to play on our deathtouch roster. Brian was the only member that played on the 2002 affliction roster that participated at quakecon tournament in 2002. The other five people on the team had zero lan experience but were determined to finish on top.
With deathtouch and later afflicion you have played most of the top clans that have ever played the game. Which team was the hardest to play against.
The hardest team to play against was the doctors prior to the 2002 quakecon. At the time the roster I was a part of did not take the time and effort to strategize and basically pubbed our scrims and matches. I was amazed that all of the doctor’s players were on the same page. I couldn’t believe on how well their teamwork performed during every phase of the map. Everyone on their team knew what to do when to do it. Their offense would just conquer the whole area of the map in a blink of an eye and setup a spawn camp. They would play aggressive on defense when you weren’t ready and would mix it up by falling back to a nasty crossfire that you couldn’t break. They were very unpredictable and most of my theories of teamwork and strategies from all of my competitive team-based fps games come from a couple of scrims against them.
Attack Strats of Team Afflicion on mp_base
Affliction were one of the only teams to pick up Wolfenstein when it was released. Do you think it isn’t as bad as most feel about it or did you just play it for the money?
The players on the team including myself feel Wolfenstein isn’t as bad as most people in the community felt about it. Many people didn’t give the game a chance or just can’t (or won’t) adapt from other games such as rtcw or w:et.
The only members that played Wolfenstein from the previous rtcw Affliction team was decka, chrome and myself. Decka played with us during the first 3 weeks after release and had to leave due to personal reasons. The other members, boi, michaeld, vid and I were all use to the idtech4 engine from quakewars and were used to the sloppy movement and shooting.
We enjoyed the layouts of the maps and the quick round times. The game was very buggy but it was playable if you had a good computer and were able to get over 200 frames per second. I feel if they didn’t rush the multiplayer and had a private beta to polish it could have been successful. After the TGL Intel Extreme tournament it was clear that no one would play this game for competition any longer. During the lack of scrims/pracy the team decided to venture into other games.
A common thing to hear from oldschool RTCW players that kept on playing in other games such as ET or ET:QW is that back in the days competing was more fun. Often referring to teams just being more dedicated to the game and behaving in a more mature way. Do you agree with that or do you think it's the nostalgia speaking?
I 100% agree with the old school rtcw players. I played w:et, et:qw and wolfenstein and was very successful in each game. Rtcw felt more polish for competition even without a mod. W:Et was a very fun pub game but I never could take it serious for competition with the amount of spam during the first year of playing. ETQW like w:et was great for public play but it included vehicles, spam and large maps that turned many people off. Plus the ID Tech 4 engine was not very forgiving in terms of smoothness as compared to idtech3. If you grew up playing rtcw in 2002-2003 you would probably agree.
Wolfenstein seemed to be made for competition with smaller maps and less spam but wasn’t finished when released with many bugs.
What elements from what games would you take to create the perfect game?
I enjoy team base stopwatch style of play with a wave respawn system. You could take elements from rtcw, w:et, et:qw and wolfenstein to create the perfect game. As far as each element, what to include etc. that could be debated for another discussion =)
Are you following the development of Brink? Do you think it could be the next big game for wolfenstein fans?
I’m very interested in brink but like all these new games I have my doubts whether it will be successful. Splash damage is working on Brink and they are known for long drawn out maps; 7:00 to 20:00 minute rounds which include a whole lot of spam and full hold. The reason rtcw was successful is that one bad spawn time or playing overly aggressive on defense could lead to a quick cap of 2:00 minutes or less. Rtcw revolved more around teamwork then just team deathmatch with a 15 to 20 second “low” defensive respawn time.
To the new teams, what advice would you give them in order to be successful?
Play with people you get along with. Make sure each player can devote the time to practice in order to compete at the highest standards. Try to avoid ringers and backup players as much as possible. Focus on having the starters always playing at the same time.
Don’t expect to win off the start. One cause of new teams folding is the large expectation they put on themselves to win. Many teams accumulate talent from around the league and associate talent with winning. Talent is necessary, but so is teamwork, strats and execution. You will learn more from a tough loss then winning.
Make sure all players on the team are on the same page. Think to you self when making strats. If the opponent pushes the map one way... how is your team going to execute? Who goes where, who does what? On offense, think of ways to exploit the defense in order to take control of the map. Focus on shifting and make sure everyone gets them self in position for a good cross fire. Learn each map inside and out and develop nicknames for each area of the map. This will improve communications and help develop teamwork.
When a player on your team dies make sure they don’t get all emotional and blame the physics of the game or opposing player skill level on how he spammed the crouch button or proned while in a duel. The only information that should be coming on voice is how many opposing players are coming in his area and where they are going. Good communication is key to success!
Be kind to other teams and don’t take winning or losing scrims seriously. Scrims are practice and the more you practice the better you and your team will succeed for when it counts “matches”. Force yourself to play only good teams and learn from them. If you happen to be very successful against a team in a scrim don’t brag about it. Be respectful and keep it to yourself. Just remember scrims are PRACTICE. The more practice the better you will be!
What is your greatest memory from the rtcw days: All of the scrims and matches playing together as a team would no doubt be the greatest memories from rtcw. I also remember watching wolftv with warwitch, sabo, trillian and justice shoutcasting. Stuff like this doesn’t compare to any new game.
Best RTCW player: My vote goes to –a-brian
Best RTCW team: Team Affliction bob2 team: brian (medic), chrome (medic), decka (lt), hollywood (panzer/med), illumina (engineer/lt), nail (lt/panzer)
Coolest Clantag: either stickmen o-X or locked on target )x(
Thanks for taking your time!
"Are you following the development of Brink? Do you think it could be the next big game for wolfenstein fans?
I’m very interested in brink but like all these new games I have my doubts whether it will be successful. Splash damage is working on Brink and they are known for long drawn out maps; 7:00 to 20:00 minute rounds which include a whole lot of spam and full hold. The reason rtcw was successful is that one bad spawn time or playing overly aggressive on defense could lead to a quick cap of 2:00 minutes or less. Rtcw revolved more around teamwork then just team deathmatch with a 15 to 20 second “low” defensive respawn time."
Sorry but RtCW was not really more successful than that deathmatch game.
names like brian, hollywood, decka and other oldschool players :)
if u want play for a while.
Like the old tactics picture, the engy and med would get DESTROYED if the axis are agressive.
Some of those axis positions have died out which is quite interesting, showing at least people eventually learnt stuff.
<3 hollywood
hardly arrogant :)?
To me the best RtCW team is iNfensus and that all!
just to talk Swedes.. :)
and another swedish top clan was snaps ,, who actually did beat infensus in the final of iNtour lan in sweden , yes infensus own lan tournament, I was there playing for the knö team .. other good teams who was there ; epiwind (epitaph/rewind mix) but ofc mostly it was the swedish scene .. LA , infront etc.. I missed spooks but otherwise all top teams were there .
good old days !
I loved to hear some more of those oldschoolers ;)
nice job.
Keep deluding yourself into thinking wolf isn't a colossal pile of shit and winning that tournament wasn't the equivalent of gold at the special olympics (Michael3d being the main source of retard strength).