Hello everyone.
Rampage here from the American RTCW clan Teh Birdz. Recently I had the chance to sit with Badazz- 
DtS for an interview that gives the community a glimpse of the past, present and future of Badazz and DtS himself. Enjoy!
1. So tell the RTCW who you are, where you're from, what team you play for and how long have you been playing RTCW.
Hello everyone! I'm Ben, also known as DtS. I work as a journalist/copywriter and live in a town called Walton-On-Thames in England. At the moment I am playing for Badazz, a team we started up when the cup was first announced and I've been playing RTCW on and off since the beach demo many, many years ago!
2. Having played against you I know that Badazz brings the pain. Given how old RTCW is and the diminished community, how does Badazz stay in "game shape" and continue to be successful? Do you all gather on a server and strat things out, do you scrim, what keeps the motor running?
We use IRC to keep everyone up to date on what is going on (come visit us and say hello at #badazz). Once everyone is online in the evening one of us will head over to #rtcw.wars to find one of the other teams to play us, usually trying to avoid oP and one.soldier as much as we humanly can. It's just a case of trying to play together enough that positions get drilled into everyone's head and we know roughly how everyone else in the team plays.
3. Round 1 of the playoffs was a pretty convincing win over our team, the birdz, round 2 sets your team up against the cup favorites, oP. How is your team approaching this match?
We're approaching this match with a huge amount of confidence. Obviously oP are one of the weaker teams in the competition so we are pretty confident that we will turn them over. Obviously overconfidence can be an issue however, so we are prepared for the harsh truth that they may take a round off us and ruin what should be an easy 4-0 victory.
4. I know that in RTCW sometimes a teams hype or reputation can get the better of their opponent and it's over before it starts, do you think Badazz is effected by the hype and reputation of oP?
In all honesty we were a little bit disappointed not to be drawn against one of the bigger teams in the competition. I know oP have got this reputation of having little to no teamplay with minimal aim, but we are not going to let that effect us. There will be no mercy from Badazz and we will not hold back from spawnraping them as much as we can.
5. When we played against you, we really felt that map choice played a huge factor and we knew that we didn't stand a chance on your server so for us choosing the right server and map was key in trying to earn a point or two, with the server pings being even in your upcoming match, how much does map choice mean to you and your team when facing a team like oP?
Okay after answering the last two questions in a somewhat tongue in cheek manner, I'll try to be a little more serious. I think map choice is going to be very important, especially considering the strength and depth oP has in their squad. It's unlikely that we are going to be able to out shoot them, so clever tactics and a little bit of luck are going to be important to us. I'm not going to give away what map I think is the best choice, but I do have a few in mind!
6. Against us you were the team panzer. In some footage I've seen of Badazz, Osiris was also a panzer, who makes that decision and why?
Osiris is a great panzer but also a very strong aimer as well. I've put in a few good performances recently with the panzer and my aim is not as strong as Osi so it seemed like a sensible way to get the best out of the lineup. That's not to say that you have seen the last of Osi as a panzer, if I am having a particularly poor game I won't hesitate to let him have a go with it too.
7. Talk about your teammate Kevin for a minute. His aim and efficiency is off the charts. How do you think he stacks up against the rest of the league in terms of top individual players?
Kevin is an absolute machine. However, I would never single out one player as being more important than the other. Kevin tends to get positions where he can be more aggressive because of his robot-like aim, but that is only made possible because of the rest of the team also carries out there roles efficiently too. I would say that I think Kevin could pretty much play in any team in the tournament though.
8. What are your thoughts on this tournament in terms of organization, the shoutcasts and the teams involved? Are you hopeful there will be more 6v6 RTCW cups?
I think the entire tournament has been fantastic. The level of support from players, admins, casters and everyone in between has been a real credit to the memory of our favourite game. The addition of Warwitch and co was obviously a huge draw for people too. I know some players have already started thinking about forming new teams for after this cup as well, so I don't think we have seen the last of competitive RTCW just yet!
9. The announcement of a 3v3 ladder has been made, will we see a Badazz team?
We do have a team signed up although it has a different name, which I can't for the life of me remember! Crab has been constantly reminding me to sign up on IRC, so you should see us playing some 3v3 games soon.
10. Finally, can you give us your thoughts on the future for you and your team in the gaming community? Is there another game you're moving too after this? Or does Badazz go their separate ways?
I've got absolutely no idea what is going to happen after this cup. I know people want to keep playing RTCW, but whether that is in Badazz or not I don't know. There have been a few personality clashes in our team, which I think everyone is over now, and I hope everyone is friendly again! What is certain is that we will all be back in some capacity for whatever the future holds for RTCW!
I'd also just like to give a shoutout to ZeD and all the other admins who have worked so hard, Warwitch and his fellow casters who have given up their time to produce some amazing casts, my fellow Badazzes, my streaming buddy Voice and every single player who has come back to play the game. Oh and please don't feel down when you drop into the losers bracket oP, it's not the end of the world!
Oh and please be sure to tune into twitch.tv/v586gg and join myself, Voice and Playa to catch the playoff game between Cave and One.soldier tonight at 22cet (if this interview is up in time).
There's you go folks! I hope you enjoyed this interview. I want to thank DtS for taking the time to answer some questions. Thank you all for reading this. Long live RTCW!
Rampage here from the American RTCW clan Teh Birdz. Recently I had the chance to sit with Badazz- DtS for an interview that gives the community a glimpse of the past, present and future of Badazz and DtS himself. Enjoy! 1. So tell the RTCW who you are, where you're from, what team you play for and how long have you been playing RTCW.
Hello everyone! I'm Ben, also known as DtS. I work as a journalist/copywriter and live in a town called Walton-On-Thames in England. At the moment I am playing for Badazz, a team we started up when the cup was first announced and I've been playing RTCW on and off since the beach demo many, many years ago!
2. Having played against you I know that Badazz brings the pain. Given how old RTCW is and the diminished community, how does Badazz stay in "game shape" and continue to be successful? Do you all gather on a server and strat things out, do you scrim, what keeps the motor running?
We use IRC to keep everyone up to date on what is going on (come visit us and say hello at #badazz). Once everyone is online in the evening one of us will head over to #rtcw.wars to find one of the other teams to play us, usually trying to avoid oP and one.soldier as much as we humanly can. It's just a case of trying to play together enough that positions get drilled into everyone's head and we know roughly how everyone else in the team plays.
3. Round 1 of the playoffs was a pretty convincing win over our team, the birdz, round 2 sets your team up against the cup favorites, oP. How is your team approaching this match?
We're approaching this match with a huge amount of confidence. Obviously oP are one of the weaker teams in the competition so we are pretty confident that we will turn them over. Obviously overconfidence can be an issue however, so we are prepared for the harsh truth that they may take a round off us and ruin what should be an easy 4-0 victory.
4. I know that in RTCW sometimes a teams hype or reputation can get the better of their opponent and it's over before it starts, do you think Badazz is effected by the hype and reputation of oP?
In all honesty we were a little bit disappointed not to be drawn against one of the bigger teams in the competition. I know oP have got this reputation of having little to no teamplay with minimal aim, but we are not going to let that effect us. There will be no mercy from Badazz and we will not hold back from spawnraping them as much as we can.
5. When we played against you, we really felt that map choice played a huge factor and we knew that we didn't stand a chance on your server so for us choosing the right server and map was key in trying to earn a point or two, with the server pings being even in your upcoming match, how much does map choice mean to you and your team when facing a team like oP?
Okay after answering the last two questions in a somewhat tongue in cheek manner, I'll try to be a little more serious. I think map choice is going to be very important, especially considering the strength and depth oP has in their squad. It's unlikely that we are going to be able to out shoot them, so clever tactics and a little bit of luck are going to be important to us. I'm not going to give away what map I think is the best choice, but I do have a few in mind!
6. Against us you were the team panzer. In some footage I've seen of Badazz, Osiris was also a panzer, who makes that decision and why?
Osiris is a great panzer but also a very strong aimer as well. I've put in a few good performances recently with the panzer and my aim is not as strong as Osi so it seemed like a sensible way to get the best out of the lineup. That's not to say that you have seen the last of Osi as a panzer, if I am having a particularly poor game I won't hesitate to let him have a go with it too.
7. Talk about your teammate Kevin for a minute. His aim and efficiency is off the charts. How do you think he stacks up against the rest of the league in terms of top individual players?
Kevin is an absolute machine. However, I would never single out one player as being more important than the other. Kevin tends to get positions where he can be more aggressive because of his robot-like aim, but that is only made possible because of the rest of the team also carries out there roles efficiently too. I would say that I think Kevin could pretty much play in any team in the tournament though.
8. What are your thoughts on this tournament in terms of organization, the shoutcasts and the teams involved? Are you hopeful there will be more 6v6 RTCW cups?
I think the entire tournament has been fantastic. The level of support from players, admins, casters and everyone in between has been a real credit to the memory of our favourite game. The addition of Warwitch and co was obviously a huge draw for people too. I know some players have already started thinking about forming new teams for after this cup as well, so I don't think we have seen the last of competitive RTCW just yet!
9. The announcement of a 3v3 ladder has been made, will we see a Badazz team?
We do have a team signed up although it has a different name, which I can't for the life of me remember! Crab has been constantly reminding me to sign up on IRC, so you should see us playing some 3v3 games soon.
10. Finally, can you give us your thoughts on the future for you and your team in the gaming community? Is there another game you're moving too after this? Or does Badazz go their separate ways?
I've got absolutely no idea what is going to happen after this cup. I know people want to keep playing RTCW, but whether that is in Badazz or not I don't know. There have been a few personality clashes in our team, which I think everyone is over now, and I hope everyone is friendly again! What is certain is that we will all be back in some capacity for whatever the future holds for RTCW!
I'd also just like to give a shoutout to ZeD and all the other admins who have worked so hard, Warwitch and his fellow casters who have given up their time to produce some amazing casts, my fellow Badazzes, my streaming buddy Voice and every single player who has come back to play the game. Oh and please don't feel down when you drop into the losers bracket oP, it's not the end of the world!
Oh and please be sure to tune into twitch.tv/v586gg and join myself, Voice and Playa to catch the playoff game between Cave and One.soldier tonight at 22cet (if this interview is up in time).
There's you go folks! I hope you enjoyed this interview. I want to thank DtS for taking the time to answer some questions. Thank you all for reading this. Long live RTCW!
Perhaps next there should be some interviews with those strange people, who live in those far away lands down-under existing just beyond the reach of civilisation... ;)
Although I thought that you were a Kiwi, not an Aussie?!