DRGN.timbolina

In an effort to revive the Articles section here on Crossfire (and maybe inspire others to do the same), I'm conducting a short series of interviews with some known - and not-so-known - ET players and admins.

My third interviewee has been contributing as an admin for several years now. He founded gentleMen eSports and is currently the manager of the DoubleDutchDragons ET team formerly known as back2kill. It's... timbolina!

Hi, timbolina! Could you please introduce yourself for those who don't know you?

Hey ohurcool! My name is Tim, I am currently 22 years old, and I live in the Netherlands. I am in my 3rd year Business Studies (Management, Economics and Law). Other than that, I am very active playing different games and running cups.

How long have you been playing ET? How did you get started?

I have been playing ET for over 8 years now. My friend in highschool back then said he knew this awesome game that I should definitely play. So he installed the game on my pc (I had no clue how to do it) and we started playing NQ together. After 2 months he quit playing ET, which I wonder why (hehe), and I continued playing the game. I had been playing the [EEF] NQ/TJ server for 5 years before I knew there was even an ETPro. Right after that I started playing ETPro and got in touch with sites like Crossfire and GamesTV.

When did you start using the nickname "timbolina"? Where did you get it?

Timbolina has pretty much always been my nickname. When I was young my sister called me timbolina, so the creative man that I am started using that nickname online.

What's an average day like for you?

Currently games takes up most of my time, especially now with the LAN coming up. Everyone involved for the LAN have been working all on different things for hours a day. Of which I am very grateful! Besides gaming I have exams coming up in 2 weeks, so I try to study as much as I can. I only succeed in studying if ViKO doesn't show up on Steam :(.

Do any of your real life friends know you play ET? If so, what do they think of it?

Some of them know I play games. I don't think they specifically know I play ET. But at school I know a lot of guys who play videogames, like LoL. I really think this will be the future and gaming will grow into sports. In Scandinavia you can already watch people play games on your television via cable. I think Europe is really lagging behind on that level.

And have you ever met another ET player in real life?

My girlfriend used to play ET too! But she quit playing games when we started dating. She used to call me asshole or faggot every time I 360 triple noscoped her in the face. Haha. Other than that I have been to the previous Enemy Territory LAN for one day, so I met several ET players. I am hoping to put a lot of faces to nicknames the next ET LAN!

What other games do you play besides ET? Any console games?

I am currently playing CS:GO, LoL, Hearthstone and PAYDAY 2. I used to be playing A LOT of World of Warcraft, but I quit playing that game as it got way too expensive. Now you are paying €15,- a month just to play the game. Imagine someone playing that game for over four years, that's a lot of money. I got a PS2, PS4, Wii and some gameboys at home that I play from time to time. But it's mainly PC gaming.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I'd really like the eSports to grow everywhere around the world. I hope sponsors are going to see that eSports is pretty much the future you have to put your focus on. Primarily because there's a lot of younger people who are very active playing games, which they will carry with them when they get older. So of course I'd like to see myself in a game that is focused on gaming and make a living out of it. But at the moment only a few can make a living out of gaming, so I have to put my focus on something else for the moment.

Have you ever used cheats in ET? How do you feel about cheating in general?

I have never used cheats in my 8 years of ET. Maybe I should have looking at my skill of level, haha. I feel it is only natural for people to try out cheating. It is natural for someone to be curious what it is like to see your enemy through walls or to constantly give triple headshots. But I think once you have tried this you should stop using cheats as you will spoil the game for others.

Some might say that you are a bit more friendly than an admin should be with certain (ex-)cheaters such as m1tja, upload, or even zAAba. What is your reponse?

I think everyone is human. So you should treat them all equally. Even though some are so braincrippled to use cheats in official games. Penalty for using cheats in such games and public servers is ban. I don't think their penalty should be treated unkind. I have had a lot of laughs with these three guys, although nowadays I don't speak to any of them really.

What do you think of CGAC v1.6? A few players have reported instances of lag or other problems when running it. Have you experienced any issues yourself? What are your expectations for the next few months of official ET matches now that we have a working anticheat again?

I think it is awesome that there is a company that is brave enough to support the ET community. I haven't experienced any issues with CGAC myself. Although I have seen other players' CGAC crash when they try to run it. I am hoping to see several bans in the upcoming months, so the anticheat can really make a statement as to not run cheats while playing games. After that I hope we have a much cleaner gaming community!

How do you feel about the current state of ET? What can be done to help boost activity?

I think it is only natural to lose interest for a game over time. There is still plenty of people playing actively for you to get your daily dose of ET. What would really boost activity is some kind of ET sponsor, unfortunately the game is too old for sponsors to be interested. That is why leagues, ladders, cups and LANs are the ones that keep the game running.

How would you convince someone who has never played ET before to start playing it?

ET is the best game I have ever played. It got all aspects a game should have. So I suggest people should try it out and experience it themselves.

What would you say to someone who says "ET is dead"?

ET isn't dead. Michael Jackson is dead. There is still so many people browsing ET websites every day, even though they don't play the game actively. It is the community that is keeping the game alive. We will rebuild!

When and how did you become an admin? What made you want to help contribute to ET and the community?

I opened a ticket maybe 3 years ago on GamesTV asking for trustee status. Once I got my trustee status I thought that I should be able to contribute in more ways. So I asked h3ll if I could be an assistant and he gave me those rights. I have always liked running different kind of projects, helping people out when needed and playing games too. That is why I have always chosen a role of an admin, as it features all these aspects. I wanted to help contribute ET as it is the first PC game I played.

Explain what gentleMen eSports was and did for anyone who is unfamiliar with the name.

gentleMen eSports was basically the first organisation I ran by myself. I really liked the idea of running such org and being able to help out other teams with a home. So we had teams in games like ET, RtCW, LoL, DOTA2, CS:GO and CoD4. It took so much time for myself to run all teams, that I lost focus. This is why I decided to stop running gentleMen eSports and searched for an alternative.

I was browsing around on the DoubleDutchDragons website (which took longer than expected since I had to translate each and every page to English first!) and noticed that your official title is the "Community Manager" of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and League of Legends.

Could you briefly explain what that means? How involved are you in the organization?

I am very involved in the organisation. We have weekly meetings with all the community managers and staff about progress we make. I am the one who hosts cups for LoL and Hearthstone. Also ET from time to time. Community manager basically means being involved in the community, so I try to organize events and competitions for them. We have big plans coming up for 2015. We currently have between 30-60 members at any time on TeamSpeak, we want to increase the amount to 120+. The Dragons are a very unique and awesome community. Every month they have a member meeting that everyone who is registered on the Dragon's website can attend to and give their feedback or ideas. Imagine Crossfire doing that, haha. End of January we have our first face to face manager meeting and we plan to do this every 3 months.

Wow, that's pretty cool. And I'm assuming you are the one who decided to recruit back2kill to the Dragons, right? What made you choose them instead of some other team?

I opened a recruitment post on Crossfire, as setup's team at the time didn't have the time anymore to play ET actively. Then it was actually WuT who came up to me and asked if they could join the Dragons. I was surprised that such skilled polish team of allstars wanted to play under the banner of the Dragons. So of course they can join the Dragons.

Okay, time for a small confession: I didn't really expect more than a handful of 6on6 teams to actually form and express interest in this ET Reborn LAN 2015 event that you and Sebhes are organizing. How did you guys do it?

Well, I think like 2 months ago Sebhes came up to me and asked: "want to organize an ET LAN with me?". I was like "yeah sure, but I don't want any active role as I'm very busy atm." So, you know how these things go, now we are both very active with the LAN. There's also several other people who took the initiative to help us out with different type of things (you'll get a shoutout at the end of this interview).

I've been talking with some other admins and players about the LAN, and the common reaction seems to be uncertainty that more than a few teams will actually end up paying when it comes time to do so. A fair assumption, I'd say, and typical of many recent LAN announcements - overwhelming initial interest which turns into hesitation and indecision when it's time to pay entry fees.

What do you think? Are you confident that there will be enough teams willing to pay and confirm their attendance for this event to take place?

This LAN is going to happen. We will do everything in our powers to make it work. Even if we have to rent a barn, use a straw-bale as seat and play on a wooden PC. I am sure all these teams are very serious about attending the LAN. I know 8+ teams already who surely will attend the LAN, as some have already booked a hotel and others are already printing out t-shirts with the ET Reborn logo on it. We will make this the best ET lan that ever took place!

Have you managed to find admins and shoutcasters for the event? Any notable sponsors?

There are indeed several other people involved for the event. JT helps us out with creating a logo and a banner, v4ux13 is creating flyers, MerlinatoR wants to help make the LAN schedule and cast the event, Msh100 said he's got interest in helping with the servers, and Roadhogg builds the website. There's also several other people lined up who are ready to help us out.

You've already mentioned that you spent a day at the SAGE ET LAN in 2012. Does that mean this will be the second ever LAN event for you then?

This will be the second LAN I ever attended. By the time the ET Reborn LAN will take place it will be the fourth. As in the meantime I will be going to 2 LAN's in the Netherlands with the Dragons.

Sounds like fun! Now, not too many people know the full story of how ET got started on CyberGamer EU and that you are pretty much the one primarily responsible for it all. Want to talk a little about it? What made you decide to reach out to them? And what made you decide to contact me?

ET was in need of another organization, otherwise activity would soon drop rapidly and people would play other games. That is why I contacted the only organization I know to be capable of running a community like ET. I was actually surprised when Cybergamer said they were always interested in running competitions for ET but never did because Clanbase was too big. Once I knew that it was only natural that I contacted you as you are doing an amazing job running ET and should continue running it!

You tried working something out with ESL as well, right? Could you explain what happened for those who weren't around at the time?

I contacted ESL too, hoping they would take ET back into their ladders. So I opened up a petition on their website and quickly there were over 100 replies. But it took some time (4 months? xD) for ESL to reply to this. After that they said they'll run a Revival cup to see the interest in the game. It ended up being me by myself running the cup and 5 teams participating. So after that I just dropped the whole idea of ESL as they don't deserve to run ET.

What's your favorite part about being an admin? Least favorite?

My favourite part about being an admin is helping people out whatever their issue is. You get all type of different questions and it is your job to help them. The least favourite part of course is that you will get flamed as you stick your neck out for the rest. I am sure you know this!

You've run countless 3on3 and 6on6 ET one-day cups over the years. When's the next one gonna be?

I don't know when my next cup will be. I am currently very busy with other ET-related things. But Sebhes and Foreigner are going to run an ET 6on6 ODC this Sunday: http://www.crossfire.nu/journals/153232/et-reborn-odc-1-6on6

Name one or two maps you'd like to see played more often.

I'd really like Karsiah to be played more in 6on6. And I'd really like ufo to be played more in 3on3. I like ufo for its randomness, anything can happen on that map!

You're not only organizing a LAN but also running a cup called the ET 3on3 World Championship 2015. Are you happy with how things are going so far?

I am very happy with how things are going so far. More teams than I hoped for signed up to participate in the event, and everything is going smoothly. Last year the qualifier stage took like 3-4 months to end as there were so many teams who signed up for a particular nation. Now I am happy that there is only a handful, haha.

I'd also like to give a shoutout to teams who signed up for a nation and are considered the "noobs." They had the balls to sign up anyway and participate (NL and DE). Good job guys, see you in the finals!

How about a prediction for the cup?

I really have no clue who is going to win the cup, I am hoping to see some interesting matches and boost activity for ET. Maybe Canada or USA in the 3on3 final for once?

What do you consider to be the biggest achievement or most memorable moment in your ET career?

Meeting all these awesome people over the year is most memorable to me. I don't think I really have a big achievement in ET at the moment. I am not in possession of an ET trophy for winning any league or cup :(.

And your biggest pet peeve in ET?

I get annoyed by people who are always so negative and pessimistic. There's always a few who say what you can't. You can make anything happen as long as you take the effort to do it!

Most embarrassing moment?

I can't remember any embarrassing moments. I always make a fool out of myself anywhere I come or go. So of course sometimes I look like an idiot, haha.

Favorite map?

Definitely et_ice.

Least favorite map?

At the moment it is supply and goldrush as I have played it too many times during normal and official games. I'd really like to try out other maps too.

And some more favorites:

Favorite class? I have always preferred playing engineer rifle, but I barely play 6on6.
Favorite weapon? Rifle!
Favorite player? Of course ViKO.
Favorite team? The DoubleDutch Dragons!

Who do you think is the...

Best player in ET at the moment? twidi and Clown for having brain and aim.
Best aimer in ET at the moment? Super allstar phyzic.
Most underrated player? ViKO definitely.
Most overrated player? Can't think of anyone :P

What's your "dream team"?

I'd really like to see Anexis returned for the LAN: Winghaven, dAv1d, mAus, Clown etc. That'd be awesome!

Final words? Any shoutouts?

Shoutout to everyone who is helping out with the LAN so far: Sebhes, JT, Roadhogg, v4ux13, MerlinatoR, Msh100, Sherclock, nsd and requem! Also a shoutout to my comrades in crime ViKO, rznje, lEku and LORDI.

Who would you like to see interviewed next?

I'd like to see a high level ET player interviewed next who played in the glory days of ET. Doesn't really matter who.

Thanks, timbolina!


Who do you guys want to be featured in my next interview? Leave a comment below!

Interview #1: ipod - http://www.crossfire.nu/articles/view/id/980
Interview #2: WuT - http://www.crossfire.nu/articles/view/id/981