,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, An interview of MJXII (Kuski of Month on February 2004): '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' -= When did you start playing? =- December 2001 -= Ex-teams and why did you change teams? =- HK and QUIK. HK was cool but its site designer - moz - quit (without telling anyone) and the team kinda ceased to exist. Me and Tantal were left teamless because of that, and Jazaky was always a good friend who didn't have a team, so the three of us decided to make our own team. After a long conversation filled with stupid acronyms and and backronyms and really dumb ideas, we settled on one of the dumber ones; we called our team QUIK. Not sure if anyone can remember what it stood for. Quite Unambiguously Intelligent Kuskis, maybe? Quazi Underhand Idiotic Kuskis? There were several variations I think. So yes, we settled on QUIK and a team of 3 players, based on friendship more than elma, was born. Which was cool while it lasted. But when TorInge came along and asked if I wanted to be in the same team as him, I couldn't say no, could I? No :) -= Current total? =- 41:58:17 -= Top5 newest and oldest personal records? =- Newest: 10.11.2004 Uphill Battle 20.59 21.10.2004 Tricks Abound 48.01 21.10.2004 What The Heck 43.11 20.10.2004 He He 1:02.42 20.10.2004 Jaws 1:03.95 Oldest: 26.08.2002 Double Trouble 1:32.09 10.03.2003 Zig-Zag 1:27.40 27.03.2003 Animal Farm 1:28.72 16.04.2003 Fruit In The Den 1:06.70 25.04.2003 Downhill 57.80 -= Across Career briefly. Any WRs?, World Cup I and II and so on.. =- Never played Across. Well, I installed it once, played it for 2 minutes, got annoyed that sound didn't work and never played it again. -= Elma career? =- Oo blimey. Well, you have to understand that I have the memory of a goldfish, so I've forgotten most of my career. I started by conquering the internals and playing random levels from the level packs on elastomania.com. Got slowly better at internals, making achievements like steppes over the pole (the very very ultra slow way) and things. As is the way with elma, I was always able to continue getting a bit better, all the time, always lowering TT a bit and finding new tricks to challenge me. Then I found #across, which opened up a whole new world of elmaness :-o suddenly I could battle and beg good players to give me replays! Not a lot of them did, though. Defining moments in my career include joining the 3 teams I've been in, being Britain's best player and of course falling from grace to become Britain's 2nd best (laughs uneasily). Oh, and winning KOM ;) I had a few breaks from elma when it got boring, and right now i'm in a very long break.. more like hibernation. I still play a little bit, but some day I'll start hoyling properly again. -= How did you get Across/Elma? Was it your worst mistake? or the best? =- I was in a maths lesson, talking to someone about anything but maths as usual, when he mentioned 'this really cool game, elasto mania.. here, I'll write the url so you can try the demo.' I thought he was tricking me onto some weird sex site or something, but I took the piece of paper. A lot of urls people give me get thrown in the bin, but for some reason I actually bothered going to elastomania.com. Completing those 18 demo levels was not easy but it sure was fun! So fun, in fact, that I bought the game after a day or two. Mmmmmmmmmmmm best mistake. Worst mistake. Best. Mistake. I don't know. I don't know what would have happened in my life if I'd not found Elma.. I'd probably have just spent the time playing UT instead. Thinking about it, I'm very pleased to have met Elma, mainly because of the people it introduced me to. I wouldn't have it any other way. -= Favourite internals / most irritating internals =- Hm, can't remember. Better open elma and see. Ok, um, well.. most of them were cool at the start of my career, when the only goal was to finish them rather than get a best time. But with all the stupid styles needed these days, most of them aren't much fun now. I still like playing Headbanger, Serpent's Tale, -= Your own best WRs? =- Never had any. Well, I would have had Curvaceous for one week if I'd sent my best time in :P -= Best WRs in your opinion? =- I've only seen a few of them, so I really don't have a clue what the best ones are. -= What's the limit of WR times? =- Don't know. There is no limit, exactly, but improvements will get smaller and smaller.. ;/ -= Are there some kind of external contests you like? What kind of contests do you like? Are there any new competitions you would like to see? =- I like contests and wish I had more time to play them. Atm I just do battles and that's it. Hope a WCup comes along soon :P -= Best lgr in your mind? What lgr do you use? =- I use the one with high res sky because it looks nice, and there's no trees and things to make things more complicated in my simple little mind :) don't know what the best one is; I'm too lazy to try different ones ;( -= Mention some good things you have gotten with Across/Elma? =- Arthritis, repetitive strain injury, these damn headaches.. :D ehm.. oh, good things? Friends, mainly. I'm not hugely attached to the game (not addicted anymore, honest), and although it's got me a lot of hours of fun, they're nothing compared to the people I met through it and got to know and love :) -= Mention some bad things you have gotten from Across/Elma? =- Less time to play UT. I would have said that it meant I did bad at school and had no social life, but of course I'd only have played UT instead so it would have made no difference ^_- so really there are no bad things, not even wasted time. -= What is the most frustrating thing you have faced in your career? =- Having all these young upstart whippersnappers beating my British records =D bastards :) -= The biggest mistake of your Elma career? =- I can't think of any. So I'll have to say it was watching Saturday Night Fever before writing this interview :S it was dreadful.. -= Cheating, what feelings? Do you use level unlocker/1.11hb/1.2 etc? =- I use unlocker if necessary, and I play with elma 1.2. Not cheating. Obviously cheating is inexcusable and should be punished by death, or at least a seizure and ritual burning of all their worldly possessions. -= Elma tuning, have you tested? Opinion about it? =- A necessary evil. Would be nice if elma was impossible to tune, but you can't escape from the way things are. It would be a big disadvantage not to toggle v-sync when everyone else does. -= Best kuskis and teams? What are the things you value in another kuski/team? =- Best kuskis: TorInge is the best of course :P closely followed by Zweq. I don't know of anyone who can touch those two, though there are many who I admire for being great in a less godlike way :) too many to name, unfortunately. Best team: Best team has to be my own ^_^ because of the friendship between its members more than anything. I don't know much at all about other teams.. I kinda focus on my own team and ignore everyone else's =) In a team I value friendship over everything else, though you need teamwork and energy in a team to win lots of stuff :> -= Your best achievements? =- I really feel that my best achievement is being in a fantastic team with such skilled as well as delightful people =) I don't really deserve it, but here I am. Haven't made any noteable elma-playing achievements. Got one kinglist record :P a few contest records here and there, got TT to 41, won some battles.. nothing spectacular. -= Do you do any other neat finger-related stuff like playing violin, repairing watches, pick pocketing etc? Almost all just other mouse/keyboard stuff. Oh, and I write a lot of SMS text messages :) -= How much did you play in your sickest period? How much these days? =- Don't remember. Maybe 3 or 4 hours in a day at sickest period, which was soon after I started playing all that time ago. These days I play about one battle a day on average. So maybe 20 mins. -= Have you had Elma dreams? =- I've had dreams about elma players, but not about elma itself as far as I can remember ;) -= Strengths and weaknesses as a player? What moves you like/dislike? =- Pretty much all weaknesses I'm afraid. I find a lot of levels frustrating, probably due to my deteriorating quality as a player :P so I'm not sure I can highlight any specific weaknesses. My one strength is pipe driving. -= Tips for average players? =- I am an average player, so don't take my advice too seriously. But I recommend to play a lot of battles because they're fun and very good practice. -= Best memories with Elma? =- My teams, and the conversations I've had with so many people.. -= First time at #across? =- There was a mopobattle scheduled, so I thought I'd better try to figure this IRC thing out and see what the fuss was about. I think I was very confused, but I don't rememeber anything about it. First IRC memory I have is playing a practice battle before the mopobattle and finding it all very exciting and new. -= Best Elma friends? =- TorInge, who has always inspired me and whose friendship I could never replace. Also there's Jazaky, Tantal, Axxu, Stini, Jalli and Totti, plus quite a few others who know who they are. I apologise on behalf of my useless memory. -= Thoughts about Elma meetings? =- They're a great idea :) -= What do YOU think should be improved in an eventual new version of Elma? =- I'm not sure I see the need for a new version, but I don't really have any opinions on it. Ask me again when it comes out :S -= How about battles? =- They're great, a very important thing to keep the scene alive. I play them a lot. -= Have you got any negative feedback about playing Elma from your mates? =- Yep, but I don't talk to them anymore ;P -= What games do you like beside Elma? =- Unreal Tournament and similar things. Actually almost anything if I had the time. I love to compete. -= Did you buy Elma? Why not? =- Yes, yes I did =) -= Have you thought about if you could stop playing Elma soon, or anytime? =- I could, but I like to stay connected to the scene and my precious team :) there's no need to stop playing completely. Plus I like to think that one day I'll resurface and be a properly decent player :) -= What gets you still playing Elma? =- Sierra telling me I suck :D and seeing people play battles, I have to join in. Oh, lots of things :) -= Are you at the top of your career now? If not, when? =- I think I was a better player than I am now about 3 or 4 months ago. But it won't take much to get back to that point again. If I keep playing, I'll just get better and better. -= Forecast the future of Elma. How the scene will be in five years? =- Don't know! -= Was it a surprise to be voted for the kuski of month? If it was who should have won in your opinion and why? =- Axxu should maybe have beaten me, but otherwise it wasn't a huge surprise :) -= Mopolauta, thoughts? =- It's something to read if I'm bored. Sometimes interesting, sometimes boring. Maybe it depends what mood I'm in. -= Opinions about Elma Crime, MUe's animations and stuff like that. =- All quite cool :) -= You are the updater of Jeppe's Levels page. How's that feeling? =- No one sends in anymore, so I don't have to do anything :S -= What's your favourite Elma website (not moposite)? =- ICE site of course! I don't go to any others due to lack of time spent with elma atm. -= Your relation to OLP? =- It's some levels to cruise for fun occasionally.. -= Why that nick, MJXII? =- Um, it was an organisation from the game Deus Ex. Meaning Majestic 12, the Majestic Council of Twelve :P I remember seeing a mech with MJ written on a shoulder with XII perfectly underneath.. I had to have that name for myself :) -= Your real life. Do you have it (school/work, other interests etc)? =- Nope, no life. I go to uni, I do computer science, I play computer games and talk on IRC when I should be working, all while listening to music. And I watch films. I would like to also be playing table tennis, but there's no club at uni so I'm a bit stuck there. -= Write something about the game, fellow kuskis, moposite, #across, etc =- Happy new year! -= How did this interview make you feel, like a moviestar? =- It made me feel tired, cuz it's now 7.44am and I haven't gone to bed yet. Normally I'm pretty alone on new year's eve so I thought I'd have time to write it, but it turned out that I had people to see. MJXII 1 January 2005