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The finals of Intel Extreme Masters league are held in In Katowice, south western Poland. It's during this huge gaming event that one of the most important tournaments; Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - ESL One, takes place. We took this opportunity to interview AdreN from Hellraisers team, who participated in the tournament.
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ROG: Many people are envious of what you do? You get paid to play games all day, you have thousands of fans and you travel all over the world. Does a professional player's life really look like this?
AdreN: Well, your description is pretty accurate for us as for now. However, the road to get to this "beautiful and simple life" has been long and rough. E-sport, just like any traditional sport, requires a lot of time, energy and complete commitment from the beginning of a player’s career.
ROG: How does your family look at your eSports career? Do they understand what it's all about?
AdreN: They are fine with it now but they used to be against gaming before. It changed when I first traveled to Singapore and came back with $5,000 prize money. After that they were softer to it, but still affirmed that studying must be my first priority before games. Eventually gaming became my regular job, so they accepted it with understanding.
ROG: What is more important to achieve success: talent or hard work?
AdreN: Hard work! Work, work and work again. You get to meet plenty of talented players on the scene, but only hard work can make you the best among them.
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ROG: How long have you been playing Counter-Strike together with the team?
AdreN: Together we have been playing (with Kyrill, Misha and Emil) for approximately 3 years now, not counting some periods when I was not in the team. And as for professional Counter-Strike – I have been playing it for about 10 years
ROG: How much time do you spend training per day? Is there any time left for a normal life, with other hobbies?
AdreN: It all depends on whether there is a tournament soon. If we have a competition ahead, we turn on our “nerd” buttons and play 12 hours per day, 6 days per week. But when our schedule is not so tough and we are sure about our shape – we are playing not more than 6-7 hours per day. Friday and Saturday are usually days off.
ROG: Is physical fitness important in e-sports?
AdreN: I don’t really think that peak physical shape is important in e-sports. It's not the strongest, but smartest that wins a chess game. However, if you sit in front of the computer all day long it will affect your game badly. An hour or two per day spent walking or simple morning exercises are enough to keep yourself up.
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ROG: In games like Counter Strike, reaction time is very important. Can age be an obstacle for a professional player, as in traditional sports? Is there a limit after which you can no longer compete with younger players?
AdreN: Of course, age matters. The older you get, the harder you can learn new skills. Plus, interest can change with your age. Being young is good, but being experienced is better! Every players sets his own limits. Personally I think that that ~30 is a limit for pro Counter-Strike players.
ROG: How important is the good equipment in e-sports? Do you have to invest a lot in components and peripherals?
AdreN: Gaming devices are certainly very important. Every professional player has his own devices and his performance will be much worse if he is playing with some unfamiliar hardware. High quality and convenient gear is one of the factors that brings you a victory. Although when you become a professional player, you actually don’t spend a lot of money on kit. The reason is simple - good hardware companies love to support gamers with peripherals, for example we were happy to obtain a support of ASUS, who provide us high quality headsets and hardware.
ROG: What should we look for when choosing a mouse, keyboard or headphones?
AdreN: I prefer my hardware simple, without unnecessary stuff on it. When you choose a mouse, headphones or a keyboard for yourself, it’s of utmost important that they are compatible with you. The shape of the mouse needs to fit your hand; headphones must be comfortable; and how fluidly can you type on the keyboard – that is all very important. That's why I play in Orion headsets and use an Echelon mechanical keyboard. The last thing is design – everyone's tastes are different, but I found peripherals that I love.
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ROG: Some people have called for eSports to be part of the Olympics, do you think this makes sense?
AdreN: I think one day it definitely will be. I once played for Kazakhstan team at Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2013. We, e-sports players, were equal with others, like Kickboxers, Thai Boxers and so on. Cybersport is growing quickly, and I think that we will have our place among Olympic disciplines in the nearest future.
ROG: In a few days you will be competing in Katowice. It's really hard guess the result of the ESL One tournament, but do you think Virtus.Pro have a chance to defend last year's trophy? Let's not forget about the fanatical, Polish audience that will not help the visitors...
AdreN: Nowadays CS:GO teams are on a level where everyone can beat everyone. There is no obvious favorite, although Virtus.Pro will have slight advantage, as they will be playing at home. The Polish audience is unbelievable, I haven’t seen anything like it. They often support their players even better than the Swedish support for NiP. That will surely cheer Virtus.Pro, but only in Poland we will see if it helps them to win.
ROG: Will the betting scandal that led to the exclusion of many well-known players affect the future perception of the CS: GO scene? What steps do you think should be taken to avoid this kind of situation in the future?
AdreN: I think, Valve did the right thing when they banned those players. That showed to everyone that Valve are serious about developing the CS:GO scene. That incident should be a lesson to all professional players.
