Lexx: Hello, you're quite famous but still, please introduce yourself!
Midway: Hey, my name is Trevor “Midway” Schmidt. I’m from Portland, Oregon, USA and currently here in Korea covering the World Cyber Games.
Lexx: Since when did you start playing Counter-Strike?
Midway: I start in beta 2 but didn’t start playing competitively until beta 3.
Lexx: When have you decided to write material instead of playing professionally, or do you still play?
Midway: When I was playing competitively for WEW, West Coast USA clan, in 2001 I had the opportunity to write for DoG. It was a natural step for me because of my high school experience with journalism and my love of esports. I continued to play off and on and still do but it’s hard to play enough to compete at the level these top players are at now.
Lexx: For how long it usually takes you to write for gotfrag daily?
Midway: Way to long, depends on what day but with CAL-I match nights and other big features I can spend upwards to 10 hours a day. I also own a LAN center in Portland that I run while writing and updating the website.
Lexx: What do you personally like about the game, why no Quake 3 or UT2003 instead?
Midway: I just really never got into them. Personally I like the team aspects of Counter-strike combined with the strats and still largely demanding aim, physical skill. I have tried other games and even played UT2003 for a while but just wasn’t as fun for me. My understand of Q3 is probably enough to write about but I always felt like you had to play at the top level in order to truly understand what the players are thinking and why they are doing different things.
Lexx: What do you think of CS2 and CS's future?
Midway: To be honest, it was more promising before the release of v1.6 but with the large tournaments and top players still practicing and playing really hard it’s tough to see the game dying away. HL2 could be hard on the community if it raises system specs too high and removes many of the lower end users but I really see this community continue to grow through the future games like Quake series did. In the future a new game should come along but I don’t see that game yet.
Lexx: What about recent HL2 leaks?
Midway: Seems like this always happens every major release and its tough to make judgments. I haven’t played the leak or even looked at it. Hopefully the game turns out better then they are working with but with Valve it always seems like it takes them way more time to finish things then they plan. It will be interesting to see if they are more focused on Steam or HL2, because both need a lot of work to be ready for consumers to use.
Lexx: You are well-known person, please state the truth do you receive more fan/questions mail than spam mails?
Midway: My luck with email is pretty good but that doesn’t make up for my IRC. I receive about 50+ private messages a day, on slow days. CAL-I match nights can often reach into the 120 range. I deal with more then 80% of the people who message me, I feel like I have to. The community needs the help to move forward and hopefully together we can reach the level of professionalism we all want.
Lexx: Your WCG Predictions? Will forZe show anything M19-like?
Midway: I have a tough time seeing forZe repeat the performance of M-19 because of the increased level of competition. The appearance of SK.swe and an improved 3D team should make this WCG very difficult for everyone. ForZe should have a challenge with aAa in their group but after that they should move on into bracket play. The first round won’t be fun though as 4Kings and SK.swe should be favored over them.
Lexx: What do you think about cybersport perspectives and future?
Midway: With tournaments like this it can only get better. WCG has really put together a great tournament and their relationships with Governments are very important. The more we can push companies and Governments into esports the more recognized we can become. We as a group need to continue to create a greater since of professionalism amongst ourselves, that will help us the most in the long run.
Lexx: Now let's talk about gotfrag it self, shall we? When did you start the project?
Midway: I started Gotfrag about a year ago with the intention of building the best non-bias source for esports news on the internet. We have been very successful because of the huge response and respect from USA fans. Hopefully we can continue to gain more fans oversees as we push more in-depth coverage of International events.
Lexx: What major changes were made during it's "life"?
Midway: Well our biggest change should cover after WCG with the release of v2. This will allow us to expand laterally and cover more games. We will have demos and in-depth “Melee” type coverage for more games then just CS. This should make those who love games like DoD and Halo to name a few, the chance to read and enjoy GotFrag the way many CS fans do.
Lexx: How many newsmakers are working on gotfrag?
Midway: There is about 80 counting moderators, but only about 30 when you count predictors and other people who post and provide news for the site. It’s a lot of work and its nice that I have such a great group of lead editors for my different games. We are always looking for new people to help us expand into new games and increase the depth of out coverage but the skill and quality will always be the most important factor. Professionalism above everything else.
Lexx: Any plans for future you'd like to reveal?
Midway: Beyond v2, the release of GotGear was a big deal. GotGear, , is a product shop that you can buy the latest esports gear by gamers. So the money you spend there would help to support the site and help us push the coverage we provide even further. We are current selling just tshirts but we have lots of plans including different tshirt designs, hats, mousepads and other great GotFrag stuff. We are also working hard to find good distribution places to decrease costs on video cards and other hardware.
Lexx: What do you think about fatal1ty?
Midway: He’s an interesting player and I’m not sure about his constant changing of games. He wasn’t very good at CS before when he started playing in 2002 before AvP2. He’s aim is outstanding but he doesn’t seem to have the teamwork skills necessary to be successful. I hope he can play well with Forsaken but he hasn’t been playing CAL-I matches so I find it hard to see him starting for them at the coming CPL. He still remains as one of the hardest working and best esports players in the World.
Lexx: How do you find Korean girls and Seoul so far?
Midway: I’m pretty impressed actually. Jeff Sample, my GotFrag CS Head Editor, is traveling with me and we went for a walk last night. Saturday night in Korea was pretty interesting to say the least. Hopefully the rest of week will be as nice as last night. The Stadiums where they are hosting the games are very nice also. I’m hoping the future of esports includes more venues like these.
Thanks! |
