Have you ever been arrested?
Nope. I got chewed out for loitering once in Japan, but I just went inside and changed my clothes and my star rating went back down.
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Do you have any siblings?
Two step-siblings. Mom passed away from cancer when I was about 5 or so; Dad remarried to a lady he met at my grade school (her older son and I were actually in the same class from grade school through high school). We don't really hang out much.
Do you cosplay?
Not really. I'm not crafty enough to make that kind of stuff. I do have a Ryu costume lying around that I've used for workplace Halloweens every now and then. Sounds like fun, though.
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Do you read fantasy novels? If so, what's your favorite series? I need a new series.
I don't! Read a lot of Dragonlance when I was a kid, that shit was dope. Raistlin was the coolest, though I think I related most to Tanis because of the whole half-elven thing.
Favorite champion to play in LoL? Least favorite champ to lane against? What is your competitive rank in LoL? Wanna duo? If not 1v1 me jerk.
Thresh is my favorite champion; I hate playing against Twitch; I'm not ranked; happy to 1v1 but I don't really have time to pick up a consistent duo partner.
What is the cutest video game character of any game, ever?
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck this is a hard question. I might regret this later, but I think Snorlax is probably it.
How should the fgc discipline scumbags like Triforce, John Nelson, and Noel Brown without overstepping legal boundaries as well as attempting to maintain a standard for the future?
Good question. We don't really have a strong central authority, so I think it'd be hard to levy any official kind of "discipline". Publicly heaping scorn and outrage at people via Twitter doesn't really work, because not that many FGC scumbags really rely on their Internet reputation for anything (like a job), and fighting gamers in general aren't really quick to call out that kind of bullshit.
Evo banned Ricky a long time ago because he owed the Cannons money for one of the first Japan trips, IIRC (SBO, maybe?). That's probably the way to do it, at least for now.
Evo banned Ricky a long time ago because he owed the Cannons money for one of the first Japan trips, IIRC (SBO, maybe?). That's probably the way to do it, at least for now.
What's the first piece of professional writing you ever did?
When I was in high school, I used to write a column about Mac shareware games for MacGamer.com. I don't think those articles are still around, but I did that for free/review games for a few years before eventually getting paid. After that I did a similar thing for Applelinks.com, and then ended up pitching the Escapist about the Halo-Marathon connection in issue #7: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/issues/issue_45/274-From-94-to-Infinity-Before-Halo
From a game design perspective, what is: 1) Your favorite thing about LoL, 2) Most hated thing about LoL, 3) Neat feature that has potential but needs to be improved upon?
Favorite thing about LoL is definitely the range of execution accessibility. For a game as complicated as it is, it's surprisingly mechanically easy to get into, but it also has a fairly healthy execution skill curve that unlocks lots of possibilities as you get better and better.
Most hated thing is the sheer amount of homework you have to do to get into the game -- there's a whole bunch of stuff that you'll die to because you haven't spent 50 hours trying out every champion in the game yet.
Personally, I'm a huge fan of Team Builder; I think matchmaking and champ select are hands-down the worst thing about the game. I do also think that the grind-to-level-30 is a good thing overall as far as onboarding and player education go, but I think it needs to be reworked and restructured so it doesn't feel so grindy and might actually teach players more things explicitly.
Most hated thing is the sheer amount of homework you have to do to get into the game -- there's a whole bunch of stuff that you'll die to because you haven't spent 50 hours trying out every champion in the game yet.
Personally, I'm a huge fan of Team Builder; I think matchmaking and champ select are hands-down the worst thing about the game. I do also think that the grind-to-level-30 is a good thing overall as far as onboarding and player education go, but I think it needs to be reworked and restructured so it doesn't feel so grindy and might actually teach players more things explicitly.
Are there any games journalists that you used to respect...but no longer do? What did they do to lose your respect?
Not really. It's not like anyone was collecting mad publisher dollars or anything. At least, not that I knew of.
I think I know a lot of talented folks that for whatever reason decided to devote their talents to writing about video games, and I have a base level of respect for anyone crazy enough to make this their hustle for years and years. I do think that it's not a great biz to build a long-term career in -- which is why I'm more or less out of the game in a full-time 9-5 sense -- so I do question the judgment of the folks that stick around for a long time, but that has nothing to do with respect.
I think I know a lot of talented folks that for whatever reason decided to devote their talents to writing about video games, and I have a base level of respect for anyone crazy enough to make this their hustle for years and years. I do think that it's not a great biz to build a long-term career in -- which is why I'm more or less out of the game in a full-time 9-5 sense -- so I do question the judgment of the folks that stick around for a long time, but that has nothing to do with respect.
What is your ratio of guy to girl friends?
Huh, I don't know -- kind of depends on how close we're calling "friends", too.
Certainly when it comes to folks I see regularly and in-person, it's mostly men. I suspect that's in large part because friendships with women were very different for me as a not-single guy than they are as a single guy. Navigating gender in relationships can be tricky stuff! And besides that, my hobbies are mostly related to video games and combat sports, both of which skew towards men.
Certainly when it comes to folks I see regularly and in-person, it's mostly men. I suspect that's in large part because friendships with women were very different for me as a not-single guy than they are as a single guy. Navigating gender in relationships can be tricky stuff! And besides that, my hobbies are mostly related to video games and combat sports, both of which skew towards men.
Juice Box's stream is always informative and he is always doing FT7 with viewers and giving tips after on what to improve. And he made the Tokido/Reynald commentary play by play. And it's hours of content and get really low views compared to other streams like in the last question someone asked.
"Hours of content" isn't a good thing, it's an awful thing. I don't have hours of time to sit around and watch fighting game streams.
Being good at making educational content isn't just about being good at an activity, it's also about knowing how to be efficient with your audience's time. I don't want to spend 2 hours learning something I could have learned in 20 minutes.
I think the Day[9]Daily is probably the best games-instructional stream series out there, and no one has managed to do what Sean and company did with that for as long as I've followed them. He genuinely made learning SC2 a fun, positive experience, which isn't easy at all.
Being good at making educational content isn't just about being good at an activity, it's also about knowing how to be efficient with your audience's time. I don't want to spend 2 hours learning something I could have learned in 20 minutes.
I think the Day[9]Daily is probably the best games-instructional stream series out there, and no one has managed to do what Sean and company did with that for as long as I've followed them. He genuinely made learning SC2 a fun, positive experience, which isn't easy at all.
Does BJJ cover situations where you have multiple attackers? Taking one guy to the ground and choking him out is great, but not so much if five of his buddies are with him.
Same way any martial art should -- by diffusing the situation or getting the fuck out of there. Whenever I've seen multiple-attacker training it always looks a) hokey and b) largely consisting of wishful thinking.
That said, I do think I saw the most creative answer to a multiple attacker situation in a BJJ class; the single combatant clinched up with the first attacker and did a duck-under to take the back and slap on a standing rear naked choke, then used that guy as a human shield while choking him and basically used him as a hostage ("back off or he gets it"). I thought that was pretty neat.
That said, I do think I saw the most creative answer to a multiple attacker situation in a BJJ class; the single combatant clinched up with the first attacker and did a duck-under to take the back and slap on a standing rear naked choke, then used that guy as a human shield while choking him and basically used him as a hostage ("back off or he gets it"). I thought that was pretty neat.
Do you keep in touch with any old colleagues enough to consider them friends?
Heck yeah! Got a whole bunch of them.
Which Ninja Turtle did you want to be?
Leonardo. He was cool! And whenever we played TMNT on the playground, I always got stuck with being Splinter even though I wanted to be a turtle ;_;
Were you popular in high school?
Nope! I was pretty dang unpopular. My high school was mostly white people with money and I was a pretty awkward kid.
Do you answer every question you get on ask.fm?
Nope, but I do answer a lot of them! (I don't get that many.)
What is your favorite web comic, and how did you discover it?
Achewood, for sure. I forget how I found it, but it was when I was still in high school, I think.
If you had to completely change careers, what would you do?
Probably go back into training/teaching martial arts. I was a youth boxing coach for a year, and I taught some small BJJ classes too. Someday I'd like to open up my own BJJ gym.
Would you rather have a) 100 more serious TOs doing work for the community, or b) 1,000 new players showing up to various majors across the country?
100 more serious TOs -- not just for tournaments but for other kinds of events and gatherings, too. Our community is short on people who roll their sleeves up and work to build something, I think.
What is one dream you had as a kid that you've already achieved?
I work in video games, and I write about them. As far as what 5-year-old Patrick wanted out of life, that pretty much nailed it (well, I'm not a Ninja Turtle or an astronaut yet, so).
I'm trying to become a writer myself. What are some things I can do to improve my work?
Read good writing is #1.
Write often, and about a lot of different things is #2.
Find people you trust and ask them for feedback is #3.
Write often, and about a lot of different things is #2.
Find people you trust and ask them for feedback is #3.
Do you feel that top players should make more of an effort to produce content and/or services to the community, or should they just focus purely on doing well in tournaments?
"Should" is a tricky question! I think it'd be better for the community if top players made an effort to teach and grow the community, certainly -- and probably better for the top players themselves in terms of personal development and skill development. But they got to be top players because they're good at playing video games, not teaching others or organizing events or whatever -- so they probably need people to help them do that other stuff well, at first.
I will say that relying on your competitive skill alone to get by in fighting games is probably not the greatest idea. Competitions are fickle, consistency is rare, and there are always gonna be new people gunning for your spot. Instead of planning on being a top gun forever, I think it'd be smart for top players to use whatever opportunities they have available to them to develop other professional skills as well as their reputation.
I will say that relying on your competitive skill alone to get by in fighting games is probably not the greatest idea. Competitions are fickle, consistency is rare, and there are always gonna be new people gunning for your spot. Instead of planning on being a top gun forever, I think it'd be smart for top players to use whatever opportunities they have available to them to develop other professional skills as well as their reputation.
I'm getting bored watching FGC streams mostly because they follow the same format of "Put on matches, maybe have commentary, ask for subscriptions, etc..." Do you feel like there's any room for new FGC stream styles and formats, or should we just continue to polish the current model?
Yeah, there's a lot of room for different stuff. Special events, tutorial shows, scene commentary, old games, all kinds of different things besides just a tournament.
Who would win in a fight? Zangief or Mike Haggar (sans the pipe)?
Sans pipe? That's bullshit. I'd give it to Haggar though, wrestling sharks has gotta be harder than wrestling bears (assuming he wrestled them in the water, anyway).
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