Poor_Monkey (4/2/99)

Now via satellite from the US we have an interview with Simon Tong, AKA Poor_Monkey. Greetings Simon and welcome to the interview chair of doom. A big Doom fan were you? I made a Doom level of our department here a few years ago, but you went one giant leap further and made one of your college in Oxford. Tell us about that…

Hehe, thanks for inviting me to the interview chair John. I remember being really impressed with Doom when it came out. I remember picking up the green armour on the first map and gazing out of the window to see the mountains. The atmosphere was great! And I thought that the music fitted the game perfectly… St. John’s Doom *plug plug* started out as being just a small idea. My friend and I thought it would be neat if we could model just the front entrance of the college. Afterall, deathmatching in the location that you live in really adds a lot more to the experience. The project then got quickly out of hand as we became more ambitious and decided to include the majority of the college. We managed to obtain the blueprints of the college and ended up taking photos of the many parts of the college to add as textures. I remember carefully setting up my camera so as to get a good shot of one of the bollards… I received such odd looks from the tourists that were taking photos of the ornate statues and stone buildings behind me! In the end it took nine months to create and most of our second year at university… but hey, what’s a degree worth if you don’t waste your time for a while

So how did you get into Quake and how come you knew about using the mouse before the rest of us lamers (/me remembers the struggles to get even one frag against the master, and the cries of “Yes!” when we did)? Your earliest Quake memory?

I used to play Doom deathmatch a little (too much time was spent actually building the map!) and tentatively started to use the mouse instead of a joystick when I realised that it just took too darn long to turn around and look at who was blasting me in the back with a double-barrelled shot gun I started playing Quake when I returned to college in October, a few months after the shareware version was released. I remember the first thing that I tried to do was figure out how get the view to move freely with the mouse, and once I had come across the mlook command I was hooked! The first memory I have about net Quake was when I first joined a server and there was this guy called “DC.Zoser” completely devastating the field… little did I know who he was at the time

It seems that Tribes may be the game to bring the previously divided Quake 1 and 2 communities together, with the armour classes idea sounding very similar to that outlined for Quake 3, is it possible that Dynamix have upstaged id and grabbed a vital market? Have you played Tribes much or at all?

Actually I’ve never played Tribes. I’ve been tempted but I’ve decided to hold off until I see how Quake 3 turns out. It seems that Tribes is also really popular over here in the States. There are fewer newcomers to the net Quake and QW servers nowadays. I think the beauty of Quake, and the reason that I still play it, is that I still feel that I’m steadily improving… unlike most games where a plateau of skill is reached well before two years of play. I really hope that Quake3 can capture that aspect of Quake. The online market is growing so fast, and looks so different to what it was like when Quake was released over two years ago that I think that there is enough space for both Tribes and Quake3 to be really successful although, of course, I know which one I’m hoping will dominated

How do they play Quake over that side of the Atlantic as regards deathmatch mode and teamplay settings? Did you find it weird when you first went over?

The first thing that I noticed was the number of very strong players dressed in white and called “player” or “unnamed”. I mean, they could have though of something imaginative such as “Pops” or “Moonbeam” or something. But what was most annoying was that they never, ever revealed who they really were even when asked. So at first it was hard to judge which players were good and how many of them there were! In Europe, QW completely dominates but when I first went over to the States both net quake and QW were popular with the top clans being spread over both. In net quake the settings were pretty similar to the UK. In QW most servers use dmm3 which was really strange at first (no more rl running and an annoying shortage of ammo ) In duels the style of play is more defensive which took some getting used to, especially with the quad never being used. The most popular level seems to be dm6 rather than dm4. Ah, I still miss the European way of playing.

I asked Spud in an earlier interview if he believed that Quake had passed out Roman Catholicism as a major world religion, do you think that cult sites like the Poor_Monkey Respect Page which portray you as some kind of religious icon are adding to the mass hysteria?

Hehe. *Blush*. I was so flattered by that page, and still think that I thoroughly didn’t deserve it. Imagine if the all of the globe worshipped Quake… the world would be such a more peaceful place… apart from all of the quibbling over league rules of course.

Any Quake tips for us lowly mortals? Binds, places to hide, even a few bloody cheats for the desperate out there (damn reporters always trying to dig up the dirt on the religious types!)?

Tips. From little ol’ me? Well…

• As John mentioned before use a mouse! I personally like the retail Microsoft Intellimouse (without the wheel… the wheeled version of the mouse is lower to the ground for some reason). The retail version is slightly heavier than the OEM version and together with a 3M precision mousepad it has just the right weight and is silky smooth. I know that some people swear by those Logitech contraptions. Whatever you do, just do not stray off the path of virtue and use one of those evil fabric or plastic mousemats
• Related to the first… if you are running Windows try using “qwcl -dinput” and use ps2rate or a USB version of the mouse to make it easier to aim.
• Know the maps, sounds and respawn points (even though respawns are in a random sequence). It’ll help you locate you enemy and get the first shot off. It’ll also help you know how to “control” a map; not allowing your enemy to get back into a strong position. Most importantly it’ll help you get to know your opponent’s “habits” on a map… and that is often the key to outsmarting them.
• Know how much health your enemies have. Listen to the sound that they make when they are hit and listen for any health packs being picked up.
• Cheats!? I don’t think monkeys (especially poor ones) are intelligent enough to cheat Well, I consider any “console” command fair game so I use v_kicktime 0, cl_bob 0, cl_bobup 0, cl_rollangle 0, fov 110, ambient_level 0. For most countries this is readily accepted as “fair” but in some, notably Australia, it isn’t.
• Plagiarize! An original trick is always hard to invent; especially now that Quake has been out for so long. The quickest way to pick up new ideas is to watch demos, or observe good players through the eye-cam view in Quake… if anything you can at least be satisfied in knowing that they are fallible when you see them miss the dm3 across-the-room red armor jump or see them spanner one of their quad rockets into the floor beneath them
• Above all enjoy Quake! There’s no need to take it really seriously, or study it as if you’ll have to take an exam on it at the end (now there’s a thought… BSc in Quake ) it’s just a game after all!

Who would be in your ideal Quake clan if you could pick from the players of the world?

Ooh. Now that is tough. One thing I’d love to see though would be a “vintage” UK vs US battle i.e., one made up of the “old school” members that have retired from Quake. How about a 2 vs 2 on dm4 with:

QL.Ettu: For being an incredible player and having by far the cleverest name QPD.Fragga: Remember him? Probably one of the most amicable Quake players around… and a dm4 monster. Remember the “Sujoy vs. Fragga” incident when Fragga used the (now defunct) respawn sequence for the first time.

against:

LGD.Thresh: I still haven’t seen him driving that Ferrari on highway 101 even though I live in the area…. LGD.B2: It’s funny how most of the well know US old school players have come from California. I wonder if they have electricity in the inland states yet?

What are your favourite Quake levels, be they for free for alls, duels or clan games? What makes a good level IYO?

Dm4 is one of my favourites for both free-for-alls and duels and I think dm5 is great for free-for-alls, although I know many people despise dm5 In the States most servers are dmm3 so there is less chance for a pitched tent in the rocket launcher room I like most maps that are tight and fast paced.

Played any Quake 2 at all? Did you like it, and what are your hopes for Quake 3?

I never got used to Quake 2; I always found it too slow paced for me. I remembered John Romero saying before Quake came out that they were intending on slowing the players down from Doom2 so as to make the game less frantic and more tactical. I think they pushed that idea just too far in Q2… Quake3 sounds like it’s shaping up really nicely. I’m still a little apprehensive about the weapon switching and slower rockets though. At least they are hopefully bringing back the lightning gun… I felt that that sort of weapon was really missing from Q2 although I guess given that the players were moving so much slower it really wouldn’t have worked out in Q2.

If you were stranded on a desert island with ten other angry Quakers (not the religious types), and could only bring one gun, what weapon would you choose?

Hehe, real quakers use a quaded axe

(Yeah, you’d need the axe anyway to get those damn coconuts.)

Thanks for taking the time for these questions PM and hope to frag you a second time some day!

Yeah you too! I’m hopefully getting cable modem soon (would you believe that I live in the town where the technology was developed and they still won’t have it available until a few months time!) so I’ll hopefully be able to pay you guys a visit for old times sake!

Ook,

Poor_Monkey.