We’ve taken advantage of this small lull in Singapore video gaming news to begin work on restoring some of the [url=http://www.gamesync.net/features/interviews]interviews[/url] GameSync conducted in 2005, our first year of operations.
Browsing through the interviews we conducted then, it quickly became obvious that the local gaming scene has come a long way since the heady days of 2005.
Some of the highlights include an [url=http://www.gamesync.net/2005/05/07/features/interviews/an-insight-with-the-wcg-marshals]interview with the marshals[/url] from Rapture Gaming. The year 2005 was Rapture Gaming’s first experience as an organizer for the World Cyber Games.
We interviewed Thomas “BlindSpot” Lim (now more popularly known as “DOTASG_PAPA”) and Desmine “VIRUS”, then Operations Manager of Rapture Gaming and Head Marshal for the WCG 2005 Singapore Nationals respectively.
It was one of the first times that game marshals actually had a chance to tell their stories – as well as provide some insights into the Singapore gaming scene from their unique perspective.
GameSync also did an [url=http://www.gamesync.net/2005/04/16/features/interviews/interview-with-airinc]interview with AIRinc[/url], probably Singapore’s top Natural Selection (a Half-Life mod) clan at that point in time. The interview was done the day before they were due to play their semi-final match in the Australian NS league AusNS.MT(W).
AIRinc’s efforts were perhaps one of the few teams to have put Singapore on the regional, if not global, map at the time, having defeated five Australian teams while suffering only one loss. This despite facing many challenges along the way, including the latency, moving their PCs to a team mate’s house to LAN it up and even persuading cyber cafes to install Natural Selection.
Sadly, the Singapore Natural Selection community died a quiet death in early 2006.
Something that I would really love to see more of, personally, is the interview we did of [url=http://www.gamesync.net/2005/04/11/features/interviews/couple-interview-amanda-and-weiqiang]Amanda and Weiqiang[/url]. Weiqiang was a member of the Covert Ghost Counter-Strike: Source team, and Amanda was his girlfriend tagging along to support him at a WCG qualifier tournament.
The interview with Amanda and Weiqiang was truly a rare gem. Not only did Weiqiang agree to be interviewed, Amanda was kind enough to agree to be interviewed as well. What was even better was that they graciously answered our questions on their life together as a couple and how gaming affected their relationship.
While the interview was a little short, it was an example of an interview with a great angle. I have always felt that interviews should not only be about the games people play and how they play it. Interviews should be about how getting people to tell their stories – how gaming affects and changes their lives and relationships.
All of interviews GameSync has done are precious memories. Fragile moments of time, frozen in place, captured with words and photographs. Sometimes the essence of the moment eludes our grasp, but other times we are dead on target.
Preserving memories for when the current generation grows old, and the subsequent generations of gamers who will inevitably step in to take our places – that is part of what GameSync is all about.
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