Behind the Gamer

Behind the Gamer is a feature at GotFrag where we highlight a well-known individual within the community. Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager, the CPL and ESWC PainKiller Champion has been chosen for this edition of Behind the Gamer.

Name: Sander Kaasjager
Alias: Vo0
Age: 19
Location: Netherlands
Current Clan: fnatic
Most Memorable Gaming Experience: Well, I have several great moments. I mean, if you measure the volumes of my shouts after I win matches, I guess I can say that winning the CPL is my best gaming moment. But... I played SteLam in the loser bracket final, and that was the most emotional match I have ever played. I was very upset before the match about how some things went in the loser bracket small final between stermy and SteLam, I was agressive, not mentally prepared, angry, etc. I played a very stupid match and was losing for 14 minutes or more. Then 30 or 20 seconds before the end, we had even scores and it went into overtime. I won it by 3 frags, was extremely happy, shouting loudly ofcourse like always. I went to stermy and said "this one was for you man". I think this is one of the gaming moments I'll never forget.

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Please introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Sander Kaasjager, I have finished high school and I started studying mechanical engineering, but I stopped it. I'm 19 years old, and currently playing for fnatic (http://www.fnatic.com). I entered two professional events (ESWC 2004 and CPL Summer 2004), and I won both of them.

As far as I know CPMA was your primary competitive game before PK came out, but you never accomplished as much with Painkiller as compared to your first CPL or ESWC tournaments. What were the main reasons behind these series of under achievements?
I can't say I was a failure during CPMA. I became 5-6th in a USA tourney (Challenges3), playing with ping 115 the whole tourney (except against the euros), and I became 2nd in the Berserk Promode 2 cup (losing to rat in the finals). I was good at CPMA, but not the best, that ain't a failure :).
I started CPMA back in March 2003, that's a lot later than most of the people who played CPMA back then (some people had been playing since the early beta's), so after all I think my CPMA results are pretty good.

You were the one of the first people to pick up PainKiller and play competitively, giving you somewhat of an advantage over other people at CPL. Do you believe if you were introduced to Q3 and CPMA earlier, your name would join the ranks of those such as fatal1ty, cooller, zero4 or daler?
It may sound arrogant, but I think if I started Q3 early on, I would have become good as well. I mean, I was pretty good at Quake2 right before I stopped playing games (January 2001), but I started the game at the latest patch (3.20). I was average in Q3, but I started when 1.32 was released 6 months before that. You can't become the best if you start playing that late. I'm not saying I would have been as good as those names you mentioned, I don't know, but I know I could have done good in tournaments.

Before PainKiller was announced as the World Tour game, you were signed up for the Doom3 tournament at the Winter CPL. What were your thoughts then, were you still motivated enough to play D3?
I was signed up for the Winter CPL without even having played D3 at all. I bought the game somewhere early October, hoping I would like it, but I didn't. I was not sure if I would play in the World Tour at all, still thinking that I had fun with my study :), so I was not motivated at all playing that game. Luckily Painkiller got chosen after all. :)

The PainKiller community is growing day by day and we can see infamous players such as destrukt and cha0ticz practicing on a regular basis for the winter event. Do you see yourself as the person to beat at Winter CPL?
Yeah, there's a lot of pressure on me. I won the only two events, and I am pretty sure people will be more than eager to beat me. I mean, who doesn't want to beat the number 1. It's like that in any game or sport.

As far as I know, you practice a maximum of 5-6 hours during boot camping and 2-3 hours during a regular day; do you think this is a disadvantage compared to players like Fatal1ty who usually practice 10+ hours a day in boot camps before events?
I currently play an average of 2 hours a day, but that will probably get more when time passes by and when CPL Winter is getting closer. At bootcamps I play around 5 hours. Playing more does not really do me any good. My shoulder will hurt, so I immediatly stop playing, and my focus and concentration is all gone, so it is kind off pointless for me anyways.

After the CPL Summer event, you said Fallen2 was your weakest map coming into the tournament. Did you have the chance to take a look at gellehsak's edition of Fallen2 -dm_fallen2te- with replaced items? If yes, what are your thoughts on it?
Fallen2te is much better than the original one, but it's still not much compared to Psycho and Sacred. The map is just not good enough for that, no item layout can fix the map. But ah well, the fact that it's better than Fallen2, and a lot less random makes my day already. We just have to wait for a real good 3rd map.

With the upcoming Painkiller:Battle Out of Hell expansion pack release and the initial patch for Painkiller, what kinds of changes are you hoping to see? What would be the one thing you'd remove or change in PainKiller's Gameplay?
The one thing I would change in PK's gameplay is the stakegun. It's currently doing 200dmg, which is too much for a weapon, and a spawn weapon. I'd say, lower it to 150, and use a modified shotgun as the spawn weapon. I guess that won't happen :/.
I'm hoping for a kickass TDM and/or CTF experience. If that hits on, PK will gain more populairity immediatly.

How do you compare PainKiller with other dueling games such as Q3, D3 and UT2k4? Do you believe TDM and CTF mods for PainKiller will be as popular as Q3 CTF and TDM?
I hope so. The new net code should be supposed to handle both CTF and TDM with 8 or more players, so I'm really hoping for it to be good.

How often have you been practicing for CPL Winter event so far? What would you rate your current gaming abilities out of your maximum potential?
Currently I play too random. One day I play very good and the other day everything just fails. I really need to work on that. A better living rhythm would fix that problem I guess. I'm officially still a student and I'm also living that way. :)

Do you think the new updates (which introduce game play without havoc physics along with a brand new net code) will improve the game play by a significant margin?
Yes, the netcode is supposed to be really good, and supports more players. The gameplay will probably change a little, for example: in <1.35 patch, havok was even in the player movement, in the new netcode it isnt, so it will feel different I guess. I'm also not too fond of the new weapons, I hope they have done something good with it. Anyways, it's almost coming out, so we just have to be a little more patient.

What would your advice be to people who want to get good at PK but haven’t played any other 1v1 games? How would you go about learning the map control and movement?
Learn the maps inside out, watch some demos of good players, and learn the movement. That's kind of the basics. Aim will come later on. Without map knowledge or movement you won't reach much in any game. It's a rhetorical question really, there's no such thing as a "rule list" for people to become good. It's just a matter of talent, skill and the time you put in (and some other small things ofcourse).

What do you think about the learning curve in PK? Do you believe that it's detrimental to the community that every new multiplayer FPS game out there is now dominated by known individuals (a.k.a. Pro-Gamers) who easily adapt to becoming successful at any game?
There is a learning curve, no doubt. In the beginning of PK I thought it would only be a matter of months before people would play this game at it's max, but I still find new things to improve my game. And the fact that it's being dominated by other FPS 1on1 gamers is only logical. Experience means a lot, in any game. So if you’re good in one game, you can most likely become good in another. If you like it, that is. I know I wouldn't have been top in Doom3 like in PK, cause the game is simply just too slow for me and it almost bores me to death :).

Do you plan on attending all the stops of the CPL World Tour? If so, what would be the city that you'd like to visit most and compete in? How would traveling affect your college life?
I already told you I stopped my study. From January I won't officially be a student anymore, until I start again, which is most likely in mid-2006 (world tour takes all year, and I can't hop in in January 2006, so..). It's still not sure though, but I'll probably attend a lot of events.

What have you done with your earnings from PainKiller so far? What would you do with the money if you win all 10 of the 10 events of the World Tour? Mechanical Engineering or PK?
Haha, winning 10 out of the 10 tour stops, now that's not likely to happen, but it would be real cool :). I have no idea what to do with that amount of money, and I'm not even thinking about that right now. I might be the favorite, but that says nothing. Favorites can get beaten too. I haven't got any prize money by the way, it's taking so long, kind of pissing me off :/.

Being the top player in a game, is it hard to find worthy opponents to play against?
Sometimes it's annoying, when I found an enemy, and beat him up so bad that I don't learn anything. And most of my games are like that, cause there are few people who are at or around my level (only "old school" PK players, ESWC and CPL top players). So it's kind of bad for me, that I don't learn much during my games. I just have to play the good ones, but I can't always play them.

Thanks for your time, any last words/shoutouts?
Shoutout to #pro.walmers (at quakenet), fnatic (http://www.fnatic.com), shred, my friends and others I forgot :).