"I didn't invest all this time and money to lose."

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Hi Jason, would you please introduce yourself to our readers?

Whatsup!? To start, my name is Jason Sylka and I go by the alias, "socrates_". I am a Quake 4 player that hails from Buffalo, New York. Recently, I joined the Complexity Syndicate's Quake 4 division.

Could you give a bit of history about yourself, including some of the past games you have played, teams you have been a part of, and competitions you have attended as well as any accomplishments?

I think the first game I played competitively was Mortal Kombat 2. I would move from arcade to arcade playing this game and even won a couple small tournaments. My first FPS was Doom 2 and as time went on, I progressed to Quake1/Quake2/Quake 3 Arena. My skills in Doom 2 surpass that of any of the Quake series, but Quake 3 was the first game I took seriously. So, for Quake 3, I was part of The Stickmen and later moved on to clan519 for team deathmatch or capture the flag domination. As far as my accomplishments for Quake 3 are concerned, here is what I have done.

How did you get your start in competitive gaming? What was the first game you actively played at a high level? How have your family and friends reacted to the dedication and time you put towards playing games?

Although I found myself wanting to take Doom 2 to the next level, I really only was playing it for fun. Quake 3 was the first time I found myself dedicating the time and effort to accomplish something. The first truly big tournament I went to was the Razer CPL. I remember reading the press release for the event. It was at this point that I told myself that I wanted to be the best at Quake 3. I didn't do as well as I wanted to, yet I figured out what I needed to do to accomplish my goals. I put so much time into this game I was forced to leave a nice university (RIT). At this point I'm sure I wasn't getting as much support from my family and friends as I do now. Four years later, I have a degree in computer science and a math minor, and I'm still playing at a high level. Everyone in my family follows my progress in tournaments, and sometimes family will even fly to the event with me. My father has joined me in France one time and also in Korea. All of my friends give me great support and even want to join me sometime to experience what I get to see and do. Also, I have yet to meet a girl that doesn't take interest in my job/hobby straight away!

What hobbies do you have other than gaming, and what does a typical day in life look like for you?

I'm your average twenty-four year old. I love to travel, party, go to the gym (although I haven't been able to get to one in a couple months), yet I haven't worked for maybe four years now. Right now though, my typical day consists of playing Quake 4, sleeping, eating, [and] Quake 4.

You recently joined the Complexity Syndicate which houses two very strong teams in Counter-Strike 1.6 and Day of Defeat. How does it feel be a part of such a strong organization?

I'm excited to perform under the coL name next week. It's pretty intimidating to see the results of the Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat department, but I am confident that I will fit in just fine here and show similar results.

The biggest Quake 4 news, needless to say, was by the Cyberathlete Professional League when they announced it as the 2006 World Series game. What was your reaction when this announcement was made?

After ESWC this year, I didn't really plan on playing any more First Person Shooter games. My initial reaction to the CPL's news was more along the lines of "I do not want to play another four years of this game." Yet, when Quake 4 released it slowly grew on me. I think the big selling point was that I didn't have to learn a whole new game. It is basically an extension of Quake 3. I kept the same config and sensitivity. There was no real curve in the learning process. Anyway, I digress. As of now, I'm excited about the [World Tour] this year and competing.

The CPL Winter event is next week, and it was announced to be a Qualifier for next year's World Tour. What sort of preparations have you taken to ensure you're in top form for the tournament? Have you downloaded demos to study how some players play, or are you just practicing through one versus ones and going through basic practice routines?

For the past month I have been out in California lanning with my friend Kurt "Immortal" Shimada. We play countless hours a day on the LAN, and even got to some local lans to mix up the play with other gamers. Although it is a good to see what other people are up to, I find that in preparation for this tournament I am spending more time analyzing and studying my own demos than anyone else's. I don't care to [sic] much as to how someone else is going to perform at the CPL. It is me who is going to play and only me, so I only worry about myself. Practicing consists of playing duels, perfecting map movement, [and] demo analysis. Kurt also made an aim map for us to jam on when we are bored.

The opening round of the tournament is single elimination, do you have any player(s) you are worried about having to face in this round?

I'm not worried about any players coming to this tournament. If you want to win you should be able to beat everyone there.

There have been some mixed reviews in the community so far since its release. What are your thoughts on the current status of the game, and what do you feel needs to be changed for Quake 4 to be the undisputed death match game?

The mixed reviews are just. Everyone has their opinion and that’s fine by me. What I'm concerned with right now is not knowing what the q4max mod will do to the game. It is less than one week until the event and we already know that the mod will change some of the game play that we have been practicing for months now. I'd say this game is 75-80% done. By that I mean I have a laundry list of problems in the game that range from the sound being absolutely sub par to map selection for 1v1 play. This game has problems that need to be ironed out and that is where the mod makers come into play. In conjunction with some proper dueling maps I believe Quake 4 can be then be considered the "undisputed deathmatch game".

You are registered for the upcoming CPL Winter 2005 event in Dallas. With the game being new, there are not a lot of tournaments to judge the skill of your opponents. What are your expectations heading into the tournament? Who do you think has the most realistic shot at taking this tournament?

I didn't invest all this time and money to lose. *Smile*

Painkiller was pretty much dominated by two players, Vo0 and Fatal1ty. Do you think we will see someone step up and be the undisputed Quake 4 champion or will the competition be more balanced?

It’s really too early to tell.

Have you followed this year's Painkiller World Tour? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Obviously it is the first time this sort of thing has ever been done.

I watched from a spectator’s point of view. I knew relatively nothing about the game and only watched TSN web casts. I thought it was cool to watch, and the announcers although a bit ridiculous at moments, were pretty good. Watching a group of Quake 3 downgrades battle for big money was pretty cool. The finals seemed like a fun and exciting event. I don't know how things looked on the inside, but from my seat I thought it went pretty well.

Are you planning to attend all of the 2006 World Series events next year or are you going to focus on a select few?

I plan on dedicating a lot of time and effort to the 2006 World Series. See ya at those events.

What are your thoughts on the Summer 2006 CPL event, which will involve 512 players with $200,000 in prize money?


I haven't put to [sic] much thought into it. It's a pretty big tournament now that I look at it. Right now I'm focused on the tournament next week.

What is your favorite map and weapon and why?

Being asked this question a lot I have come up with a logical generic answer. That is, the best weapon for the situation at hand. I'm sure you understand what I mean.
As far as a favorite map goes, I'm going to say Doom 2 Map 07, "Dead Simple". It was pure genius and a great map to play.

What mouse pad, headset, monitor, keyboard, etc do you use?

I currently use a Microsoft Intellimouse 3.0 and an old Russian Mitsumi keyboard. I'm using the Steelpad 5H headset with the USB sound card so I have the same sound at all my events. At the present time I’m using a borrowed NEC multisync 70 17 inch monitor. Smile

What is your sensitivity?

I use the Intellipoint 4.12 drivers and registry fix for Windows XP mouse acceleration. I have my windows sensitivity at 6/11 and I don't use pointer precision.
In game I have a sensitivity of 3.5 at a pitch of .022 and yaw of .022.

Do you have any tips for new Quake players trying to get to that next level?

Learning how to practice correctly was my biggest feat. As the saying goes, "it is quality, not quantity."

What do you think is the most important part of the game to master in order to become an elite player? Map control? Aim? Movement?

I don't believe that you can single any one of these things out and say it is the most important. I think it all starts with the movement. If you have great movement, you can bring your aim to new levels. Knowing how much to move your mouse while jumping, taking a turn or sliding will help your aim immensely. With superior aim and movement you can then work successfully on map control.

Shout outs?

I’d like to thank our sponsors, Gamecomm, Icemat, Steel, Hi-Def Servers, Comcage, IMG and Branzone. Thanks very much for the interview!