BIO: I have been gaming for the best part of 20+ years. Dating back to 1997 with Quake 2 where I won my first tournament aged 14. I then went on to win my first professional tournament at age 16, at the 2001 CPL Holland UK Qualifiers and from then on I have just continued to play throughout the Quake Series. In 2006 I was signed by Team Dignitas to compete in multiple Quake 3, Quake 4 & Quake Live tournaments.

Hello Aaron, thank you for accepting my invitation to The QUAKE PUB. How is life nowadays?

If I look back at your career, you started with Quake 2 in 1997, later Quake 3 Arena to switch into Quake 4 and continued your career in Quake Champions. The way I see it, you are as old as F.U.C.K permissions :-)

What was, according to you, the best title of the Quake series? Where did you have the most fun? 

Hello mate, no problem at all. Life is pretty decent, busy but can't complain.

Haha, thank you. I am getting there yes, I have been around a long time, but physically and mentally I still feel really young, even though my age states otherwise.

For me there would be two, Quake 2 and Quake 4, that I believe are the best, where I had the most fun & for different reasons.

If you could pick one moment from your gaming career, what would you call “Golden Age of Quake”?
- Is it now with Quake Pro League, or Quake 3 Arena ClanBase TDM era with hundreds of teams active. 

The golden age of Quake would vary for me, as it depends on a personal level and on a competitive level.

Personally my golden age for myself would have been either the latter stages of Quake 2 or Quake 4, where I really got into my stride.

In terms of competitiveness, it would have been Quake 3, where you had CPL, WCG tournaments, Clanbase OpenCups & EuroCups, even fun modes yet ultra competitive Capturestrike leagues on Jolt/Clanbase, there was so many teams, so many great players and a lot of exciting matches to watch.

Whether it was Duel, CTF or TDM, there was always something that would tickle your fancy and plenty of it back then.

As we all grow older, and business and family gets involved into our lives, how are you managing to find time for gaming? And do you see it as a way of relaxation, or is gaming part of your business? 

It's hard finding the balance, I lose motivation a lot and my desire to want to practice is at an all time low and has been for quite some time.

I work a lot and my current role is very stressful.

Relaxation? Haha, no I don't relax much when I play games, as that competitive side of me still exists, I guess you just can never shake that, you can't turn it off, no matter how old you get ha.

You have seen the evolution of esports from its humble beginnings to current level, where professional players earn quite a hefty prize money, have huge support of its organisations and become mainstream.

Do you think that something was lost on the way, or we gained much more? 

I'll answer this in two parts, firstly I think a bit of humility was lost, today everyone just wants or even in some aspects, expect instant success, instant fame, whether that is in gaming or via other mediums.

Today you have some kids that aren't even that good, they play decently in one tournament and expect a salary of say €4,000 a month. It just blows my mind where some of them get the audacity to demand such salaries.

Some do not want to graft, they just expect.

That's not to say there are players today that don't graft or put the time in, of course there is and when they do, they will reap the rewards and rightfully so.
But they can see what is achievable now in comparison to the early days and just want that rich and famous lifestyle, get rich quick mentality.

Or maybe it also existed back then but wasn't so in your face, as it is today, with how social media has taken over, you get to see certain people's traits and attitudes towards certain things that you may not have noticed back in the day.

Secondly, we have gained so much more, the above comment is literally miniscule on the grand scheme of things, as gaming is at an all-time high and it'll continue to grow, some players do deserve their astronomical wages and some tournaments do deserve the biggest of prize pools and when you get both, you get to see the best talents showcased like never before on the biggest of stages.

I always thought it would get to the point where stadiums would be packed out with fans and hundreds of thousands tuning in and to think of that and now to witness it, it's pretty amazing.

In your career, you played a lot of CTF, are you missing some TEAM mode support in Quake Champions tournaments? 

I did? I only played CTF in Quake 4, unless you're referring to my Capturestrike days in Quake 3, hah.

No, not at all, I think Quake Champions is best suited to duel, timelimit duel at that.

Even though, I did have a lot of fun with the odd 2v2 matches I played in and before that, the Sacrifice tournaments I participated in, but I was always more interested in duel, personally.

I do wonder how Sacrifice would work now though, as when we first played it in Quake Champions we can all agree it wasn't in the greatest of states was it, the framerates and performance was at an all time low back then.

Yeah, you are obviously right it was Capturestrike lol ... VIDEO TUTORIAL

You are a member of Myztro Gaming, and besides being invited as a player to IRONFIST, you are going to premiere as a Caster! Is this the only “duty” you have in the team, or you are more active inside the organisation, rather than being a player? 

That is correct, but I am also a Co-Founder of Myztro.

Before Quake Champions was announced myself and Gareth were playing the odd game online with one another and we heard rumblings about a new Quake game, which we decided we would play together again if Quake was to return.

Fast forward a little bit and we then heard more about Quake Champions and the potential of upcoming tournaments, prize pools, game modes, etc.

So we then decided to build a team to hopefully qualify for the World Championships. My brother came up with the original name we played under, which was Envico, before we then re-branded to a name that I came up with, which it is today, as you know, Myztro.

I speak all the time with Gareth and Nigel, if I can I'll offer advice or an opinion where it may be needed, but they've got a good grasp of things and if they ever need me for anything, they know I'll try and help as best as I can.

What type of caster do you think you tend to be? More emotional, describing what's actually going on the screen (hi djWheat) or more analytical like Flee for example.

Are there any plans to invite players to the casters desk to co-cast? 

That's a good question, I really don't know.

Sitting here now I'd like to think I'd be a bit of both, but when it comes to it, I might make no sense whatsoever and be absolutely horrendous (let's hope not), but I really don't know until I try.

Well, I did have a joke about co-casting with Gareth but Nigel said not to do that as they won't be able to understand him, but I thought that would have been commentary gold.

Besides that, no, not as far as I'm aware, I don't think so. But who knows? Maybe we'll throw a surprise in the works when Ironfirst commences.

What was the last LAN you played and are you looking forward to playing some games on LAN? 

The last lan I played at wasn't that great and not worth mentioning.

I am yeah, I think it's needed especially after the last year and a half we've all had, we all need that little bit of escapism from reality every now and then and what better way to do that, than having a Quake Champions tournament.

Thank you for your time, and see you in London!

Thank you, no problem at all. Safe travels man.