Overview:
A few people have requested that I interview the monarch of Freeakstyle and here we are. I have that interview. Freakstyle have been a top honour kingdom for the past few ages, winning the honour crown in age 47 and age 50. They came 2nd for honour age 48 and 49. Loiso is a nice guy and I have known him on and off for a while. It was nice to get a chance to sit down and talk to him for a bit.
This is the beginning of the more serious interviews!!
The Interview
Q1. How old are you and what do you currently do with your life?
ok... so im 32 y.o., currently self-employed. Running small company working in polygraphy & advertising
Q2. Where are you from?
Donetsk, Ukraine
Q3. How did you get into playing utopia?
by accident :P I think it was 2001... well, utopian age 10 the age of HoDF. I was studying in Uni back then, beginning of semester... alot of free time on hands :P Just found Utopia site randomly browsing and decided to give it a try. Since that time i'm in utopia...
Q4. Have you been with FS since 2001?
no FS was founded several ages after. I can actually dig for exact age if u want... i remember our first used KD name. Age or two after we started to use FS name
Q5. Were you just learning the game in different kingdoms before building up with FS?
kind of... i wasnt really knowing what i was doing. Quite fun though... in my first age i was playing i managed to set personal top honor score with something like ~13-14k honorz :P Well, just had some luck replicating the things HoDF did, but it still was very fun.
and i cant say i *was* learning the game, at some point i still do. Always trying to come up with something new to do
Q6. You have been playing with FS for a while and the kingdom has had an impressive consistency, what has building up the kingdom meant to you?
i guess its like in real life. It can be frustrating sometimes and other days you can be very happy when you see that hard teamwork gives it results. But there is no some ultimate goal, for me in utopia. I'm just trying to have fun playing with my team mates
Q7. How did you build FS up, was it with old friends?
no not really. It started from fresh formed ghetto. We were just some random ppl... noone from original crew (except me) is left atm though. Last veteran quit like couple years ago.
Q8. What is it about utopia that you like over other games?
well, first of all is its team focus. At the time i was starting to play utopia was really unique due this aspect and even now i dont see much games that much focused on team play (though i might be wrong here, not actively checking other games :P)
other thing about utopia i like from its very start is game mechanics.
from first glance it looks quite simple. Not very much units, buildings and such... but there is way more u dont see from start and even after playing a while u still eventually find something new. I mean when i have read guide it looked quite simple and straightforward... but when u try to find some optimum in your setup, when u add aspect of other provinces playing in ur KD and how they can affect whole stuff... you realize that this is VERY "serious" game
Q9. What do you love about utopia?
well, what i love is what i said above. I really like the game and... well, its not about aims in game, i just like the process
Q10. What do you hate about utopia?
and i dont think i really *hate* anything about it. There are some things that annoy me in game, but hating would be kind of too much
Q11. Are there any players that really annoy you within the game? If there are, why do you think that some people take the game as seriously as they do, whilst others do not?
well there are generally 2 things that i find annoying enough. First one are players who use so-to-say "double standards".. like when someone makes alot of noise about broken deal and then does the same. Or when ppl cry about double hostile while doing same thing to others.... alot of examples really. I may not like what some ppl do but if they at least accept/expect they get same treatment... well at least its fair.
Other thing is the kind of ppl i call "emo kids" :P Very popular plague among top players btw :P well, its when person acts like... well, emo kid... you can really have normal conversation with such ppl, they constantly try to threat (if they currently stronger) or cry and threat with firends (if they weaker)
they dont accept word "no", they dont "admit" defeat... it they lost then its "not fair". They basicly will do ANYTHING just to prove their point, doesnt matter right or wrong... and it has nothing to do with actually taking the game serious. Person can be serious about utopia and still act like normal human being... mature being :P
Q12. FS has been part of alliances in the past (TF), do you think alliances play a part in the game or should they be removed?
alliances can be different. Im quite neutral about it. We had fun being in alliance, there was also some not very pleasent experience there as well. And i dont think that alliance should be somehow removed or policed in any way. That the part of utopia society, if they exist then some utopian players need them or at least find them fun enough
Q13. FS have won the honour crown twice in the past 5 ages and you have been near the top in the other ages for honour... is honour something you go for or is that just how it works out?
well, its actually not about being "top". We aint "top" KD, at least that how i see us What we try is to reach perfection in warring (and i dont mean to be most active KD... we often do less uniques in war then enemy). Honor is more or less secondary thing. I mean its nice to get good honor spot, but its not something REALLY important. We never planned or aimed for it from beginning. Though we did some racing closer to EoA on other hand when u manage to get high honor is doesnt feel good to win a war but lose honor in same time. You can consider it as some kind of reflex
Q14. Do you have any comments in general about the game and about yourself as a player?
Nothing really to add about myself. Formally, im the founder and the monarch here, but FS is a "social" KD. I mean all that we have reached we did as a team, there is no "super-pro-player-and-24-tools" situation here. Never was, and i hope will never happen. Commitment to the team is of a higher value than any pro-ness here. Maybe u should just talk with more of FS crew... maybe even with some regular soldier,not the one who are in leadership