As previously mentioned, we here at X3O have decided to create an interview series – X3O’s Behind The Gamer. Every couple of weeks an interview with one of the professional gamers within the team will be released. Through this series, you will get to know all of the gamers within X3O, including our CS 1.6, CSS, Q4 and COD4 teams.

This time around we will be chatting with David “icel0re” Ritson, the sole member of X3O’s Quake team. A long time member of the X3O organization, David will be competing in the Intel sponsored QUAKE LIVE tournament, at this year’s QuakeCon event.

To start things off, could you briefly introduce yourself?

Im David, better known as “icel0re” for the past few years. Im a college senior at Western Kentucky University (this years amazing sweet 16 basketball school!) going into my last semester of undergrad study. Shortly there after I hope to be enrolled in the masters program in the sociology department. Im pretty normal I guess you could say...I love doing all different types of things guys my age enjoy, mostly video games :P I was a 4th seat on the Murray State University’s Mens Rowing Team, and most recently served as the back up left prop for the Western Kentucky Mens Rugby Team, needless to say I love being outside and playing sports, especially ones that involve a lot of hitting, those are the best :) When im not with my girlfriend or hanging with my roommates you can find me working as a bouncer at local bars. Other than that im on here playing quake and hassling nickfitz :)

Before we get into the thick of things, can you explain how the gaming handle “icel0re” came to be?

Well I originally started gaming under the name “spectre” back a VERY long time ago, because spectre was the name of my favorite car\character in “Twisted Metal 2" for playstation. As I was gaining skill quickly and playing more and more of this new game called “Quake” I figured spectre just didn’t sound good enough. So at that point I formed the name “Sleepyweasel”. I cant remember what exactly made me think of this name, but it has something to do with a sort of naked gun movie reference I think. That name lasted a bit till around 1998 when I was beginning to place and do well in Quake Leagues for modem players (yes, we played on modems). It was about this time I met a guy named “fatal1ty”, and one day we were talking about me getting a new name, “Sleepyweasel doesnt sound right...I need something different that people will remember” I said while we talked on IRC. At the time I was playing really aggressively, and never really let up on my opponents regardless of what kind of lead I had. Someone on a server one day said “Man....your cold dude, ease up”, I immediately called a timeout and replied “cold as ice.” and promptly timed back in. So shortly there after I changed my name to “icE”. I later added the “lore on the end making “icel0re” or “icelore” because I wanted to beat everyone I played so bad the stories of my games lived on like folk “lore” so to speak. The rest is history..:P

Outside of gaming, what do you do to keep yourself busy?

Well I have a great family back up on the Ohio River (I live 1 1\2 hours from home) that I visit frequently, and a wonderful girlfriend here in bowling green that I spend the majority of my free time with. My favorite “away from computer” activities include cooking (modern American), playing any kind of sports outside (right now im on a huge basketball kick, lol) or going out for drinks with my roommates or friends. I dunno, I generally just kinda “go with the flow” so to speak. I hate making plans cause I hate breaking them, so I just keep things open and let life work its magic.

Being a longtime player of Quake games, how does the QUAKE LIVE adaptation stack up?

Well if you’ve heard anything about quake live, you’ve heard it’s for the most part identical to quake 3, which is very true. It’s a web based version of Q3 in fact, with some minor changes. As far as adapting goes, I don’t think it will be THAT hard but there are new elements to the game that add some depth and fun. I played Quake 3 from its initial release in 1999 up until 2004 when it really died off, so I’ve got plenty of q3 skills in my bag, it’s just a matter of dusting them off I think right now :) The cool thing about it is the new guns, which are the chain gun, and a gun that fires proximity mines, which are detonated by your enemies movement. These are great tools in the mod that im playing right now, capture the flag. All in all I think if you enjoyed q3's style of play, you’ll really enjoy Qlive. The weapons are more balanced, there’s new maps (thank god), and it shows the potential to have a HUGE following! I think I saw somewhere ID reported over 100,000 signups for the beta....cs what? :)

With this year’s QuakeCon event also holding a 1 vs. 1 competition, what made you choose to partake in the 4v4 CTF event instead?

I’ve been for the most part absent from the 1v1 scene since the demise of the WSVG, it had just lost its luster to me, I was burned out. I was playing CTF at the time in quake 4 with the top US team “The Rage Within”, or “RAGE” for short. Q4 capture the flag started to pick up and I was falling in love with it more every day. In the time since then we’ve won 3 major North American Tournaments and had great success with everything we’ve done. We really hoped for Q4CTF at Quakecon because we felt we would 1 seed going into the event and have a great chance of winning it, but when ID announced Qlive CTF we all talked and decided that playing in the first ever Qlive capture the flag tourney would be a lot of fun, plus we’re one of the most stable teams in recent history, much like x3o’s 1.6 team, so why not take on a new challenge with another variation of quake and show the world who we are?!

How did your 4v4 CTF team come to be? What roles does each player play within the game itself?

Well early on in capture the flag, CAL’s ctf league was very successful during their first season, there were over 20 teams playing and everything was great. I was 1v1ing and wanted to branch out into other mods, I’ve always loved quake team play. I had very minimal capture the flag experience up until this point so I felt this was a great chance for me to “branch out” so to speak. I was picked up quickly by a team called “b-“ or “B Negative”. This team consisted primarily of myself, ID, wn, shizem, and one of my long time Quake 3 teamates cdogg. We finished CAL S1 in second place. After CAL stopped carrying CTF I quit to resume 1v1. A year had passed since I had touched a flag and I then found myself picked up by a team called “supernova”. 2 guys by the name of “ceppy” and “badbitch” approached me and asked if I was going to play in the GGL tourney, I said sure and we started practicing shortly there after. We were beat by the eventual champions team “RAGE”. I noticed all my former teammates cdogg, wn, shizem, and new player and friend griffin were all in this team. Supernova stopped competing and I instantly found a home with RAGE. This was over a year and a half ago, we’ve had the same lineup since!

CTF is played in 4 positions, offense and defense. Most maps it’s normal to run “2" offense players that go after the enemies flag, and “2" defensive players that guard your flag. Offense generally goes in together and coordinates attacks in attempts to get the enemy flag, while defense works together to call out where the enemy offensive players are, and secure the base so that they don’t get the flag. Now, all 4 players don’t have to stick to their positions..in fact our team “RAGE” has made a bit of a living on what’s called “3 man push’s”. This is where our offense (cdogg, shizem) get armor and weapons, and myself or “wn”, our other defensive player will actually attack with them, leaving only 1 person back on defense. While this is risky at times, and leaves your lone defense man by himself, should the other team not be ready, a proper attack of 3 players can leave an enemy defense in shambles and can result in quick scores.

CTF to me is a great balance of things, which in ways it can remind you of counter strike at times. One player falls or falters at something, another comes along and picks up his slack and the team pushes on. The only different is, in quake, everything happens about 4 times as fast and you really don’t get time to think, you have to make the right decisions all the time or face the consequences. It’s a really delicate balance to say the least.

With QuakeCon 2008 just around the corner, how have you, as well as your teammates, been preparing for this event?

Well right now, Qlive is just in beta form, which is what will be used in the tourney in Dallas. Luckily our entire team has Qlive invites an we’ve all been playing. We play together nightly, or when ever everyone’s schedules allow. As the event gets closer we’ll be practicing a few hours a night together pounding out strats and getting the finer tunning done so that we can do well in the tourney! Actually, next week, one of our offensive players, and arguably the fastest Q4 capture the flag player on the planet “shizem” will be driving here to my place to set up and lan before the event. I play a secondary defensive position and he plays a primary offensive position, so this will give us great time to really work on things:)

What are your expectations for the event? Which team will be the biggest competition for you?

Our expectations? First place, plain and simple. Rumors have a team consisting of players “zero4, viju, cl0ck, and kns” attending. Summing that up you have a 2 time quakecon 1v1 champion (Z4), and world champions of quakecon 2003 Q3CTF (cl0ck and viju) so it’s going to be quite difficult should we meet them in the tourney. Whatever happens we’ll be ready tho.

From what I understand, you’re also competing in the True Carnage Draft League – how is that going for you?

Well the previous 2 seasons in TC have yielded my team “RAGE” first place finishes each time, which we’re really thankful for. This past season was in fact a draft league in which all the players were thrown in a pot and captains picked them. My team’s name is “BANANAS IN PAJAMAS”, hahaha. Our team consists of 1 of my good friends and neighbor “magnum_” and other players crush, stormblast, spaceball, and lost. Were currently playing in the Final against “We Are Professionals” or wap for short. Ironically, wap features 2 of my very own RAGE teamates “wn” and “gizermoney”, so this will be no easy task. We’re also coming from the Losers Bracket so that means we’ll have to win 2 “best of 3" series in a row, or 4 out of 6 maps. We’ve got our backs to the wall, but I think if we play the way we have in the recent past we’ll be fine.

Lastly, if you win the Chevrolet Corvette Coupe, what will do you with it?

2 Words...sell it. I live in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the place where Corvettes are made actually, so I see corvettes multiple times a day, and frankly im sick of them. The drivers have bad attitudes and are mostly old white guys with floral print shirts and pleated khaki shorts on with loafer shoes and no socks........pfft :) If I got the car, id write the check for the taxes and drive it back to Kentucky. Of course I don’t have the money in my bank to cover the taxes which im sure are around 5-7k so Id just drive the car to “Carmax” in Nashville with the title in hand. They buy cars even if you don’t buy from them, so I’d sell the car, get a check for around 50-55k, put the money in my bank before the check for the taxes bounced and pocket the rest...zing!! :)