In a recent interview with Si-Yeon "ShadowTerran_II" Kim, winner of the GameReplays Red Alert 3 Beta King of the Hill Tournament, GameReplays asked the expert player his thoughts on Red Alert 3 and the e-sports community. Read on to learn more about Si-Yeon.
ShadowTerran_II Hey, Si-Yeon “ShadowTerran_II” Kim! Before we get started with the interview, why don’t you introduce yourself by giving a little background on yourself: age, gaming career and history, where you live, your hobbies, and your involvement with the community.
Si-Yeon "ShadowTerran_II" Kim: I'm 30 years old, live in Seoul, and I play games for a hobby. My first RTS was Red Alert 1, but I didn't play very much. After that, I played StarCraft for about 3 years, and Red Alert 2 for about half a year. I was pretty good in Korea at the time. I also played WarCraft 3 for a year. I played CNC3 after that for about a year, and I've also played other RPG games such as FinalFantasy, DragonQuest, etc. I can't really pick a favorite game, but I'm pretty sure it will be StarCraft 2.
GR: Since we still don’t know too much about you, why are you involved with the competitive gaming community? What is its appeal?
STII: Honestly, I didn't really try to get involved. I was playing CNC3 for fun when I unexpectedly got into the top 100 since I have work, but somehow I got into the top level and participated in the CNC3 Ladder Season and won some games.
GR: Many people were disappointed with Command and Conquer 3, and even more so with its expansion Kane’s Wrath, and as a result will avoid Red Alert 3. What are your thoughts about EA’s recent releases, and their place in the e-sports community?
STII: I was disappointed about the design of KW and their support about it. So I didn't expect RA3 to be good, but seems like it’s better than C&C3, so I guess I'll play it a year until StarCraft 2. I think main problem of EA's RTS is their lobby skill is so much worse than BattleNet (WarCraft 3), so they need to make better games and better lobby system. In terms of e-sports, I think it will be hard to top Blizzard because they use much more manpower and have an unlimited budget.
GR: More specifically, what is your opinion on Red Alert 3, since you were part of the beta?
STII: RA3 will be the best C&C RTS game and since EA will not change the economy like C&C3 because of the eco design of RA3, I think people can have better time than C&C3. Changing the economy is either nerfing it or buffing it in a patch.
GR: Why do you think changing a game's economy affects it's e-sport potential?
STII: A developer should put a game in shape before release. If they make major changes with some patches, it will make people leave the game, like an economy change, which is much bigger than a balance change.
GR: Do you think that Red Alert 3 will be a highly competitive game? Why?
STII: I'm not really sure, but I'm pretty sure it won't be in Korea. We will have to wait and see, but I'm hoping for it to do better than CNC3.
GR: If you could add or change one thing about Red Alert 3, what would you do?
STII: Add a system where the disconnecter gets a loss. Blizzard can do it.
GR: What steps would you have the EALA developers take in pushing Red Alert 3 into a prominent e-sports title?
STII: Make patches as soon as you can when you find out something is wrong, and don't add sub-factions in an expansion pack if you don't have enough ideas to fill it.
GR: In what kind of games and competition will you be participating, in the coming year?
STII: I'll play RA3 for fun and then StarCraft 2 for fun.
GR: What kind of tournaments and competitions do you like to play in the most?
STII: Something which has high prizes I guess...
GR: Will you be playing Red Alert 3 competitively?
STII: Yeah if I stay at top level
GR: What is your opinion on other upcoming titles, such as StarCraft 2?
STII: I don't think anything will beat StarCraft 2, in the RTS genre.
GR: Who has been your toughest opponent in your RTS career, and why?
STII: I had some, but I can't really remember any specific names. Anyone who was in the Top 20 was a hard opponent.
GR: You’re the winner of GameReplays’ King of the Hill tournament, so what do you think were the factors that gave you the title?
STII: I had Relativit who gave me some practice games (we were not playing a lot like C&C3 Season 1 but at least I could test my Build Orders) and luck came into me and found out some stuff and it worked.
GR: What advice would you give someone who wanted to learn how to play Red Alert 3 competitively?
STII: Play a lot of games and watch every replay which you lost and play with somebody who is good a lot.
GR: Where do you think competitive e-sports are going? In a good or bad direction?
STII: E-sports is going good in Korea and if other countries can come close to Korea we will have a good world wide e-sports community.
GR: It's been great talking with you, thanks for your time! See you online!
