My Assistant
Loading. Please Wait...
GameReplays: Hello Netput, thank you for agreeing to do this! Could we start with you telling us a bit about who you are?
Netput: Hey Fuzzi and community! My real name is Rens, 32 years old and I live in The Netherlands. I’ve been married to my lovely wife for almost 3 years now and we have a son that is 1,5 years old. For a living I toy around with numbers for a production company. Official title for this is Business Controller. Most people probably know me from here on GameReplays with my nickname Netput. I’ve had the same nickname for roughly 20 years already. Back in the day I had a few smurf nicknames as well. I don’t think that anyone remembers them but they are RodeoFox and Mirage4u. I mainly used them when playing Red alert 2.
GameReplays: Any particular goals in life you would like to share? What drives you outside of the gaming?
Netput: I think a healthy balance between games/life/sports is important. I really enjoy my work and I get a lot of energy from it. Coming home to my wife and son always puts a smile on my face. I don’t really have goals in life, but I like where I currently am. I am proud and happy that my life is balanced and that I am blessed with a lovely family, good friends and good health. Next to gaming I have been playing football all my life and it has always been an important part to release the everyday stress.
Command and Conquer History:
GameReplays: How long have you played Command and Conquer?
Netput: I’ve been playing Command and Conquer since Red Alert 1. I first played at a friend’s house and I was instantly hooked. When I got home I begged my parents to buy a computer for me and my brothers to play on. We had a PC at home, but it was strictly used for my dad’s work. It was during holiday season however, so soon after we got our ‘own’ computer to play games on! My parents bought us a 486 DX4. A pretty fast machine back in the day! Since then I’ve played every Command and Conquer game, but I played Red Alert 2 the most by far.
GameReplays: Which Command and Conquers have you played competitively in?
Netput: When Red Alert 1 was released, we had no Internet yet. However this wasn’t the case with Red Alert 2! Played that game for hours and hours online. It was my first encounter with competitive gaming as well. During the start I was horribly bad. I was being owned all the time. There were no replays back then, no videos either. All you could do was try again and again and again. After a while I got better and better and one day I won a Westwood calendar because I ranked high on the official ladder! I still have that calendar lying around.
From there I played Generals Zero Hour, Command and Conquer 3 and Red alert 3 competitively. The amount of games and hours I’ve played on clanwars.cc are almost uncountable. For Command and Conquer 3 there was an international tournament called the World Cyber Games. You had to qualify by playing a National LAN tournament. All games would be played in Seattle and they would pay you to fly over and game there. I was so close winning that, but in the end I lost the semi-finals cause I chickened out and didn’t end the game that I was winning. Still have bad dreams about that and Sabre (Bas, I know you are reading this!) still teases me about this. Good memories!
GameReplays: Which Command and Conquer would you say was your main focus?
Netput: I enjoyed Red alert 2 the most. I was still young, had plenty of time and online gaming was still quite new. The online functionality with lobbies, clans, ladders, quickmatch are still unmatched these days.
The best time I had was on Zero Hour however. The clanwars, the trolling, the fun. Had some really good times there. Especially the community feel in that game was unmatched. The trolling, the friendships, the dodging, the love. I think that is what makes RTS a truly unique genre.
Red alert 3 was fun as well, but it wasn’t as new, refreshing or polished as Red Alert 2 or Zero Hour. I did play RA3 for roughly a year though. The balance and lack of finesse turned me away in the end.
GameReplays: Are you currently active in a Command and Conquer game? Are you playing competitively?
Netput: Sadly enough there isn’t a really active Command and Conquer game anymore. I like games the best when there is a large community with tons of people to play against. It simply isn’t fun to play against the same 25 people all the time. I’ve just picked up the remaster. Not sure if I am going to play it really competitively though. Played roughly 10 games now and the old pathfinding is already making me lose interest. It is just frustrating and the nostalgic shine wears of fast.
GameReplays.Org and community history:
GameReplays: How long have you been a member of GameReplays.Org? Are you active at the moment or are you returning for the remasters?
Netput: I’ve been around since the start. Even before that. I was a admin on bfme.org which later merged into GameReplays.Org. So basically since the start of GameReplays in 2005 I’ve been around. Left the staff in 2018(?) to make more time for family and friends. Ever since I’ve been lurking and posting a bit on the forums. Currently more active than the last years because of the Command and Conquer Remasters. Hopefully the community stays active and healthy for the remasters.
GameReplays: What would you say were your major roles in the community? Are you mainly a player or do you dabble outside of that? For example game casting?
Netput: This one is quite hard to answer. I’ve been a competitive player to start with. Always tried and loved to be one of the better players in the community. When I lose interest in a game it is hard for me to stick around in that section. The community feel is really important to me as well. This is the reason I was part of the staff for so long.
Gamereplays: Were you on staff, if so in what games and roles?
Netput: Yeah as global admin. Pretty much every section on GameReplays I helped to start up. As part of the staff I did pretty much everything. Set up forums, create content, train members, host tournaments, finding sponsors, talk to devs for improvements to their game, etc, etc.
