fragster: You placed 6th in the IEM European Finals. Which expectations did you have before the World Championship?

Alessandro 'stermy' Avallone: At the EM European Championship my goal was to qualify for the World Finals. Because of personal reasons I unfortunately I had hardly any time to prepare for this tournament and managed to attend only at the last minute, so I was glad I managed to qualify anyway considering the pool of great players there.

Before the World Finals I practiced quite a lot for two weeks before the event and also organized a bootcamp at my house for about a week before the event. I felt in good shape and I had high expectations for sure.

And why did you have such big problems in the groupstage at the World Finals?

stermy: I unfortunately had a lot of issues during the event.

For example your mouse and the configuration in general. What happened?

stermy: I guess we still don't have a clear answer on that. We tried everything we could but we didn't manage to fix my problems. I probably had some conflicts with my configuration and the computers used at the tournament. I personally don't want to go into that again, I just want to clear out my mind and forget about that event in general. I explained everything already on my website about what happened.

I'm taking a little break from Quake Live at the moment so I can just focus on other things, I'm just playing from time to time and probably will start again seriously in April or around that time.

You wanted to quit the tournament. What did ESL do to make you play the last matches?

stermy: They told me, I was going to get banned from this tournament and the upcoming one and that any prize money won would have been taken away from me. I personally didn't care about the prize money, I just wanted to drop out of the tournament in respect to myself as a player and all the hard work and effort I did to attend and be prepared for such an important event.

I was majorly disappointed, but I didn't want to get banned from upcoming events. I don't know if that was said in the rules, but I just found it weird that a player can't decide to drop out of a tournament where he isn't even be able to play properly.

You haven't been the only player thinking about quitting EM because of the network. Do you think eSport-players aren't professional enough to ignore such problems and wait for a solution instead of 'crying'?

stermy: In eight years of professional gaming I don't recall any pro player that cried like you say. Maybe people don't understand how much time and efforts we put into the game for being able to be prepared for these events. There are players out there who can't live from gaming itself and they usually put everything on the line for make sure they get good results and hopefully a team offer or sponsors – so yeah, since we give our best, we wish to be able to play comfortably at our best with no problems at events.

We tried to fix my problem for two days with no results. I did wait for a solution which never came around until too late, when I was pretty much already out of the tournament.

Apart from EM: Did you have some time to visit the other halls at the fair?

stermy: Unfortunately not that much, but I did look around other halls a bit and met with a lot of old friends and companies. I had a great time.

You haven't been that successful during the last month and I hear you have a house in Los Angeles. Do you have a job or something like that to pay the bills?

stermy: I do not live in L.A. at the moment, but I might go back soon. I always lived out of gaming for the past eight years and gaming has always been my job that always paid the bills in time. (smiling)

Gaming engages a lot of time and many players practice, practice and practice. Did gaming collide with real events from time to time?

stermy: Definitely yes, back in the days at the start of my career I had to take some big decisions, but it paid off in the long run. I was never the guy who sat in front of the computer all day for months without doing anything but just playing – I always managed to coordinate my time in the best way possible and it worked out. Gaming, friends, hobbies, fun, etc.

The only thing I really had to leave behind was soccer, which unfortunately I couldn't keep playing because of my travelling and tournaments. I have to admit: I really miss it.

Have you ever thought about retiring?

stermy: Yes I did, and I'm not ready to retire yet. However I might be ready to take a small break from gaming to focus on different interesting business projects that I am working on. Last year I played Quake Live just for the love of the competition and fun. I knew there weren't going to be many and big tournaments so I kept on playing just for enjoyment. This year, as long as there are no crazy huge announcements, I will probably keep competing in the major tournaments but I also might focus on other stuff.

Did the CGS make you weaker in Quake (Live)?

stermy: I didn't play any FPS game for almost two years during the CGS. So ofcourse I felt a little bit behind the other players. My timing and overall skill was a little bit affected by it.

After the CGS I still considered myself as one of the top contenders everytime I entered a tournament, however Quake Live didn't bring many new maps so I had to deal with a lot of years of practicing and experience to catch on, while most of the other top players didn't have to. I stopped playing Quake 3 in 2004 and back then, I wasn't definitely a top international duel player. I was young and skilled, but lacked good preparation, practice, and experience. So last year I had to pick up everything I left there, with little bit more advantage compared to before but still with the lack of experience in the old maps that got chosen shortly before big tournaments.

You stopped playing Painkiller and Quake for CGS. What made the CGS so attractive for you?

stermy: I Just needed a new challenge in my career. I didn't stop playing Painkiller because of CGS, Painkiller died right after the CPL World Tour was finished. I played Quake 4 the year after that in the World Series of Videogames Circuit, and it was great. The year after that the CGS came along, it was totally different from all the tournaments I played at and since the WSVG didn't have much information about their upcoming events for that year, I just took the decision to take on this new challenge in my gaming career, which I would never regret since it was just one of the best.

And why did you choose FIFA?

stermy: Unfortunately, beside an invitational event, the CGS didn't support any 1v1 FPS games.
Since I took my decision shortly before the first CGS draft, I couldn't pickup Counter-Strike: Source in a short time. Also, in the first year, you couldn't pick single Counter-Strike-players but only a whole team, and I did not have a team so… The only game I had some experience on was FIFA and I always enjoyed soccer-games, so it was the best choice for me. Of course I would have loved to play a 1v1 FPS game instead, it's obvious.

For you the CGS was quite successful. What do you think about the league itself?

stermy: Overall, I think it was great. It definitely wasn't perfect and all the people who worked there or that were part of it can tell you the same, but I gotta tell you, in the end for it was a great league. They didn't make us miss anything, they made a lot of players live by gaming and the concept of the whole league was really challenging. I learned a lot during those years and I also discovered the love for Fight games which I personally never thought – they could be so much fun to watch on such a high level. I miss it.

Why did such a huge league fail? It seemed to be very thriving in the US.

stermy: Well, I wasn't part of the company and I didn't know what was going on. They told us they would chase operation because of the Economic Crisis and that was the main reason they gave us and that I will say.

Why did you decide to become an eSports player?

stermy: I didn't really decide to become a professional gamer. I loved gaming since the start and I found it awesome that you could compete at such a high level against other players around the world. Becoming a real professional gamer, back in 2001/2002 was just a dream for everybody and people that could really live out of gaming were a few. So I personally played and kept playing because I loved gaming and the competition, I wanted to be one of the best. The opportunities to be sponsored, to travel, compete, work with companies just came to me along with time. I'm grateful for that, I feel lucky for having this chance. When that time arrived, then I seriously started thinking that maybe I could become a professional gamer.

Did you have an idol?

stermy: Of course, When I started playing in 2001/2002 I looked up to Fatal1ty.

When you started playing: Why Quake?

stermy: I loved FPS since young age and I played Quake 1 at some friend's house when I was so young. I also played Quake 2 with my cousin and some friends on playstation (yeah right I know...) and when I finally had a good computer my uncle bought me Quake 3 Arena. Just thinking I could play online against other real people intrigued me so much.

You've been a great soccer player before you started your gaming career. Do you still play soccer?

stermy: I unfortunately don't play soccer anymore. I do play with friends in Italy from time to time when I can, and that makes me happy and sad at the same time. I miss playing so much!

Who will win the World Cup in South Africa?

stermy: England has a good shot really… they got a crazy nice team. Spain, Brazil and maybe Argentina as well (depends on Maradona and who he is going to call). I'm Italian and of course I cheer for Italy, however if our manager Lippi wanna keep the same guys who won the previous world cup instead of calling new talents such as Cassano, Boriello, Balotelli, Santon, etc., I find it really difficult for us to be able to win it again. I will believe in the Italian team though and I will be cheering for them of course!