I got the chance to have a chat to Mick Jenkins founder of 4Seasons Gaming, home of Quake and the driving force behind the quake scene in Australia here is what he had to say.


SQL.Tt blaKe: Firstly Mick could you give us a small introduction of yourself and your involvement in the Quake community?

Mick05: Well my name is Michael Jenkins (23), lived in Adelaide my whole life, finished a double degree at University: Bach of Comp Science and Multimedia Arts. My involvement in the Quake community is pretty large when you compare to other communities I suppose. I run the games community website and help with tournament production.

SQL.Tt blaKe: With no financial benefit to yourself, what drives you to provide a home for the Australian quake players?

Mick05: Although there isn't really any financial benefit I can say the work itself does come with other types of appreciation. As for what drives me, I just enjoy watching new faces come into the game and interact with the old faces. The community setup was a challenge I had always wanted to take on since when I started playing computer games. The haters drive me a bit as well.

SQL.Tt blaKe: As many people are aware, you are the driving force in the Australian quake scene. Would you be able to run us through any current or future Quake Live tournaments that you have planned or that are in the making?

Mick05: A lot of the current community are on top of me for a LAN tournament. I have run a couple through-out my years some standalone and some combined with other organisations. The direct problem with this recent lust is the location, makes it hard for me to organise a standalone BYOC held in another State. So I will have to start branching out to setup this. I would like it to be both team and duel orientated. As for overseas competitions, my eyes are pretty set on DreamHack Winter in Sweden. Although I can't really tell you what is going to be happening until they further announce the competition details.

SQL.Tt blaKe: With QuakeLive being dropped by Intel Extreme Masters organisers how do you feel the games current competitive scene stands internationally?

Mick05: Eh. I mean after travelling to the IEM the only fun I found from the competition was the hype that came from it. The tournament wasn't really all that Quake focused more Money focused. A lot of people, or trolls, would like to harp on about the games death because of this but I hardly doubt one tournament can hold up a game like people suggest. We are all still playing it now, DreamHack is doing a great job keeping the game going but even if DreamHack were to drop the game I could still foresee something new springing a long. As far as I am aware the European scene is starting to build from the Amateur level which is good to see, it's basically what I did when I started. After the amateurs get good enough the pro's will come back to play.

SQL.Tt blaKe: Due to quake being such a hard game to master and new faces rarely seen in the major tournaments do you see this as a major factor in it being replaced by League of Legends at IEM?

Mick05: Haha, really good question. One that I haven't really had to answer before but I have thought about from time to time. Well I suppose I will put the question to anybody reading this, when a team or teams dominate a game or a tournament for an extra-long time does this mean the game or tournament dies? I have played inside a community where I have seen a couple of teams dominate the scene and then people lose interest etc. But I think there were more underlying problems that made the game or said community come to an end. We are humans, and as humans we have a competitive nature. I suppose it's only a matter of time before the older guys get too old or tired of the game leaving room for new faces or younger players to take over. Nothing lasts forever, games or reigns. So in saying this, no I just think LoL is a new game and has a very large player base.

SQL.Tt blaKe: You mentioned DreamHack earlier and with it (Dreamhack Winter) being the next major tournament is there any chance that Australia will once again be represented internationally?

Mick05: There has been some discussion revolving around this competition and whether or not it will be team based rather than duel based. I have already put my point to the event organisers and tournament personnel that it is highly unlikely we will be travelling to the event were they to only run a team tournament. If in the case they do run both duel and team, then there is a very high chance we will fly some players over. Who or how many, I cannot give you this answer because I do not know it myself.

SQL.Tt blaKe: We have seen the likes of dandaking, zlr and ventz compete overseas with mixed results. How do you think these guys compare to the top international players and are there any up and coming Aussies that could potentially compete overseas?

Mick05: In all honesty Dan has been the only one to really impact the scene. IEM was tough for him and he played with what was given and made it work. With enough practice he could really hit a close quarter's finish. Ventz and Zealor had their taste of international competition and as far as I know they are both ready to get straight back into it. I believe they both need perhaps a bit longer boot camping or practicing before an event over there to really be able to learn the European playing styles.
As for up and coming there are a few guys whom with enough practice could take it overseas, at least for the experience. Fraze has obviously shown the most potential outside those three, and he is very interested to travel to DreamHack but unsure if he would risk embarrassing himself in the duel competition. At least with DreamHack you can practice even if you are not playing in the competition, which is I think what he would like to do. Once again it depends on the tournament format, players invited, player limit etc.

SQL.Tt blaKe: From Sequential Gaming we would like to thank you for spending some time talking to us and to wrap things up, some might not know that you yourself are in fact a fairly decent quaker. How's your game traveling at the moment?

Mick 05: Best in AU!
Thanks for the interview guys!

Good read

Man I wish Quake Live wasn't so hard to master

Was nice to read, hopefully makes more people aware of Quake Live.

with you playing bilbin, that won't happen

apex: omfg why is your LG so good
apex: omfg the spawns i just keep getting raped by your LG
apex: omfg this game is so shit

I wish Steam had chat log

do bad thats never been my steam name and LG is ezmode.. railgun is where its at.

shame your both bad.


on a side note, whos mick?

more to life than gaming rotax i only play QL for fun.

tyl SQL and blaKe