Interview with zonic of Team NoA
 With Zonic, Team NoA is having one of the strongest and most calm ingame leaders of the international Counter-Strike scene. One of his main strengths is that, even in the hottest situations, he never loses his overview and he’s always good for some show. His team as well as single player power is one of the cornerstones that formed this team. His team members describe him like that: "Danny isn't just one of the greatest players in the world.. He also has a great ability to get everyone to laugh when we are playing a game, or just chilling together at an event.. a truely great guy :)"
But what has he got to tell us?
You are zonic, a professional gamer and leader of "Team NoA". Could you tell us something about you?
Sure. My name is Danny Sørensen, I’m 20 years old, I have been playing Counter-Strike for almost 5 years now and have also been playing for Team NoA for about a year.
What's your favourite game?
Counter-Strike, of course... If I had to pick another game,it would be Red Alert, the old one; I loved that game so much.
When and how did you start to play professionally?
I won my first tournament with my very first team demise, but I started playing professionally CS, after I had received the offer from SK in April 2005.
Can you make a living out of gaming?
If you have some great sponsors and a really good organisation behind your back, of course you can. And do we have that in NoA? Yes, we do!!
What do you like or dislike in being a pro gamer?
Don't think I dislike anything actually, probably the pressure people put on you sometimes, expecting you to do this, and to do that, and yes, I do like the rest of it. Playing with and against the best players in the world. Winning tournaments, get to travel around the world, this has got to be the main motivation for me.
What do you think about eSports basically? Is it the future of sports in general?
I believe so, just over the past three years it's been going really fast. People keep saying CS will die within some years, but I really can't imagine a game which is so competition friendly will die. Like two years ago, you only had a very few teams who were professionals, with a great organisation behind their back. Now you almost see every country with at least one big team, and some of them even get paid for playing Counter-Strike. I see a big future in this game.
What are you doing in your spare time? Gaming as well?
Depends, if we are preparing for a tournament I play in my spare time as well, otherwise I play poker, hang around with my real life friends,going to the cinema etc. I also go to school, but I wouldn't call that spare time.
What's your personal dream?
With CS? To win a big event, I was close with SK back at ESWC 2005, and that really motivated me to go all the way. We, NoA, also had a pretty good shot after the quarter finals at WCG, Monza. But 2007 will be our year, and we're going to show the Danish flag!
For how long do you think will you be able to play professionally eSports?
My contract is ending 1st January 2008 with NoA. So right now; I’m ending my days there. However you never know what’s going to happen, things can change so quickly.
What are your plans after your career in gaming? What do you want to do, where do you want to work?
Probably to study even harder than I do already, get a good education and all that. Where I want to work? No idea actually.
Millions of people are playing every day. What kind of qualifications do they have to fulfil to become a professional gamer?
To get the right equipment, a Shuttle XPC for instance. It would be great, if you are travelling a lot. It makes things so much easier. You also need a good mouse, mouse pad, keyboard, and don’t forget, a really good headset.
I chose SteelSeries, because they simply have everything, good mice, mouse pads, headsets etc. And then PLAY a lot, find four guys who have the same goal as you, play and just study yourself with always the thought on your mind "How can I become better?".
Do you have any hints you could tell us about how to become a better gamer?
Like I said, get the right equipment, and with the right attitude you can become a really great gamer. Study yourself, that’s got to be the main factor having brought mehere. Even whenever I felt to have been playing well, I just said to myself: "How can you become even better?" If it helped or not, I leave that up to you guys.
|