EPT
Lets start with the obvious: name, nationality, supposed sex, occupation
Moltke: All right: Bob, Canadian, Male, Student
Can you guess the reason why TL chose you to be interviewed? Do you feel 'special'?
Moltke: What tl.net thinks of me influences me very little. I would guess very little, apart from the condition that rekrul's not a particularly interesting fellow, and he's my nearest competitor. I attribute it to boredom
So you know they think you're an odd guy, but you feel normal?
Moltke: I feel normal, and why should I be concerned about the collective opinions of people who know me less? It's an elusive question, since anyone who reads too much is always tempted to transform his own voice into the authorial voice of his own story. Certainly I conform to certain standards of behaviour privately which are steadfast in spite of the mutations of enviornment. I am not a very abnormal person privately. I prefer solitude and peace, I like my music and to watch my films, eat good meals, take long walks. I have the plainest of habits.
Tell me, what got you into SC and TL?
Moltke: I bought Starcraft in 2000. I was looking to purchase Warcraft 2 but the vendor was out of stock, and recommended me Starcraft instead. I recall wasting the summer of 2000 over this game. I do not recall when I stumbled upon tl.net, it must have been in 2003, when TL.net was becoming a force in the coverage of pro-gaming. I began visiting tl.net often for news about the scene. Since then it has provided the best coverage of Korean pro-gaming in the English language, therefore my presence is as steady as my interest.
Isn't it weird that you of all persons, who hates popmusic, longs for the life in the 1800's, are doing something as modern and typical as videogaming? So you're still interested in StarCraft as a game, and the proscene?
Moltke: Yes, although I haven't taken the game very seriously for a long time. Certainly playing video games would not be my ideal way of living, and I play BW much less than your typical tl.net visitor, but it is a consequence of boredom. In comparison to the other main modern reprieves for boredom: masturbation and drugs, it's fairly harmless.
Masturbation is harmless too. I'd choose it over StarCraft any day.
Do you have a favourite SC player? Or does your interest not go that far?
Moltke: I have a past liking for Nada and Reach, and more recently I've been behind Savior's successes. Of the players who are dominant now I have no clear favourite. Although I am glad that the bisu fad is fading.
As many might know, you've had quite the nomadic life. Where have you already lived and where are you planning on going? What drives you to keep changing university and country?
Moltke: Which is again something against my ideal. One cannot be civilized and nomadic. From birth to 7 I lived in Hefei, China. From 7 to 18 I lived in London, Canada. From 18 to 21 I lived in Kingston, Canada for University, and from 21 to present I live in Bamberg, Germany. I've only changed university once, and that was re-location to Germany. The reasons behind it are in order of importance:
1) A love for Germany
2) The continuation of my bitter and tumultuous relationship with my mother
3) My desire to be able to work and do research in a foreign language, and
4) My curiosity about the possibilities such a change would open up.
I have no plans to return in Canada, but that is a back-up option. I dislike retreats however. I plan on staying in Germany for the foreseeable future.
A short test of your TL-preference: I'll say a username followed by two adjectives: choose one and explain.
incontrol : try-too-hard or somewhat funny
Moltke: somewhat funny. Actually I don't find him funny at all which is why I'm puzzled at others having that opinion of him.
stimey: fighting a righteous battle or unable to accept that not everyone likes him
Moltke: fighting a righteous battle. I've always been in favour of him being there no matter how little sense he made.
rpf: someone who you can relate to or someone who should assign less importance to his feelings
Moltke: The latter, by default elimination of the former. But I sympathize with him. He's a lamb among a pack of wolves.
dronebabo: troll or cute
Moltke: Troll. He's never made a post with any value whatsoever.
Strafe: arrogant narcissist or socially interesting?
Moltke: Socially interesting. I don't think he's really a narcissist, like exalted.
Somewhere in his soul he must feel a deep sense of shame about himself.
Tell me the poster you think you can relate most to, besides warding ofcourse
Moltke: I don't relate to warding much. Well, it's very difficult to relate to anyone on the internet. I think I've said this before: I can relate to the way in which obsoletelogic thinks about many things. I'm not sure if he is still present.
Who do you consider the funniest poster?
Moltke: warding, but the humour would escape most of you
Let's round up: Any shoutouts? Anything you still wanted to tell TL.net?
Moltke: I don't do shoutouts, since I don't have much of a personal relationship with anyone there. No one I care about would be reading. There are of course a couple of members on tl.net who have been helpful to me personally in the past several years: Jacen, for his steady assistance with German whenever I have needed it, and more recently drug_vict1m and Krzycho for helping me with Polish translations. I also consider posters like kwark, headbangga, clutch3, newbsaibot, to be valuable contributors to general, while haji, manifesto, pop, honestea, plexa and hot_bid have been invaluable to the coverage of the pro-scene which I follow, even though I dislike some of the members of the latter group privately. Of course there are many good posters at tl.net swarmed by the flood of bad posters, but I am not good with names, so will not attempt a comprehensive list.
That was it. I hope you all liked it. My next interview will hopefully feature My_Digital_Toss, if he's willing to cooperate.
