Tell us some more about yourself, not that many know who you are.



- That’s not so strange, I consider myself to be somewhat of a nonamer :) As I said before, I’m from a small town in Värmland (a Swedish province, editor’s remark) where I graduated one year ago from my studies which focues on Mathematics and Computers. The last semester was a bit messed up due to my ambition in Counter-Strike and some of my grades dropped, but despite that I graduated with a medium grade of 15 (where the maximum is 20, editor’s remark). Besides CS I design websites for various people and companies… I’m sort of building my name so to speak.



I’ve played CS since 1.5, but I’ve only played seriously for a year. What made me really want to start playing seriously was my experience at CPL Barcelona with SWW – a team of friends who stuck together for a long time! That made me realise that I wanted to play to win, play to become something and see how far it could take me.



Where have you played before Seules?



- You can’t call me a clan hopper. I’ve only played in SWW and EYEBALLERS before. SWW consisted only of friends and we played because it was fun. Sometimes we won, sometimes not. Someone dropped a grenade in the spawn and everyone shrieked of laughter and we couldn’t play for several rounds. It was a blast, but after our trip to CPL Barcelona I realised that I wanted so much more – I wanted to play to win. It didn’t take long before I left SWW to start up the female team at EYEBALLERS. EYEBALLERS only real appearance was at Dreamhack Winter 2005, where we participated in the female tournament. Only four teams attended, but what made that tournament special was the fact that I, together with EYE, beat my present team – Les Seules – in three matches.



How did you get in contact with Seules?





- I caught the attention of Les Seules thanks to the matches with EYEBALLERS after Dreamhack Winter 2005. I was a girl no one knew at the time, I was young with a passion for Counter-Strike and my will to win was greater than ever. After Dreamhack EYE had a break for Christmas which turned out to be way too long. During that time I played some pugs with AurorA and MissHyper from Seules, just to fill the time. What I hadn’t expected was to get an inquiry from them to join Seules, but it came. To me Seules had always been my goal – I wanted to play at their level and win, so it didn’t take long for me to make up my mind and say yes. An EYEBALLERS with problems which would most likely split the team, or Les Seules with potential to become the best female team in the world… 1-0 to Seules.



What is your goal in gaming? Have you already reached it?



- My goal was to play in the top, and that’s what I do today. Of course I have a new goal now… I want to become one of the girls who break the wall between guys and girls in gaming and play in a team where it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman, but where players are picked for their skill – a team among the absolute top teams in the world. Yeah, I know… It will never happen you think, she’s too bad, chicks can’t play CS. But the hope is all one’s got, without the hope the world would stop and we would become extinct…



Do you think that you’re a role model to other girls and guys and if so, do you consider yourself to be a good role model?



- I hope that I am a role model for many girls and that I’m a good one. I hope that I can inspire other girls to achieve the same things I want – to break up the division in male- and female gaming scenes. I had AurorA as a role model myself and today I play with her, so nothing is impossible. I consider myself to be down to earth, not a typical girl who jump from clan to clan and go to events just to be able to dress in a short short skirt and get attention… I hope people look up to me for my will to win and my passion to do what I like – play CS on a high level.

You ended up on a second place at ESWC, how does it feel looking back at the tournament? Are you satisfied?



- Well, satisfied, of course we are… But we’re also disappointed with the loss in the final. It’s never fun to lose. We went to the ESWC with expectations of a top 3 placing and we made it. We didn’t have an easy way to the final though as we had both two close wins (16-14 and 16-13) and a tie. There were several matches were we went up in the beginning, but lost it all again and had to fight back in the game again. I think that shows that our team never gives up, even at times when it’s looking bad. The girls play at their best ability when under pressure, and I think that’s our greatest strength.



You won game after game during the tournament and beat among others the defending champions SK, but what happened in the final?



- Well… Playing a final against a French team (BTB) in France, in an arena where there’s 6000-7000 persons yelling “BTB!!!” and booing you before the game has even begun. It’s a feeling that’s hard to put words on. Just by entering the stage to play the final gives you the feeling of already having won, but of course there’s a fire within you and you really want that first place.



Right before the game’s about to start I turn to AurorA and MissHyper and we look at each other. None of us shake like we had done the previous games, we weren’t nervous… We just wanted to win the final. But sadly things didn’t go the way we had planned them to. BTB played really well and they won the game.



What everyone should know though is that the HLTV which was shown on all screens in the arena had no delay whatsoever, and there was a French commentator shouting out everything going on in the game. BTB also had about 6 500 persons cheering for them in the arena, which of course helps tremendously. I’m not sitting here giving excuses, but… Would you yourself as a player ignore the information coming from the commentators during an important game such as the ESWC final?



Which game, except for the final, do you remember the best from ESWC?



Definetely the game against Megapolis. We were down 14-6 and had to win 10 straight rounds not to be eliminated from the tournament. The map was de_nuke and we were going to end the map as Counter-Terrorists. We begun the half by falling behind with five rounds to 0-5. Cazzidy yells “Come on, take these, take these last 10 rounds!!!”, and we started winning round after round. The audience behind us (who previously booed us during our 15-15 game against BTB) shouted and cheered for us, and soon the result was 16-14, and we were still in the tournament!!!



ESWC use double group plays followed by a single elimination. What do you think about that tournament structure?



- It’s a good system. All the teams get a chance even if you lose a match or two which is fair. You even get the chance to play many matches, even if you’d end up last in the group.



Which is the best event you’ve been to so far and why?



- That’s an easy question for me since ESWC is my only real event, and as I’ve said I’m the newcomer here. Previously I’ve only been to CPL Barcelona, so this is my second big event. ESWC has always been an event everyone has looked up to, and one of the reasons to that is probably that delays are rare. ESWC is also an event that focuses on being grand and also providing a show for the audience, which attracts more people to e-sports.

The majority of the Counter-Strike players are guys, why do you think that is?



- I think it’s much because boys have always played with video games and computers since they’re very young. Girls on the other hand love their pretty Barbie dolls and their toy tea sets. I was different from the beginning though… I sat with my beloved NES 8bit and played all day long, and I was so pissed when I lost against the final boss after a whole day’s of fighting! Then I got a computer, and then another, and soon Half-Life and Counter-Strike was installed… And I was stuck.



Today I think it’s mostly about priorities. It’s not that odd for a girl to be sitting in front of the computer gaming. It’s funny – it’s only 3-4 years, but the difference between a girl gaming today and then is huge. A 15 year old girl who chooses to play CS today is nothing strange, but four years ago it was, you were the biggest geek in the world… Today you’re just “cool”.



What is your opinion on having different tournaments for male and female gamers? Do you think it’s necessary?



- No, it shouldn’t be necessary, but now they exist… The tournament organizers have realised that they can draw a bigger crowd by having double tournaments and why would they want to miss out on that? Women sell, it’s been like that for centuries. Women promote their sponsors well and as long as guys think it’s interesting with a girl in a bikini the split in the scene will exist. Just look at Intel, they’ve realised that women and sex sells, why else would they have women in short skirts and sexy outfits reading the specifications like a robot for their latest CPU?



Les Seules participates in all tournaments they can go to, it doesn’t matter if it’s an open tournament or a female only tournament, but it would be stupid not to attend a girls-only tournament with prize money… A couple of days ago we won $9000. Should we have said no to such a tournament just because it was a female tournament? No one would’ve said no to such an opportunity.



Have you ever thought about playing in a team with only guys?



- Of course I’d like to do that. As I said before, it doesn’t matter which sex I’m playing with as long as the persons want something with their game. I want to win, that’s it!



Do you think girls get the attention they deserve in the gaming scene?



- Yes, I do. We shouldn’t have more attention, that’s for sure. Many girl teams play only because they want attention and I’m so sick and tired of that. Then there’s teams who try to play and really want to achieve something, teams who play practice match after practice match and continue even though they lose every time, just to learn something. Those are the girl teams that deserve attention and they are the ones getting it.



Fragbite chose to follow both the males’ and the females’ CS tournament at this year’s ESWC, do you think that we should expand our coverage of girl gaming and if so, what kind of coverage would you like to have for girl gaming?



- I see no reason to write about that a certain girl team has replaced one of its players. I don’t think anyone cares about that… There are female communities to take care of that kind of unnecessary news. If Fragbite is about to cover female gaming it should be an event like ESWC, a girl team participating in an open tournament and doing well or a girl team acquiring a sponsor like AMD or Intel. Some read it because they find it interesting, but the majority only read it because they hate girl gaming and think it’s so unfair that everything is always so easy for girls ^^. I would very much like someone to list what things in today’s society that is easier for a girl, and compare that with the guys…



The companies want exposure, they want to make money and they do it by having a girl modelling in front of the camera with clothes, jewellery, a watch, a grocery, workout equipment, hardware or software. As long as males are attracted by females girls will have it easier in THAT part of life.



Thanks for the interview, is there anything you’d like to add?



- Thanks to Les Seules who gave me the chance to play with them and damn you were good at ESWC girls!!! BIG thanks to Sennheiser Communications and Bringiton. Also thanks to Quick who came with us to ESWC and coached us :D Keep an eye at www.seules.net where something’s going to happen soon! See ya soon and stay tuned!!!