Just after the prize ceremony I managed to get hold of s9nti, top Quake II veteran and steady member of QPO through past championships. At first I didn't recognize him - he must have been one of the most well-built attendants of QLAN, fit and with a healthy tan (am I sounding gay yet? :P), a stark contrast to us, ehm, indoor esports athletes :) And above all - no bulging upper lip, like in all the pictures I'd seen of him from competitions. (None of those sissy satchets, either, but big pinches of the pure stuff...) We sat down in quiet corner away from the sudden traffic of people going to their tables to pack up their PCs, and the first question was almost rhetorical ... ;)

Snus?

No, I quit.

Er... (drop of chin) Isn't that a very hard thing to do? Harder than quitting smoking, some say.

Yeah, well, I just decided I should stop one day, and it worked out.

About your name, I guess it comes from "Sentinel" (meaning guard or sentry)? Because I'm pretty sure it doesn't stand for Senti Mental?

Hehe, no, it came from Sentinel, and then the end was dropped, hence Senti. (Note, mostly for new readers: the 9 present in all of QPO's player names has its origin in QPO meeting in a LAN room at Nine Studios, Stockholm, for playing online TDM matches. It's not necessarily meant to resemble the character it replaces.)

You're well known for being a top Q2 player, and you have been playing Quake 3 for quite a while. Were you a part of the Quakeworld scene too?

No, not at all, really. I've tried it but it was Q2 that was my game back then.

I played a little QW for a while with a clan mate, but I never learned to like the oldschool graphics. I remember Q2, I always thought it had a special feel to it. Especially the rail, "spangg!". I guess there's no question that you have a Q2-style rail with spirals around it in your Q3 config?

Hehe, nope, that's absolutely right.

Do you feel a player can improve by configging?

Yes, although you have to have a config that has the right feeling for you.

Did you make your config from scratch, or did you download your hero's config and just change it to use your binds?

I think I started from a pretty standard config and added to it as needed.

This is probably a silly question, of course you have a great PC? Or is it not so important for high-level gaming?

My PC gives me 500 fps in Quake 3, so that aspect is not a problem for me. ;)

How important is the sitting position in order to own?

Very important. It's a pity about the chairs on this LAN, they weren't right at all for the tables we got.

About your setup: What's the best pad/mouse/keyboard/headphones? The stuff you have, or do you want something better? You haven't converted to MX500?

No, I use the good old Microsoft 3.0. My keyboard is the Keytronic Ergoforce, and I use Sennheiser headphones, the HD570 I think... no, it's the HD500. I play on a [Nine Studios] cloth pad.

Have you been thinking about the FatPad? It's a larger cloth pad.

Mhm. No, I don't think so. The one I have works well, so...

Some guys have individual FOV (and sometimes sensitivity), for each weapon. How about you?

No, I have the same FOV for all the weapons, FOV 100.

I know a couple of guys who are never finished with their config, and I'm like that too, there's always some little thing to try or tweak... do you change your config often?

Nope. Not at all.

How would you describe your style in Q3?

Hmm, aggressive I guess. A kind of "Stupid-aggro" style, you could say.

Haha, can I write that? :P

Heh, sure. Anyway, that style usually works out when I play TDM.

I moseyed on over to my friends who had already started packing up. It was over. I was glad I had been to this LAN, but I was f*ing furious about being cheated out of a great gaming experience, by the utterly miserable luck of being so sick this particular weekend.