i thought it would be interesting to get to know those who i myself, as well as others, look at as the top of the food chain so to say when it comes to rhythm gaming. what does a top rhythm gamers normal day look like? well thats the point of this thread. id like to interview "top" players with some questions that i have come up with, just to get to know who they really are.. besides amazing arrow smashers. so to cut to the chase, here are the questions i plan on asking top players:


[spoiler=questions]for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, let us know!

what does a normal day for you consist of?

could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?

how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?

when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

who would you say your rival is?

with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?

if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?[/spoiler]

i really hope that all of the top players will participate in this interview. i think it will be great to get to know those who amaze myself, and others with their skill. i will post another thread that consists of the same questions to all players later, so that we can get to know all of the community, and not just the elite.. although first i would like to hear from:

[spoiler=players]
REMINDER THIS ISNT IN ANY ORDER.
DossarLX+ODI
TC_Halogen
One Winged Angel
Zyphoror
AlexDest
xXOpkillerXx
XXXsmittyXXX
THIS IS THE FIRST BATCH OF INTERVIEWS. THERE WILL BE MORE!
[/spoiler]
first we begin with [b][url=http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/vbz/member_redirect.php?u=1622386]iironiic[/url][/b], who not only is an amazing key smasher, but an amazing person. his personality is greater then his skill in ffr by far. great friend! :]

[spoiler=iironiic's interview]

[b]for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, play an instrument, let us know![/b]

Well, I'm sure most of you all know me as either one of the top players on FFR or more on a personal level, but if not, my name is Wilson. I am 21 years old and I am from New York. I am just a typical college student focusing his studies on mathematics, and I play FFR on my breaks. On my free time, I actually like to study math, I poorly play the violin/piano and I sing a lot. I also play tennis and run on my free time and occasionally play frisbee.

[b]could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.[/b]

In terms of gameplay, I like to keep my wrists separated as much as possible since I find myself feeling extremely cramped, especially when I play harder files. Therefore, I use the keysetup AS75 with the "75" being on the NumPad. I like to have my right hand situated in that strange position since I originally started playing FFR with two hands on the arrow keys placed in a similar fashion. In terms of scroll speed, I vary between 1.875 to 2.1, but I find 1.9x most comfortable even though framers are a little messy. I play downscroll since that feels most natural to me ever since I started playing the game. I refuse to use Velocity's Engine simply because it lags for me and even if not, I can't adjust to the timing of the FFR engine and the change of the engine's layout. Therefore, Legacy engine for me.

[b]besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?[/b]

As previously mentioned, playing the piano, violin, and singing. I also like to write lyrics, hang out with friends, solve math problems and puzzles on my spare time, and be physically active.

[b]how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?[/b]

About three or four years now. A high school friend of mine got me addicted to playing FFR.

[b]when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?[/b]

Quite honestly, I never considered myself an "expert". I've always seen FFR as a chance to test my potential and my limits. It has gotten to the point where many would consider me an "expert". Although flattering, I dislike it when many refers to me as one because FFR should be a game that serves the purpose of being fun rather than receiving acclaim for the scores you obtain.

[b]about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?[/b]

I don't really keep track on this very often since it really depends on how much fun I want. Back in my "competitive" days, I'd ballpark this time to around "2 hours."

[b]who would you say your rival is?[/b]

I am not interested in competitive play now. Back in the days, bballa48 and kjwkjw were my closest rivals, but they are also one of many great friends I have made on this site.

[b]with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?[/b]

I don't plan on participating since I have much to focus on nowadays. If I were to participate, I don't think I'd even place in top 50% since there are many ridiculous people playing nowadays.

[b]if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?[/b]

Too tired to think of something now, but there are a few things I'd like to suggest when my brain is not clouded with confusion. I'll answer this question when I'm ready
[/spoiler]
once again thank you to wilson aka iironiic for the time, and to all that participate in the future.

next up we have the TC_Halogen aka aj. Halogen has been apart of the community for quite some time now, and is well known. not only is he a great all around rhythm gamer, but is also very involved in the community. for those of you who do not know, aj, with the help of friends, have brought us the dragon fury engine. he has hosted tournaments with custom files that have run flawlessly. that said, besides being an elite player, hes also very organized, and gives alot to the community. a big thank you goes out to halogen for everything he has done for the community!

[spoiler=TC_Halogen's interview]
[b]for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, play an instrument, let us know![/b]

My name is Anthony, but I preferred to be called AJ because my name is too common. My parents address me by that name as well, so I like to think that I have a pretty decent relationship with anyone who uses that name to contact me. I'm 20 years old, 21 at the end of August (precisely, the 28th). I was born and raised in Chicago, and then I moved to the East Coast in early 2010. I come from a musically talented family, as many people on my mother's side of the family are involved with some sort of music. I can play a little bit of piano, any sort of drums/percussion instruments (not limited to your basic bass and snare drum -- I happen to be quite good with xylophone), but my main instruments of choice fall within the brass section. I prefer trumpet the most.

[b]could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.[/b]

Speed: my speed has gone up gradually over the past year -- in the beginning of the year I was using 1.8, and currently, I'm using 1.925. I'm capable of reading up to 2.0 comfortably. Anything higher than that turns into a crap-shoot. After the creation of the Debbie Downers' downscroll group, I turned downscroll playing into an FFR hobby. When playing downscroll, I play at 1.75.

Keys: ER/UI, using a spread style with my index and middle fingers. I am proficient as an index player (I had to AAA Flight of the Bumblebee index, go figure), and I'm able to full combo a few Very Challenging rated files one-handed (old scale) of course.

Scroll: Upscroll, unless I'm playing on my alternate Debbie Downer account, which is of course, downscroll.

Engine: Velocity, all the way. I -can- play on Legacy, but I much prefer the appearance/performance of Velocity on my laptop.

[b]besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?[/b]

Swimming was one of my favorite activities in the past, but I don't do it quite as much anymore. Musical composition is something else I often immerse myself in, but I usually never come out with more than a scattered idea - max 30 seconds. Seems like I'll never be a successful producer/musician, haha. I also happen to be a big fan of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (nerd). My social life is somewhat lacking, but to be honest, I'm pretty complacent in it. I don't feel a need to engage myself in things that I shouldn't be.

[b]how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?[/b]

I first touched a DDR: 7th Mix machine during summer of 2002, at an arcade called Diversions located in the outskirts of Chicago. It was as an off-site trip during Chicago Park District summer camp, and they did it every year. One of the recreation leader assistants (known as a Junior Counselor) was playing it at the time and she was able to play on Standard. I couldn't resist trying the game. I ran into the game again during a visit to Waveland Bowl for my birthday, a years later. Waveland Bowl was less than a mile from my house, so I ended up going there more frequently. I was still playing on Light mode at the time.

My parents bought me DDRMAX2, along with a foam pad in Christmas of 2003. In a hilarious mistake, I accidentally picked Tsugaru on Heavy mode and I somehow managed to pass it. After that happened, I got really serious into the game and passed my first DDR 10 within a month. I started frequenting arcades, and come 2004, I was looking for multiple ways to satisfy this need to play. After searching "Dance Dance Revolution" online, I came across this site. I also came across StepMania around the same time. My encounter with In The Groove came shortly after.

I learned spread in 2007/2008 and got accepted into Team Chaos, a now dead FFR team. My old debit13 account had been associated with a lot of stupid things, like me acting like an immature idiot/spamming MP/etc -- so, I stepped in under TC_Halogen, and started raiding the leaderboards.

All in all, it has been nearly 10 years since I first touched a rhythm game. It's scary to think about.

[b]when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?[/b]

This is a really hard question to answer. It's very dependent on the satisfaction of the player. When I first started playing these games, just getting full combo scores on songs like CIA Rave made me incredibly happy. But after progressing in the game, my standards in scoring increased dramatically. It's gotten to a point for me where if I'm not belting out perfect scores on For Gurus Only files, then it's considered a bad day. Play the game to your heart's content, improve gradually, and try to enjoy it. I play songs that I have perfect scores on over again simply because they are really well charted or they bring back good memories. Yes, it's alright to have a competitive side, but a game isn't a game if you're not enjoying it (to me).

[b]about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?[/b]

My play schedule is incredibly sporadic. Sometimes, I will open FFR or StepMania - play one game, and then stop for the day. Other times, I will sit and grind for hours on end. This number can range anywhere from two hours a week to... twenty-five or more. I like to think I'm on the lower end for FFR now, since I don't have much to play for ranks anyway. If I'm playing leisurely, I'm usually not playing for long. I rarely touch StepMania, though. At most, StepMania gets used for a song or two as a warm-up, and that's it.

[b]who would you say your rival is?[/b]

My FFR rivals are samurai7694 (all-around), EzExZero7497 (speed), and Zyphoror (technical). Eze is one fast kid and he's packing this much skill only at 14. It's terrifying. Zyphoror is a really strong player too, and I still envy him for that Grist AAA... it'll happen eventually. I'll get my revenge. samurai is just brilliant -- not only is he an amazing player, but I can relate to him on as a fellow musician, performer (concert band/symphony), and just as a person in general. Despite how close the skill level is between samurai7694 and I, we manage to stay very friendly with the competition and it's a strong driving force for improvement.

[b]with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?[/b]

I've had a very easy to see trend. In the fourth official, I placed 5th, but I received 4th prize because Shashakiro was a staff member and he placed first. In the fifth official, I got eliminated on round 8 (out of 10) and placed 4th. In the sixth official, I ran into a tiebreaker into the final round (round 8) against samurai7694, and he slaughtered me -- ending my tournament and putting me in 4th place. This tournament, I actually have the Compaq Presario that I was using when I started getting some insane scores (like La Campanella AAA, for example), and I actually plan on pushing really hard this time around. I'm aiming for top 3 or better this time around. We'll see how things ago. Gotta represent everyone in Dragons_Fury and Team Pony (yeah, you heard right).

[b]if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?[/b]

There are a lot of biased/fueled answers that I could answer this question with, but I won't do so. Honestly, if I had the opportunity to prevent the downtime that happened on the site, I would do so. FFR was an amazing place during 2006/2007/2008. I miss those times. Another thing that I'd love to see in the near future is an overhaul in site appearance. I know it was in the works, but it's been quite some time since we've seen progress.[/spoiler]

once again thank you AJ for taking the time to answer the questions!

id just like to let everyone know that the OP (original post) WILL be updated with new interviews as i receive them. i encourage those who were listed to PM me the answers to my questions when they have time. a new batch of interviews will be conducted once the following have concluded. thanks, and i hope everyone enjoys.