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This interview was conducted by Erick Daniel from Forbes and Ben Bridge from the Famfrit Server Facebook page.<\/em><\/p>\n (Featured Image credit to Angela Leyvas)<\/p>\n Geno, how are you today?<\/strong><\/p>\n Doing pretty good, yourself?<\/p>\n Not too bad.\u00a0 You want to start this now or later?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m as ready as ever!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be doing one of these ever again.\u00a0 Mostly, I was waiting for MAK to get back to me about doing a verbal interview.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t disappear like that on us!<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ll hit you hard now.\u00a0 Is the header image supposed to mean something?<\/strong><\/p>\n You can interpret it however you like!\u00a0 All I know is that it\u2019s an image of my character riding Omega with a championship belt!\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing to go off of!<\/p>\n We\u2019ll revisit this FFXIV later because I know there\u2019s screenshots of you playing.<\/strong><\/p>\n What have you been up to since retiring from your characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n A ton of other games from Monster Hunter World, MapleStory 2, Dota 2, and I\u2019ve even recently picked up StarCraft 2 again!\u00a0 I feel like with StarCraft I\u2019m back at home again.\u00a0 I\u2019ve played some customs with some people but I won\u2019t be laddering again until the new patch comes out since I started really late into this patch cycle.\u00a0 What\u2019s more interesting is that I\u2019ll even be casting for a small organization soon!\u00a0 This retirement has been amazing so far.<\/p>\n How do you feel StarCraft 2 has changed since you\u2019ve last played?<\/strong><\/p>\n The use of Cyclones is one thing but because fundamental StarCraft stays with me, I just had to learn some of the new builds and new units to be able to play unranked.\u00a0 My Terran vs Protoss is still my weakest match-up and I\u2019m beginning to get my powers back.\u00a0 I think the game is faster paced so mid game comes sooner and both players get to more than three bases.\u00a0 I\u2019ve only been playing Terran against friends who are in the 5200 MMR Masters range so it\u2019s hard to get a grasp but it should help my casting a lot.<\/p>\n As far as my match ups go, my Terran vs Zerg had to change from using the 2-1-1 build because I lost my micro abilities over time so now I have to 1-1-1 to get hellions out and harass then I transition into bio because I feel like I have to keep the pressure on.\u00a0 One day I\u2019ll figure out Terran vs Protoss!<\/p>\n I\u2019m still feeling out the current patch.\u00a0 They really sped up the early game.<\/p>\n Which organization are you commentating for?<\/strong><\/p>\n The SCVRush!\u00a0 They produce their own tournaments for all levels of play.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care for any deal, I just want to cast games!\u00a0 I haven\u2019t felt this excited for anything in a long time.<\/p>\n What was it like to come back to StarCraft after so long?\u00a0 You were playing FFXIV for a while but to come back to StarCraft must have felt so shocking considering how different the two games are.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was shocking yes but I came back to play co-op mode with my friend Soda just to play the game again no matter how casual.\u00a0\u00a0 Looking at some of my friends still laddering, looking at my banners for my rank, looking at my old twitter header, watching GSL, and talking to some people made me realize just how much I missed the game.\u00a0 I actually almost teared up looking at my banners because they hung like championship banners that sports teams have.\u00a0 It made me just say to myself \u201cthat was me that did that\u201d and it was on the client inside the game so I didn\u2019t have to access info from an external website.\u00a0 I still look in awe and I\u2019m still reminded of those days.\u00a0 Sorry to go on about this but this is the game that ultimately changed my entire life so it\u2019s going to stay with me for a long time.\u00a0 I really felt like my life force came back to me.<\/p>\n What was your first actual game like?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was actually me queueing unranked 1v1 to see if I could still do it and it started coming back to me after a few games.\u00a0 A lot of my knowledge was just hitting me at once so it was just about being able to ride the bike again.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t win the first game and it was a Terran vs Terran on Parasite LE but I didn\u2019t know anything about the maps.\u00a0 My opponent was in Master\u2019s League trying out a new build but I was still trying to find my footing.\u00a0 I did end up facing him again the next day although I won he queued into me again and ended up winning.\u00a0 My record after that was 6-3 and that was after I finally did research and got some of my powers back.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever be the same since my wrists cannot hold up to that much pressure anymore.<\/p>\n Do you think you\u2019ll ladder seriously?<\/strong><\/p>\n No.\u00a0 I think if I ladder it\u2019ll just be casually and if it hit masters cool but otherwise I don\u2019t expect to grind out 20 games a day but rather maybe 4-5 a day.\u00a0 My Twitter header actually showed one of the challenges I did which was to get to rank 1 masters in under 200 games.\u00a0 I felt like the best player in the world when I did it!<\/p>\n It\u2019s an awesome header!\u00a0 Now onto the Final Fantasy XIV questions you\u2019ve been dying to answer.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve already said reasons for your retirement but do you ever miss raiding?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t actually miss raiding as in playing the content but rather the comradery of raiding.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of really cool people I\u2019ve met that I wish I hung around with more but unfortunately I don\u2019t want to play the game just to hang out with them.\u00a0 I honestly find the game to be too boring and logging on to only raid isn\u2019t worth it to me.\u00a0 The challenge of raid was just memorizing a dance but I found that even people who were bad could master the salsa so I could never understand why people couldn\u2019t learn raids fast enough.\u00a0 Learning dances got old to me.<\/p>\n I take that back.\u00a0 What caused you to stop playing on your characters?\u00a0 Could you walk us through what happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n Sure.\u00a0 I woke up one day and decided to uninstall and then I went back to sleep.\u00a0 I felt like too many people were ungrateful of what I was doing for them especially when it was giving them progression.\u00a0 I\u2019d get DMs expecting to raid when they could just be using party finder themselves.\u00a0 This is also why I stopped helping people with setting up groups for raiding.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mind not being thanked since I knew going in that it would be a thankless job but I didn\u2019t need people to be snarky when I was volunteering my time.<\/p>\n The last real time I ever had fun was during Deltascape because of how new the people were going into NEO Exdeath which made it really special for me.\u00a0 I was injured heavily but it was still really fun.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t that I didn\u2019t like my groups in Sigma but I was already thinking of quitting during progression.\u00a0 Physically, I could go for 1,000,000 tiers now but mentally I couldn\u2019t stomach more progression because I would just get mad and I decided to take a friend\u2019s advice and just quit.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, there are people I still deeply care about but unfortunately there\u2019s just too many sour apples for me to keep playing.<\/p>\n One of the biggest things that caused me to quit was me missing family and friends\u2019 life events and I realized I had to stop.\u00a0 I guess my negative perception of people because of the game also affected it. It\u2019s okay now but it was really bad before.\u00a0 I did quit on my own and I didn\u2019t speak to anyone about it until I informed the statics I was inquiring to that I wasn\u2019t going to be available for them.\u00a0 Soda and Ben only knew hours after I had already uninstalled the game.<\/p>\n How injured were you exactly?\u00a0 In your interview with Entropy Gaming, you mentioned this and it\u2019s been noted but I don\u2019t think we ever knew the extent.<\/strong><\/p>\n My wrists flared up several times during NEO progression but funny enough, it actually was at its worst when the first clears for some of the new people happened.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t let on that I actually needed help so I just congratulated them and then got the hand warmers out as fast as possible.\u00a0 Another thing was that I couldn\u2019t switch out of my oaths and I couldn\u2019t execute my rotation well enough so I had to actually press combos I could think of just so I could relieve my hand for a little bit.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t need the surgery after getting consultation on it but I was forced to get a few shots.<\/p>\n Like I said in the last question, my hand is beyond well enough to go for a long time raiding but I cannot execute in StarCraft anymore.<\/p>\n Has anything changed since you stopped?<\/strong><\/p>\n The DMs were actually dying down during Sigma but then they shot right back up during this tier.\u00a0 There\u2019s much more active<\/em> DMs at exactly 65 although I wake up to 300+ daily.\u00a0 It\u2019s a little different because now I\u2019m getting 50% FFXIV and 50% other but a lot of the \u201cother\u201d is from StarCraft and Borderlands.<\/p>\n To my earlier point about the drawing, is it symbolism?<\/strong><\/p>\n No, I haven\u2019t done anything on my characters!<\/p>\n Alright I\u2019ll stop but going back to raiding a bit more, you\u2019ve played with statistically some of the worst raid groups ever.\u00a0 How did you manage to do it?<\/strong><\/p>\n This is why they draft me to play quarterback isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 For moments like that?<\/p>\n I did it by getting drinks with my friends every Friday at the bar because there was no way I could tolerate it.\u00a0 Unfortunately this is what happens when you get into groups that don\u2019t have the same goals as you do.\u00a0 Anyway in all seriousness, I actually just stomached it and told them I\u2019d call everything out but I\u2019d be going with other groups on my own time so I could get the real progression out of the way and I\u2019d at least have my clear even if my real group wasn\u2019t there yet.\u00a0 They were friendly enough at the time for me to be able to tolerate bad progression.<\/p>\n Shoutout to the Sunday group by the way!<\/p>\n What do you think is an underrated aspect of being a raid leader?\u00a0 Also nice week two clear!<\/strong><\/p>\n I might be a little long winded but here you go.<\/p>\n People need to understand their members more otherwise they will \u201close the locker room\u201d.\u00a0 One other thing is to morale check with their members and see if they are doing okay otherwise people will just go through the motions.\u00a0 Raid leaders don\u2019t take the time to understand who they are going into battle with so the raid only sees that person as a dictator.\u00a0 There is a difference between playing for<\/em> and playing with<\/em> someone and people should know the difference.\u00a0 A lot of problems would be solved if people actually took the time to iron out the smaller details that goes into leading.\u00a0 Arguing happens in everything but both sides have to see the bigger picture instead of proving who\u2019s right because both sides are actually wrong.<\/p>\n People also need to be very careful with who they confide to because a lot of them will only reinforce bad ways of thinking and won\u2019t have any real substance in what they are saying.\u00a0 Some people do sanity checks which is good but are they actually talking to the right people?\u00a0 That\u2019s the real question that has to be answered because a lot of the people they confide to are friends that aren\u2019t completely honest.\u00a0 They\u2019ll just take that person\u2019s side without actually seeing the bigger picture just to get done with the conversation.\u00a0 The best people to talk to are people who lead competitive teams because they have actually seen more and can give better guidance.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll just go into it now but raiding is a business.\u00a0 Unfortunately, raiding with friends might sound like the best case scenario but people will ultimately have different goals, philosophies, and investments.\u00a0 A lot of the stars will never align but people will make compromises. It\u2019s a matter of if the compromises are actually worth the pay in grit.\u00a0 Do people believe in the leader enough to sacrifice certain things?\u00a0 The leader is a good player but do they make the people around them better?\u00a0 These are the kinds of things that have to be looked at.\u00a0 People can also apply this concept to the real world.<\/p>\n It is one thing to feel like you have to save your teammates but it\u2019s another for them to feel like they are joining the party.<\/p>\n On the flip side, the raid leader also needs support from their group.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t feel like they are getting anything from their group, they\u2019ll just be barking things just to see if something will happen.\u00a0 It\u2019s also on the others to step up and help alleviate some pressure the leader might be facing.\u00a0 Remember, they have feelings too!\u00a0 I\u2019m just surprised these things get lost on people because they just want everything done for them.<\/p>\n There\u2019s only a few people who I can say that understand these concepts.\u00a0 With how many groups broke due to arguing, it disappoints me because I know things could have been handled differently.<\/p>\n (Credit to Alice To)<\/p>\n Anyone in particular?<\/strong><\/p>\n DocYen.\u00a0 He just won ESL Masters for Rainbow Six Siege!\u00a0 The ones in XIV already know who they are.<\/p>\n What was it like covering the World First race in XIV when you did do it?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was actually easy because Frosty had everything set up for me and all I really had to do was put out the interview for the winner and that\u2019s it.\u00a0 The charts and interviews were done to make everything feel bigger than it normally would.\u00a0 A lot of people liked them but unfortunately other things take priority now and it was incredibly time consuming to come up with the graphical charts.\u00a0 Even for the server first race on Famfrit, we had a hard time because by the time anyone cleared, other projects would have taken off and the charts would be on the back burner.\u00a0 FFLogs these days does a good job of tracking everything.<\/p>\n Do you think you have inspired anyone?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n No not really.\u00a0 I just say ridiculous things and meme from there.\u00a0 I\u2019m mostly a glue guy rather than actually being a good player.\u00a0 In Creator, I was told that people would watch my group\u2019s clear videos for inspiration although I feel like they are examples of what not to do.<\/p>\n Have you followed anyone\u2019s progression?\u00a0 What do you think of some of the groups trying for a week one clear?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think the Destiny World Progression was amazing.\u00a0 Did you see Goth get 60,000 viewers and hold it?\u00a0 It\u2019s the greatest sight I have ever seen.\u00a0 I\u2019m really proud that I recruited Goth to the stable, he really deserves all the success in the world.\u00a0 A lot of Destiny\u2019s tier two personalities would be tier one in a lot of other communities.<\/p>\n Oh right, FFXIV.\u00a0 I only followed a few groups and a few other people but I didn\u2019t care for the world first race or anything like that.\u00a0 A lot of people I knew played during week two so they beat the tier the same week they started so I can respect that.\u00a0 There seemed to be fewer groups this time around anyway so it felt like one giant joke to me.\u00a0 Most people who proclaimed to be world progression level ended up beating the tier in week three.\u00a0 The groups going for week one kills were extremely bad especially on primal.\u00a0 They got walloped by a padded scholar turned into AST who is a painfully average healer.\u00a0 I think if a group says they will \u201ctry\u201d for a week one clear and don\u2019t get it, they weren\u2019t good enough In the first place. \u00a0\u00a0What sucks is that there were groups like Critical Rip and STR that have definitely seen better days and these are their absolute weakest iterations.\u00a0 I wonder if they had Controller Problems along the way or if their heads were stuck in an Abyss.\u00a0 Maybe it was real players like China and Fale who carried all of them the whole time. \u00a0They should pony up and replace those cheap knockoff melee DPS with a real one like Alice.\u00a0 All of them copy him anyway!\u00a0 The best NA progression player decided to play World of Warcraft but it\u2019s not like anyone was beating Entropy anyway.<\/p>\n I think we just proved who actually belonged in real progression and fraud detected the video tracers who just get their parses padded because they have to mask how terrible they actually are.\u00a0 The funniest thing is how much parroting this community actually does because their game knowledge is lacking.\u00a0 It makes me wonder if those legend titles were bought.<\/p>\n I still can\u2019t believe Yoko beat everyone.<\/p>\n What are the perceptions of this tier?\u00a0 I won\u2019t go any further with the question.<\/strong><\/p>\n O10S is full of bad battle design otherwise the rest of the tier is incredibly easy from the people I trust to talk about raiding with.\u00a0 A lot of O12S is just mechanics from Alexander but remixed otherwise it was incredibly boring for the people I spoke to.\u00a0 It\u2019s not harder than any other tier in this expansion.<\/p>\n Any advice for anyone?\u00a0 Don\u2019t say anything about quitting!<\/strong><\/p>\n LOL.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really have advice but I will leave people with this because it\u2019s something people don\u2019t think about.\u00a0 Everyone should think about life outside of FFXIV and I hope they pay attention because there\u2019s a lot of people in that \u201ctrying to find themselves phase\u201d.\u00a0 Is there someone out there who actually found it and still doing more?\u00a0 Is a bit more battle tested?\u00a0 Makes play after play?\u00a0 Is still helping everyone?\u00a0 They still sticking around?\u00a0 What did they do?\u00a0 Maybe we should be speaking to that guy!<\/p>\n Would you consider coming back to 5.0?<\/strong><\/p>\n No.\u00a0 The game is too stale and the servers are bad.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure people that I know will still play but the game isn\u2019t for me and hasn\u2019t been in some time.\u00a0 I really only stayed in XIV because of the people but I feel like I can talk to them on Discord when I feel like it.<\/p>\n Are there any regrets you have?<\/strong><\/p>\n I thought about this and while it may have been nice to do progression with some friends who were recruiting me I decided against it after talking to a few friends.\u00a0 It might have been fun but I didn\u2019t care so much for progression.\u00a0 So no I don\u2019t have any regrets.<\/p>\n (Depiction of Geno’s retirement – Credit to Karen Ye)<\/p>\n We\u2019re moving into the Dota 2 questions now.\u00a0 This was a late addition since you reached Immortal and I\u2019d like to say congratulations!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Why be a Legend when I can be Immortal right!?<\/p>\n I\u2019m just playing!<\/p>\n Thanks!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know how much meaning it held until this last week.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost life changing really.\u00a0 A lot of my life has changed.\u00a0 I\u2019ve gotten a couple of offers from a couple of teams to be a substitute but I probably won\u2019t take them up on it.\u00a0 There was a consulting job offer from a hotel company that I\u2019m current mulling but I\u2019m not sure of my plans yet.\u00a0 A lot of professional play is really brutal in scheduling and I\u2019m not willing to give up my work for it.<\/p>\n Why did you come back?<\/strong><\/p>\n I wanted to play an extremely competitive team game to see where my skills were at considering how long I was playing XIV for.\u00a0 My friend Soda ended up telling me I was washed up so I had to do something about it.\u00a0 I had a real fear that my skills had declined considerably.\u00a0 Turns out I was held back by groups that were carrying some bad players that held back my potential.<\/p>\n One of the biggest reasons for me coming back isn\u2019t about the love of the game but my love for wanting to play at a faster pace.\u00a0 I normally want to play at the fastest pace humanly possible and XIV never allowed me to play at that pace because of how restrictive the battle system is.\u00a0 The faster pace allows me to be more engaged with the game and it also allows me to personally enjoy it more.<\/p>\n Now to get to the meat of this thing.\u00a0 What have you learned from FFXIV that you can take into Dota 2?<\/strong><\/p>\n That is a really good question.\u00a0 There is nothing game play wise that I can think of.\u00a0 As far as the teamwork aspect, I think the shotcaller dynamic during raid is interesting but in a game like Dota you need everyone\u2019s communication to win.\u00a0 The strategy forming differs from game to game in Dota because each one is different from the last while in XIV, each fight is the same and never changes but people are adapting to each other and then trying to beat a script.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not trying to belittle anyone that raids because I respect the grind and I\u2019ve been there and done that but it\u2019s just different in a competitive game.<\/p>\n Will you take up casting?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 The commentators that are in the scene now are really good at being analytical.\u00a0 My game knowledge is actually lacking with late game item builds because I\u2019m still learning the items and only relying on what I\u2019m yelled at to build.\u00a0 I also feel like the constant undercutting between casters is extremely horrible.<\/p>\n You may not play professionally but will you participate in weekly tournaments?<\/strong><\/p>\n I probably will just to get a feel for it again but I really lack high level gameplay knowledge to be able to do anything remotely useful.\u00a0 Since I play carry\/mid now, I think my skills will translate better but there\u2019s absolutely no way I can play support again.\u00a0 Right now, I\u2019m just enjoying myself!<\/p>\n You used to play support and won tournaments even almost qualifying for The International but what\u2019s different about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n My actual first role was Solo Mid.\u00a0 I only switched to support because there\u2019s too many mids in NA and not enough supports.\u00a0 I\u2019m active and shotcalling enough for me to be our actual support.\u00a0 My style of support was the position five.<\/p>\n A lot of the in-game responsibility actually belongs to support players but it isn\u2019t just warding and creating space but they can dictate the entire pace just by feeling out the game.\u00a0 A support player has to know how the game is going and how to make the most immediate impact to help their team win.\u00a0 I know when I played it I wanted to go 100% HAM because I felt like my team would play too passive so I wanted to turn up the pace and also force our opponents to try and react to us which is harder to do.\u00a0 My knowledge definitely isn\u2019t there to play support at this point in time.<\/p>\n How is playing the mid and carry?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s extremely different from what I used to do that\u2019s for sure.\u00a0 My feel for last hitting and knowing when to gank suit me best for playing mid.\u00a0 I knew that for me to understand the game again I\u2019d have to take up carry and mid since their mechanics are easier for me to pick up.\u00a0 Playing carry, I was able to see the game again and ask my teammates how I should be spending my gold even if I got flamed.\u00a0 The best part about it was that the game would slow down for me to pick up.\u00a0 If there were a couple of things that didn\u2019t leave me, it was timing auto attacks and my laning ability.<\/p>\n It\u2019s insane how I\u2019m still learning as I\u2019m climbing ladder.<\/p>\n So since reaching Immortal, have there been any job or business opportunities?\u00a0 You mentioned it earlier but it\u2019s extremely sudden.<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh I understand.\u00a0 I got an offer to play on a couple of teams as a sub but I won\u2019t take it up like I mentioned earlier.\u00a0 The hotel is just because a lot of tournaments happen in all parts of the world so they thought to bring in a consultant to see if they could get someone who can understand players better.\u00a0 I believe they only spoke to me because my rank is Immortal otherwise they wouldn\u2019t say anything to me at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s actually ridiculous how getting one rank and talking to people can land so many opportunities.<\/p>\n How long did it actually take you to get to Immortal?<\/strong><\/p>\n When I quit FFXIV, I went back to playing Dota 2 and it started out as a few games here and there but once I re-placed back into Divine I realized how close I was to Immortal.\u00a0 When Omega Alphascape came out, I would play a go from a few games to about 6-7 games every day and I just got closer and closer to getting it and then it happened on the day Cloud 9 swept Afreeca Freecs.\u00a0 Of course it happens when I\u2019m watching League of Legends.<\/p>\n The only way I was able to achieve this was that I had to sacrifice my hero pool so I only got good at a handful heroes to be able to at least carry games.<\/p>\n What do you think of the esports side of Dota 2?<\/strong><\/p>\n It will still be a big game and still be one of the biggest games in the world but it will still be incredibly top heavy.\u00a0 I actually think Dota is only interesting when there\u2019s a major and when The International happens otherwise a lot of games are meaningless to me.\u00a0 This is only speaking from a spectator stand point.<\/p>\n Any advice to someone trying to climb ladder?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes!\u00a0 This will apply to most moba titles but the big money advice is that you should look at your minimap after every successful last hit.\u00a0 It will help build your awareness especially in mobas that use junglers as main roles.\u00a0 The basic advice is to get good at a handful of meta picks and then dominate.<\/p>\n We move onto your favorite part!\u00a0 The business section!<\/strong><\/p>\n I can\u2019t believe we made it!<\/p>\n This will only be related to Dota 2 and Final Fantasy XIV but will not be about streaming.<\/strong><\/p>\n Will we see Final Fantasy XIV or Dota 2 back on Machinima Realm?<\/strong><\/p>\n No.\u00a0 They don\u2019t deem either game worth investing into.\u00a0 My deal with them actually ran out last year and I had been signed since 2012.\u00a0 Originally I did the \u201cDota 2 Random Moments\u201d when I was helping JoblessGarrett get footage.\u00a0 Dota is a popular game but it did really poorly after a long time since Minecraft and League of Legends just kept pulling hundreds of thousands of views.\u00a0 With Final Fantasy XIV, one of the NEO Exdeath clears actually did over 250,000 views but they decided to get rid of it to clear out the channel for Overwatch and even more League of Legends content.<\/p>\n There was money paid out right?\u00a0 What did you do with it?\u00a0 Better question, what have you done with all the CPM payouts?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m holding onto it now until I go buy people their drinks because I only got it settled recently.\u00a0 Anything ad related that had the groups in it, I actually gave them Amazon vouchers or at random points I paid for things like food or drinks at the end of every tier.\u00a0 If they are finding this out now, I tried to say something at a lot of different points but people were memeing too hard for me to be heard.<\/p>\n The settlement part of it was really complicated.\u00a0 They never actually agreed to pay me on a flat rate for ads so I ended up getting a huge chunk of percentage out of the entire thing which is probably enough to feed eight people at a decent restaurant depending on where it is.\u00a0 It was a very long and tiring battle that I\u2019d wake up to and never finish but it got settled very recently after months of constant fighting.\u00a0 I\u2019m just glad it\u2019s done now.<\/p>\n Are there issues with that being RMT in XIV?<\/strong><\/p>\n No.\u00a0 I\u2019m just giving them what they earned.\u00a0 Content creators get paid for doing all kinds of things.\u00a0 In other games, I used to take my teammates out for dinner every year and it wasn\u2019t an issue then.\u00a0 If people buy runs for their content, that\u2019s their choice I really don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n Have you thought about making another esports organization?<\/strong><\/p>\n This will be very detailed so you\u2019ll have to follow me.\u00a0 Yes I\u2019ve talked about it with a few people who were interested but unfortunately the upstart cost of just owning the organization is extremely high.\u00a0 If I had to give a dollar amount, we believed that it would take $1,500,000 to do it right straight out of the gate.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t take into account filing the company and all the other outside costs like finding property for training etc.<\/p>\n One thing people also don\u2019t take into account is lawyer fees since there is a lot of legal involved especially when transferring players.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of legal language in contracts that talk about all sorts of things like training in MMA being a danger to the hands and what to do if an injury occurs.\u00a0 With a lot of these lawyers drafting, it costs a lot of money per hour.\u00a0 The lawyer I used to solve some cases cost me around $400 per hour and I don\u2019t even want to talk about the retainer price.\u00a0 Speaking of my lawyer, I just used her again to solve another case completely unrelated to gaming.<\/p>\n What some people also don\u2019t understand is that it still takes money to get those sponsorships.\u00a0 For someone starting out, they already have to pay up front costs just to attend those trade shows and all those conventions just to see if these booths have someone they can talk to about hopefully landing that first sponsor.\u00a0 What\u2019s tougher now are the requirements because now organizations are supposed to become marketing companies to see how they can organize campaigns to brand and advertise those sponsors and their products.\u00a0 This is where a lot of the money will come in because now we would need all of those mid-size streamers and players with decent skill and social media following so we can finally monetize those numbers.\u00a0 That\u2019s not all.\u00a0 How about them appearing on shows?\u00a0 Appearing on stage?\u00a0 How do we sell that?\u00a0 Those are things that have to be answered and what keeps a lot of these owners up at night.\u00a0 The teams that are at the top are at the top for a very good reason.<\/p>\n At the highest levels, stock acquisitions take place and suddenly even more money is starting to pour in.\u00a0 That is a level beyond me.<\/p>\n Would you guys ever sponsor a World First group?<\/strong><\/p>\n No.\u00a0 The best World First team already has all the best sponsors and no one else is remotely competitive.\u00a0 Method is just too good for everyone else out there but even they became an esports organization.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard of Redeem and World First to Fun which are incredible teams but there is no way we could guarantee a return for us if we were to sponsor them.\u00a0 Once content is cleared that\u2019s it and then there\u2019s no more content for a long time.\u00a0 I don\u2019t anticipate it costing so much but the majority of their contracts would be incentivized just because of the nature of World First.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t just the team we would be paying for but also the manager to run all of that.\u00a0 The idea of World First chasing things like items or easter eggs sounds really cool but it isn\u2019t feasible.\u00a0 If anything, they would have to be based in NA.<\/p>\n You mentioned casters undercutting.\u00a0 What did you mean by that?<\/strong><\/p>\n A lot of times you won’t hear about it because it’s kind of a taboo topic.\u00a0 Commentators have a price for casting these games and the range goes from $10,000-$50,000 depending on the game and who the commentator is.\u00a0 These days it’s a lot more than that now except in fighting games where typically it’s the third place amount that commentators get.\u00a0 I didn’t hear much of it in StarCraft but in Dota 2 casters did this just so they could be in the premiere spots of casting but at the sacrifice of it hurting their livelihood.\u00a0 I’m not sure it’s like this anymore but I know of a few casters that were making $15,000 per tournament but after people start undercutting they had to match at around $8500 and so they got out completely.\u00a0 I think StarCraft and League of Legends casters make a consistent amount.<\/p>\n What other things do you have planned for the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n A whole lot!\u00a0 I believe starting early in 2019 I will have something really exciting to announce and would greatly benefit smaller partners and also help out affiliates!\u00a0 I\u2019m also working with a plush toy company to get out elephant plush toys.\u00a0 It just sounds ridiculous coming from me but it was something I thought of when I was on the toilet.\u00a0 The other stuff isn\u2019t necessarily gaming related but I did mention the plush toys which came to my head first in stuff I was doing.\u00a0 Well there is something MorninAfterKill and I are working on but that\u2019s still in the planning stages and I think it really only pertains to him.\u00a0 Otherwise I\u2019ve just been chilling.\u00a0 There\u2019s actually something planned for the immediate future that relates to Fanfest but I should also have a new jersey coming in!<\/p>\n (Depiction of Geno as the Iron Terran – Photoshopped by Jak Mar)<\/p>\n Anything else?<\/strong><\/p>\n This was long as hell!\u00a0 By the time this interview gets released, things might be settled by then but I hope everyone learned a valuable lesson.\u00a0 I feel like generally speaking I\u2019ve been on this amazing streak since retiring but it\u2019s still a great way to end XIV and go into a whole new world.\u00a0 This kind of thing hasn\u2019t happened in a long time and I\u2019m glad I get to share the experiences with everyone!\u00a0 It really does feel like I\u2019m on cloud nine\u2026\u2026but playing solo mid.<\/p>\n I think one thing that was never understood was how I introduce new people to our friend groups and static.\u00a0 The reason why I talk them up so much is actually to inspire confidence in everyone that if I\u2019m able to talk them up to a certain pedigree, they should also be confident in that person to do well.\u00a0 I also think everyone is a big deal.\u00a0 Although this probably falls in line with ridiculous things I say.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll wrap this up now but we\u2019ll leave the floor for your shoutouts.\u00a0 I think we covered a lot today man.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a lot of fun!\u00a0 I thought about how I was going to approach this but I\u2019m going to start with all the people in the background of things because they help me a lot with all sorts of things.<\/p>\n SodaCan, Baguette, Bellygrub, Calpi, Confisery, Boweybear, Eresea, UsherT, Maguro Magnum, turik, sanity, Procyonlotor, Hattfatt, Thundergun_04, Daktari, JTMal, InfernoTitan, lovekills, DixonCreamPie, P-Killa, Jovial, MorriganBSS, Johnny Cupcakes, Iris Xiphium, Agublagu, Megatomic, Sagamantha, Forrest, \u00a0Jak Mar, MorninAfterKill, Cyco, Maguro, Rithyn Nyco, Alistair Castello, Avis “Raid Mom” Dreaming, lilmishi, Chicken Nick, BobaTime, and my mom<\/p>\n Next will be Discords \u2013 Situation Room, Happy Funtimes, MAK\u2019s discord, Goad Diggers, Free Skan (<3), House of WAF-fle, jus b urselver, EX GosuGamers, wei is bae, All Avis Led Astray, Dragon\u2019s Nest, Demisiancoven, Mitsu Manor, SCVRush, UV Rays, Eorzea Trade Company, NADCL, The Sloth Club, Pink Bunnies, AVLN, Cataclysm, Black Barons, Three Fats and a Lala\u2019s Guestroom, Exalted, The New Salt Mine<\/p>\n Time for the fun part in all of these things!\u00a0 The individual shoutouts at least for the XIV players!\u00a0 I\u2019ll shorten it this time around because there\u2019s way too many people now but I will also include some new names.<\/p>\n Tae Jin (Hack Frost), Laos Rob, Mythena Hordeum, Daezo D\u2019ren, Alesha Phoenix, Ike\u00a0Takeda, Tsukiko Kanda, Mikoto Kreiss, Viridiana Maus, Aard Appel, Silaqui Amakiir, Iris Xiphium, Kira Kitsune, Princess Andrea, NPS Jason, Alice Carroll, Asagi Ryuu, Trap Queen Picorin, Kairi Knight, Rosaria Sykurwyn, Lex Aeterna, Sharpedo Vecy, Fuzzy Logik, Morgeth and Myasen Barenstark, Flara Starburst, Kat Beth, Nomine Stormrage, Travis Touchdown, Kharlyn, Kurinto Avalon, Bellator Lucis, Mila Lacewing, Varya Kimon, Poco Volante, Player Hana, Khatylana Steelmane, Kunuma Tenebrae, Pssych, Jalimey Limey, Jabba Jenkins, Kuradoberi Lockhart, Vienna Venom, Sweaty Boxer, Deth Storm, Hoseph Dong, Foxtail Blackfoot, Ruby Miku, \u201cAll the Fluffies\u201d, Darere Dare, Soya, Traf, RainbowCarp, Starlight Glisten, Yin Feng, Saint Lukky, Judy Hopps (Yui Ayase), Jojomun Kokomun, Boup Boop, Black Owl, Tonsworth, Yoshino Akatsuki, Kya Purrcy, Jericho Greywolfe, Rina Ishida, Shingin, LostMyDog, Shingin, Sayo, Gucci, Cognate Prime, Yuveria Lior, Fiyero Flynne, Draconic Fires, True Fires, Porcupine Pattycake, Hrist Valkyrie, \u201cThe Lunes\u201d, Corvux, Claire Dawnfried, Rem, Gokai Pink, Red, Yona Lieru, Youko Tsukimori, Rolance Choi, Near Aka\u2019nate\u2019river<\/p>\n If I missed you, I didn\u2019t forget you!\u00a0 I just wanted to make room for some new people to get in!<\/p>\n Last but not least, a final shoutout to Taco Bell!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This interview was conducted by Erick Daniel from Forbes and Ben Bridge from the Famfrit Server Facebook page. (Featured Image credit to Angela Leyvas) Geno, how are you today? Doing pretty good, yourself? Not too bad.\u00a0 You want to start this now or later? I\u2019m as ready as ever!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be doing… Read More »Final Fantasy XIV: Interview with Genos Axel<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":9245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2724],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16831,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12234\/revisions\/16831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/w\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/277469_4573628423846_1736877750_o.jpg\")
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