Exclusive Interview with Eric Lancheres of Fragging Fundamentals
Clutchkills Gaming presents an interview with Eric Lancheres, the author of Fragging Fundamentals, improving your game.
Harrison: Hello Eric, Where did you start your gaming career?
Eric Lancheres: Hi, sure. I started gaming playing Wolfeinstein 3D on an old 486/66mhz machine… I thought it was great fun and I still remember IDDQD and IDKFA as cheat codes. It was amazing to see the rapid evolution from Wolfeinstein to Duke Nukem 3D, which was my real first multiplayer experience. I remember playing via modem every afternoon against friends. I believe I learned the basics of gaming back in Duke Nukem 3D, but eventually moved on to Quake 1 online where the real multiplayer gaming experience began. From there, I pretty much followed every popular game after that, where there was people, I was there. I always hungered for competition more than just a good game so I went where the people went.
Harrison: What’s your favorite game since you started gaming?
Eric Lancheres: Definitely Quake 1 CTF. I think a lot of gamers have a personal preference for the first game they ever play and I respect everyone’s opinion. I think what I really liked about Quake 1 was that a good player could completely dominate an average player. So the time that you invested in playing actually paid off… these days you might be the best player in the world but you can die to a random accidental headshot. I understand why the gaming industry did this (Cough Valve understood that new players didn’t like dying instantaneously) but I still believe that it took away from the fun.
Instead, I’d rather see servers with different levels so expert players could play against each other and newcomers would have their own designated playground.
Harrison: So I hear you have a new book, what can you tell me about it that no one else knows?
Eric Lancheres: Hah, ummmm, I don’t think people realize the depth that I go into in the book. A lot of people that haven’t read the book comment about how there’s nothing to know about FPS gaming, but that really isn’t true. I break down the entire process of aiming and reaction time and show people how precisely how to improve it. I believe that a lot of people don’t know that this is more than just a collection of tips, it’s a real book.
Harrison: That’s really interesting, I actually didn’t know that and I must admit, I was under the impression it was just an assortment of tips. What’s your best trick that you can immediately give to players that they can use right away?
Eric Lancheres: The best trick? I think the best piece of knoweledge is to realize that there aren’t any magical tricks that magically make you a better player overnight. Once you stop looking for the magic pill that’s going to fix everything and you start improving on the basics on a daily basis, you’ll begin improving drastically. If I had to recommend one thing, I’d say that gamers should find better players to play with. You know how they say that the amount of money you make is the average of your 5 closest friends? Well, I think that your skill level is the average of the people you play against. So if you always play against newbies, you’ll stay at that level. Play against pros and you’ll work your way up pretty quickly.
Harrison: If you could change anything in the gaming community, what would it be?
Eric Lancheres: I’d probably make the gaming community more respected, professional and inviting to new players. New players usually have a very harsh welcome when they start until they actually become decent. I’ve seen many people shout at new players that don’t know how to play, either that or people have huge online egos. It would be nice if people helped each other grow instead.
Harrison: Well said, I can’t see that happening any time soon though.
Eric Lancheres: Of course me either!
Harrison: So what games do you play now?
Eric Lancheres: Well lately I’ve been doing more teaching, coaching and business than gaming. I try to play TF2, Quake Live and Counter-Strike whenever I can, but definitely a lot less than before. I’m looking forward to the next great game that really unites all the FPS communities together.
Harrison: Thanks for your time! I’d like to mention that this interview was provided by the Clutchkills Gaming ! Anything you’d like to add before we end?
Eric Lancheres: Yeah! Check out my book at www.fraggingfundamentals.com, I’m in the process of changing the sales page so it looks a little more modern and less like a sales page. If people have any questions, they can email me there, I try to answer to all of them!
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