Fnatic - A profesional gaming team

Name: Ana Oliveras Davi
Date of Birth: 18th May 1979
Location: Spain
Birth place: Terrassa, Barcelona
First FPS Game: Duke Nukem
Likes: Reading, writing, a relaxing bath, travelling, singing, going to the cinema and a big ETC.
Dislikes: Fake people, Peanut cream, people that is always late,...
Siblings: No brothers or sisters
Blood type: A+
Favorite Book: The shadow of the wind
Favorite Food: Mexican
Favorite Song: Very difficult for me to pick one but today "Why dont you go"
Favorite Movie: Many... Moulin Rouge
Favorite Model / Actress: Valeria Mazza / Julia Roberts
Favorite Actor: Ashton Kutcher & Johny Deep
Favorite Color: Orange
Favorite Gun: Most of them
Favorite Player: r4id (already retired)
Motto in Life: The show must go on

Why did you select the nickname aNouC?
I started being anouc very soon, when I was 14 or 15 after my earlier nicknames were things like "Six" or "Plus" I didn't identify with them. By then I had a group of friends and we all were DeeJays and to go around and show your talent, you needed a name. In my first competition I still had one of the old names but on the next ones I had switched to using anouc (it's just another way of saying Ana).

When did you play your first game of Counter Strike 1.6? Whom did you play against?
Since CS was not my very first game and I started learning it at the end of 2003 going to my first ESWC in 2004, I can't really say which was my first game as a player. I do remember I had to play at Lan Arena 7 because I sent a badGirls team but we missed one player. I was not supposed to play but since they were down to four I was sitting there getting everything configured by Potti and not knowing how to buy, how to move or where to go. We played against a French and a Belgian team. I even remember they were happy to win against aNouC, but actually I still don't know why...

What is the most memorable CS 1.6 match for you so far?
I think there are different emotions in each one of the matches but I can say that 2005 was a very special year. Nobody expected a Spanish team to beat the favourites in the second group stage (Les seules, all 4 one,...) So getting a 3rd place there, was incredible. Then I would point on the very last ESWC in California. There we had a very weird performance but the comeback against the Chinese team was for me a shot of adrenaline. Also the score we started with against SK was really cool. But I remember both games because we did really well, we could have won but we didn't and it is not because we didn't practice, but because other things were not working team-wise.

What is the configuration (mouse, keyboard, headset, graphics card, mousepad, CPU, RAM, processor speed) of your computer?
Well since in our very last performance we were supported by Razer, I still keep the keyboard Lycosa, the mouse Copperhead with blue light and then from a previous period I still use back the 5L from SteelSeries. I'm playing on a shuttle which is getting old but still works very well, an AMD Athlon 64 with 2.41 Ghz and 1 GB RAM. I changed half a year ago the graphics and now I'm using a NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT. Oh and the headset is Plantronics. But as you can see, since I don't have a fixed team nor a sponsor, my configuration is all mixed up now!

Hey can you introduce yourself to us and also give a bit of trivia about yourself? 
Basic things everyone knows I guess because I did answer the same again and again on different interviews. As you know I turned 30 last year (which I hardly believe myself sometimes xD), time goes fast! - I was born in a city close to Barcelona, I studied in three different universities, three very different degrees. I've been working for almost 15 years as radio moderator, worked 4 years as teacher and now, since last July 2009, my life changed again. That's what I like the most... to keep learning, changing and improving. I would hate to have turned 18, study a degree, get a job, have a boyfriend, marry, have kids, keep the same job, buy a dog and die. That would have killed me. So maybe what people don't know about me is that I like changes and I like the disorder inside the order.

If we had to talk about your childhood, what are your early memories? 
My childhood for me is a period of pure happiness, freedom and safety. I remember certain things but maybe one of the earliest things I can remember is even when I was still inside the playpen while my mum was doing some domestic task. My park had wheels and I used to push it in order to reach the TV and watch some cartoons I hardly could stand up, but I so wanted to be entertained *laughs*

When did you realize that with CS 1.6 you could take things seriously and perhaps play in big organizations?
I already tried to do that as a Quake player, as soon as I created badGirls I wanted to compete and grow as team. But the effort was not enough because the scene was getting quiet and the game was losing interest. Then is when I turned my eyes into CS, in hunger of competition and emotion situations to improve, to teamplay with people, to travel... But I took gaming very seriously, from the very beginning.

Which teams have you been part of? 
In CS? I was playing in SK when I decided to switch from Quake to CS, so first thing I've done was get to know the scene, the players and the game, and finally I did put together some of the best European players into my eyes. By then I was still learning but I was 100% focused on making them a top team. After a year of success the team got too inactive and we had to get rid of them in SK. My first CS team was my own project, badGirls where I learnt the basics and met some players that later on became my team mates in different organisations and also my friends. As soon as we needed to take it serious we had to step out of badGirls and find an organisation. That was back in 2004 and we wanted to have an all Spanish team, but it didn't work out so we had to mix with other players (first German, then Swedish... and finally a mix). That year we ended up with a last minute team and I wish we had a better preparation because we were taken by fnatic to represent them at ESWC. 

They were really nice to us and very dedicated even if they just started with their project, which I really loved from day 1. But sadly we could not offer the performance they deserved and right after the event the team sort of "died" because we knew there was no future with three Spanish girls, one German and one Swedish. After that we joined x6tence where with time we managed to put together five Spanish girls, making the team stronger. After two ESWC events with them, we moved to redCode and finally, after some line-up changes and different problems we decided to go back to roots and become badGirls again. That's how we found a sponsor and played our last events together in 2008.

You have played with several players over the years, which players are the most stand out for you and why? 
When I started getting into CS I thought that before creating a team I had to "study" the scene completely. That's how I was observing for a year, watching the male CS team in SK, going to events and watching the game itself and at the end I decided that taking care of a tournament would really help me out. That's how I decided to create the Female Nations Cup and Clanbase hosted my idea very soon. I thought that would also be a way to bring together the female community, meet each other, know each other, see who's stronger and why, etc. After that great experience I've seen some names I wanted to have in the team and asked them, one by one until the team was sorted.

By then I just thought about a strong European team, so we had two Norwegian, two French and a Swedish girl. Later on one went inactive so we added a Danish to the line-up. I'm talking about Misshyper, eLLi, IvY, Atalante, Tess and then AurorA. For me these were some of the strongest players back then and I was very glad to learn from them. But competition was growing and it was not so easy to be on top any more, everyone was improving out there. Later on, when I went back to badGirls, I discovered there were some real talents in the team and even I had to work on my own a lot, I was very sure about the players I wanted to play with. Soon I even noticed not everyone shared the same ideas than me, so we were left down to three with two of my key players on my own career: Lena and iRene. Both became good friends of mine and we were the three with more similarities when it was about gaming. For me they are two of the strongest players of all times.

Who are your favorite practice partners and why?
We used to play different male teams most of the years I can think of. It is really hard to find female teams as practice partners. In general they want to keep their tactics until the big event comes.

Can you tell us about your daily routine or your time table?
Right now my routine from Monday to Friday is to wake up at 8 in the morning, get dressed, prepare the stuff I need and then go. At 8:33 more or less I'm at work even we are not supposed to start until 8:45 - 9. But I like to be there, hang around, get my cappuccino on the coffee machine, start the computer, plug the consoles, etc. I take my breaks and everything and I even eat over there (either inside the company or at the police canteen). At 17:17 I'm done at work and then starts my social life or my geek life, depends on the day. But right now I mainly go one day to a guitar lesson, one day to practice with my volley ball team, and two days to the gym. The rest of time I can either go shopping with friends, go to the cinema, practice guitar at home, watch some series or play some CS.

What role does each person play in the team and can you write a few lines about each of their personality traits?
My main team right now is still badGirls even the situation is very different than it was the last couple of years. I am somehow starting a new team from scratch, which is a new experience after all those years. I've been dealing with experienced players almost from the beginning and I've been "the new one" most of the time. Now I am the experienced and they are the new ones. During the last year I didn't really want to lead anything, nor be captain or anything, was a little bit tired of it so if there was an interesting possibility to play in a team, focus on play and so on, I would have gone for it. But then these newcomers were so interesting to me, so full of energy, so hungry to learn and compete that reminded me of myself years ago. That's why even sometimes it's really difficult to start over with errors you have forgotten because your previous team mates were not doing them anymore; it's also worth it because it brings new energy. 

Also at the beginning I had 4 Spanish girls and 1 from Belgium who speaks Spanish, now we are down to five in total. Let's start with Llo, the Belgian lady. She's an experienced player that has been in the scene quite some time now and played in known teams like mousesports (with the german lineup). We understand each other pretty well and our games are very well complemented, so it's very easy to play with her in team. She is my big support in the team now, because we can see the problems, talk them out and then expose them to the others. And sometimes we also divide the job, she is on one side of the map checking if some things work and I am at the other side doing the same. And even though I am the leader in game, I know that if I don't have a good day, she will take over the role. Then we have Al3GR1A, Shira and roxiiii. All three been around for a while but are very used to play mixes or to just play public. The only one that had some competitive experience was roxiii because she even played with bG as stand-in in the previous EMS season. All three have the talent but they still need to polish lots of other things, especially when it's related with team play. They also lack the experience to travel to big events, play under pressure, etc. But all three are the kind of persons that won't get afraid too easy, which I like pretty much. I've seen big players falling down at big events or having some panic reactions to cameras. I know it won't happen with them.

What do you think can be defined as "team spirit"?
Team spirit is something all members have to make possible. It's important to keep it alive to continue practising, to be motivated and to improve. If there's no team spirit, at the end the team falls.

 At some point you were a part of fnatic, how did that come about? What memories do you have of your stay in fnatic and why did you part?
I remember stepping down in SK as soon as I did shut down the female squad. At the beginning I stayed as part of the orga but after a while I missed the competitive part of the scene so I became an honorary member while I was looking for new adventures. I met the guys from fnatic before the project even had a final name and I remember they were so happy and full of ideas, that was really great and I wanted to absorb that passion they had and also help them out with whatever I could. Since I came from a big organisation like SK, I had some experience and I was more or less able to give them some ideas too. At the end their start came along with our new début as half Spanish team so they took us over for the ESWC in 2004 as their very first CS team.

Has there been an organization you joined and said "now this is a really good place to stay"? 
It was a great feeling when I joined SK, it was uncertain but really interesting with fnatic and definitely my home was always badGirls, so in 2008 when we managed to get a huge sponsor, it was really the best feeling ever. Nobody had to agree on things we wanted, just us.

Has there ever been a fan of aNouC who has impressed you? What did they do? 
I don't knowright now... I can remember fans of the Dj aNouC that after an exhibition I've done, came to me to sing their expensive caps and T-shirts and I hesitated before doing it, because they were nice brands and my signature well... I don't know, was just my signature! I also remember a fan when I was working on different radio stations, that did follow me from one to the other and knew even more than me about my career! Another one sent me flowers one, that was really sweet... But in my gaming career, I just know people who queries you on iRC, ESL, facebook or whatever, to ask things about gaming or to play a gather. That is not really "impressive" I guess.

What do you think can be the biggest reward a player can get from his fans? 
That they appreciate what the player does, the time it takes, the effort it means when it comes about leaving other things behind to practice instead. And of course the fact that they can also accept that big players can have a bad day and that does not mean they suddenly suck. The flaming is sometimes really boring to read on the news.

What do you think the community thinks of aNouC?
I know there's a lot of respect but also a lot of hate. But it's quite normal... when you do something and your name is highlighted, there will be people who will love what you do and people who will hate you. The same way we adore people we don't know because we make our own image out of them, happens in a negative way too. But I have to say that I also met people who hated me and after some years came to me to say: Sorry, it was just envy what I felt and now I regret what I did or say about you... that was really somebody who impressed me over all those years. To have the courage to come to me and say something like that.

In real life whom would you consider to be your role model and why? 
I don't really follow anyone's steps to become what I am. But I think it should be that way. Actually our parents tell us every day what's right and what's wrong and still we do the same mistakes they did and so did their parents too... so I guess it's a process to grow up, be stupid, do mistakes, learn from them and so on... as long as you have a good heart, you don't need to have a role model, you will become one yourself.

Would you consider yourself to be religious? 
That's really a tricky question right now. I was born in Spain and because of the tradition in that country I was born as a Christian Catholic. I've been baptised, done the 1st communion and the confirmation. After all those steps I didn't feel as if I was belonging to anything and I didn't understand anything of it. It was also a period where big questions arise, such as "where I come from?", "where am I going?", "what is my mission in life?"... Religion did not give me these answers so I ignored that part of life for the next 15 years at least. I always loved visiting sacred places and I consider myself very sensitive so the feelings I get in certain places amaze me... but I didn't look up to find answers until now. I stopped fighting against religion recently. I decided to first learn from it and then decide whether I want to continue fighting or be part of it, but with arguments to do so. So since I have time, I'm now reading lots of things about it. To know more things it's always positive, isn't it?

What are your hobbies beyond Gaming? Have you tried pursuing them?
I used to love sport and I always wanted to play some instruments. My parents were pretty much pushing me to sport more than to music so I ended up doing tennis for a long time until I told them I wanted to play a team game, it was then that I started Volleyball. When I was good enough to join the selection, my parents decided studies would come first so... at the end I did nothing of what I really wanted until now... I started learning to play the guitar, which is really cool actually and I found a volley team to play with. At the same time I still go to the gym, to the old classes I was also doing in Spain (Bodycombat), which was my passion for a period of time since I love martial arts. I also like to go to the cinema, so even I cannot go every week as I used to go in my city, I still go from time to time. The rest of things like reading, singing or writing, I can do them almost anywhere.

Which is your favorite book/magazine? 
I don't buy magazines anymore; internet is now my main source to check news, gossips and so. About books... I really eat them but since I'm in Germany I'm not that fast anymore, have been doing other things. I still have to finish "The Host" from Stephanie Meyer (the one that made Twilight), but is not really as interesting as I thought... and "The Fire" from Katherine Neville. I loved her two previous books, so I expect a really good third part.

What genres of music do you like listening to?
I've never had a concrete style. Specially working in different radio stations and doing different programs, I've learned to appreciate music in general and more than divide them by styles, or singers... it is about your mood and what do you feel or need to listen to.

Which mobile phone you use? What model? 
For my german number, I have a Samsung Lady phone in black and golden with some Swarovski crystals, which I won doing a shootout in Belgium, but after one year stopped working so I have to find a new one. My Spanish mobile is a white-nacar with red details one from Sony Ericsson.

Do you have any brothers or sisters? 
No, I'm a solo kid. My birth was very hard for my mum so she didn't want to repeat.

When you were growing up did you think it would be good to be a gamer? What job you wanted to take when you were a little girl? 
My very first dream was to become a Vet, but as soon as my mum told me that I was not only going to touch and cure animals, but also to operate and even kill them... I changed my mind. I wanted to do something with communication and in my pre-adolescence period I was already recording my own "programs", so I became a Dj first and then joined a radio station very soon.

What work do you do in real life? I have heard you are a game tester? 
Yea as I said, I like changes and from radio moderator, went to teacher and now to game tester at Nintendo.

What is the most unique strategy you have ever used? 
Sometimes the most simple things are the ones that work the best. But I must admit that sometimes I liked trying stupid things that might work maybe only once in your lifetime. Couldn't really tell you one right now... but we managed to create sometimes complicated ones which needed the enemies to wait in base minimum to give us time enough to prepare hahahaha (wink to bG when we talk about "tour Eiffel" tactics).

In your opinion which player has a similar style like you?

I don't really know... I know I am not the kind of player that goes around with the best aim and plays fast. That is a kind of risky player that actually uses to be a top fragger too, so it's the most attractive one to people. I'm more of a thinker when it comes about a round, I'm all time thinking what they might be doing and I try to surprise them, but not on my own, but using my mates. So maybe I am the one throwing a flash so the others show up, or stuff like that. But I think it is good to have different players in a team, if you have five of the same kind, it won't work.

Which is your favorite gun and why?
I don't have a favourite one, but I could say I hate the ones which are "not so used" in the game. I like to stick with the "common" ones like AK, Colt, AWP, deagle... and I like both pistols even I'm better with the glock.

Which is your least favorite gun and why? 
All the others! - Well Galil, mp5 and famas would go to the _fav_ group too.

Name 5 key elements to performing well as CT and T? 
It is good to keep the team play from the beginning to the end of the round, no matter how many members are left, it is important not to stress out and lose position or have any miscommunication. As T I would say, after something didn't work out and the loss of 1 or 2 players, it's important to regroup and decide again which would be the smartest thing to do. As CT it is important to have the information of the bomb and according to that display the members left around the map, no need to stick in the standard positions, but as I tell my players: use your head for something else than brushing your hair!! So I don't need 5 key elements but 3: communication, team play and concentration.

What will you do 5 years from now? 
Who knows... I think I've been asked something like that before and I don't think I'm doing what I expected.

In the gaming world whom would you consider to be your role model and why?
Nobody, I also made myself the way I am... I played with different people, watching lots of demos from different points of views and at the end I don't really stick to one name, I just keep changin' pov to see the general game and how they win as a team.

What is your future within this game? Would you consider becoming a manager or a coach at some point?
I've been most of the time the manager or the captain of my projects and now I'm even the coach... but I've been always part of the team at the same time, because I love competition, so I don't know if my organising skills would work if I was not playing on it. Probably the emotions are different but it's something I am actually considering, because maybe at certain point I don't get to play with the team I would like to (in a competitive level), and I would have time for other things, which would probably also open the possibility to become manager of another team.

We see the same eSport titles through the years, any game you tip to be the next eSport blockbuster game? 
I don't know but I think CS is in a descendent way already, the problem is that there's no game that hooks the same amount of people for now... 

What if tomorrow, someone walks up to you and says, "Hey aNouC, come to South Korea and compete in professional Counter Strike 1.6 events to be played on TV?"
I would pack my suitcases asap and go to have that experience.

Do you think there's scope for new players to come up? 
Any advice to upcoming or amateur players? I feel there are not many newcomers anymore, and that's why the CS scene is getting a little bit "boring". But the advice is always to have clear what do you want from the game and the scene... you have to decide at certain point if you want to play for fun or if you want to go somewhere... because choosing the second option means sacrifice and in a team all five have to have the same goal if they want to success.

Who would you (sponsors, friends, fellow gamers, family) like to thank and say some nice words to everybody please!
I think I would thank everyone who trusted in my teams all these years. People who believed on my ideas and my projects. My parents for letting me do, create, expand and become who I am. My friends for understanding me all those years, even when I had to miss so much stuff because I had to practice. Of course, to everyone out there who appreciated my work and also those who hated me for taking the time to do so. And finally... all the gamers that made possible that immense world and all the sponsors and organizations for making our dreams come true.