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	BuLaT 2008-05-02

	He might have been known to the Russian QuakeWorld community prior to 2006, but for many others, BuLaT is some Russian who appeared out of nowhere some time during the last Ownage duel tournament. And although BuLaT lives an estimated 3000 km away from any popular servers, he has made quite a name for himself by now, even though he virtually never plays with a ping lower than 65. His native language being Tatar, it is close to impossible to communicate with him. But we found a translator! See what BuLaT has to say about NQR and QuakeWorld in the Republic of Bashkortostan. A big "thank you" goes out to Exile for translating everything.


	1. Hello BuLaT. First of all, thanks for letting us interview you for NQR. For those who don't know you yet: Could you please introduce yourself to us?
	I, Zakirov Bulat Zinfirovich, was born in the city of Ufa, which is the capital of Bashkortostan. I'm an electrician. Married, no kids. 27 years old.

	2. Could you please tell us about your gaming history? When and how did you get into gaming? Did you play anything before QuakeWorld? When did you start playing QuakeWorld?
	I began playing at the age of 10. I had a computer, a keyboard, a tape recorder and a TV set. My favourite game at that time was Elite. At the age of 16 I bought a 200mhz pentium and began playing RPG and StarCraft. One fine day in 1998 I dropped in at my neighbour's and met his uncle, who offered me to play QW versus him. My helplessness had amazed me! As a result, I became a QW addict, which took many years to come. The fact that I became successful only in 2002 was, obviously, due to absence of a decent internet connection. At that time, I could play against real people only in gaming clubs, which was way too expensive. Thats why I played with bots most of the time.

	3. What kind of computer do you play QuakeWorld with? What is your hardware and client setup?
	Celeron D 2.66ghz, 1.5gb DDR2 RAM, NVidia 8600 512mb, IE30a mouse, Mitsumi keyboard, Technics headphones, X-Trac Ripper Pad, 17' CRT Monitor LG, Genius microphone. 128k ADSL connection. Fov 110, m_pitch\m_yaw 1, sensitivity 0,13. Independent physics On, Fakeshaft Off.

	4. Describe Ufa, the city you live in. Is it a big city? Is there a noticable QuakeWorld community? Are there any local lans? What other notable players are from Ufa?
	Ufa is a very beautiful city with a population of over one million people. When the whole world will sink because of the global warming, Ufa will survive, since it's located on a highland. Our city is famous for such celebrities as Maxim Chudov - russian biathlon rocket, tennis player Marat Safin, Quake player Bulat Zakirov and, at last, hockey club Salavat Yulaev (this year's russian superleague champions). A lot of factories do poison our life. Currently, QW is dying. One new player comes for every two players going away. Very good players: Bublik, Exile (stopped playing almost a year ago) and a very strong player Ron1n (who hasn't played for many years). Local lans have ceased due to appearance of a decent affordable internet connection two years ago. Before that, we used to gather on holidays at the apartment of that guy, who had infected me with QW, and arranged the beerlans - oceans of beer, vodka and only four computers, that each of us took there himself.

	5. So... as we all know now, you have been playing QuakeWorld for a long time without actually having an internet connection. What other training, if any, did you perform during your offline times, besides frogbot?
	Between 2002 and 2005 we used to play 1x1 and 2x2 twenty hours per week plus 4x4 once each month in a gaming club, where we were granted some free-of-charge time. It is there, where we have learned to play. Generally, we watched demos of such players as Griffin, Dag and Paradoks, downloaded for tons of money by Yurik using a 14kbps modem.

	6. The years you spent playing offline vs frogbots obviously explain your absolutely stunning aim. What other qualities do you hold, and what part of your gameplay do you feel you still need to improve?
	Yes, I feel quite confident about my aim. Movement and tactics are something that certainly could be improved.

	7. Do you have any tips and tricks about how people can improve their aim?
	Try playing on Povdmm4, Dm2dmm4, End and Endif versus stronger opponents.

	8. Do you enjoy playing any maps except for tb3 in 4on4 and tb5 in duel? If so, which ones?
	I don't see the point in playing on other maps. Also, I'm lazy. But for the tournament with a decent prize fund I would train all the required maps.

	9. Describe how you learned ztndm3. The legend is that it was played 24/7 at MGU, but MGU is in Moscow... All a rumour, or is there some truth about this?
	Practically, when we met Moscow and foreign teams for the first time, Ufa's Ztn and Aero were much better because we usually play all 5 maps in a circle without concentrating on some particular map. Ztn was the home map of Ufa from the very beginning, long time before Aerowalk, which appeared somewhere in 2000-2001, when we saw Reload's games (downloaded by the same Yurik). It means that we were always informed about how quake is being played in te world. As far as I know, in 1997 a legendary AMD team had arrived in Ufa to play in a tournament. It is then, when Muscovites saw which maps were being played in Ufa and decided not to lag behind. I had just started to play at that time. We played Ztndm3 and Dm6 most of all, Dm2 and Dm4 were much less popular, and somewhere in 2002 we started to play Aerowalk. After that, we began to play all 5 maps equally in a circle because of a tournament in Tjumen.

	10. Have you ever considered going to QHLAN or perhaps Dreamhack in Sweden? Is traveling abroad to play QuakeWorld something you would consider at all?
	I'd do that with pleasure, but finances do not allow me to save up 800$. In Tjumen, there was a tournament called TQA. Organizers had invited Paradoks and Darklord, for whom they had paid all possible expenses. If I was invited like this and got paid for everything, then I'd certainly come (and took Exile along as a translator). In any case, I plan to go abroad someday.

	11. Bulat Zinfirovich, tell us about the clan you're currently playing with. How did the season go so far and what do you expect from the playoffs which are about to begin on Monday? Who is your toughest opponent in Silver Cup?
	I play in a team "Bear Beer Balalaika", which appeared almost right after a proper internet connection appeared in Ufa. We have hardly finished last season in EQL, but have performed a brilliant sequence of games in this NQR season and I presume that we'll do as good in playoffs. The only team, that can stop us, in my opinion, is Sega Gubbar. I'd like to mention our top line-up: XN(unnamed), Bulat, Bublik, SS, Del and Ihalainen (who started to play seldom for some reason). XN - a very experienced player, supergod div1; Bulat - is a threat with quad; Bublik - midfielder, equally good in all aspects; SS - manipulates us; Del - at least used to be a good quadrunner in the past; Ihanainen - midfielder, equally good in all aspects. In last year our team was div4, but this year we are div2, thanks to two new players, Bublik and XN.

	12. Tell us about the Russian QuakeWorld scene in general. And who do you consider to be the best players currently active in Russia (both teamplay and duel)? Are there any talented NEW QuakeWorld players in the Russian QuakeWorld scene - someone we should pay attention to in the future?
	XN, Dot, XPR etc... cock knows who... New talented players are Bublik, Bulat and ZEPP.

	13. Do you currently play any other FPS (first person shooter) games except for QuakeWorld? Any newer games like Quake4 perhaps? And why do you still play a game that is almost 12 years old? What does QuakeWorld have to offer in comparison to other games?
	In QW I like its community. Everyone is amicable and helping each other. I don't know why do I play, but I enjoy it a lot. No, I don't play any other shooters.

	14. Is there anything in NQR11 you are particularly happy or unhappy about? What can we do to improve? What should we change?
	I like the flexibility given by the league administration - the ability to play games out of deadlines. Also, I like that NQR has fewer divisions than EQL. It means greater skill spread inside each division. Weaker teams are given an opportunity to play vs stronger teams. Also, the playoff results have greater value with smaller number of divisions. In general, NQR suits me fully.

	15. Any last things you want to say? Shoutouts, greetings, rants, comments?
	I consider the best players at the moment to be Griffin, Gamer and Milton. It would be very desirable to win NQR. I wish everyone a proper internet connection!

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