Empire Mind AMA

[Empire Mind 29]

6 hours ago, MILAD said:

always thought you were a wannabe back in the day. Also Evizu/D1e2n3 told me to ignore you whenever you contacted me asking for fights. Then again, things were different 10-11 years ago. Hope all is well!

I was cocky back then yeah, perhaps a wannabe. I did always want to be a top caller in the game and known for it. Everything is well, hopefully is the same for you also!

[Empire Mind 29]

3 hours ago, 3lite said:

Hey Steve, thanks for doing this AMA.

 

Becoming ranked in three separate top clans in a relatively short period of time is an impressive feat.  I think it shows that you really brought something to the table when you joined a clan.  I never was in a clan with you, but had interacted with you here and there during my time with EH.  I always got the sense that your strengths were as a motivator (which you referred to in an earlier post), caller (your ranks were generally related to leading fights, and I remember you taking lots of fall ins), and as a community figure (you were extremely friendly and easy to work with).  What would you say your weaknesses were as a leader? At the time I'd say my ego, I was known as a motivator and would watch out my members in game and was more known for transitioning. But my ego always was my downfall. I always cared what people thought of me or if I was known as a top 5 person in VR (Everyone thought of VR as Evizu/Cera/Kao). In VR I was mostly known as the player you could talk to about anything and was more of the behind the scenes person. I was the main joker in VR but generally cared about the members and made sure they felt like at home while in VR. If I just didn't care about what others thought of me and just focused on what my rank was and not what other clans thought of me would of excelled me higher but that reassurance of being known as a top caller in a big clan always got to me. I wish I would of dropped my personal habits and just focused fully on VR, but couldn't fully agree on decisions we'd do as a clan all the time.

 

Which clan do you think you had the greatest positive impact in of Corr, VR, and EOS?

I'd say VR. I strived in VR and we slowly became a powerhouse and brought in bigger names thru this. As much as everyone disliked VR we still had people who gave it a chance, never in a million years would I expect DI/Rsd/Corr main members come to us. As we were all different styles of clans. I won over almost anyone I'd talk too and was just overall the people person. This was when I generally cared about the game. People knew if me and Cera were on together calling it'd be nonstop intensity and everyone gave it their all I feel. 

EOS - I was just the jokester here, I had a good relationship with all officials and members, so for me to just up and quit randomly was a shock to them. I remember Viper was close to EOS and told them I was joining VR and Prannoy literally saying "No way, Empire would never leave for VR, EOS is his family" just for me to go and leave 2-3 days later catching him off guard. I personally don't think I left an in game impact on EOS as becoming a warlord here was more thru the late bh era and cwa era where EOS wasn't a powerhouse they became in later years. 

 

Corr - Just like EOS I don't feel I left a big impact, I started calling to help Jay out but was way past my prime as I gave calling up a long time ago and was super rusty IMO. Felt I didn't give the impact I should of but Corr were already on the decline with many officials sick of the game. Like previous clans I just brought my personality and the fact I could talk about anything, and won over a lot of the people even though of our huge indifferences of the years. Perhaps if I cared more I could of done more for Corr but near this era of clanning I was like most officials. I'd log in for events and sit on teamspeak but not try and promote things within the game. 

 

3 hours ago, 3lite said:

You ranked Kill Orgy as one of your favorite clan/teams alongside VR - what made them a good experience for you?

Kill Orgy was always known for our man for man power. Everyone in Kill Orgy gave it their all in every fight and we also didn't bend the knee to clans like ROT when ROT tried to bully us when they saw us climbing. We fought against anyone and everyone here were brothers. It was pretty hard to get into Kill Orgy as they respected themselves as a clan that would take 30-40 core members and go against a clan that had double our numbers but we'd fight back like we had even numbers and in game performance showed for it. (Also Mike would repay us for all our deaths if we wanted ^.^). 

 

3 hours ago, 3lite said:

I feel like the leadership styles in VR, Corr, and EoS would be quite different.  What do you think were the most effective characteristics of the following folks (trying to focus on VR leadership that hasn't been spoken to yet; focusing on Corr leadership that we've seen a lot of comments on in other AMAs with mixed opinions): Prannoy, Mr Nickos, Jeffa12, Vechtetoe, Robtokill, Andy4309, Demonchild

Prannoy : A jokester but also super serious when it came to fights, he was the oddball of the clan. But people respected him while he was leading in game. Outside the game he didn't care what others thought of him. If Prannoy would of cared more I could of seen EOS go on to become a powerhouse clan like it was when Mar/Oli took over. As he always had Mar but I think he needed that push.

Mr Nickos - Was the behind the scenes guy, he was almost like Evizu. He was so calm thru most situations and never let things get to him. He always took care of the forums/memberlist and would make huge topics on improving our in game performance. I feel if Nickos would of came out of his shell more he wouldn't of been in the shadows as much.

Jeffa12 - I personally wasn't around for Jeffa12, never knew the person. Just knew Evizu used the account. 

Vechtetoe - Actually Ammatus real life brother, Vech was always a quiet person and I think when I joined was near the end of his career, I feel like he was more of a bigger name prior to 2008, Vech was always in the shadows of Evizu just like Diegosage. Vech was always respected by members and for that I respected him even though he was more of a quiet person.

Robtokill/Andy4309/DemonChild were all MIA when I was joined. I used to have a good relationship with Andy though thru dealing with him for fights and respected his in game calling and decisions. I feel if Andy stuck around he could of made Corr a powerhouse again, he reminded me of Chopa234 and how they had the respect of all the members and people would follow them thru any decisions they'd make.

Robtokill - I personally haven't dealt with him, but I feel like he was like me in his prime. He cared too much what others thought of him and when things didn't go his way then he'd do things on the spot.

Demonchild - Never really talked to him, but I get the vibes he was like Kaochinx of Corruption. 

I'll add a few others.

Goku (EoS leader) - Usually a forgotten name but Goku was a huge name if you were in EOS, the guy who a backbone to Prannoy IMO. He was a strong in game person but just like Prannoy he didn't care much outside the game and didn't want to excel EOS to a powerhouse clan. I feel most people in EOS management at the time only cared to have fun and whatever happened.

Diegosage - Diego is a super smart guy but nobody ever remembers him, he's always been a shadow in VR. Due to the fact that he never let himself shine, he was always focused on many other things then the clan, but behind the scenes he'd give ideas and feel if Diego actually cared he could of shined. 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Eric said:

Hi Steve! it's been a long time 🙂

 

What did you enjoy the most from Eos back in the day?
The fact that EOS was a family. Didn't matter what someone was doing you could do. If you played Runescape  and wanted to do godwars anyone was invited, if you wanted to play Counter strike you could, they'd find a team for you. EOS/VR were pretty much the same clan but VR wanted in game dominance where EOS didn't really as long as they had fun at the time.

 

2 hours ago, true said:

What do you feel like are the worst decisions VR ever made? 
Allowing Craigberry to become leader when VR were still a top 1-2 clan. Craigberry was like the evil side of Evizu and Kaochin. He very much loved VR but let his emotions always get to him so if anyone annoyed him than he'd do what he wanted without thinking of the damage it could do to VR as a whole. 

Allowing Kao to have as many chances as he did. I think VR could of excelled better without Kao as he's personally always had a bad image, I think we were too worried that he brought too much to the table but we had a lot of other options but didn't think it'd pan out. 

Getting involved in the doxing war - Just in general, I think if everyone wouldn't of dropped to the level of doxing when a few clans started I think it personally would of died off. But people retaliated causing a lot of members of multiple clans to quit, this game became too personal and put your reality at first depending on the clan you were in. Never seen another game do something like that. 

Crash wars - I feel if we took a break and didn't start as many crash wars we could of let clans build up and try and fight us. Wasn't a need to crash a clan if they didn't want to fight us which caused a bad image for us as a clan.

 

[Empire Mind 29]

7 hours ago, Kestas said:

Since log in spamming is still not fixed, I would rather keep that one to myself.

 

Were you binding in blue Great Orb Project robes all the time?

Not that I remember. I'd bring binds every death even when leading but usually would bind naked.

[Pietru 1,230]

1 hour ago, Empire Mind said:

There's no such thing as a clean fight anymore, and everything is judged by time caps, or how they performed as a team against another clan when they're being crashed.

I believe that time caps are a better solution now, especially now that we're all getting older I don't feel like many of us are down for uncapped fights like we were in the past. I also believe that uncapped fights don't really prove anything as it's pretty much a competition of who can neglect their offline life the most honestly. Is there any reason why you dislike time caps?

Edited March 14, 2021 by Pietru

[Empire Mind 29]

1 hour ago, Adam_ said:

Who were the good members you guys picked up from Derek and Kaochinx' failed lovechild?
Mithwiz, Lukas, Monkeygek, Citrus, John, Lynch, Oji San. There were a ton of good members from it, I ain't really great with remembering RSN's. But we did excel from D2/Lukas when they came and became key members. From the Dk merge we did get a lot of good members, but I feel the damage of merging in like 2019 was dumb.

 

After returning to VR post-RoT did you ever get contacted to leak again or spy? Even not by RoT, but other clans?

Nah, nobody ever asked me too. I feel most knew I regretted my decision and after coming back I kinda just became a member behind the scenes and would do my part in game and that was all. I never wanted to be known as a "big name" after ROT.

 

Seems AF and VR have very often been on good terms and often shared community members, did you ever get involved in their community or care to do so? Were there any people that came over from the AF side that you really liked?

I used to go to some Af events mostly when hitting ROT, but with most teams we were allowed to join it was mostly to just be a member and we'd all chill in Vr instead. We always got good members from any team we'd join but the whole fact that they were P2P scene people they never really lasted due to the fact of the environment change. Like with Frozen Fury we got Kev and Blazer who were two key officials in VR and brought in some really good members. With Brut/AF/Rev it was mostly just guys who'd come and go as it was hard to multi clan as seemed a lot of the time everyone had to pick sides.
 

Do you play any other games now that you're not really into RS anymore? Or are you mostly just busy irl/irl focused?
I still play League/Heroes of the storm/Fortnite once in a while, but I hardly game now. I focus irl way more and come online once every few days to play a game for an hour or two to get away from rl stress. 

 

Also good to hear the things you and @D2master12 have to say about Sparze, it sounds like despite perhaps not always behaving the best he's a good loyal guy and that's (mostly) always a good guy to have around.
People judge others from the outside without getting to know them. I feel many clans had people like that. As previously noted I used to hate Lego with a PASSION without even knowing him. Thru my short stint in DF me and Rick got really close and I got to know him on a personal note and regretted how I'd judge people without knowing them.

 

1 hour ago, Lavigne said:

Are you really a lil dick nigga or was Lovelost lying for DF2 clout?
LoveLost must be upset with his own goods! You can ask anyone in VR the things I show them sometimes for jokes isn't what they want to see. 

 

1 hour ago, true said:

Why didn't you go right back to VR after CoR closed?
I was still upset with Cera at the time for being a dictator, and didn't feel I wanted to go back. I mostly joined DF as I knew DF had a good memberbase of League players, and you know we'd just sit there for hours playing and had no interest of actually enjoying Runescape. Felt like a chore for most of us to even get on.

 

1 hour ago, true said:

Who are some callers from later iterations of VR you think would have been fun to work/call with?

Arma when he was in his prime, when he started calling he was a pk leader and was more of the quiet type, Cody, Hex, Bosha. I wasn't around for most of the guys under me and could of moved up if I wanted to help with these guys but felt I was past my prime and just wanted to come to what I could actually attend then be an official and not go to half the events when they counted on me to be there daily.
 

Do you think Viper should have ever been re-ranked?

I personally don't think so, but Viper was the clan jester, so promoting him I feel like wouldn't of done good, a lot of people didn't take Viper serious because of all his e-dating and the fact he took a lot to heart when talked too. Viper was my best friend in this game for a long time but even himself he wouldn't of wanted to be promoted again but he was in the same boat I was. He just wanted to be around when he could but didn't want to be decisions anymore.
 

Thoughts on Craigberry as an official?
If  Craig didn't take everything to heart I think he could of excelled into a great leader but he was too worried about his own personal gain. I always thought Cera was a dictator but Craig was on a next level. If you were with him then he'd back you, but if you weren't then you'd feel his wraith. He's like a corporate person.. only cares when you're there and doesn't care what you did in the past, it's about what you're going to do for him in the future.

 

Who were VR's worst promotions/officials of all-time?
Jaguarrr, Alex Dawg, Tiffanyz, Julian 6565, both Matty's (Mattych/Matty1298), Diegosage, Street b0y from my experience. I personally think a clan should of 3-4 officials and that's it, promotions in the current state of the clan world aren't needed. 

 

 

 

[Lavigne 900]

Street B0y as a VR official should surprise me, but seeing how I saw Erika jump from Clan Friend to Council it doesn't. Tiffanyz got ranked cos tits. Wasn't aware Diegosage was a bad official but then again him and Liam didn't do much when I was there. 

 

I would agree about Sparze. He's a spaz to pretty much anyone who's ever flamed him or had an issue with VR naturally, but he's never done anything that bad. Unfortunate choice of first name though lol.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Lavigne

[Empire Mind 29]

3 hours ago, D2master12 said:

I was super excited to see this ama; good selection true

Questions:

 

*who did you think were the best fall in leaders that you lead against and why?

Joyhova/IceDrop - I feel these guys had the final decision of how a fight would go, but if they were leading you could see the difference in their in game decision and were smart callers and knew how to motivate their members.
Mar/Oli - I still was good with EOS and knew they were the backbone of the clan and made all decisions, once they took it serious they had a huge influence of people backing them to push thru the summer.

Funkymunky11 - I feel he was the same as above. He had a lot of really good core members who listened to him as a leader and he strived off it.

Brian289 - He was on the same level as Mattyb, when he was leading I knew it was a problem has he became a really good caller and knew exactly what to do in every situation.
Jay Jay - He was the heart of Corr when he was there, he was on another level compared to everyone else. I feel Jay wanted to just stay as a caller only not a leader but did what he had too to keep Corr going.
 

*who were the biggest tanks that you remember?

I found most DF/Solace/TT/Rsd had a lot of good members who knew what they were doing in game, trying to remember all those RSN's would kill me. I can't remember a lot of names from our golden age unless the names were brought forward to me.
 

*In 2009 when VR fought DF+ CoR+ EOS+ ROT+ TT and won, who do you think was the best of the bunch and why?

I think ROT were the best in the scene fighting against us, they wouldn't give up. After a few months every other clan wanted to make a truce which I was happy with as I was done with crash wars, but ROT would never want to make a truce until their demands were met. I feel most clans joined in because we started it and were retaliating against our own decisions we made as we kept crashing everyone. It'd of never gotten to this point if VR didn't start the crash war. 
 

*Why do you think Kaochin became at one point such a prominent figure in VR?
Because he always had the "best intent" for Vr everyone thought and knew what to say to people. He personally fucked over countless members but knew exactly what to do or say. Also he had Cera in his back pocket so if you had a problem with Kao then you had a problem with Cera as well. He knew exactly what he was doing when playing his cards and he was good at it making people feel like VR wouldn't be the same if he left. 
 

-From my time in VR, it was really easy stepping into a new scene seeing that he was no where near as much of the hype that he had around him. lukas/mithwiz/rad/myself all had the same view.

When you guys came in was when he was trying to become more of an out of game leader and putting decisions in Cera's ear, as he didn't get a full say. Once Evizu went MIA for a period was when he really started making more call outs.
 

*What were your thoughts on demonchild as a leader in Corruption?

Never knew him on a personal level but feel like he was a mixture of Craigberry/Kao like I've stated. He felt without him the clan wouldn't last and made decisions via bias decisions, and once things weren't going his way he left.
 

*biggest accomplishment in RS outside of clanning?
Getting max total, I enjoyed the game even outside of clanning while I played.

---

Also just to set the record straight on Sparze; I was pretty surprised to read negative comments about him. Perhaps he is almost too loyal to VR in the fact that he will ragefully tell anyone who isn't VR to fuck off but I can say 1) he is super loyal 2) at this point in my opinion he is 1 of the best in game VR members EVER based on longevity, contribution to the clan in ranks, tanking, sniping, binding, activity, recruiting 3) he is an overall great guy that will help anyone in need. 

 

1 hour ago, JayJay said:

What made you join CoR?

At first it was out of spite against Cera for kicking Demeagles, but after talking to you one on one about the idea I wanted to prove myself and glad I did it. 
 

Did you enjoy your time in CoR?
Yeah I personally did, It was good to see how everyone in Corr were all chill and welcomed me in despite of my previous clanning/history.

 

How did you not get sick of some of the VR guys. You seemed very chill and quite mature. Dealing with people like craigb, d12n3 and tiffany must have been hard

I took everything with a grain of salt. I was the hardheaded person in the backlines and would constantly fight with officials about decisions I didn't agree on if I was active thru that period.
D1e2n3 is actually a very smart guy and didn't agree with a lot of the crashing actually but because VR as a whole wanted it he was like me and went with it. Dennis is like Sparze where people think he's dumb but he's smart and loyal to his clan.

Tiffany... yeah. hated her.
 

What were your thoughts on the whole crashwar series (the original 2)
Didn't agree with it, I understand why we did it due to the fact that nobody wanted to give us action but to me the crash war wasn't the answer. But I have a lot of respect for Evizu so I'd do whatever was asked of me even when I was against it. Personally I think if we let clans grow and kept banter going I think we could of easily got 1v1 fights and could of proved our in game performance rather then trying to take everyone on.

 

Not sure if you were aware but I was planning on giving you Warlord very soon if we stayed open longer. The other officials agreed at the time too I think. You probably would have gotten it sooner but we were still a little cautious in case you were a well placed spy but we were like 95% sure you weren't.

I had a feeling it'd of happened, but also don't blame you. Whenever someone from another clan comes you always think the worse and don't think they're 100% truthful, but like I've said previously I had no ill intent and would of continued to try and perform and help Corr grow.

 

1 hour ago, Adam_ said:

What was your opinion of True as a leader during your time in DF? Granted it doesn't sound like you did much on RS during that time.

I didn't look at True as a leader, he's been more of a friend than anything, but like you said. Yeah, I didn't enjoy the game as much anymore and felt my time in DF was a waste as I didn't care as much as I should of. I should of gave more when joining but was looking for personal gain for a league of legends team. True is the type of person you look as a friend who you don't have to worry if he'll judge you. Some leaders it feels like people are afraid to talk too while True is someone you can crack a joke and he already knows the answer to it or is genuine and will laugh and not because he feel he has too.

 

If the clan world were to somehow end up thriving again or at least be better than it is now, would you ever see yourself taking RS up again in any serious capacity? (I presume with VR.)

If the game went back to F2P based and without clients then yeah I'd feel like it'd give me a drive like it once was, but with how I see Jagex ignores the current clan base I don't ever seeing it going back to the golden age, and people don't have the time or energy like we all once had.

 

 

[Empire Mind 29]

26 minutes ago, Lavigne said:

Street B0y as a VR official should surprise me, but seeing how I saw Erika jump from Clan Friend to Council it doesn't. Tiffanyz got ranked cos tits. Wasn't aware Diegosage was a bad official but then again him and Liam didn't do much when I was there. 

 

I would agree about Sparze. He's a spaz to pretty much anyone who's ever flamed him or had an issue with VR naturally, but he's never done anything that bad. Unfortunate choice of first name though lol.

Street b0y was put as an FA manager and it shocked me because the guy was actually insane I think. Erika was in Vr prior to being a clan friend for years and recently came back.
Tiffany I got no idea why she was given a chance, I don't feel she deserved to be ranked as she was a full on racist, and agree she was ranked due to the fact she was a female.
Diegosage just didn't try ever, he was more worried about World of Warcraft and I feel like he didn't have a say when Evizu was around so he just stopped trying until he was demoted. 

I still Sparze personally enjoys having that type of hype behind his name, he's truly never done anything bad, but ever since I've known him he's been like this and he'll never change.

[@True 2k8 3,215]

6 minutes ago, Empire Mind said:

 

 

 

If my memory serves my correct, I'm pretty sure you're the first person I kicked when I got leader. Still love you Steve.

[Empire Mind 29]

55 minutes ago, Pietru said:

I believe that time caps are a better solution now, especially now that we're all getting older I don't feel like many of us are down for uncapped fights like we were in the past. I also believe that uncapped fights don't really prove anything as it's pretty much a competition of who can neglect their offline life the most honestly. Is there any reason why you dislike time caps?

I'm just not used to them. I haven't really been active fully since OSRS came out. I do agree they're the better solution now since nobody has the time to commit to the game. I don't personally hate time caps at all, they're the thing of the future and show how you can compete in a timely matter. I agree with the uncapped fights just proved who had more time they could spend on the game and glad that's over. Now when clans fight for hours it doesn't prove a thing.

[EoMeri 53]

Hey Steve, been a while. Just gonna drop this here because I have it for whatever reasons in my archives, 29th April 2010

 

[Empire Mind 29]

2 minutes ago, true said:

If my memory serves my correct, I'm pretty sure you're the first person I kicked when I got leader. Still love you Steve.

I got kicked with like 4-5 people. But if I was the first person than fuck you!

[Adam_ 1,031]

So it seems you're not really a big fan of the clients (very understandable and I agree it's really stupid btw). Do you put the blame more on Jagex's side for not enforcing it given that some things just can't be detected (pretty sure pile finder/etc can't actually be detected but could be wrong) ? Do you blame people for using them? Or a mix of both?

 

Who are some people you were happy to see leave or are happy are no longer around VR? (Excluding Kaochinx)

 

Who are some people you're glad to see are still around after so long? Who are some people you wish were still around / still had contact with?

 

Are there any of the newer gen of VR members you've struck up a friendship with or liked?

 

What are your thoughts on RJ? Generally most of what I hear about him is quite positive, but I don't think i've seen him mentioned on this thread yet.

[Empire Mind 29]

3 minutes ago, EoMeri said:

Hey Steve, been a while. Just gonna drop this here because I have it for whatever reasons in my archives, 29th April 2010

 

He'd make these topics quite frequently, you can see how he words things to make you almost feel guilty for him, but as you can see many officials were already on the decline with Kao at this time. 
Kao was good at this, but time and time again proved he was always the same. 

But hey, Eomeri! How have things been! Do you still play the game or moved on?

[B0rntowildy 34]

Just admit you were a VR spy in Cor bro no hard feelings.