What happens when you look at the leader board in Battlefield 2142? You see first the name WoKeN on rank 1 and at the end of the page your name with the rank somewhere far away (mostly). Many have posted in forums about WoKeN, as if they are his best buddy, or have played almost as long as he did, and all the time with him. To be frank, a lot of bullshit has been said and is still being said in forums and all sorts of chats, including in game. So who is this guy and how does he stick to the top of the leader board for weeks on end now? I ventured out into the game servers, found WoKeN and talked to him. He agreed to do an interview and the result of this you can see here.

This interview was held on 7th of December 2006.

Simon Moon
Thanks for having this little talk.
WoKeN
Oh for sure, pleasure to do it anytime.
Simon
The dictionary has on woken "A past participle of wake". Where did the nick come from and what does it mean to you?
WoKeN
I've had the name for a while, back when I was starting fresh in college. I picked it for various reasons, mainly because it was original, easy to remember, and at the time I was on set for new beginnings in my life.
Simon
The scary question now. Who are you in real life? How old? Whats your education, job and birthday of your pet?
WoKeN
I'm 21 years old, year 85. Born and raised in New York City, Manhattan. No pets, my condo building doesn't allow pets. No job right now, last job was dealing with real estate, but in new york city, that's as common as a highschooler smoking cigarettes. Taking a little break from school right now, was in pursuit of becoming an ENT (ear, nose and throat specialist) ever since my mom lost most of hear hearing since as long as I could remember. I have a girlfriend who hates me ever since I started playing the game so much. She'll call me a "nub" and I'll tell her I love in her return. That's love.
Simon
When you look up your name on the officially site or in the game, you can find WoKenStInKs, WoKeN-lover and WoKeNisAnoob along with your own nick. What do you think of people like that?
WoKeN
I would tell you what I thought of them... If I thought of them.
Simon
According to the official EA page, you have about 545 hours playtime in Battlefield 2142. Considering the game us out for 74 days at this moment we are having this talk, this means you have played about 7 hours and 22 minutes a day in average. What gives you that much time to play? What are you doing when you are not playing the game? What do you do to not be totally burnt out from the game?
WoKeN
I'm in a comfortable position right now, I have a lot of free time to spare with no school in the near future. I took a break off school to just relax, I mean really just relax. I was in a stressful place with being overwhelmed by school and other personal issues, just wanted to lay low for a bit and be lazy. So I took a break off from school and the rest of my responsibilities and I guess BF2142 for the majority is helping me relax. It's funny though, I wasn't even planning to buy the game until a friend of mine convinced me to do so, and been playing since. There was a time where I was trying to get all the awards, so about 80 hours of commanding or so was not really playing. Most of those 80 hours of commanding I was either on the phone or getting some other work done or watching a movie. Of course I wasn't completely afk, I would make sure to uav, or give whatever commander assets that were needed. There was a lot of multi-tasking for sure. When I'm not playing the game I'm usually at a friend's house eating his food or watching a movie, or vice versa. In order for me not to get burnt I will just play in oddly split durations throughout the day, maybe 3 hours here, or 2 hours there. Usually I'll play a lot throughout the night when I can't sleep anymore and I have no one to bother when it's that late. If I play too long for a long duration, I will notice I get lazy and start to suck, so I will usually take a break in durations and play again when I feel that I want to when I'm refreshed.
Simon
What is your motivation in playing Battlefield 2142?
WoKeN
Honestly, my rank is a pretty big motivation for me to keep playing. Maintaining the rank is kind of cool. Back in Battlefield 2 I was a very casual player, I had bought that game since release, and only have a total of some 400 hours in it. Of course I also had a lot of responsibilities like school and work to attend to, but now I get to relax for a short while. Being on a leader board where I know I'm competing with people that are scattered across the globe and being at a high rank is pretty exciting. Back when I first bought Battlefield 2142, you (Simon) were already number 1, some friends and I would gossip of you, of course being number 1. We all thought it mutually was pretty cool, and the more I played with my friends since release I would notice I was ranking high and higher. I honestly had no idea I was getting so high in the leader boards until a friend of mine Demonic_Prime had told I was ranked 40ish or so. It was then I thought maybe I could get rank 20. Before I know it, rank 20 turns to 10, and 10 turns to 1. I have read a lot of criticism from players that just look at my stats so I would guess my current motivation to keep playing the game I guess is just getting my stats up higher to represent what I'm really about. My KDR, SPM, and Accuracy have all been hindered pretty much due to a lot of things. For instance I would die a lot when I played Titan mode, and I invested a lot of time in Titan up until recently where I found out I was dying stupid deaths of claymores, or my beacon being spawn camped, along with horrible frames per second in some titan servers, which of course relates to my accuracy. Titan is a great, new, and fun mode, but it also has made me a lazy gamer and doesn't do my stats justice lol, at least it doesn't represent my stats to what I can accomplish or have them portray if I hadn't played titan. Since I've stopped playing titan and only play small infantry conquest like 48 man Camp Gibraltar maps my KDR has gone from 1.5 to 2.0 and continues to rise as I usually make average of anywhere from 3-5 KDR a round along with anywhere from 2.4-4.X SPM.
Simon
You can read in forums and of course in the game if it comes up, that you have no life whatsoever. What would you like to tell them?
WoKeN
Man, those people are just brilliant. I myself am just amazed to come across psychics via Internet. They can foresee everything there is to know about my life just by looking at my stats in a video game. But seriously though, I don't take much of what they say about my life into consideration. It's just stupid to read some guy probably half way across the country or even globe who has never met me and has the slightest idea of how I live my life, all to just conclude what it is I do with my life. No matter how you put it, unless they personally knew me and not just through a computer, there's not much for them to do other than to just speculate about what I do with my time outside of the game.
Simon
How are reactions in general to you when you play? How do you deal with them?
WoKeN
I might get some attention thrown my way in a game, sometimes I won't notice because the text gets spammed quickly with all the in-game voice commands. I don't mind it. I generally don't like to type a lot in a game, I'm usually too busy playing than actually chat. Too much chatter in a game will usually result in people just bashing each other from my experience with games like counter strike, so I usually just like to let my actions in the game speak for me. A professor of mine once told me, "Those who voice too much don't know what to say, those who keep to themselves know exactly what to say." As for the knifers that come at me, I've come quite accustomed to it, I think I have about 400 people on my buddy list now, and it keeps growing by the day. I know the majority of them add me just to knife and collect my dog tags, so I'm not really surprised anymore if or when someone knifes me. It's not that hard if you think about it. If someone dedicates themselves enough to do something, they will accomplish doing that. And I have met some pretty driven people about getting my tags. The most memorable person or persons was a whole clan trying to get my tags in a small 16 man Fall of Berlin insomnia 365 server. I think we played for about 2 hours together before they managed to get me lol. One guy was dirty where they had one of the clan mates join my squad and revive me, and one of them would knife me as I would come back after being revived. It was fun none the less, and it's fun to fight off the knifers as much as I can, but there will be a lot of times I will get knifed and I really don't let it get to me.
Simon
In game you sport the tag {TCS}. Is that a clan, a team or just some friends?
WoKeN
It stands for The Clancy Syndicate. It was my first and only Clan and I became apart of them back in the summer when I was playing BF2: Special Forces. I guess were are mainly known for our BF2:SF 64 man server. I guess this is where I'd insert the shameless plug, theclancysyndicate.com. Feel free to check us out if you're ever interested in a battlefield orientated clan.
Simon
Do you belong to any league?
WoKeN
Not in any league right now, {TCS} was involved with TWL back in BF2, mainly 5v5 infantry. But right now we are very laid back. Soon we hope to find more dedicated members to go at competitions again.


Simon
I asked someone for a question to ask you and sometimes in the middle he said "Holy crap 1500 dog tags". Well it's not actually a question, but holy crap, how did you manage to accumulate 1500 unique dog tags (not duplicates)? Do you sometimes go dog tag hunting or how do you decide on taking out the trusty knife and when not?
WoKeN
A lot of my knifing was due to creeping up behind attackers while I was defending my titan. For a long while the knife was just a fun thing to toy with because you could just take out a whole squad or even 2 with a knife if you came up behind them. Usually attackers once inside your titan will only focus on what console or even core they're trying to breach. So there is a lot of opportune moments where they won't even notice you behind them. If you act casual enough while near so many people of say 6 or even 12, the majority will not recognize you or will even think you're apart of their team if you don't act hostile and seem casual, that's when it's too late for them and they're on the floor. The best is to start from the first person in the back, it helps better if they're proning. This way if by any chance you miss they don't have many options to evade you if you were prone behind them. It's really funny for me to see a whole Killing text of who killed who spammed by 1 guy with a knife. I remember at times when I dedicated myself to only knifing I would average with 30-40 dog tags in a round.
Simon
When you sit there and play, are you more of a calm gamer or is your adrenaline raging? Or is it sometimes one way and sometimes another?
WoKeN
I'll perform my best when I'm calm and focused, being calm and focusing on my next move depending on how the flags look on the map is usually how I get by. When or if I let rage get the best of me, is usually when my count in kills slowly beginning to decrease, and the deaths begin to increase.
Simon
Whats the one thing, if you had to chose, you hate about Battlefield 2142? What's the one thing you love?
WoKeN
What I love is you're in the start of a good game and have a KDR of 30:X and able to keep up a strong KDR along with keeping my squad up. Thing I hate is when you're in the start of a good game and have a KDR: of 30:X and start dying from what I call "stupid deaths" IE claymores, random claymores, coordinated claymores, claymores, people running behind me while I'm crouching claymores. Getting slayed by an armor whore once you spawn, etc. Those are usually on the top of my frustration list.
Simon
If you had to teach somebody about Battlefield 2142, as in playing it and that person has a basic grasp of FPS games, what would be the number one tip you would want to give that player on its way out onto the public servers?
WoKeN
I'd say definitely learn the mechanics behind the game. Because the game is very team orientated, it's crucial to understand how you can become a good team player. I'd say to of course understand what each kit has to offer and outweigh your decision to use which kit to play depending on the scenario. Like in conquest where tickets is what determines which team wins or loses, a huge way to upkeep your team's tickets would be learning to be a good medic. Each registered death beyond being crucially injured will result in your team losing a ticket, but a player can do something about this if they can revive someone in time, saving that team's ticket. Also a good way to make a sure point to help your own personal score. It's a win/win situation. It can also help your team to advance to the next flag, if you can keep your squad up long enough or even random team mates, then it's only a matter of time before more team mates will help you push through advancing to whatever flag you're trying to breach. And there's always a good chance the person you may revive is just a beast with a gun and a clean shot, and if giving him or her that second chance to fight back may very well result in that person taking out whatever threat it is that's pinning you and your team mates down.
Simon
Did you ever go specifically for a badge or did they just keep appearing while you were playing?
WoKeN
For a while I was just getting badges as I played, and then I saw I had collected a handful of the awards to count as the majority and thought I could probably get all of them if I tried. So a big part of the time already played, I put aside about anywhere from 80 to 100 hours or so to just getting the rest of my awards, and if you look at the awards a lot of them are affiliated with one another. A lot of the awards have requirements with commanding hours. I hate playing commander, but I filled in the hours to get the awards, and also hit other awards that were also affiliated with each other like the AA gun awards. I think there are about 3-5 awards total that require command time and also 3-5 awards that required AA time. I figured I could hit a couple birds with one stone, played commander, and sat in the Titan AA guns, and by the time I had gotten 1 award for both commander and AA requirements, I was able to get them altogether. But yeah, strictly just getting those awards were incredibly boring. I was multitasking at the time of doing this lol.
Simon
Apart from a couple of gold badges (Will you get those?), you miss only three medals and the War College Ribbon. Now that ribbon is often described as one of the toughest awards to get, in BF2, before they changed it, and now also in BF2142. You have enough commander hours under your belt but the win loss ratio looks a bit bleak. You would need 172 wins right now, without losing once, to get to the 2:1 ratio. Is that your current goal? What's the next one?
WoKeN
The rest of my awards will wait, and will be achieved all in due time I suppose. I've already set aside about 100 not really playing hours for the majority of the time consuming out of my way awards that i have obtained already. To put aside another 100 or so multitasking hours for the few that i have yet to get just doesn't seem worth it to me. Though the War college ribbon won't be hard for me to get, now that the only thing i play right now is conquest. Back in Titan I didn't care about winning, only cared about points. I actually preferred to lose, that way i was insured my team would be defending, which out of the two teams, the defending one would accumulate more points because it is easier to defend than to attack.
Simon
You say that you played a lot commander, to get those awards. You also played Titan a lot, and now I see you playing Conquest lots. Which game mode do you prefer?
WoKeN
Titan was fun at first, but I definitely see myself playing at most of my potential on conquest maps. Titan can get very frustrating with all the absurd deaths due to lag, excess claymores, or lots of random glitches people will tend to abuse. Conquest, the game is more in my control.
Simon
And what map, in what size is your favorite?
WoKeN
The two current favorite maps I tend to play on a lot are Camp Gibraltar at size 48, and Fall of Berlin at size 16. I love Camp Gibraltar at size 48 because it can be a very crazy atmosphere with a lot of instances with a lot of flanking involved. You can either go crazy and Rambo your way to death with a lucky kill streak, or you can be patient and flank out a whole team with a coordinated squad. Fall of Berlin at size 16 is great because this means I get to do a lot of 1 on 1 stand offs between myself and an opponent where I don't have to worry myself too much with being shot from an enemy trying to flank me. Berlin at size 16 or any small server is great for also practicing your skills with an unfamiliar gun, or even getting better with a gun you're currently good at. There's a couple of guns I'm quite familiar with, but I'll learn a new trick or way to use it when it's in a small server like that. I also say small 16 man servers show you what a person is really about when it comes down to skill compared to a bigger server. In such a huge server, there can be a lot of reasons to why a person dies and can't fight back. He could be spawn camped by armor, out numbered and severely flanked. In a small 16 man server it's a lot more calm and there's a lot more of 1 on 1 fights, where people will usually just square off without too much hassle of others interfering. Usually the one more prepared or skilled with that kit being used is the victor in a fair 1 on 1 fight. Not a lot of times you get to do this in bigger servers where there are people at your every corner. Generally I'm not a fan of any huge map that's not infantry based. Armor just isn't my thing.
Simon
Currently you mostly are in the game as a squad leader, leading a very successful squad. If you could tell everyone who ever plays with you, in your squad, what to do in general when playing with you, what would that be?
WoKeN
Definitely stick together. Too many times I see people join my squad, and he or she will just do his or her thing. This will usually result in that person dying, and I can't get to that person in time because he has strayed off way too far from the rest of the group, and that will mean a loss of a ticket and a death for that person. If you join a squad, work as a squad. I love it when people can stick with my movements and follow as I advance to new flags for capping. It's also greatly appreciated you go medic this way you can keep the squad who will in return keep you up. I've come to witness many times that a whole squad of medics who are on top of their reviving game can make that squad more or less impossible to put down. If you see a squad mate down, don't try to take out the threat that's shooting you especially if you know if you're taking a big risk of your own life by doing so. Instead try reviving the dead squad mates so the numbers are back in your favor. Even if you die after reviving your squad mates, you will be insured that your squad mates will do the same for you as soon as you die. Whenever we have all died, we then usually are back at square 1 with whatever flag we had previously just spawned at. So keeping each other up and progressing to our next destination is a big thing I must emphasize.
Simon
How important is team play, squad based but also just generally going for the goals, for you personally?
WoKeN
Team play, or team work is very important. I've always understood that team work was very important, but then i found a whole new understanding how just how important it was through league play in 5v5 infantry in TWL. I came to realize it didn't really matter how good of player you were, if your team wasn't with it, you alone can't determine what happens. You could have a whole team of 5 who are better than average players who can shoot, and you can have another team who might not be as great in shooting, but their tactic with holding their flags and advancing to the next flag will outweigh the team that has poor team work. In public games team work is also pretty crucial, especially if you know your team is doing horrible due to the fact that the other team has great team work and your team may have none. This can also effect me personally because if my team suffers, then more than likely my score and KDR will suffer as well. All the players in a team will usually balance each other out, a good player will balance out a bad player or vice versa.
Simon
You have a worst death streak of 16 times dying in a row, without killing one person. How did that happen?
WoKeN
Yeah I remember that well, lol. I can be a very stubborn person. I remember my spawn beacon was being camped on top of an enemy titan while I was trying to attack the titan. There was a large group of people just standing and crouching by my squad's beacon just waiting for us to pod down 1 by 1. The more I died, the more people would come to camp it. I was stubborn and thought I could take them on, I can get like that sometimes, and it will get the best of me if I let it. It got to the point where I wanted revenge for being taken advantage of, I stopped using a gun and just started to try to collect some dog tags out of the situation. Didn't work out so well. At the point of getting 11 deaths, the rest of my squad had stopped spawning on the beacon, but I continued. I figured I could at least get a purple heart out of it since I was so close already lol. I always intended of getting all the awards sooner or later anyway. At least that's my justification of it, and I'll stick to that lol.
Simon
What is your secret to keep a good Kill/Death ratio?
WoKeN
Be accustomed to a weapon that you can trust with to the point where you can be a clean shot helps, but also using tactic is a huge help with keeping a good KDR in a game. Understanding the map very well, and where your opponents will be depending on how the game changes due to who has what flags. If you know the majority of a team is going to flock to a certain area in a certain way because it's obvious way of getting there, then with a good understanding of the map you can find easy routes to flank them. Keep moving and out of sight, and let the people in the front lines take the stress, while you're the person who's taking the opponents out.
Simon
What is your favorite weapon and why?
WoKeN
Paur of the Bower! I always said if you can master the baur you can be pretty much unstoppable 1 on 1, helping you become a very versatile player.
Simon
We played some rounds together, Fall of Berlin and Camp Gibraltar, I saw you mostly running around as Assault with the Baur. You basically wasted everyone with it (mostly by just normal shots, sometimes with the rockets). What is your tactics or way of playing with it that makes you so good with that weapon?
WoKeN
I'll usually use the Baur while I'm playing conquest. It's got great range, fast reloading down time which is great for out-sniping snipers, or just about anyone. The trick is to be focused with it and not to take in account what your opponent is doing. If it's a stand off between you and your opponent about to square off shooting you can't think for a second how he's going to shoot you, all that focus is better used if you just concentrate on shooting him. If you're good enough with the baur, 2 hits in the head will put your opponent yelling for a medic in more or less a second. Don't worry about if he'll take you out, if you focus enough with a baur to scope out his head, you should come out without a scratch or at least enough hp to run away and heal yourself for the next victim. I'll use the rockets when I can, where I know the splash and distance will be effective, especially when he or she is hiding behind some kind of barricade where I can't get a clean shot off with my baur.
Simon
So what are the precise moves you have to master with the Baur to become great with it?
WoKeN
Usually I'll leave it on single shot, lately I've been experimenting the baur with single shot in close range, and I've came to the conclusion that if aimed properly and rate of fire spammed quick enough the baur in single shot can be quite accurate in close range fights as well as long range in single shot. Also with only 20 rounds per clip, you must make the most of every single bullet. Leaving it in single shot for the majority will help you use your ammo sparingly. If used on auto, there is a great chance the cross hair will widen too quickly beyond your opponents hit box, which will result in missing, leaving your baur empty and you dead on the floor. Either Auto in big enough bursts to put your opponent down, or single shot in close range rapidly. If you can burst efficiently, that's great, but many times you will find yourself bursting too much, where you will miss a lot, or not enough where you couldn't kill him fast enough and you're dead. Always be sure to make use of the Right click aim (scope) feature. Without this a lot of guns are very inaccurate, but never use this when an opponent is in point blank range, this is when it's very hard to keep him in your scope as he'll strafe left to right, right to left as he's that close to you. The Baur is also the type of gun where you need your own personal judgment on when to use what feature of it to understand how to use it. Many times it's in that person's own judgment to either choose when to use the right click aim scope or not to. Of course you use it depending on how far your opponent is, but how far your opponent is will vary on opinion of each individual, as each individual is different. When I find an opponent mid or long range, that gives me notification that he or she won't usually take me out because we're somewhat far away, giving me time to aim just quickly enough at that person's head to take him out with 2 hits in right click aim scope. Never fire too fast after each shot when aiming for the head, give judgment on when the recoil resets and then fire away. Yes the baur has a good deal of recoil, but it may not be as powerful as you may take it for. Give it a very brief moment before taking your next single fire shot while in scope mode when aiming for the head, and that person will usually be out before his or hers 2nd shot off. In very close to somewhat close to mid range I will usually spam my shots in the center of his shoulders with usually single shot, but when it gets hectic and I can't think clearly I will switch to automatic. I choose between the shoulders because 1) it's a huge hit box, very hard to miss with not much effort, and 2) there is a good chance with the strong recoil, the baur will fire upwards towards the head, that lucky shot will usually be the deal breaker. But even then I can survive off the powerful rounds alone that the baur has to offer in a direct hit anywhere on the upper body. Again if an opponent is ever in close range, it's better to not use the right click aim scope. Because the scope on the baur is very strong it will magnify your opponent to the point where you're looking at the smallest details on his uniform, making it hard for you to shoot.
Simon
Since you are number one in their game, did anyone from EA or DICE ever contact you?
WoKeN
There was one DICE developer, not sure if I want to give his name out. But I'm sure you know who you are mr. sniper.
Simon
Do you know why you were chosen for the rank you have now?
WoKeN
Your guess is as good as mine.
Simon
If EA would listen to you, and I really mean listen, not just "we take it into consideration", what changes would you make to the game? New weapons? Unlocks? Awards? Maps?
WoKeN
Yes. Have you ever tried to ram someone in a gunship while he or she was parachuting? What the hell! In what logical sense is... Man in parachute > armored "2142" plated air jet. Too many times I've tried ramming my gunship into someone who has just bailed his own gunship after a dog fight and he ends up killing me because of his indestructible parachute. Another cool thing they could work on is the key mechanics with different unlocks in a kit. For instance, while having the Defib, X unlock here, and baur, it's the #5 button on the keyboard that selects the defib, but when you use the Krylov instead of the Baur, the defib's button on the keyboard will change. It would be nice for the unlocks on the kits to be static, can be very confusing at times while I'm being shot at trying to revive someone. Other than that, I really have no complaints.
Simon
Of course some techies want to know what your machine looks like. So what is in your box and around it?
WoKeN
DFI-SLI-DR Lanparty Motherboard, AMD 4000+64 CPU, Nvidia 7800GT, 2 gigs OCZ (2.5-3-2-5), 2 Deskstar HDs in RAID-0, Audigy 2 sound card, 150 Sennheiser headphones. SAMSUNG 740BF, 17 inch monitor, 4ms. Nothing too fancy with my keyboard or mouse, Microsoft 5 button optical intellimouse, and a microsoft multimedia keyboard. Though I have been thinking about getting a razer mouse to see what all the hype is about.
Simon
There has been a rumor or better speculation as to if you are the person who is running a site, that charges people to look at well known exploits in Battlefield 2142. What is your stance on this?
WoKeN
There has been much speculation of me being the same person who runs a 2142 cheating website (I don't know if you can even call it that because it's just some half ass blog where it asks people for money via paypal to pay for already known exploits), and would like to state here once and for all i am in no way affiliated with that website, I had never even heard of the website where the owner claims to be me. I found about this website through someone on my buddy list asking me if I was really that person, I replied to him I had never heard of it till he brought it to my attention.
Simon
Anything else you would like to say?
WoKeN
Yes, WoKeN dog tags are going for only 10 USD via paypal, get 2 and the 3rd is only 25% off. Offer is only legitimate until Christmas, Hurry as supplies are limited, no C.O.Ds. lol, I'm just kidding, nah not much more to say. Thanks for taking the time with the interview.
Simon
Thanks for this interview. I see you on the Battlefield.
WoKeN
Thank you for the interview, best of luck to everyone in the battlefield community!
Retrieved from "http://bf2142.gamestrafe.com/Interview_with_WoKeN"

This page was last modified 20:56, 12 December 2006.
This page has been accessed 22,418 times.