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Apr 15, 2008 at 01:26 PM CDT
View Comments: 12
Interview with the departing Mint manager
Posted by: xilef
The CGS raised a storm when they announced that the manager of their London team, Sujoy Roy, would be leaving. Regarded by many as the godfather of gaming in the UK, Sujoy was the first UK professional gamer and paved the way for the others that followed. His involvement in the league helped to emphasise that CGS was a serious gaming competition.At the conclusion of the CGS' first season, Roy announced his retirement from managing the London Mint team. We asked him some questions about his experiences with the CGS and his reasons for retiring.
Hi Sujoy, great to see you again. So the burning question is: why are you leaving CGS?
Well, over the last few months I've been developing a major gaming project in London called Gamerbase, and we've reached the point where I can't split my time between this company and CGS without them both suffering. I'd love to stay on as London Mint manager, but the role can be very time consuming and I wouldn't be doing any justice to my team.
Does being a manager really need that much effort?
The GM needs to be working very hard to build their brand, and this second year in the league should see the development of the teams with sponsorship and more public activity. If I stayed on I think the London team would fall behind others from around the world. They need a manager that can focus on the team every day of the week.
What is Gamerbase all about?
I have been working closely with Dominic Mulroy over the last 10 years, developing competitive gaming in the UK and particularly the LAN gaming centre scene. Gamerbase is the latest centre we’re building. By gaming centre, I mean a venue where people can go to play video games in a social environment. The gaming centre is a great place to play multiplayer games because people just enjoy them more when they’re in the same room as their opponents. Online gaming is a great way to play, but nothing compares to fragging a guy sitting across the table.
There have been lots of gaming centres around the world, what’s so special about Gamerbase?
We’ve seen how gaming centres have never really made it big everywhere except in Korea where they have already embraced the whole culture. With Gamerbase, we wanted to unite the industry under one roof. Everyone knows video games are huge, now outselling both music cds and dvds. At Gamerbase we wanted to include elements of retail, media and technology into our usual mix of online gaming and tournaments. We’ve been working very closely with the right people to make this happen – HMV, Intel and DELL – and now we’re on the verge of rolling out our gaming stores across the whole country.
Will there be professional gaming going on at Gamerbase?
Of course pro-gaming is and always has been my passion, so I’ll be organising lots of events at the stores. The great thing about going national is that all of a sudden you have different towns that have their own gaming centre and their own identity in these leagues. I’ve always loved the idea of town-Vs-town, which is why representing London in the CGS was so appealing to me in the first place. I’d love to get a grass roots competition going by using teams from individual towns. This kind of community league is what drives people to do bigger and better things with the aim of one day reaching the heights of becoming a CGS professional gamer.
You had a disappointing CGS world final in LA with the London team. Was that a factor in your retiring as GM?
We didn’t perform well in LA. We played our first game against Core and lost it, excluding us from the tournament in our first game. I might have looked back and said we did our best, but I do think the team underperformed for various reasons. Whether we could have beaten Core with our team playing at their best is something I’ll be wondering about forever. However, this is not any part of my reason to retire as GM.
With hindsight, do you regret your draft choices?
I think that if I went back to draft day, I’d have a hard time changing any of my decisions. With the order and the players that were there on the day, I still think I made the best possible choices. I think the most controversial choice at the time was picking NT 101 to partner Stune. However NT has shown his value throughout the whole season and I think the next Mint manager would be crazy to drop that duo. I’m still extremely proud of the entire team and I think we’re very worthy holders of the UK trophy.
What do you make of the CGS and do you think they can achieve their goals?
The league has had an uphill task from the very beginning, trying to create a televised sport from online gaming. They’ve had to try and unite the current gaming communities and at the same time make a show that the mainstream would enjoy. I think the CGS have done an incredible job so far and changed the face of gaming forever. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but I’m confident the league is moving in the right direction.
Good luck with Gamerbase and we hope to hear more from your gaming projects soon.
This interview was written by Veed.
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ChrisyB
Posts: 405
Location: Ipswich
Pro Gamer
KSE
Posts: 5
Location:
Very very very sad to see Sujoy go.
That being done, welcome ben, but please, for god sake change your profile picture so you don't look like a school boy pulling a face. A bit of professionalism wouldn't go a miss
That being done, welcome ben, but please, for god sake change your profile picture so you don't look like a school boy pulling a face. A bit of professionalism wouldn't go a miss
seat_0n
Posts: 24
Location:
GL, Gamerbase looks awesome
=^.^=
=^.^=
Chenery
Posts: 207
Location: Spalding
Pro Gamer
gl in future mate, will pop in gamerbase whenever im in london 
Ricochet
Posts: 710
Location: In front of an xbox360 and HDTV ^_^
Pro Gamer
All the best Sujoy 
You're a big credit to the gaming community.
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.
You're a big credit to the gaming community.
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.
BenGM
Posts: 85
Location: Tamworth
Staff Member
Whats wrong with my smile?! a new picture will be taken at CGS UK combine/draft anyway
KSE
Posts: 5
Location:
lol.. that isn't your smile, smiles do not involve eyes popping out of heads
BenGM
Posts: 85
Location: Tamworth
Staff Member
eyes wide shut 
Snuggles55
Posts: 587
Location: Gainsborough
Pro Gamer
Good luck Sujoy!
L3ppy
Posts: 158
Location: Portsmouth
wow gamerbase looks really nice must pop in their when in london!
Stune
Posts: 521
Location: Stafford
Pro Gamer
Was great working with you Sujoy. Best of luck in the future with gamerbase., hope to see you around sometime
Best of luck in the future with gamerbase., hope to see you around sometime
ODEE
Posts: 209
Location: Surrey
Team GM
Shame to see you stepping down Sujoy you are a true legend to me anyway I know though you will be in the background building UK esports and for me that is just as important, see you soon.
http://birminghamsalvo.thecgs.com
I know though you will be in the background building UK esports and for me that is just as important, see you soon.
http://birminghamsalvo.thecgs.com
"If you don't practice you don't deserve to win"