General Information:

Full name: Nguyen Kim Long
Nickname: Q9.Spirit
Date of Birth: August 8th 1988
Occupation: Employee of VTC Online Game Product team
Competition Honors:
• The 3rd Prize of iGame Spring 2008
• The 2nd Prize of WCG VN 2008 HCM Pro Qualifier
• The 1st Prize of VN S.A Tournament #1
• The 1st Prize of VN S.A World Championship VN Qualifier
• The 2nd Prize of International E-sport Federation Invitational
• The 5th Prize Asiasoft Game Fest 2010 Malaysia
Other talents: Soccer
Favorite quote: Nothing is impossible
Favorite stuff: Logitech Mx518 Mouse, Everglide Titan Fnatic Edition Mousepad, Cherry Mechanical Keyboard.
Describe yourself: Personality, dare to do what I dare to say, good logical thinking, responsible

RGN: How did you come to Counter Strike?

Q9.Spirit: I started playing CS since sixth grade. At that time, my family was poor, so I had no condition to have a computer. Fortunately, I had a very nice neighbor. He made me feel I was his brother and hanged out with me. Initially, I went to internet cyber to practice Microsoft Word, and then saw people played StarCraft. Later, people started playing Counter Strike and I played with them, too.

When I was in high school, MMO movement flourished. I started playing online games. When was in secondary school, I played CS kind of well, so I always wanted to compete to show my skills. In 11th grade, I learned to play StarCraft on online servers, so I found out if I could play CS online or not. Then I joined the CS community called procsvn.

After a short time, I had made considerable progress and many players supported me. I knew the nearest internet cyber called Teo which organized some StarCraft tournaments. The cyber owner was very dedicated to eSports and directed me to set up a team. I’ve named my CS team Q.9, with the meaning District 9 – where I live.

 

RGN: Q.9 CS was a very strong team. Why you moved to Sudden Attack after the successful year 2008?

Q9.Spirit: Although my CS team established early but for many reasons, we did not develop strong enough. At some moments, Q.9 has narrowed the gap with 1st.vn but still cannot topple this team. After tournament in Malaysia of 1st.vn, the level of the two teams was getting further and Q.9 had no rival to practice. At that time, the movement of CS in HCM city developed stronger than ever and 1st.vn had three rosters with the same level!

In 2008, when Sudden Attack was released, I knew there would be many tournaments. After trying to play, our team all loved this game and decided to move to S.A. The leader always had unique advantages. With the advantage of thinking and practice is available from CS, our S.A team dominated throughout the year 2008.

When Sudden Attack closed in Vietnam, I was very sad because I had worked for Vinagame which was S.A distributor in Vietnam. Looking ahead, S.A will be back, but that version is not Vietnamese, so I’m not happy.

 

RGN: You have participated in many international game events. What time was the most memorable?

Q9.Spirit: There are three memorable events. Asian World Cyber Games 2008 was the first international event I went to see and really impressed with how the organizers have done. Next is the E-sports Federation International Invitational 2008, an event that Q.9 S.A has won the 2nd Prize. At that time, I had the honor of holding a flag to represent Vietnam at the opening ceremony and also established eSports World Association.

The third event was Asian Indoor Games 2009. I was acting as a national arbitrator. It was great to know how the eSports be recognized and put into a formal international event in Vietnam.

 

RGN: What is the most memorable game of your career?

Q9.Spirit: That feeling was when our team touched a hand to winning, but then dropped it. In VESC 2007, my team met HiVo and lead them 15-13. We were wrong in strategy and HiVo equaled the score. Three extra games were three draw games and in the fourth game, our team failed.

 

RGN: Now what do you do in VTC Online? What are the differences between gamers and game operators?

Q9.Spirit: Initially, I worked at the VTC as event manager. Currently, my work related to game products was released by VTC in HCM city as a PR and Marketing.

Playing games and operating games are completely different. Good players proved to be good at thinking, so they can do well in many job. When being a game operator, a gamer will have an advantage to know and capture the psychology of other players.

 

RGN: Besides working for the VTC, you are managing two website Game8.vn and iGame.vn. Have you ever feel overload?

Q9.Spirit: Friends are surprised at me when I managed and developed Game8 because when I was at school, I had poor performance in literature. The ability in writing improved when I participated in procsvn, joined eSports community, wrote guides and articles for PC World magazine.

Sometimes I am overload because besides working time, I also have to take the time for community, friends and family. Now I also feel overload by the huge volume of work in a limited time.

 

RGN: Are you proud of what you have done? Is there anything you have not and are trying to do?

Q9.Spirit: It should also be proud of what I have contributed, particularly emotional from community after my efforts. However, there are still many things need to be done, especially society still has one-side view to gamers, people who make games and eSports. Hopefully one day, Vietnamese eSports become national pride, such as South Korea or Sweden.

RGN: What are your interests?

Q9.Spirit: I love watching soccer, playing soccer, watching movies, listening to music, surfing Facebook and tourism. Recently, I also prefer to “chatting” with my friends.

 

RGN: Are you usually online at Facebook? Talk about this hobby!

Q9.Spirit: Also quietly frequent. Facebook has many positive aspects but also the negative sides. Facebook helps spreading information quickly, associated with good friends. I have friends who initially did not know how to register yahoo account, but they are now on Facebook regularly. However, sometimes Facebook takes much time and makes people not to be focus to work.

 

RGN: In your opinion, social network for gamers is a good idea or not?

Q9.Spirit: It’s a good idea. Some websites have been built in that direction but the level of investment and direction is not good, so they are not successful.

 

RGN: In the future, Vietnam will have a professional gamer who get paid to compete in eSports. Do you think it will happen?

Q9.Spirit: I think now this is quite difficult because government did not really support it. ESports need massive multimedia and money to be developed.

 

RGN: What is your intend in future?

Q9.Spirit: I will concentrate more on work. However, to me, family is always more important than work.