Name: Chris
Age: 28 (He has played Hattrick since around age 11 or 12!) He has quit twice during that time, and this most recent team was started in 2006. He was not able to search and locate any old posts from his old accounts unfortunately though.
He works at a professional services financial consulting firm. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri, and he graduated with my masters at University of Missouri-Columbia (which is called 'Mizzou' around here). He has a long time girlfriend, but he is not married.
He's a lifelong gamer, and he is almost always online to some extent. The first games he remembers playing are Diablo 1 and Runescape, back when Runescape only had one login server. Back then, only about 2000 or so people could play at once, and there were always 2000 people logged in playing, so you would type in your username and password and then hold down the 'enter' key to spam trying to login, so that you could be sure to be the next one to get logged in if someone got disconnected or logged out!
Other games he has played the most are Brokenmetal (a online multiplayer space game that is long gone now), Continuum, another game just called 'Space', fortnite, League of Legends, online chess, and then of course World of Warcraft from about 2006 until about 2011.
Other main hobbies are biking (not motorcycles, but pedal bikes), weightlifting, reading, redditing, gardening, eating at good restaurants. Personal finance is also a big interest/hobby. He used to be very into running but it was hard on his joints.
Interview with GM-Rhaps (Done by Mod-Runnerd)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTOVcREgDZ0
Today is The Three Wise Men Day in Spain, and we have something special. Franfer (Our usual interviewer) is on holidays and we have a new interviewer with us: Mod-Runnerd. He brings us an interview with his friend and partner in the Hattrick workers staff. He is no other than one of the honorary presidents of our Tavern: GM-Rhaps. Let's enjoy this gift of The Three Wise Men which come from the United States of America.
1. You have been playing hattrick since 08-04-2006. How has hattrick evolved since then?
I actually joined in 2001 or so, this is my third team. The game has changed massively since then. There used to not be any tactics (like counter attack) and you could play any formation (like 6 midfielders + 4 forwards). I don't even remember if there were any overcrowding penalties. People did not understand much of the game, like player contributions or much about how SEs worked. Most did not nearly understand how powerful midfield was. You could compete in IV with excellent players. The best players were usually titanics, and they would go for like 15-20 million USD. Daytrading was rampant because there were no transfer fees or other listing limitations. Each country had their own transfer list, so you had to search each country one at a time, and so most people just checked Sweden since it had most of the transfer activity. The match engine was also running under an old version which was a little different, and there were no loyalty bonuses or anything like that. To change your coach, you paid $10k to randomly get a new external coach, and you would keep pressing this to get a new coach over and over until you got what you wanted. It was a lottery because you might get lucky and get a great coach on the first try, or you might spend several million dollars until you get a solid/solid.
2. How did you discover Hattrick? How were your beginnings in the game?
I used to play a lot of online multiplayer text-based type games when I was young. I found them by going onto some websites that aggregated lists of these types of games. Most of those are long gone now, but Hattrick managed to stick around.
3. What is the key to have success in Hattrick?
Look around at the very best teams and envision what the strongest team you want looks like, and then work backwards for a plan of how to get there.
4. Which kind of changes do you hope in the NTs/U20s?
I think the schedule after qualifications needs redesigning. The several weeks of waiting between qualification and R2 is unbearable. Also, in the current system, too much rests on what luck you receive in the first game of each round, because there are only 3 games.
5. Where do you live?
St. Louis Missouri, in the United States. I also spend a fair amount of time in Chicago, Nashville, and NYC for work.
6. How is life in the United States?
I wouldn't trade it for anything else. But there is a big difference in life in the United States depending on what city or region you live in. The Northwest, the west, the midwest, the northeast, the southeast, and the South are all very different lifestyles to me. The difference between life in a small town in the Midwest versus life in New York City is probably larger than the difference between one of those places versus where the person reading this lives.
7. What do you think about Donald Trump?
There is nothing I can do about American politics, so I mostly ignore it. I do not support either party as I do not feel represented, and so I did not vote.
8. What would you suggest to visit in the US?
Go to a big city like New York City, Chicago, or San Francisco. Go to the beach in the southeast, or go to the northwest for great nature and seafood. It depends what you want to do.
9. What do you think of Christian Pulisic?
I don't know who that is.
10. What do you think about the fact that weapons in the United States are legal? As I understand each family has a weapon on their property. Is it really so? Is it safe?
It's hard for those in other countries to understand. Where I live for example, St. Louis, was just voted again as the least safe city in America. I read that 66 per 100,000 residents are murdered each year, so multiply that by many years and it could be you or a family member.
It's very easy to get guns, and usually every criminal will be armed with one. You regularly see news stories of criminals breaking into homes at night and robbing, or killing, etc. If you lived here and that happened to you one night, what would you plan to do? Beg and hope? Maybe you won't feel too comfortable laying in bed at night with that thought in your head, so you will eventually go out and get yourself a gun for the home. It isn't likely that you will ever have to use it, but if you do need it, it could save you and your family from becoming the next victim in the news. And the argument is that if every home had a gun like this, criminals would realize that and be less likely to want to break into homes in the first place.
I don't know what the answer is, really. I wish none of us had guns in the first place, but it is unfortunately not the case. Any attempt to ban/remove weapons from the population at this point would not be successful. There are way too many already out there.
11. You are currently a GM in the United States. How did you start in office?
We had a need in the English speaking countries, so I offered to step in to help. I have played the game for a long time so felt like volunteering to give back a little.
12. What is for you the best and the worst of the position of GM?
The best is finding and catching a cheater and removing them from the game, or helping fix a bug, or helping remedy a user's situation after they were hurt from a bug. I like to have positive interactions and meet users.
The worst is when someone sends me some angry rant about the game that they want to say to the HTs. The HTs won't read your mail that you sent to me. I can't do anything to change how the game works for you.
13. What is for you the best and worst of Hattrick?
The best is the community and that's why the game has survived so long. The worst is the slow pace and the disproportionate effect of luck on your long term plans.
14. If Hattrick did not exist, how would you spend that time?
I would find some other game to fill the time.
15. What is your ideal woman prototype?
My girlfriend
16. What is your favourite movie?
Hard to say. I do like Quentin Tarantino movies.
17. What is your favourite TV show?
My favorite all time was probably Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. Lately I have been watching The Mandolorian.
18. If your life were a movie, what actor would you play?
I kind of look like Will Friedle (Boy Meets World), so maybe him.
19. What do you do in real life?
I work at a professional services financial consulting firm.
20. How many years of life do you think Hattrick will last?
Ah, I'm sure it has 10 more years in it. 20 seems like a stretch though.
21. Finally, could you recommend a typical American meal?
My favorite meals are pizza, or pasta, or a good steak. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMVjToYOjbM
Happy 2020 and I wish a lot of gift for you from The Three Wise Men.