SYNWORLD: Do you have a sense of a 'character' when you're in the gameworld? Do you feel emotional when you die?

Kornelia Takacs: It is just me. I am using the mouse as kind of like the extension of my eye, I point to wherever I want to look in the game. I do feel emotional when I die, but only because it gets me a little closer to possibly losing a match. Definitely not because it was a character named "Kornelia" who died in there.

SYNWORLD: What attracts you to the gameworld environment?

Kornelia Takacs: I think the biggest thing that draws me to gaming is that I am very competitive. On-line gaming gives me the perfect platform to be constantly challenged and to challenge. Unlike, for example in Basketball, where you can only play against a certain group of people around you (Unless you are a pro and are traveling around the country). On-line the limit to the amount of people that you can compare yourself to is countless. The cool thing is that there are more and more gamers being born every day all over the world, so the established players of today will have a new challenge tomorrow, and so forth.

SYNWORLD: You're a games champion. Presumably you like all kinds of computer games but what is it about your specialism that attracts you to it? What makes your kind of gaming you?

Kornelia Takacs: I enjoy playing different sorts of games. For example WipeOut on the Playstation, snowboarding games, Mario 64, puzzle & word games. Those games are excellent for when I just want to kick back at home and relax. I don't take them seriously and I'm not more skilled at them than any other person who would pick up a game once a month. On-line gaming is different though. The game I mainly focus on is Quake. There are no NPC's and generally I only have one opponent. This game is about the skills of reflexes, aim, strategy and trying to get into your opponents head to outsmart him/her. The focus isn't on what our surroundings or our characters look like in the game. The current interaction level for this type of "fast flowing, aim from the hip" type games is perfect. Anything more would just be complicating it.

SYNWORLD: How does the large amount of time you spend in the game world affect the rest of your life? Do you dream 3d mazes? Do you ever mistake Real Life and Virtual Life?

Kornelia Takacs: My gaming and real life blend in very well to the way I live my life. My boyfriend and family understand how much I enjoy this game and, hey, everyone has a hobby. :) They are very happy with the fact that I made it this far in the gaming world. They are proud of me for playing smart at times and they criticize me when I play reckless and nonchalant. Actually after too many hours of constant gaming or the night before a tourney I would dream "in Quake" It's really tiring to just be walking around the level in your sleep. It only happened a couple of times to me so far but people tell me all the time that they have dreams in Quake too.

SYNWORLD: What is the future of games?

Kornelia Takacs: Games and gamers have definitely come a long way since I first started playing at tournaments a few years ago. There are pro gamer's leagues now. More tournaments with higher prices. It seems like it's really taking off and that there is a good future for us gamers ahead on the road. I've been playing Quake since Q test (summer of '96) and my experience with on-line gaming in general is very positive! You meet a lot of cool people from all over the world. You get to play a very awesome and fun game! I love being a pro gamer! :) I really think that "on-line" brings everyone closer. People are prejudiced, it's in our nature. On-line everyone is equal. (Man, woman, black, white, old, young) The only way you can communicate is through your words, which means that everyone that you're in contact with sees the real you, not the way you appear in person. There is no such thing as being "foreign" on-line, since depending on which part of the world your connecting from everyone is a foreigner... Unfortunately the drawbacks of being on-line is that people can hide their real personality if they want to, and they don't have to be responsible for their actions. For example someone can be extremely rude and there is no way for anyone to do anything about it.