Kane - Young Schröt Kommando (July 1998)
"Kane" (Benjamin) is an incredibly talented young German Player from the Clan Schröt Kommando. Along with Players like Therion [his SK buddy], Sectopod, Sniket, Timber, and MastahKillah, Kane is taking European Quake to new levels.

According to his SK profile, Kane is the leader of SK's "Adolescence Team. With Therion he is most skilled in 1o1 and Teamplay too. Most of the time his arm is hurt from so much quaking. Think he will improve further in the near future if his arm gets healthy ;)".

Clan Schröt Kommando was founded in June 1997 by Burke, Griff [Kane's older brother], Kane, Kilakastrat, Ramses II, Speed, and Storch. In December 1997, some of the SK guys went to Swisscon, in Basel, and there they met Therion from Guardians of Chaos. Soon after Therion joined SK. Clan SK 's links page will bring you to the homes of many of the most fascinating Quake Clans in Europe, as well as continental Quake leagues such as the Dutch Quake League.

Demos:
Kane's demos will have sparks flying off your monitor. kane_vs_timber_dm44.zip has this background story (thanks DocSnyder):

"I watched Kane playing 4 games against QPD-Timber on Saturday, very exciting to see. The first two were played on a UK server Kane with a Ping of around 100 and Timber of around 50. They played DM4 (what a surprise :) ) with Timber's favourite DMM1 with Quad which Kane really seldom plays. Both games ended in a 14:14 tie, the second one with Kane jumping to a 6:-3 lead, then Timber came back to control the map up to a 14:6 lead for him but suddenly the tables turned again and Kane pulled out the draw in the last few minutes.

The other two games were played on a German server with the pings the other way round. They played DMM3 without Quad here and accidently TP1 (but they left it that way for the second game as well). Timber was lagged sometimes during the first game which Kane won comfortably about 15:4 (can't remember exactly). The second game was a demonstration of Kane's skills, Timber nearly wasn't lagged here anymore but still didn't have even a slight chance as Kane dominated from start to finish winning about 31:1".

You can download another Kane demo featuring SK Vs Swedish Clan Disney Devils [DD] here (tp(qday)_dd_dm2_kane.zip). The game is played on DM2 with dm3 rules and no quad. This was the Qday3 Clan comp final. Therion [SK], who was sitting in Germany on ISDN, couldn't play in this game due to computer problems. You can visit the web site of the Qday3 comp at: http://qday.concepts.nl/.

You can find more Kane demos over at Methos, probably the finest library of Quake demos in the world.

Challenge-au:
How did you come by your screen-name "Kane"? What does it mean? Where do you live in Germany? How old are you (if you don't mind me asking ;-). Which is your favourite beer?

Kane:
My Name is from a book called "The book Kane" from Karl Edward Wagner, its a fantasy saga. So i think Kane doesnt mean anything :). But i came to this name while searching a nick for Quake.... then i was looking around in my big brothers room (Griff) and found this book, and borrowed this name :). I live in Oberhausen, which is near of Essen/Düsseldorf like most of the SKs. 9 of us SK live in Oberhausen, 2 30mins away and one in Stuttgart (Therion). Im 15 years old. Cause im 15 im not that familiar with beer, but my brother Griff thinks Koenig Pilsener is the best :).

Challenge-au:
How did you start playing Quake? How long have you been playing now?

Kane:
We played every multiplayer game that came out, cause we have a nice lan here. We have 4 computers and 8 monitors all the time here, cause my brothers Burke and Griff are computerfreaks too. So when Quake came out we played it sometimes... but only DM doesnt rocked....then somebody introduced CTF, and we got Quake addicted (somewhere at beginning of 1997). Then Griff played a little bit in internet...and then the story began, cause most of the guys where playing teamplay in internet, so we began too.

Challenge-au:
I understand Quake can't be advertised or sold openly in German stores/shops. Is this true? How do you buy it?

Kane:
Yes its true you cant buy and advertise it. Hmm you can't buy is not right, you can only buy if you are 18+, so Griff buyed it :). I think officially im even not allowed to play.

Challenge-au:
What are your favourite Quake maps/ levels? Do you have a favourite demo? If so, which one?

Kane:
I like all DM level except 1 and 5. I dont have a favorite demo...

Challenge-au:
Who is/ was your favourite dueling partner? Who are the top European Players you have duelled against? Who do you think are the best 5 Players in Europe right now? Who do you think can give you a tough game?

Kane:
My favorite dueling partner is Therion, we are pretty even so the matches are really close. I played against Cenobite, Timber, MastahKiller, Sniket, Sectopod, Nikodemus hmmm and from Germany Therion and Slop. Best 5 duellers.... hmm can't say exactly, best iIve played are Sectopod and Therion.

Challenge-au:
Do you think SK will beat Clan 9 if you guys play in July? Do you think Thresh is really the "best Quake Player in the world"? How do you think Germans will fare against the Americans? Are you looking forward to your "rematch" with Sniket?

Kane:
We will play in August. [editor's note - this was recorded before the DR Vs Clan 9 games were announced for August. The SK guys are obviously hoping they'll have an opportunity to play some games] It depends, if our choice DM2 went well we will have good chances, if not well loose ::)). Yes definilty, Thresh is the best. Perfect aiming and smartest play. Playing again against Sniket would be interesting, best would be to play on LAN.

Challenge-au:
Are you seeing many new, younger players coming into the Quake scene in Germany? Do you think Quake will "live on"? Is there a German national team still? Do you think it should be started up again?

Kane:
There are much young Quakers in Germany like me :). Some with good potential... we will see. Quake will live forever :). There is a team but it's totally inactive. There is a bunch of good quakers who could make that one active, but there are alot of dislikes in Germany between players. A National team would be really cool. Kicking those other countries is a nice thought :)

Challenge-au:
Are you playing much Quake2? What do you like/ dislike most about it? Do you play any other games?

Kane:
I'm not playing Quake2 at all. Tried it and i have to say it suxx. It isnt dynamic, action and fun. Team games aren't possible and that's what i'm Quakeing for. Right now i'm playing a little bit Forsaken, Unreal and Starcraft. I like these C&C games..

Challenge-au:
What's the Quake scene like in Germany right now? Are there any national tournaments? Any big competitions going on? What's going on?

Kane:
There is a nice German league. It is really good, some rules have to improve but in the whole its a good thing. Therion me and Griff are playing in a Dutch 1o1 leagues, it started these days :) Nice one. And there will probably be a 2o2 league, there we will play too. But in the whole the German scene isn't that important for us. Most clans doesn't play against us, only a few. So we are playing more in LAN. LAN rules :)

Challenge-au:
Where do you play Quake in Germany? With Internet Service providers (ISPs), online multiplayer games companies, or mostly on LAN? How often do you venture out onto other European servers? Do you use T1 or ISDN? Where do you go? Do you get a playable ping to Barrysworld? Where is the "most action" happening these days?

Kane:
We mostly play in LAN, its the best choice and most of SKs meet there. For Internet playing we use ISDN, most of the time 2 players share 1 ISDN line. That suxx, not much fun, too laggy :) With a T1 we would be more Internet Active. At Barrysworld we get 120+, in nights sometimes about 90+, and with rate 2500 it goes up again :). Most action is in Scandinavia, there you will find much action, #quake.se on Quakenet is a good choice. If u are interested join us at #quake.sk on IrcNet :).

Challenge-au:
Tell us about your Clan. Do you play many Clan battles these days? Are the German Clans still active, do they play a lot of Quake battles? Where do you play the Clan matches?

Kane:
We haven't much Clanwars, German clans normally don't play us, and against foreign clans without T1 it's too laggy, no fun :). So we are looking forward for some leagues :). DeCL (Deutsche Clan Liga - in German) will start in the near future and DQL (Dutch Quake League) will have a Clanwars league soon too. In Germany there aren't so much battles. There are some newbie clans who are quite active :). We play our Clan matches on IUZ and SPlatter server. You will find them on the German Masterserver.

Challenge-au:
Have you heard of any Australian Quake Players? Have you watched any demos? What did you think?

Kane:
I havent heard of any. MAybe you should write something like a introduction for us foreigners. So we will get an overview over your scene. Would be great. Some demos could there be too :) [Editor's note: I'm currently working on it Kane, good idea :-)]. Maybe some AU clans contact us for some international wars :::)) Thx 4 interview Bye