Dashwriter Retires

[s]interview[/s]

After some time of being considered one of the most up and coming zerg players in Germany, he has decided to retire. His name is Stefan Kalweit known to many of us as Dashwriter. He was a member of [pG] before the new managment took over and has been an active player in EPS.

Today, I managed to ask Dashwriter (pic) some questions about many things including why he decided to retire.

The German zerg player was considered by some to be the next Mondragon or BrEaKdOwN with some more practice. After he was kicked by the new managment of [pG], he states that "it was like a bad and cowardly action by the managment...". However, if he was given the offer to stay he would not have accepted.

His most notable achievement is finishing 5th at WCG Germany in 2004. Along with his solid placing at WCG and an invite into [pG] he says "Hey ok lets play one more year".

In this interview I touch base on a few things including [pG], the german e-sports scene, and EPS. The interview is short, but many of his answers give us great insight about this player.

Interview with Dashwriter

First of all, could you give me your name, age, and location please?
- Stefan Kalweit, 21, Hamburg

I am curious how you got your nickname? Could you please explain?
- I don't wanna tell you :), but it's not that big secret of which you are maybe thinking of.

Since you are no longer in [pG] anymore many thought that you would be recruited by teams like SSV Lehnitz or DkH. Were you given any offers from these teams?
- I got many offers to play for other teams, but I refused any of it. The reason is simple. In 6 years (or 7 don t know exactly :)) SC/BW I was in 2 clans. First one was [AoD], that was in the beginning and it was a cool feeling to be a part of a Team, a friendship thing. Second one was [pG], that was like a dream, cause when I started playing [pG] was simply the best and it was an honour to be in the best Team SC/BW had (just my opinion). So there are two possibilities for joining a clan: 1st is "friends" or 2nd "[pG]". By knowing that I would stop playing BW after WCG I didn t need to join a new clan.

You were seen as one of the most up and coming zerg players in Germany behind Mondragon, Breakdown, Schnibl0r, etc. Do you look up to any of these players? If not, are there some German or non-German players that you enjoy watching?
- I like Mondragon (ok who does not :)), but my favourite player is Breakdown. He is playing so relaxed and is so strong with tactics and the deeper knowledge of the game. It makes always fun to watch or to play him, if he plays at his best. In the International scene I love Satanik's style, he is art!

What do you think about the StarCraft scene in Germany? Do you feel that it's growing or in its prime?
- That is difficult to say. The events for SC/BW are getting more and more: ESL, EPS, GigaLiga, SSCL and so on, but in my opinion the time where the players were at their best skill is over. We are all to old and for newcomers it s nearly impossible to get our skill Level in a fast way. Some Euros for playing a game is ok, but time will come where I have to buy my own food :), so for that it s not enugh. Many players stoped playing or just playing at the skill Level they had the last 1-2 years, but not improve atm.

What about the gaming scene as a whole in Germany, not just StarCraft? Do you see your country continuing to bring e-sports more into main stream media?
- I think so yes, and it s ok. Computergames are a good development of our time. If the people would accept this offer of Computertelevision things will grow up easily. Future will tell us :)
P.S. I m not a friend of playing 24/7
Appeal: "Go out do sports meet other people - communicate!!!"

What are you opinions on your matches for EPS and the league in general. Do you feel as though it's well organized? Anything they should change?
- I think this EPS thing is really good except one point, the prize money. I was very disappointed when I heard I ll get 10 Euro s for one win. In my opinion it s not a relation to the time I spend on it (thought about 30 - 50). So I don t care about my games really. Sometimes I play random some games I play serious and some games I play old strats :). Most of this players in this EPS do it in the same way. So most of the games are just fun.

Recently, you seemed to have dissapeared from the gaming scene once you were "kicked" from [pG] after ToT took over. Was this a factor in choosing to retire? If not, why did you finally decided to retire?
- First of all I have to say that it is right that I was kicked but even if I could stay in this team I would say NO THX, cause for me it was like a bad and cowardly action by the managment. Nothing is harder than finding out that you are kicked out of your clan (for no reason) by reading an Internet Site and later get to know, that the members of the new coming clan will decide if you can stay or have to leave - degrading...! Noone talked to us before or gave us a chance to handle this thing. This was really frustrating.
Nevertheless wasn t this the reason to retire. Before WCG 2004 I decided for myself to stop playing BW after this WCG National Final, but things went different. 5th place and an offer from [pG] changed my mind. A dream came true and I said "Hey ok lets play one more year".

The reasons why I retire now are quite simple. I think I m at a skill Level, which is "ok" outside of Korea. So if I want to improve now I will have to train a lot, that costs many time = no thx.
2nd thing is that I reached all I can except some little things.
I was 3 times on WCG (best was 5th), played GGL (Playoffs out Assem 0:2, Pj 1:2, GigaLeague, WGT Finals, PGT Finals (Beta Season), WDT (TOP 24), won 1st BW4EVER Cup, EPS, Ger Team, pG member and so on.
My last wish was it to play good @ WCG Offline Finals this year and maybe get one spot for Singapore. I was well prepared, but I failed miserable. I made so many mistakes, maybe I demanded to much from myself. I don t know, it was very frustrating.
So for the future I don t see any new aims in BW. That s why I say "ok here is the point for let this thing end!" I ll follow new aims but BW is over!

Any games that you might consider playing in the future? Possibly compete in tournaments/leagues?
- SC 2 I would test, no other games! Maybe I ll play WCG 06 or something special, who knows. It s like with any other drug, it s hard to stop for ever!!! :)

Any last words that you would like to say to your friends and fans?
- Thx for a long good time to all people I met. Special thanks to all members of [AoD] and [pG]. Thx to all admins who made SC/BW to something special!

P.S. This counts for all people. Show respect to people who showed a good performance, I don t like this envy thing. And please stop this thing: Person X > Person Y. It s to hard to decide and not everybody will give 100 % in any single game so it's senseless :).

Dashwriter's Replay Package

He was also kind enough to give us a replay package of him featuring some of his games on WGTour and PGTour. This pack includes replays of him against top players like Mondragon, SataNik, -=ALFA=-, and many more well-known gamers. You can download the replay package by clicking » here

Links
BroodWar.de - Download Dashwriter's Replay Package