I'm coming up to 2 years "QW sober" having been addicted on and off for 7 years prior to that. The EQL3 quarter-final between Osams and some Swedish team was my last game of QW, and I haven't played since, aside from some custom map fuckabout a few weeks later. I've loaded QW a handful of times since - to spectate my old buddies, and I commentated on the EQL finals some time in '07.

So, I guess some of you have been wondering what I've been up to? Well, part of the reason I stopped playing QW was that I started doing something else - exercising! For most of the time between the ages of 18 and 24 I was rather overweight and unfit, and had many stalled and failed attempts to resolve this issue. In April 2006, I started again at the gym, and for some reason, this time I kept going, and going, and lost over 20kg in the process. Pretty nifty.


QHLAN8, January 2005 vs February 2008

As I got more active and lost more weight, I became more confident and was not content with sitting on my computer playing games. Since I quit QW, I have lost roughly 25% of my body weight, had laser eye surgery, bought my first property (a flat in glorious Oxford) and - shocker - met the girl that I think I will spend the rest of my life with. So yeah, I'm good, thanks for asking

I'm thrilled to see that QW still has a thriving scene, and I think it's good that division 1 seems so full of quality clans at the moment. I'm also very pleased that NQR is continuing and looks to be quite successful this season. I have to say, that as much as I occasionally miss the rush of a tight 4on4 game, or the amazing cameraderie that I had with my Osams teammates, I do NOT miss the drama and hassle that is associated with adminning a big league like NQR, and I have immense respect for the guys that have taken up the mantle from me.

I haven't watched any games, so making predictions is a pretty tough thing, however I would have to say that Fragomatic look like favourites at the current time. Their roster reads like a who's-who of the best Swedish 4on4 players of the last few years, and the only team who I think can seriously challenge them is TVS. KOFF can also give these two teams a scare, but I don't think they quite have the cutting edge to win the big playoff matches. I think it's something of a shame to see Slackers struggling (relatively), and it's pretty obvious that this is because their activity is spread over more players than in the past - I always admired how they kept the same core of 4-5 players over a season and I attribute their previous consistent success to this consistency of team selection. Conversely, I think it's great that new teams featuring up-and-coming superstars, paired with some more familiar division 1 faces, are really challenging the big boys in division 1.

I will be watching the remainder of the NQR season with a keen interest, and who knows, maybe I'll be along for the playoff finals with my microphone...

Kram