Name: Richard "Rj" Quinn-Simons
Alias: rulER
Age: 21
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Current Team: Ruins
Past Teams: Meepins / rev.eSports / Darkside
Favorite Game: Counter-Strike 1.6

Please can you tell us who you are and a little about your gaming history?

Hey everybody, my name is Rj "rulER" Quinn-Simons and I play Counter-Strike 1.6 for team Ruins. I started playing Counter-Strike back in 2000, before it was out of beta, and originally played for West coast teams. Back then, my internet was so good that I pinged 60 to the West coast and was such a noob that I didn't even realize ping mattered.

I started off in a pub clan called [tsn] which had a popular West coast server, before switching to my first competitive team bN. At the time, they had pirate and Animal playing for them, who later joined W.E.W. I played West coast CS for a while until finally switching over to the East coast where IceCold from team deTonation gave me a chance. From there, I joined �sX�, teaming up with Ph0bius, projekte, DaNieL and sublime. Eventually, we joined Darkside and started making a name for ourselves.

What has been your most memorable moment in gaming?

That's a tough question. I'd have to say winning our first UGS-Expert championship as CyberJocks. CyberJocks was a LAN center in New York that picked us up from Darkside and funded us to go to tournaments and whatnot. We showed them that they made the right choice by winning UGS-Expert, which was the precursor to CEVO. It was a tough match on Inferno versus 2D, a very good Canadian team at the time, but we ended up getting the win.

What is your most memorable in-game/match moment?

My most memorable gaming moment to date would have to be playing at the ESWC National Qualifiers of �04, where my team Darkside was up against [xeno]. There had been a huge rivalry between the two teams and we found ourselves matched up against them on the second day of the qualifers.

We were on the verge of losing the match until I clutched a one versus five situation, managing to kill them all and defuse the bomb. It really shut them down and we ended up coming back to win the match. It was a pretty awesome moment in gaming as people at the LAN center were amazed and my team was very happy obviously haha :)

What else do you do besides gaming?

Well I work full time, which is a big part of my life, hangout with my girlfriend who I've been with for a year and a half, and just enjoy relaxing in my spare time. Sometimes Counter-Strike can be stressful and everyone needs to realize that you should take a break here and there - it will actually improve your CS ability.

I enjoy hanging out with friends, real life and playing CS of course. You meet some pretty cool people being in this community, and going to LANs gives you the opportunity to make some really close friends out of it, which is another great thing about playing this game.

What is the story behind your alias?

When I first started playing in pubs my original alias was Rj2k1, �Rj� being my name and �2k1� because of the new millennium. I was young and that was the best I could come up with at the time! As soon as I started playing for a competitive team I tried to think of a unique name that was appropriate for CS, so I came up with rulER. No, not a ruler that you would use for measuring things, more like ruler of the land! Haha.

How would you describe your game in terms of play style?

I'm a very aggressive player, sometimes too much so. I always try to be faster than the people I'm playing against so as to catch people off guard. I've always been this way as long as I've played the game, but in the last few years a lot of teams have started doing the same thing (pushing, rushing, using fast strats), so I kinda just blend into everything now, haha.

Back in 04-05 I always used to push hut on nuke and get 3-4 frags consistently, which people actually knew me for. People I play with now still call it the ruler hut push, so I guess that's kind of cool =)

What makes you unique as a CS player?

I think that both my easy-going attitude towards everything and my style of play make me unique. I feel like my play style is very similar to EG from the US or fnatic from Sweden. I'm not saying I'm at fnatic�s level, just that I use a similar play style.

I'm not really known for my AWP, although I can use it if need be - my rifles are what kill most people. I'm always excited before big matches and always go in with a positive attitude, hoping for the best. I like to motivate my team and at LANs I am extremely loud and scream to pump my team up. That's a huge part of going to LANs; keep your team in the game however you can.

rulER lanning it up
Is there anything unusual about your team that people should but don�t know about?

We have been a pug for the past 2-3 weeks! We haven't had much time to practice or play, and our CEVO results have shown that. We finally have a stable 5, buckled down to practice and it's really beginning to show. I think it's a little too late to recover from our sub-par CEVO record, but expect to see big things in GRT3, ESL, and next season's placement.

We received a lot of negative attention after the series of roster changes, but I think people are going to realize that we have an amazing group of players that can outshoot any team in the US, it�s just about getting everything together. Our line-up for GRT #3 is: rulER seijim2, truls, mediaN and NoVVi.

If you had to pick a team, besides your own, to win GRT #3, which team would it be and why?

Another tough question - there's a lot of competition in this GRT. If I had to pick, I'd say x3o simply because they�ve been hot lately. They�ve been showing no signs of weakness and are fresh off a good performance at ESWC. Momentum is the key in Counter-Strike. If you've been winning touch matches, you feel as though you are the undisputed #1 team in the US, and that really carries over to matches.

They have also stuck with the same core players for an extremely long time, which is how CS should be. People wonder why teams are inconsistent, it's because no team really sticks with a line-up. The teamwork really shines with x3o and coL because they�ve had a similar roster for a long time. You can't lose a few matches, blame somebody and cut them. You have to fix the mistakes and keep the core; it really pays off.

How do you personally prepare yourself for an event? Do you have any rituals that you perform before matches?

I make sure that I've eaten and always keep a bottle of water beside me - both are very important, at least in my case. You think a lot better when you�re well fed and hydrated and if you scream a lot or make calls you need something to drink. I listen to a song to pump me up and if it's cold in my room I go to the bathroom and run hot water over my hands, which actually helps a lot. Depending on how cold it is, I have a heater that I put next to my desk to keep the temperature up. It really helps with reaction time in the winter and colder months.

Who is your personal hero or role model and why?

In Counter-Strike I'd have to say Jason Lake. When he first started off he was using his own money and faced many issues because of it, but he believed in his team and supported them through thick and thin. That demands a lot from a person, and although I hate how Complexity started playing Source, it really took a huge burden off him, which I think was well deserved.

In real life, rather than a single person, I would have to say the US National Guard. Even with all the hurricanes and problems we've been having lately, they have been there on the frontlines rescuing people. For anyone to put their life in danger for the welfare of someone else takes courage, so kudos to them!

GotFrag eSports

Counter-Strike: rulER: "We buckled down ... and it shows"

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