The Gaming Life: Interview with Binura de Zoysa

Champion of the SLCG (Sri Lanka Cyber Games champion) 2014, Binura de Zoysa also picked up Best Player Award and Best Clan Award. He’s the editor of Phoenix GaminG, head of the News section in Gamer.LK, a writer for ReadMe.LK, leader of the TrackMania squad of his clan(a group consisting of multiple teams and individuals) and doing a degree in Gaming and Animation Technology.

Did I mention he’s only 17?

Granted, gaming as a career or even a hobby isn’t taken very seriously in Sri Lanka, but that hasn’t stopped a passionate community from cropping up, and that community is now growing steadily. I got a chance to chat to Binura about life, gaming and everything and the appealing thing about him is that he appreciates all games, from the mainstream (think Call of Duty) to artistic games like Journey, and would even like to work at thatgamecompany!

Can you tell me a little about the gaming scene in Sri Lanka?

I see gaming (or “eSports”) as developing in Sri Lanka. Within the last two years, there was rapid growth in participants and tournaments. We are still not in a significant position compared to massive tournaments we watch online, but we’re certainly moving.

How do you deal with people not taking gaming seriously?

Haha, this is something almost every Sri Lankan gamer has to deal with.

A majority of parents find gaming a “waste of time” because they’re unaware of the competitiveness and benefits. If you compare chess with video games, the only reason parents encourage their children to play chess is because they know its competitiveness and benefits, and also because schools have chess. Fortunately for me, my parents allowed me to play games since I was small.

How do you train for a tournament?

My main game is TrackMania Nations Forever: an extremely high-speed racing game with mind-twisting tracks. Training was challenging for me when I started in 2011 (thanks to Kushan ‘Zer0’ Dodanwala). I used to play a single track for hours targeting the Gold medal. I had two tough rivals/friends named LandOfDeath and Thunder. Thanks to them, I pushed myself to beat all of their records and more in every track we played.

I usually race against my best time and document everything I see in my mind. It’s like I continuously talk with myself while playing. That way I remember all of my mistakes and discoveries.

What did it mean to win the awards at SLCG?

Winning a title is always something exciting but winning Best Clan Award felt special since we knew we worked exceptionally hard for it. Phoenix GaminG is the first and still the only clan to build a partnership with an international brand like MSI. Apart from the victories, I think we advanced a lot as a gaming clan in Sri Lanka with the help of our sponsors.

Despite winning the Best TrackMania player award, the feeling you get hearing people cheer when the nominations are being called is absolutely priceless.

I’m really grateful to those who helped me win those awards. I wouldn’t have celebrated it enough if it wasn’t for your support and wishes.

What was the first game you ever played? What is your favourite game?

The first game I played is questionable thanks to my faulty memory. Dangerous Dave maybe? But my childhood was mostly spent with Harry Potter and other movie games.

Skyrim. I can’t think of a better single player game that had me wandering for hours and hours. The whole series was pretty impressive but Skyrim… It’s a whole different game. Of course there may be better games that I haven’t played, but you don’t easily get hooked up with a game to spend more than 200 hours playing offline.

What are your achievements that you’re most proud of?

I think the only thing I’m mostly proud of is being a gamer.

I won my first title when I was 13 years old, which still makes me the youngest SLCG winner in Sri Lanka. Well I’m really pleased to say that I’ve played four SLCGs and have won all.

The moment I got my first world record really freaked me out but it encouraged me to drive even faster. Right now I hold four world records and local records for every track we’ve played.

My main goal of 2014 was to have a skilled group of racers to play at SLCG. It seemed impossible but I was able to do it with the help of people like Abith Latiff (Chairman of Phoenix GaminG). Seeing my trained squad play TrackMania the way it should be was truly a satisfying moment. I think that was my greatest achievement of 2014.

By Marissa van Eyck