Note: Huehuecoyotl comes from AOE II community, so the interview has a lot to do with AOE II aswell. Of course, we spoke about AOE IV
Welcome, Lord Patito. In 2 years you have gone from posting balance change suggestions on AoEZone to being one of the most powerful tournament admins in the Age of Empires scene. Today I will ask you both questions about you in person, your career in general, and things I wonder about AoE 4, from the point of view of someone who is mostly just into AoE 2.
Some fan questions are included too.
It’s funny you remember I am a balance-change junkie. I’m not planning to stop that behaviour. Long live balance suggestions! 11
PART A: INTRODUCTION:
Welcome, Lord Patito. In 2 years you have gone from posting balance change suggestions on AoEZone to being one of the most powerful tournament admins in the Age of Empires scene. Today I will ask you both questions about you in person, your career in general, and things I wonder about AoE 4, from the point of view of someone who is mostly just into AoE 2.
Some fan questions are included too.
It’s funny you remember I am a balance-change junkie. I’m not planning to stop that behaviour. Long live balance suggestions! 11
PART A: INTRODUCTION:
A1: Please first introduce yourself quickly: How would you describe yourself in 3 sentences?
I am a chill, sociable guy, who admires the little things in life, like dogs, trees, a good cup of coffee or a beautiful song. I love to learn different subjects, from languages to science, history and more. I’m 32 years old and I live with Lady Swan since 2019.
A2: What does your username “Lord Patito” mean and why did you pick it?
Patito means duckling. I like the oxymoron of a big title like lord and a harmless thing like a duckling. Plus, ducks are really adaptable animals. They can swim, fly, and walk. And they’re fearsome warriors.
A3: When and how did you get in Age of Empires? Which titles did you play?
Back in 1997 or 1998. I started with AoE I. One of my friends from elementary school had it. I never did, but got AoE II around 2000. I loved (and I still love) AoK. Used to play SimCity mode, like everyone else, 11. I have played a little bit of AoM, but no AoE III. And of course nowadays I play AoE IV (and some AoE I).
A4: As a player, how much do you play, what type of games, and at which level do you play?
Low Elo Legend for life! 11. Besides AoE, I play some retro games (I have both the Mini SNES and Mini Sega Genesis). Besides that, I love cute cooperative games, like Overcooked 2 or Unravel 2. I play those with Lady Swan. Also I play a little bit of Super Smash Brothers, LoL and Dota. Finally, I really like Mortal Kombat and the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
A5: How did you become a tournament admin and which tournaments have you been an admin for?
Two years ago I was on AoEZone, and I saw the post from Cusu, looking for someone to write articles and coordinate show-matches for an upcoming project (Deepwaters). I got the gig, and the rest is history.
I’ve been admin for both editions of Terra Nova, for the World Desert Championship, Collection Cup, Empire Wars Duo 2, N4C qualifiers, Outback Octagon and every AoE IV tournament hosted by Elite Gaming Channel so far (I hope I am not forgetting anything
). Oh yeah, of course. I was the secondary admin of Red Bull Wololo: Legacy .
A6: So how exactly did you become an AoE 4 admin?
Nili offered me the role of admin for Genesis, the first Aoe IV tournament. I accepted and then he introduced me to Pesti (Thanks, Nili!).
Why do you think Nili chose you? Did you know each other (well) before already?
Well, I was at a good moment in my career. I had just been the admin in Empire Wars Duos 2, so I guess I was the logical option after Chrazini, who didn’t want the gig.
A7: Preston asks: Why do you think you have become a good admin, not a top player, content creator or caster? What was your initial mindset in finding a role specifically as an admin? Does it correlate to your real life in any way?
Well, I am a quite sociable guy. I love to talk with people. I used to make amateur tournaments for my AoE II clan back in 2018, and when I thought about making AoE a job it was the logical option. I didn’t like the exposure of being a caster, and I’m just too bad to be a competitive player, haha.
A8: As an admin you should know the game very well so you can identify bugs, map generation errors, cheats/broken rules and many more, and thus also be able to write reasonable tournament rules. I hosted my first AoE 2 tournament 17.5 years after having played AoE 2 for the first time (AOElympics in June 2020) and more than 8 years after having started to follow the competitive AoE 2 scene, so I was already very experienced. But for being able to be an AoE 4 admin, I would need to have played a few 100 hours of the game, probably at least. How was it to be admin for a new game where a lot of things were still uncertain?
A rollercoaster, 11. It was a huge challenge. Most of the pro players had the beta, but I didn’t. Plus, making the seeding was super difficult, because there were players coming from different games (AoE II, AoE III, SC2, WC3, AoM, etc.). At a certain point I understood that making standard rules (based on what I knew, AoE II) was the best call. Besides, while I was not aware of all the bugs and issues, neither were the players. Everything was new and exciting, and that made things much easier.
A9: Are you a full-time admin now? If you are full-time admin now, I wonder how much you are allowed to share about what you earn from it. But in general in the AoE 2 scene, unless it’s for a huge tournament like RBW or KotD, admin salary is like $0-1/h. Of course you can’t pay your admin 50 % or more of the tournament budget, but it means that tournament admin is not really a job, just maximum a little money on the side. Is that different for you?
Yes, I am a full-time admin now. While I prefer not to reveal the exact amount I earn, I can say that it’s enough to have a good life. Luckily I’ve been working only in S-tier tournaments for the last year, so that allows the TO to pay me a competitive salary .
A10: Top players, tournament hosts and admins are all involved in the community differently and to a different degree. Regarding this, Preston would like to know: How important do you see community involvement in your role? Being the person who has to make controversial decisions, and with the recent history of some pushback on controversial decisions - what actions do you think have contributed to you successfully becoming arguably one of the most trusted names in the scene and how important is this from a tournament admin perspective? Are there more things you would like to work on to become a "household name" within the community and someone everyone has faith in? (I. e., community games, going live on Twitch to speak about his role, etc.).
I think a big part of my job is being involved in the community, with both players and the public. I think players trust in me because I am easy to approach, and a guy always open to discuss stuff. So it’s really easy to talk to me.
I don’t plan to go live on Twitch anytime soon, haha, although there’s always some more stuff you can do for this scene. Maybe become a better player to understand the balance better.
I am a chill, sociable guy, who admires the little things in life, like dogs, trees, a good cup of coffee or a beautiful song. I love to learn different subjects, from languages to science, history and more. I’m 32 years old and I live with Lady Swan since 2019.
A2: What does your username “Lord Patito” mean and why did you pick it?
Patito means duckling. I like the oxymoron of a big title like lord and a harmless thing like a duckling. Plus, ducks are really adaptable animals. They can swim, fly, and walk. And they’re fearsome warriors.
A3: When and how did you get in Age of Empires? Which titles did you play?
Back in 1997 or 1998. I started with AoE I. One of my friends from elementary school had it. I never did, but got AoE II around 2000. I loved (and I still love) AoK. Used to play SimCity mode, like everyone else, 11. I have played a little bit of AoM, but no AoE III. And of course nowadays I play AoE IV (and some AoE I).
A4: As a player, how much do you play, what type of games, and at which level do you play?
Low Elo Legend for life! 11. Besides AoE, I play some retro games (I have both the Mini SNES and Mini Sega Genesis). Besides that, I love cute cooperative games, like Overcooked 2 or Unravel 2. I play those with Lady Swan. Also I play a little bit of Super Smash Brothers, LoL and Dota. Finally, I really like Mortal Kombat and the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
A5: How did you become a tournament admin and which tournaments have you been an admin for?
Two years ago I was on AoEZone, and I saw the post from Cusu, looking for someone to write articles and coordinate show-matches for an upcoming project (Deepwaters). I got the gig, and the rest is history.
I’ve been admin for both editions of Terra Nova, for the World Desert Championship, Collection Cup, Empire Wars Duo 2, N4C qualifiers, Outback Octagon and every AoE IV tournament hosted by Elite Gaming Channel so far (I hope I am not forgetting anything
). Oh yeah, of course. I was the secondary admin of Red Bull Wololo: Legacy .A6: So how exactly did you become an AoE 4 admin?
Nili offered me the role of admin for Genesis, the first Aoe IV tournament. I accepted and then he introduced me to Pesti (Thanks, Nili!).
Why do you think Nili chose you? Did you know each other (well) before already?
Well, I was at a good moment in my career. I had just been the admin in Empire Wars Duos 2, so I guess I was the logical option after Chrazini, who didn’t want the gig.
A7: Preston asks: Why do you think you have become a good admin, not a top player, content creator or caster? What was your initial mindset in finding a role specifically as an admin? Does it correlate to your real life in any way?
Well, I am a quite sociable guy. I love to talk with people. I used to make amateur tournaments for my AoE II clan back in 2018, and when I thought about making AoE a job it was the logical option. I didn’t like the exposure of being a caster, and I’m just too bad to be a competitive player, haha.
A8: As an admin you should know the game very well so you can identify bugs, map generation errors, cheats/broken rules and many more, and thus also be able to write reasonable tournament rules. I hosted my first AoE 2 tournament 17.5 years after having played AoE 2 for the first time (AOElympics in June 2020) and more than 8 years after having started to follow the competitive AoE 2 scene, so I was already very experienced. But for being able to be an AoE 4 admin, I would need to have played a few 100 hours of the game, probably at least. How was it to be admin for a new game where a lot of things were still uncertain?
A rollercoaster, 11. It was a huge challenge. Most of the pro players had the beta, but I didn’t. Plus, making the seeding was super difficult, because there were players coming from different games (AoE II, AoE III, SC2, WC3, AoM, etc.). At a certain point I understood that making standard rules (based on what I knew, AoE II) was the best call. Besides, while I was not aware of all the bugs and issues, neither were the players. Everything was new and exciting, and that made things much easier.
A9: Are you a full-time admin now? If you are full-time admin now, I wonder how much you are allowed to share about what you earn from it. But in general in the AoE 2 scene, unless it’s for a huge tournament like RBW or KotD, admin salary is like $0-1/h. Of course you can’t pay your admin 50 % or more of the tournament budget, but it means that tournament admin is not really a job, just maximum a little money on the side. Is that different for you?
Yes, I am a full-time admin now. While I prefer not to reveal the exact amount I earn, I can say that it’s enough to have a good life. Luckily I’ve been working only in S-tier tournaments for the last year, so that allows the TO to pay me a competitive salary .
A10: Top players, tournament hosts and admins are all involved in the community differently and to a different degree. Regarding this, Preston would like to know: How important do you see community involvement in your role? Being the person who has to make controversial decisions, and with the recent history of some pushback on controversial decisions - what actions do you think have contributed to you successfully becoming arguably one of the most trusted names in the scene and how important is this from a tournament admin perspective? Are there more things you would like to work on to become a "household name" within the community and someone everyone has faith in? (I. e., community games, going live on Twitch to speak about his role, etc.).
I think a big part of my job is being involved in the community, with both players and the public. I think players trust in me because I am easy to approach, and a guy always open to discuss stuff. So it’s really easy to talk to me.
I don’t plan to go live on Twitch anytime soon, haha, although there’s always some more stuff you can do for this scene. Maybe become a better player to understand the balance better.
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