It is perhaps only fitting that with all the developments in the German scene that this weeks interview subject is one of Germany’s leading players, currently plying his trade with Alternate Attax. Recently though things haven’t been going according to plan, both for his team or for e-sports in general in his native country.

After some disappointing LAN and online performances – losing from a seemingly unassailable position against Crack Clan and finishing outside of the top two in the most recent EPS season – the team has decided to make some high profile changes and bring in some names outside of the usual few that people outside of Germany are aware of. In addition to this, with their elections looming large, e-sports seems to be an easy scapegoat for some of society’s more complex problems and at the moment the future of certain competitive games seems uncertain.

Things may have been a lot simpler back in the day, but this isn’t stopping Oliver "hossa" Keller looking to the future. Still in the ClanBase Eurocup, on collision course with arch-rivals mTw in the ESL Major Series and part of the German national side that is moving forward in the ESL Nations Cup, there is plenty to be positive about, as he was keen to stress during our long conversation.

So, Team Alternate has undergone a massive change and brought in some names that might not be well known to people outside of Germany. Can you talk me through why you made the changes and what the new players bring to the team?

After finishing third at the EPS Finals 14 in Cologne we needed to change something. Our goal was to win the Pro-Series.de and that went totally wrong. The reason we had to change something was because three of our five squad Players wanted to play a different style and move on with time. The game has changed a lot in recent years and in our eyes we had the feeling that ej and head couldn’t move on and adapt to the modern style of play. The new players, KRAEUTERHUMPEN and BlackG7 are so motivated that they infected everyone else on the team. Their skill is unbelievable and the only thing they haven’t got is big game experience. But I guess Team ALTERNATE is a great place to get more experience and to evolve their gameplay further.

Oliver after winning the "Rookie of The Season" award at the 12th German EPS

Obviously the German team to beat right now is mTw, who have also just made changes to their roster. Can you talk about the rivalry you have with them as an ALTERNATE player? Is it respectful, do the teams get along, or is the rivalry more vicious than that?

Well as for the last two seasons mTw is the team you and your team have to beat if you want to be number one in Germany. I wouldn’t say that the rivalry is vicious , we treat each other with respect as we also play together for Team Germany. But I have to say beating mTw is always a good feeling. I have experienced it first hand at the EPS Finals in season 12 with Speedlink. They too have made a change and time will tell how well those five players will play together. phOs was a fantastic player and it will be hard for meiJin to step into his shoes, but he definitely has got the skills for that. It’s either them or us who will win the German pro series. Unfortunately it was them till now. This season we will be more dangerous then before.

There have been a lot of changes in the German scene lately, which isn't the norm. Can you shed any light on what the reasons for this might be?

Well as everyone knows the German scene is one of the most consistent scenes of all. It wasn’t normal for most of the teams to change a lot of players. This season a lot of contracts ended and a lot of players went into inactivity. I guess that’s the main reason for all of that. But it will all return to normal again for the next two or three seasons I’m sure.

Can you tell me why the German EPS seems to be the most important event / tournament to German teams? It takes precedence over LAN tournaments for most teams.

I think it’s because you receive the most reputation in Germany for winning the German pro-series from all levels of people who are involved in the game. If mTw or us would win an event like LAN79 or whatever, everyone would go “woah” but would forget it quite fast. But if you win the German pro series everyone remembers that for a long time. People can still tell you who won the first few. That’s just the German community I guess.

I want to talk about the German scene. I personally see it as one of the most progressed and professional scenes in Europe. Can you explain, in your opinion, the major differences between the German scene and maybe others in Europe, especially the UK?

Well first of all the German teams have got proper contracts and the top teams get a salary every month. That makes a lot of difference. Also the German players mostly treat their opponents with respect. There is no insulting or anything, because stuff like that can cost you a lot of money if you have it in your contract, which almost every respectable team in Germany has. We are told to be a good. representative for our team and our sponsors. Why should anyone sponsor us if we behave like 10 year olds? That’s the way we think and the way we are encouraged to think. We want to try to bring gaming to a new level of professionalism and to get it accepted in our country, which is very hard, but it would be impossible if we don’t behave like pros and act just like soccer players or any other professional sportsmen.

Do admins really need to keep a close eye on German players?

Over the years Germans have acquired a reputation for being "onliners" with a lot of cheating accusations levelled at certain teams and players. They are also often criticised for not attending mainstream European LANs as often as they could. What do you put this down to?

I guess the main problem is that the German players, especially those at the top, are getting too old . The average is something like 22-23 years of age and most of us go to university or are already finishing a degree or have jobs. LANs like the Outpost On Fire start on a Monday and finish on a Wednesday. How can someone doing other things visit a LAN like that? Either you have got holiday or you are unemployed. To give you an example, I cant attend Outpost On Fire or The Experience because I have got my final exams at that time. I can’t just say “sorry I’m going to finish my degree next year because I want to go to a LAN.” That’s just not possible. At least we got to lAN79 and have participated in some good and unforgettable matches. To come to the point with the cheating, as far as I know there has been one or two years ago some problems with cheaters in the German pro series. Butsince then, to the best of my knowledge, there hasn’t been any since then and to be honest, people in Germany if it wasn’t for people talking on community sites like Cadred, would have never of heard anything about programs such as ventrilo.exe or this type of thing.

You mentioned some of the exciting games at LAN79. As I’m sure you remember you had that game against Crack Clan where you threw away a 14-1 lead. How did that feel and how much did that one game influence your decision to start making changes to the team?

Well we made a great game forcing CrackClan into a 1:14 handicap. The one round they won was our own fault. We played too aggressive, we were maybe too over confident at that stage. Playing as terrorist we felt certain to make the two rounds we needed to win. As the game went on we lost every 1on1, every 2on2 and even the 3on2s and we all started to get very nervous. I still cant tell you why we did not make those two rounds. Both teams played their A-game as Counter-Terrorist but compared to them we made that one mistake as CT. After that game we still had to play lower-bracket but of course there was some kind of dip in motivation after losing such a game. The LAN79 didn’t influence our decision changing two players at all. That decision was made way later and had other reasons.

A crowd gathers to watch Alternate Attax play at LAN79

There have been some developments recently in Germany that have caused some people to think that maybe certain e-sports games might come under threat. As someone who this would impact on, what are your thoughts on the current political climate in Germany? Do you think a nation wide ban on games such as Counter-Strike is likely?

My opinion on that is that it is a brazenness to say the only bad game in Germany is Counter-Strike. It’s not the games that make people do unforgivable stuff, its their environment and their families which don’t care enough about their kids. But to get back to the question, banning games won’t change anything. It may cause that leagues like the ESL have to change something but everyone will still play those games in Germany. I don’t know why they are looking to make it more strict. We have already got the most strict age verification for games across Europe. They need to look elsewhere for the answers.

Do you think more could be made in the media about the positive aspects that e-sports can bring to someone's life? Would you say e-sports has been a positive influence on your own?

Of course the media could change a lot about how everybody thinks about gamers. If the media would show everyone that gamers arent’ freaks and are not sitting in their cellar, cheese white, eating nothing but takeaway pizza and no friends, that would change a lot. For me it was a very positive influence. I met a lot of good people who I am still friends with and saw a lot of places on this planet. As well as this I am financing my study with gaming. How good can you have it?

Right now there is a lot of speculation as to how much further Counter-Strike: Source will go. LANs, tournaments and organisations all seem to have been affected by the current financial climate. Do you think we will see a resurgence now we're coming out of recession, or do you think that it will stay as it is until the next version of the game comes along?

Well we all know how important money is for LANs , tournaments and organisations. About LANs and tournaments, it’s actually very easy. Companies make a lot of money with us gamers, buying certain brands and so on. The money they invest into those LANs and tournaments are peanuts compared to what they would have to pay to make a television spot. Of course because of the financial situation the first part where every company has to save some money is the marketing department. And they then say, “OK we will have to take some money from all things we invested in.” Eventually when they have the money again they will start to increase the amount that comes back into the gaming scene, the competitions etc. I definitely believe that more money will be invested into gaming. The gaming industry is growing and growing and gaming sooner or later will be bigger then every almost every other sport besides football.

Will Oliver be smiling this much at the end of the next EPS season?

Looking forward, what do you have in your sights and hope to achieve with ALTERNATE in the immediate future?

Well we hope to win the EuroCup as we already have achieved the consolation final if not further. The same with the EMS… We are only two games away from winning that with our next match being against the Austrian team You Don’t Know in the semi-finals. The main goal ofc ourse, as it is usually for a German team, is victory at the next German Pro Series. We will also be attending some international LANs this year. Which ones I don’t know yet. I hope at least Frag-O-Matik or any i-series.

So, let's say you did come to an i-series. How do you think you'd do? Any chance you could emulate mTw and triumph? Who do you think would be the teams that would cause you trouble?

Well as far as I know the i-Series is played with interpolate 1. Our main problem at most of the lANs is interpolate 0. Awpers like JLN just don’t like interpolate 0 and that really affects our game. So if the i-Series is played with interpolate 1, I think our chances would be pretty good to place top 3. If VeryGames come back from their break I would say they will still be the team to beat. As far as I know most of the UK teams hate playing with interpolate 0 as well. It’s just different. You have to aim different and some get along with it quite well and some don’t. It should be like 1.6, with online and LAN both the same… But yeah 2nd Place behind VeryGames in any competition I suppose would make me satisfied. At i-series any place in front of reason , mTw , Dignitas, TCM, redLine, 4kings will also be good. Might show people how wrong our position in the Cadred rankings is (laughs).