Ben says: Name?
Santiago says: Santiago Cajal de la Macorra
Ben says: Year of birth?
Santiago says: 1990
Ben says: Country?
Santiago says: Mexico
Ben says: Favourite map?
Santiago says: mmm... I´d say AOK World Map
Ben says: Favourite civ?
Santiago says: Koreans all the way babe
Ben says: Haha nice, so tell us a little about yourself and your life.
Santiago says: Well, I've lived all my life in Mexico and was born here, except one year I moved to San Diego, California. Anyway, I started playing Age of Empires games since I was 13 years old I believe, I've had my breaks though.
Santiago says: About my personality, I'd say I'm just a normal guy, I like laughing and making people laugh, I love doing sports and watching them, reading a good book, watching movies, etc. etc. Now, as for the AOE context I'd say I'm a guy that loves to play Team Games no matter what map it is, I don't really take the game serious since it is a game, but some situations may call for me to act more maturely.
Santiago says: I've met a lot of people in the AOE community, most of them are really nice guys if you get to know them, some are just nerds that are better left alone.
Ben says: Yeah I know what you mean! Your English is really strong for someone from the Hispanic community. Did you learn early?
Santiago says: Yeah, actually english is taught since the kids enter the Kindergarden, at the age of 6 I think. But also not a lot of Mexicans speak, read and write english as well as me, I learnt most of my english by playing this game actually, haha
Ben says: What is your favourite thing about Mexico?
Santiago says: I'd say the food. Maybe I'm a bit biased because I was born here, but seriously there's so many things to try, sauces, types of meat, vegetables, etc. I love the mexican cuisine
Ben says: Do you listen to music, or play sports?
Santiago says: Hell yeah, both. I pretty much listen to every type of music, but funnily I prefer to listen music sang in English rather than Spanish, but yeah some of my favorite groups are The Dandy Warhols, Bloc Party, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. About sports, yeah I've played Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, Tennis, Gymnastics and also Swimming.
Santiago says: But Soccer is definitely my favorite sport, I've played and watched it all my life, European and South American leagues mostly.
Ben says: Ah, you mean Football!!!! Haha, what's your favourite team, and do you think Mexico will do well in the World Cup?
Santiago says:
Yeah, haha, Football/Soccer, whatever you want to call it. My favorite team got to be Real Madrid, I know it is a bit of a cliché, but I'm a true supporter of Real Madrid, even though most of my family are Barcelona fans. About Mexico´s National Team, well, I really think we can pass the Group Stage, South Africa are the hosts but they are still South Africa and if we cannot beat them, then we have nothing to do in the World Cup. As for Uruguay and France, well Uruguay is a strong team but beatable, we just need to cover well Forlán and Suárez. And France is a bad team with very good players, so we should be able to at least tie with them. Problem will be our possible opponent in the next stage.
Ben says: Yeah, it's the same as Australia haha. Do you play any games besides AoC?
Santiago says: Well, yeah, Age of Kings was the game that made go to Zone.com and then I bought Age of Conquerors. I have played Warcraft, Starcraft, Empire Earth, Red Alert and another bunch of strategy games, but none as often as the Age of Empires series. Although I'm a big fan of the FIFA's but I've never bought an Xbox or a Play Station, to be honest I'm afraid I'll end up playing FIFA, Gears of War, Halo, etc. 24/7. That's why I've never bought anytype of videogame console.
Ben says: And do you study or work?
Santiago says: I only study. I'm currently studying Economics at Mexico City, at ITAM, one of the best if not the best university of Mexico in that area. I just passed to the 5th semester out of 9.
Ben says: I see. Tell us about how you started AoC.
Santiago says: Alright. I first played in Age of Conquerors because I had a lot of friends in the Hero Fest scene, and some of those were s2n members, if I am correct that clan was one of the best HF clans in Age of Conquerors, so they invited me to come play in AOC rooms. For my surprise, the level was pretty shitty but still it was fun.
Santiago says: Then that clan died and I never came back to AOC rooms until a known World Map player called Ruccas invited me to come play maps similar to World Map, like Holland Map and Europe Map. I met people like DD, Spiritz, MagicFish, etc. It was the ''invasion'' of WM AOKers to the Europe scene, when people like Raven, Search, Rekkon, Deathrage and me arrived. I took a break then of 8 months. When I came back, WM was dead and Europe was the only thing played, I met Sean and became really good friends with him and he introduced me to all the Europe community. So I decided to finally stick to AOC.
Ben says: Who was your biggest influence when learning maps like Europe?
Santiago says: Wow, well probably the only one that taught me a bit about Europe was Spiritz, he showed me how to play the Europe l2p map but that's it. I'm more the type of guy that likes to learn by playing, by the experience.
Ben says: I like that style! What would you say your general play style is like?
Santiago says: You know, I have always tried to define my style but I guess I change a lot, depending on the situation, on my civilization, my team mates, my enemies and my position. I used to be a Grush whore, but I wouldn't say that I am still. Although I always love a good rush, since games get easier if you win it.
Ben says: Any special games you remember?
Santiago says: Phew, I've had lots of good games, but probably the ones I remember the most was when I beat guys that were better than me, I've beaten Omar a few times and Colin twice. As for team games, well pretty much any Clan game is fun for me.
Ben says: Who was your favourite player to watch or compete against?
Santiago says: Omar and Denn I think. Omar because he was one of the best in every aspect of the Europe scene, and he was one of the nicest, also I laughed a lot when we all found out that he was a guy and not a girl. And Denn because he was untouchable in World Map back in the day in AOK, was top in RM in AOK and is a pretty good Europe player, I don't know if I've gotten better but I don't see him as good as in the past. There was also another guy I admired a lot, called Ultima. He was top in CS AOK in a lot of bloods, in World Map, was top 10 DM in AOK and was a hell of a player in RM AOK.
Ben says: A blast from the past! Over the many years of playing, who are the people you consider good friends?
Santiago says: Wow, I've had lots, most of them I wish I had their emails to keep in touch but I'll name a few, a mixture of AOK and AOC friends: Iceball, Ace, Raven, Sean, Mex17, Search, Murdera, Scorpion, Tepman, Chemist, Ahmad, Pacific, Ben (you), Mar and Hydra. I'm probably forgetting a lot but those were the first ones that came to my mind.
Ben says: What would you say AoC has provided for you over the years?
Santiago says: Pure waste of time! Haha, no, just kidding. Well, mainly good times, lots of laughs, jokes, and fun talking shit. I think it is healthy and good for everyone to escape for a few moments of reality, AOC has been one of my distractions of real life problems. It is true I've wasted sometime playing when I shouldn't have, but I do not regret it.
Ben says: Wise words! Thanks for being the first to take part in the interviews we will be conducting overtime. Have you got a picture so people know what you look like?
Santiago says: Do I have to be dressed? Haha I'm joking, sure, here's one with two of my best friends (I'm the guy in the middle):
