Interview with markdv

Did you know that markdv (406737) is the oldest user from Philippines? Well, if you didn't, you should be aware that he is playing Hattrick since 2003. That means 12 RL years, which is a huge achievement!

He definitely knows a lot of things about Hattrick, the community from Pinas, National Teams and we have more...

Let's meet Mark! How? You know, just read the article, it's gonna be interesting. :)

1. Tell us a few words about you. Who is the man behind user markdv (406737)? :)


Hello! I am Mark, world traveler, and sportswriter. I have been playing Hattrick since 2003.

2. 12 years in Hattrick, the oldest user from Pinas. What an achievement! How was all this period for you? How did you hear about Hattrick?


I heard of Hattrick from a MMO (Massively Multiplayer On-line) gaming database. I was playing some MMORPG games (anyone remember of Archmage and Utopia?) to quite some success, got boring, and while searching online, I saw HT...
I do remember to this very day where I made my account at in Cebu. There has been ups and downs over the past 12 years, I must say. It was never easy, to begin with. I think about 4 years ago, I slowed down and considered quitting. Then, I ended up training goalkeeper (which I thought was just no frills for me). It just allowed me to try more tactics which got me back to being hooked to it.

3. Ok, let's take it chronological. On your page, we could see you were four time the NT coach of Philippines. Could you make a comparative between your first term and the last one?


One of the major differences over those terms were how the community was and how involved we were.
I remembered having to purchase players off of daytraders just so they can be trained well - I was training Playmaking then -, mono-skill was the way to play it before, and you really had to rely on each other just to make things work. I made sure that every time someone just joined HT, I got to communicate with them. That was the beginnings of the community. We had several of them based out of Cebu, too, which made it even more possible for us to be tight-knit with each other (Charles, Ken, Glen, the Malilong's, Wataru).

Having a small community had its perks and disadvantages. I remember us using one of the series forum to talk about strategy and players development (not a lot of people had enough funds to get Hattrick Supporter). The downside was, unlike other nations who celebrated on every 17.0 double/triple excellent pull, we were happy when we got passables or double solid 18yo. But we made it work.

Every season, we fought at the end of the it against Japan or Hong Kong for friendlies (club-wise). My best accomplishment then was to be the first one - and the first local manager, as well - to have brought the NT past the group stages.

4. You won two times the second division and you was part of the first division. Tell us the story of your team, what were your goals into the past? What should we expect from you into the future?


My first years, my team was training nothing but Playmaking. This helped not just the NT, but also my club, as it went up to the first division. However, that fairytale did not last long, as I put in my resources on investing on prime divine players to compete for the Premier titles on the beginning of the multi-player era.

Bank got hit bad, and so was my team. It took a while for me to get momentum back, and opened my second team (Burnt Toast Collective Ensemble (714181)) shortly after that. Burnt Toast is a pure Filipino team which plays a good amount of Philippine NT players, while my main club has begun competing once again in the second division. Hopefully, in 3-4 of seasons, one of my two teams will compete up in the Premier.

5. Being around the community for 12 years, I am sure you know a lot of users from Pinas both in RL and Hattrick. Could you please describe us the way you interact with the other locals from Pinas?


Well, like what I said earlier, I did try to talk to other local managers. Because of how tiny the community was, we were able to keep in touch with each other and meet up every now and then. Our first meet was in Cebu, at one of the beach resorts. It was fun to have finally met the faces behind several of the users.

Aside from that, my travels has finally got me to meet some people behind Hattrick. HT-Aartspam (245332), Ex-HT-Tjecken (1713), HT-Johan (1836) once, and a distant cousin of mine (a former GM) at a meet in Argentina, Klaudiu (4162713) and mircea (73880) in Romania, Bergschlumph (1399829) and Obladibaddou (583001) in Switzerland.

I give credit to former manager zameezamzam (12299745) and the rest of the UP boys for setting up the Hayok sa Hattrick thread: (16729540.1), which allowed us to talk about everything under the sun and communicate. We also have a HT community on Facebook as well, although we are more active here.

6. Where do you see Hattrick into the future and what are your expectations from it?


I will only get better and more competitive as time comes. I am looking forward to the changes that the staff are bringing in to increase competition and to make the game as realistic as possible.

7. What is your definition of "success" in HT?


Being able to see where we are now, compared to how it was back 12 years ago.

8. If you would be able to change three things in Hattrick, which one would be those?

- visualized gameplay;
- improved training options;
- more finance flexibility;

9. Could you tell us how is a normal day for you in Hattrick and how much do you spend on it?


Well, that usually depends if I am around with my girlfriend or not. ;)
I try to log in every now and then for a few minutes whenever I am with her, but take more time on it whenever I am on the road. That is usually when I plan out my upcoming matches and look around in the market.
Pretty typical, must say.

10. Send a message to the community.


It has been a great 12 years playing, and more to come! I look forward to playing with you guys, and hopefully, our community will get more involved. To the pure Pinas users, hopefully we could catch up sometime soon!

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You can discuss the article on the forum: (16860270.1).

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