La community italiana di Sensible Soccer

L'ospite di questa settimana è l'attuale campione del mondo offline di Swos giocato su Amiga, avendo vinto il titolo ai SensibleDays disputatisi a Billund nel luglio di quest'anno.
Oltre ad essere un giocatore eccezionale è anche uno degli "Swossers" più disponibili che si possa sperare di conoscere, avendo incarnato il ruolo di allenatore di tutti coloro desiderosi di migliorare il proprio stile di gioco.
Benvenuto DjowGer!

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This week's guest is the reigning world champion of offline Amiga Swos, having won the title in Billund in July.
In addition to be a superb player, he is also one of the kindest swossers you could ever hope to meet, having embodied the role of Swos trainer for every player who wishes to improve his gamestyle.
Welcome DjowGer!

1. To break the ice, please tell us something about you:

Hello there. My name is Poul Olsen, 31 years of age, and currently living in Fredericia, which is a small town placed in the center of Denmark. In the SWOS community I go under the alias djowGer, which is pronounced like Joker.

2. How and when did you know about Swos?

I think tried the game for the first time back in the early nineties, when it was just Sensible Soccer. At that time it was all about Amiga 500’s and Sensible Soccer. Friends from school were often gathered around for DIY tournaments. I didn’t own an Amiga or PC at that time, so I was not really good compared to the others I played against, but I still enjoyed it to the fullest. I remember that I tried the first version of SWOS on Amiga at one of my friends place (Dons). It had just been released, and we noticed that it was a lot harder to score all of a sudden, but the game was just so much better than the earlier versions.

In late 1997 I finally got my own PC, and one day I saw SWOS 96-97 in a computer store. I didn’t hesitate to buy it, and played it nonstop for months and months. Especially the career mode was a big hit.

3. Since when have you been playing Swos online?

Well, It was something of nostalgia that led me to search for SWOS on the Internet, and accidently found sensiblesoccer.de. I registered early (id #234), but didn’t know you could play online vs others in the beginning. When I found out, I tried the Sega version but I didn’t enjoy it very much. Late in 2005 I found out that they had made a package for Amiga SWOS Online. I was immediately drawn into the game like back in the days. I convinced my roommate to play online too (Gunde). A few months later I found out that my classmate (Klaris) also played SWOS before and had a real Amiga 1200. This was how Danish Amiga offline community started out in Aalborg. The rest is history.

4. How has your playing style changed in the course of time, especially after discovering you could play Swos online?

I was a complete noob in the beginning, and could only score in one way. So to minimize defeats I started playing 5-4-1. Later on I needed more variation in my offensive game so I changed to 5-2-3, also as I was very impressed by Redhair’s different style. My jaw literally dropped when I saw him scoring using high headers all the way from the keeper to goal. I tried copying his plays, and after a while I could do header combos, and sometimes score on headers too. At some point I got tired of playing the same style over and over so during the last couple of years or so I have practiced a lot with 3-5-2, 4-2-4 and some of the other tactics too.

Online play definitely changed my playstyle for the better. For me it is not important to be able to score all goals possible, but to win you need to be able to defend all goals. You should know of the “danger zones” on the pitch.

I don’t consider myself a fast learner, and I could probably have saved much time if I had a “teacher” to show me moves both in defense and offense. Learning by doing works, but it takes way too much time. Sometimes you need someone to guide you and correct your mistakes. When andib joined a while back, I decided to help him, and teach him as much as I could.

5. Do you think you could still improve or have you reached your maximum potential?

Getting better is always my key motivation to play the game, but I will admit it is getting harder and harder to find new ways to score. When I feel like I can’t learn anymore with a certain setup, I change team, formation or tactic to try and learn new moves. Creating new tactics is also a way of learning the game in another way, but I need to test it vs human players so I try to test them as often as possible in ASL.

Recently I made some videos of how to score goals in certain situations to help other players improve their game. You can find them here: https://www.youtube.com/user/DaDjowger/videos 

You will also find videos from Berlin Open, Sensible Days & Danish offline cups.

6. Do you admire a Swosser's gamestyle in particular? What would you like to steal from him if you could?

Well, for me It is quite clear that there are 3 players who are simply in a class of their own: Coolio_Jack, Blazej & ALI. These 3 can do every move in SWOS you can think of. Their timing and overall skill is just sky high. To defend against these guys is truly a nightmare and probably the most challenging quest you can find in the game.

7. Since both things are at times strictly connected, my question is: what is your finest memory related to Swos and what is the best match you have ever played in your Swosser's life?

I can’t pick out a single match I enjoyed the most. But my best memories with SWOS are probably the offline events.

The 1st big thing was probably the Aalborg SWOS Cup #1. We played in my apartment in Aalborg, with visits from all over Denmark, and we even had German visitors (Pallister, Wänä, Bomb & Schulle). The weather also played a crucial role, as even the Danish government had advised everyone not to take unnecessary risks driving in the huge piles of snow. So it was even more impressive that we could gather so many people for this event in the end.

2nd was probably my tournament winning of Central Germany Cup on Amiga SWOS, as it was my first big tournament victory against other high level players. Pallister managed to gather people from near and far, and it was just a great weekend.

My 3rd highlight is quite new, as it was being organizer for Sensible Days together with Klaris and andib. Very stressful to make it all happen, but definitely worth it! Everything fell into to place during the weekend, and in the end I also managed to play well enough to lift the trophy on Amiga. A perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

8. You are a high-level player, but you must have experienced bitter disappointment yourself...

Hehe, sure I have had disappointments in SWOS. The worst are of course late game goals (the famous 89’ goals against you), especially when it happened in drama situations like in deciding offline knockout stages. The worst is probably my Semi-final loss against lobo at Danish Cup in 2007. Leading 4-1, game was tied at 4-4 in the end. In the 89 minute I have a chance to close it, I missed the chance, and lobo scored on the direct counter instead. Such a cruel ending it is to lose this way. It was the famous money tournament in Denmark, which made it even harder to accept the loss at that time. 

9. What prompts you to keep on playing Swos and what - in your opinion - makes the game still attractive after more than 20 years from its first release?

The short answer is the gameplay. The Amiga version of SWOS is the perfect football game for me. Simple to learn, but almost impossible to master (these are the games I enjoy the most). Also the simplicity, the speed and the countless of moves you can pull off only with one button. Pure perfection.

The 2nd thing is the people I have met during the years, both online and offline, because of SWOS. Although I took several breaks during the years, I always came back to the scene.

It motivates me to help other players to improve their game. I always try to give advice to my opponents if they ask for my help. It is a good way to give back to the community, just as the veterans that had helped me when I started out online back in the days.

10. And finally, please give a suggestion to the new prospects who are about to debut in our online Swos competitions.

Play countless of friendlies against different players online, and learn the different moves both in defense and offense. If you don’t know how to do certain moves, just ask them. Most players in the community are willing to help. Also the more moves you can do, the more fun the game gets in my opinion. Don’t care if you lose as you cannot expect to win against the veterans in the beginning.

You can also practice goals and shots vs weak cpu teams, but for improving your defense you need to play online vs human players. Once you have mastered the basics, join the leagues and one-day cups. Also stick with Real Madrid, Italy, Brazil or Barcelona for teams. Shuffle around with the formations, players and teams until you find something that works for you. Ask veterans for a solid setup if you can’t find a something that works for you.

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