Stephen "Ph4ntom" Cloete on Section 8

Only a few weeks back did the gaming community see a new powerhouse in the local scene emerge in the form of Section 8, a relic in the community that has been reborn into an even more powerful form.

Sporting teams in Quake Live (former NDC), Call of Duty 4 (former UbS Saints), Heroes of Newerth (former tLa) and Counter-Strike: Source (former Caucasian Persuasion), Section 8 catapulted itself into the top echelon of Multi-Gaming Organizations in South Africa.

Founded through the collaboration of Stephen "Ph4ntom" Cloete, Devon "Raliator" Williams and Rogan “gameb0y” Savill, Section 8 was born. However though, the team will have to show its muscle in the coming few weeks to prove that they are worthy of a top spot in South African gaming.

We sat down with Stephen "Ph4ntom" Cloete to get his thoughts on his newest project of Section 8 and where we might see them in the future.

You can find Section 8 on mIRC at #Sec8, or visit their Facebook page here.

Section 8 was spawned from the ashes of NDC, and the collaboration between a number of community members. How did it all come about? Were you a driving force behind its development?

Section Eight has been around for close to 10 years now… Both active and inactive at times. But to answer your question, no, my brother, James “ShadowlorD” Cloete was the original founder of the clan way back when Quake 3 was still a baby. However, Rogan “gameb0y” Savill brought up the idea of getting Section Eight off the ground again after things with NDC went pear shaped. Since then, the main driving forces have been Devon “Raliator” Williams and I.

The NDC ‘scandal’, if even that, was a serious knock to what could have been an extremely talented organization. Do you feel that all the hype around NDC’s demise was justified? Did it motivate you to develop Section 8 to where it is now?

Well, I wouldn’t quite put it that way… I mean, what happened to the saying “innocent until proven guilty”? Regardless of whether Jerri “Rapts” Mperdempes was cheating or not, I don’t think there’s any justification in what really happened. The initial goal with Section Eight was to pick up from where NDC left off. Only this time, it was without Travis “Shase” Weedon.

Stephen "Ph4ntom" Cloete (left) with good mate Travis "Shase" Weedon

Section 8 has come out with all guns blazing, sporting teams in Quake Live, Counter-Strike: Source, Call of Duty 4 and the youngest sibling on the scene, Heroes of Newerth. Was it your ambition to form such a large organization so quickly? Will Sec8 be expanding to anymore titles in the future?

Not at first… The development of Section Eight happened a lot faster than anyone had planned or thought, but this is why being passionate about anything in life is so important. Bruce Lee would be like any other Asian if he wasn’t so overly passionate about martial arts.

The idea of building a MGO has always been in the back of my mind, but never in such a short space of time… Credit is due to Devon “Raliator” Williams for bringing up the idea and rounding up the different teams. If it weren’t for him, Section Eight would probably still be a Quake Live team.

With such a big group of players across titles, organizational skills are key to ensuring the success of the MGO as a whole. What management structures do you have in place and who is in charge of each of your teams?

Managing such a large organisation is never an easy task for any individual... I’m actually contemplating the idea of getting someone onboard who could help out and be there when I cannot… As far as structures go at this point, my current focus is to get our website up and running. I’m hoping that the rest will fall into place soon after that, but it’s never that simple is it? Being a competitor and trying to arrange everything else is really tough on anybody, and don’t forget time consuming…

Quake Live: Stephen “Ph4ntom” Cloete / Rogan “gameb0y” Savill
Counter Strike: Source: Neill “Clipse” Roelofse
Heroes of Newerth: Devon “Raliator” Williams
Call of Duty 4: Luca “RoBoHoBo” Tucconi

Section 8 CSS played at rAge '09 as Caucasian Persuasion

2010 seems like the year of the MGO with Section 8, Pantheon, mint, Bravado and Synergy all featuring multiple teams. Do you believe that this is the direction SA gaming has needed to take for so long? Where do you see your own organization in a year’s time?

Most definitely… I mean, more members and teams mean more spotlight. The next step is to get sponsors involved as they are ultimately the ones who can take any clan to the next level. Top gamers love being sponsored and play a harder and better game as a result. Not only does that keep the players happy and more motivated, it draws extra attention to the clan. I just hope that Section Eight can land some sponsors in the near future… Should my wishes for the clan come true, we’ll have the most popular website in the South African gaming scene and each member will have sponsored peripherals and/or computers. Perhaps more…

The organization has stated that they will be launching a website of their own in the near future. Could you give us a possible ETA on the site? What features can we expect? Will it be purely competitive based or will it delve it general eSports?

The goal is to get a simple, yet productive website up first… You can expect an option to register and become a user of the website, filled with forums, latest news and updates regarding the clan as well as private member and team information. We will look into adding additional features when the basics are in place. If all goes well, the website will be up and running within the next 8 weeks.

Several days ago Section 8 recruited the majority of the Saints Call of Duty 4 squad from UbS. The team has however stated that they are still part of UbS. What are the implications of this arrangement? Is it purely to retain the friendships they had in UbS?

I am not aware of such an arrangement. As far as I understand, they have merged with Section Eight. Perhaps it has been misunderstood and like you say, opting to retain friendships. But I don’t believe it is anything more than that. Besides, the important part is which clan tag is used in-game at the end of the day.

Former Saints COD4 lineup, now part of Section 8

With Quake Live not being represented in the Do Gaming 2010 Leagues, what do think this year holds for the title? Should the community step up and promote the game as a league title? Do you think it’s no LAN feature is a hindrance especially in our local climate?

There has been talk and rumours of Quake Live appearing at the next Arena77/rAge event. Even as much as the possibility of South Africa sending two representatives to the next Dreamhack tournament in Sweden. But of course, this is all speculation and talk until it’s been publicised and actually takes place. I have always been an optimistic person, and I think that Do Gaming would be losing out if they don’t add Quake Live to their ranks. The game is growing every day and so much that Section Eight, corpS and OSB have been playing team deathmatch games on a weekly basis. The lack of a LAN feature may be a bit of an inconvenience to what “Quakers” are used to, but almost every single gamer has an internet connection.

Alistair “Lag_beast” Bouman, Pantheon’s number one fan, had this special request for this interview.. “What are your favourite colour boxers and are they lucky?"

If you must know, it’s black and yellow and I don’t believe in such superstition. I make my own luck.

Slick, Ph4ntom, Shase, Pacman, Lag_beast outside of rAge '09

Thank you for your time Steve, any last words?

Thanks is owed to you and Robert “GrIdL0cK” Clegg for showing interest in our clan. And long live Section Eight!