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Do you ever get bored of playing Age of Empires, Ørjan «TheViper» Larsen?

11-10-2023

Translation: Eva Francis

Hardly anyone has played Age of Empires as often as Ørjan Larsen. Nobody has won more tournaments than the e-sports pro – better known as TheViper. Does he ever get bored? No. Almost never.

Ørjan Larsen won the T90 Titans League in February with a 4-1 victory. Now, in the third season of the tournament, he’s playing for the next trophy and a total prize money of 22,500 US dollars.

Ørjan’s successes began early. As a child, he already challenged much older Age of Empires players. The 31-year-old Norwegian has been playing Age of Empires professionally for over ten years and is considered one of the best players in the world. On the occasion of our own Age of Empires tournament at Digitec Playground, I talked to him about his career, why Age of Empires 4 didn’t catch on, and if he ever gets sick of medieval battles.

You were six years old when Age of Empires was released. Today, you’re one of the best players in the world. Do you remember the first time you played it?
Ørjan TheViper Larsen: I saw my dad play Age of Empires 1. I don’t know exactly how old I was. I just remember thinking, «Wow, these villagers running around hunting lions, that’s so cool.» Then, he let me play sometimes as a kid – eventually online as well. My nickname back then was The Boy because I was a little boy.

«People couldn’t believe they’d lost to a 10- or 11-year-old.»

Your e-sports career, however, began quite a bit later, right?
As I got older, interest in school, studies and girls took over a little bit. I took a long break from the game. At some point, when I was about 18, I saw that my father was still playing Age of Empires. I thought to myself, «I used to love that.» So I started playing again and quickly got better. By late 2011 or early 2012, I’d become maybe the best player in the world at that time and in 2017, I became a full-time streamer.

Was there a specific moment when you realised you had what it took to become a pro?
After my long break, I mainly did team games. I had no sense of how good I was at one-on-one. Back then, there were still mixed Elo ratings (editor’s note: Elo ratings denote the level of a player). So your Elo in one-on-one would be the same as in team games. I had a really high Elo for team games. Then I played a one-on-one game against a guy who was 600 Elo lower than me. I lost and thought, «What the hell? Is there that big a difference between one-on-one compared to team games? This cannot stand.» So I started training one-on-one games. When I realised that I grew and levelled quite fast, I knew I could get pretty good at this game.

Ørjan, his father and his trophy for winning the Wololo V tournament.
Source: L. Jouve @louisjve

Your father is the founder of the Age of Empires community site AOCZone. Does he still play?
No, he doesn’t play much these days. He prefers to watch the tournaments and take part in Twitch chats. He’s an avid watcher. There are a lot of people who don’t necessarily play Age of Empires, but watch the game often. They just enjoy the beauty of Age of Empires.

Do you still play against your father?
No, I think our level difference is a bit too big now.

You’ve spent more time with Age of Empires than most people in the world. What are the key features of each series?
Age of Empires 1 is faster paced and more punishing, I would say, while Age of Empires 2 has the perfect balance. I found Age of Empires 3 a bit weird. They implemented this shipment system, allowing you to spawn units out of nowhere. It’s more modern and there’s more gunpowder. Age of Mythology was really cool though with all the mythical units and creatures. Age of Empires 4 is a hybrid version, as if the makers tried to find something between modern RTS (editors’ note: real-time strategy) and Age of Empires, while keeping the classic feel.

I think they tried to establish Age of Empires 4 as a new e-sports title. But it seems like Age of Empires 2 is still more popular.
I’m not sure they set out to establish Age of Empires 4 in e-sports. But yes, Age of Empires 2 definitely has more viewers and more tournaments than Age of Empires 4. Age of Empires 4 has its own thing going on, but Age of Empires 2 is definitely still the most popular of the series.

«I think the Age of Empires 4 ship has sailed for me.»

What do you think makes Age of Empires 2 the better choice for players like you?
Age of Empires 4 was released with a lot of bugs and missing features you’d expect from a modern RTS. It was an early release. They could have definitely used another year to fix everything. The single-player gameplay was also lacking. Age of Empires 2 offers huge amounts of single-player content, so even casual gamers can play campaigns for hundreds of hours. And they’re still releasing DLCs with new campaigns almost every year. Accessible single-player content is really important to make the game appealing to a wider audience. Besides, Age of Empires 2 has every possible game mode and hundreds of different maps. So no matter how you want to play the game, you can. I think this is what makes it very accessible.

You were somewhat involved in the development of Age of Empires 4, right?
I was part of a small group that was flown to Vancouver to get familiar with Age of Empires 4 in its very early alpha phase. We could give feedback and get to know their visions and plans.

Ørjan at the final against Hamzah «Hera» El-Baher at the T90 Titans League in early 2023.

Will you ever switch to Age of Empires 4?
I played a lot of Age of Empires 4, also competitively. But something was just missing for me. I didn't fall in love with it the way I fell in love with Age of Empires 2. I think the Age of Empires 4 ship has sailed for me. Age of Empires 2 will probably remain my true love.

Do you play any other RTS games?
I played a bit of StarCraft and Warcraft, but not actively. I get hooked on these kinds of games, and play more than is good for me. To the point where it impacts my mechanics in Age of Empires 2 because all the controls and shortcuts are different. This has a negative impact on my performance at tournaments, so I can’t continue doing it.

Do you play any other games?
I do play other games, for example Football Manager. I’m a big football fan, so I play Football Manager a lot when a new one is released. And then I might also play a small game here and there with my friends and my girlfriend, but I can never sit down and commit 150 hours to finishing a game. I don't have enough time.

«Real-life responsibilities catch up with you.»

How do you prepare for a tournament?
First of all, I get familiar with the setting. What maps are we playing? What’s the draft (editor’s note: the playing conditions) going to be like? What civilisation options are there? Then I study the maps and think about which strategies and civilisations could be good. Then I put this into practice and train with my teammates or even with rivals who I might not necessarily face in the tournament. I do that until I come up with a strategy or approach that I’m happy with. Of course, you can never prepare for everything in an RTS game, there are so many factors that can change and force you to adapt.

Before a tournament, Ørjan studies the setting and, of course, his opponent.
Source: L. Jouve @louisjve

Do you study your opponents before the game?
If they’ve previously played in the tournament with the same settings, I will look at their recorded games. I look at what civilisation they chose and try to figure out their preferences. Then I think of mind games or strategies to counter that.

Do Age of Empires pros differ from other e-sports players?
I feel like Age of Empires 2 has a very wholesome community. The pros are also very wholesome. There’s very little drama and there’s a lot of friendly banter. Everyone is supportive and happy for each other. It’s a good community to be part of.

Is age a problem when it comes to reflexes and so on?
I’m 31 now and I don’t feel like I’m slower or have worse reflexes than I did when I was 20. However, real-life responsibilities catch up with you. Ten years ago, I played as much as I wanted. I didn't have anything else to worry about. Now I have bills to pay, a partner, family, pets and so on, which are also on my mind. I think these distractions are more impactful than the fact that I’m getting older.

Do you know what you’ll do when you’re not an e-sports pro anymore?
E-sports is still very young. There’s nobody who was an e-sports athlete 40 years ago. The same applies to streaming – there aren’t any streamers who did it for 40 years and are now retired. So I think we are in a phase of life where we don’t know what’s coming next. There are very many e-sports pros who retire in their late 20s because they say, «I’ve had my fun. Now I need to choose a real career.» I could see myself stop competing in e-sports at some point, but I feel like I would remain involved somehow, for example as an analyst.

In addition to e-sports tournaments, you’re also a content creator and streamer. How do you see this part of your career developing?
I would probably keep producing content or streaming even without e-sports. How long Age of Empires will survive is, of course, also a big question. We have survived for 23 years now, so I don’t see us shutting down any time soon. So it’s hard to predict my future in e-sports and as a content creator, but hopefully I can continue doing it for a long time.

«Just create a better Age of Empires 2.»

Do you ever get bored of playing Age of Empires?
For sure. There are days when I wake up and don’t feel like playing Age of Empires. But they’re rare. It’s like with everything you do in life. If you do a lot of it, you sometimes want a break. There have been times when I didn’t play at all for a week or two. There was also a phase in 2019 when I felt a bit tired of streaming and playing Age of Empires, so I took about a 2-month hiatus. But Forgotten Empires (editor’s note: the development studio) is doing such a good job with releasing new content and balance changes. It keeps the game fresh and helps motivate me to keep going.

Do e-sports feel like work or play or something undefined?
I’d say something in the middle. Some days it feels more like work, other days I’m just playing and streaming and having the time of my life. It depends very much on the day and what’s happening.

Even Ørjan sometimes gets fed up with Age of Empires.
Source: L. Jouve @louisjve

What annoys you the most about Age of Empires?
Probably pathfinding (editor’s note: finding paths or searching for optimal paths with game characters). There are pathfinding issues where units just don’t behave the way you want them to. In other words, the logic of certain things in the game. But I get it, they’re working on a game that’s over 20 years old, so there will be some problems from the past. Another thing is RNG (editor’s note: randomness in the game) and monk conversions, the Wololos (editor’s note: battle cry of the monks and their nickname). That’s not much fun sometimes.

What would you change if you were the game director – apart from pathfinding?
I think there are small mechanics in the game that don’t feel good. For example, there’s a unique technology that instantly turns all your villagers into soldiers. That to me is a bit too gimmicky for Age of Empires. I would probably also lower some RNG aspects of the game. In competitive e-sports, RNG can be nice because it adds unpredictability for both players and viewers, but it can also be frustrating when you’re competing for thousands of dollars.

What would be your wish for Age of Empires 5?
As an original Viking, I would like to see Vikings involved in some way. I think Age of Empires 4 did the right thing when they tried to keep it in the same era as Age of Empires 2. That’s where they had the greatest success, so I would like to see it stay in that time. For me, the way to go would be to just create a better Age of Empires 2. Of course, that’s easier said than done. I think the future of RTS probably has a lot to do with single-player/casual/co-op content. If you can make RTS games appealing, for example by making it possible to easily play a campaign challenge with three friends against an AI, that would make it very attractive. This would help a lot of RTS games.

On Friday, the grand finale of our Digitec Playground Cup Vol. 11 with Age of Empires 2 will take place. The duels will be held live on the main stage at Herofest in Bern on 13 October. Can’t drop by? No problem! We’re broadcasting all battles live on Twitch and YouTube. The event will be hosted by the Swiss Age of Empires pros Ellie4k and Dave.

In addition to the Playground finale, Digitec will also be present at Herofest. Visit our booth and game against us, test new hardware or do some tinkering. Check out this article for more information:

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Philipp Rüegg

Senior Editor

Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.ch

As a child, I wasn't allowed to have any consoles. It was only with the arrival of the family's 486 PC that the magical world of gaming opened up to me. Today, I'm overcompensating accordingly. Only a lack of time and money prevents me from trying out every game there is and decorating my shelf with rare retro consoles.

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