The Poxnora Spotlight: HardyGames32

This week's interview is with @HardyGames32. The responses are in white. Feel free to ask any questions that I didn't. He isn't currently online, but will reply when he is on later.

What is your name or nick name in real life?
My name is Michael, I have no real nickname or anything, I just like being called Michael.

What is the origin of your game/forum name(s):
When I first started to play pox my account name was Mimico32 back in the Octopi days (2007). When I came back after a break I made the Hardyharha account in around 2011 which I had shortened to my current "Hardy" username. HardyGames32 is my general Username I use for pretty much everything game related, so that's why it's my forum account. The numbers 32 have no real meaning I have just often used those numbers in usernames.

Where are you from and where do you live currently?
I was born in and currently live in Melbourne, Australia. I would love to live in America, however.

What about living in America interests you?
It is pretty much the hub of the music and movie industry at the moment, and so it would be awesome to audition for a Hollywood film or a Broadway show!

Where in America would you like to live?
In either California or New York, for the same reasons as above.

What do you do for a living, and do you enjoy it?
I'm a high school student, but I busk on the street for money. I love music and wish to become a musician when I finish school. I enjoy Music and Drama subjects, and I like English, but I'm not a fan of maths, science and language subjects.

How old are you?
I am 15 years old, born the 11/1/2000

That makes me feel old. You were born after I finished basic training. What are your plans after high school?
I hope to move on to do a double degree Arts/Music at either Melbourne or Monash University and then attempt to get into specialised performance schools such as NIDA (all Australian schools). The career goal is a relatively successful mainstream recording artist but should that fail I'm open to teaching and directing etc.

How did you come across Pox Nora?
I was 7 years old and was randomly searching key terms for games like 'strategy' and 'turn-based' and PoxNora popped up on my screen. I played for a few months with the free BG's and soon moved on, growing frustrated with the fact that I was not permitted by my mum to spend any money on the game. I was also pretty horrible having the mind of a 7 year old and not being able to tactically grasp the ins and outs of a game as complicated as Pox. However I returned in late 2010 and have played on and off since.

How long have you played?
Properly since 2011, on and off for 4 years.

What is your favorite faction and why?
In 2011-12 I played exclusively ST, building up a collection of as many runes as I could. The community of ST players is why I loved ST so much (it was also firking OP at the time). It was Calisk who really took me under his wing and helped me learn ST, and his original guidance to help me understand the game is one of the reasons I have stuck around as long as I have.

Now I don't really have a favourite faction. I play many different things. I still have a soft spot for ST, and I always have an ST Meta BG made if I ever want to jump into ranked with that.

Favorite part of Pox Nora and why?
My favourite part of PoxNora is a good power turn. There is a certain beauty in a massive army of champs flying across the map with some AP gen or relocation spells to kill a large number and force a surrender. It's my favourite moment of a game, and those few seconds your opponent uses to take in the whole situation before they surrender is truly.... incredible.

What is the first rune you remember seeing and immediately wanting to have one?
Snogvie the Antbear! Once I saw a didgeridoo playing PoxNora card I absolutely had to get him. Snoggles is a true Aussie.

Snoggles? I've never heard that used to describe him.
Really? Often I've heard @BurnPyro refer to him as such.

What is your best tip to give to new players?
It's well worth sticking around and learning Pox. Something made you start, and there will be nothing that makes you stop. Even if you take regular and long breaks like I do, you'll always have a truly unique and incredible game to come back to. And a community full of lovable bitter trolls to come back to as well. No matter how difficult or how steep the learning curve, just stick with it.

Is there a rune that you feel isn't utilized as much as it could be?
Summon Polar Ant. Calisk and I used to run that in 2v2 back in the day and it completely screwed some people over sometimes. Well worth the include just for spontaneity.

I've been seeing that a lot lately. Have you found any combos you think others aren't aware of?
Since the old global swap has been nerfed, there aren't as many, but the classic Owl Raider from across the map to kill one of their flying champs + a swarm on their 2x2 champ was an incredible double kill for only 115 nora. Plus you got a champ out of it.

Besides Poxnora, do you have any additional hobbies?
I love music and I sing and play guitar. I also love European Football and I play for my school and for a club in the defensive midfield position. I am an avid fan of TV shows such as Dexter, the Following, the Walking Dead and Criminal Minds. I don't make friends easily, so I've got a lot of time to sit around and focus on playing music.

What kind of music do you play?
I generally play folky kind of acoustic music but I often take pop songs from the charts and turn them into my own thing. I'm a cover artist but I'm learning the ins and outs of songwriting and hopefully aiming to start that up soon too.

Is there anything else about yourself that you would like to share with the community?
Once, when I was a lot younger (around 11) I was talking to @DMrBadguy. He managed to convince my young gullible mind that @Dagda was younger than me (9 years old) and instead of aging like a normal person he ages in reverse. I didn't let Dmr catch on, but I was completely terrified, and spent many a sleepless night trying to wrap my head around what would happen in 9 years time. Safe to say now I realise how dumb I was, but I still think its something funny worth sharing

 

lol @ dagda the demon

 

seems like a smart 15 year old, good interview.

 

No one had any other questions for him?

 

5 more years til we find out

#2020herewecome

 

Your interviews are already fun, no need.

 

i wonder how you are able to beat people almost 10 years older than you on a regular basis in this game.

 

Great interview! Would read again. Methinks darklord48 is not quite as evil as he wants us to believe. +1 to all.

Also, long live Snoggles!!

 

I feel like you really should.

 

Age is in practically no way linked to intelligence or skill. Only experience.

 

share

 

Your mind continues to develop as you get older. I am going back and relearning math that i took years ago and it is much easier now because i am smarter than i used to be.

 

Cool interview, sound like a well suited young man.

 

Good singing, we'll have to get you to share more.

 

You should probably educate yourself on this subject before making a statement like this.

 

Not really. If you find it easier now than because you have more experience in analyzing logical patterns and the like.