What is your name?
My name is Iván Rampi.
Where do you live?
I'm from the neighbourhood of Palermo, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Is there anything you would like to tell me about your family and you job?
I've been living with my parents my whole life (22), which can seem weird for others, like in the US where they leave their home at roughly 18 years old, but it's very common in my county since there aren't that many options for young people. They're the best I could ask for and support me all the way in everything I do. My father is a System's guy, my mother an English teacher/translator and my sister is a musician. I've had some minor, internship, jobs and had the amazing opportunity to go to New York for the Clinton Global Initiative 2015 event as an Assistant Stage Manager, but I don't have a job at the moment since I'm focusing on finishing my thesis on how LoL pros communicate with their audiences via Twitch for my PR Bachelor's degree.
Do you have any pets?
I have a cat named Pipo who's 13 years old and lazy as can be, even for a cat. He's an Exotic Shorthair hence the weird smooshed face and wide eyes, and despite his name, his hair gets everywhere, constantly. We all still love him, though, and since he's getting old now he's been more cuddly with all of us.
When did you start playing LOL?
I started playing LoL in 2012, thanks to a former friend's recommendation. I had to play in the NA server since Latin America didn't even have a server yet (except for Brazil) . It was very fun for me and so different to everything I was used to and I got to make a lot of friends who I miss dearly (Jason and Franco, mainly) . As I said before, LoL was my first MOBA and I remember both the first champion I ever used (Amumu) and the first 6350 IP (Influence Points, as they were called back in the day) champion I used: my pocket pick, Ziggs. That same year I found out there was a World Championship for this game and I remember thinking how awesome it was that a videogame had world championships, prize money, actual professional careers and everything any other sport has. I remember watching the finals in which Taipei Assassins took it home and thinking they were the best team ever! Then their Worlds skins (the first of their kind) were released and the Mundo one was my favourite skin in the game for a long while haha. When the 2013 Spring Split started in the NA LCS, I chose to support Cloud9 since they looked like a dominating, fresh and funny team (also their logo
and colours were cool), and I've been a fan ever since. Even got the C9 logo tattooed on my back 2 years ago and I haven't regretted it once. I also met the original C9 roster when they came to do a meet-and-greet here in Argentina! It was a
surreal experience and I got to talk with everybody (except Balls, the top laner, who was really small and shy so I completely missed him and felt really bad about it lol).
What does the LOL mean to you?
The LoL community has a very ambivalent feeling to it, in my eyes. On the one hand, they're like this massive hive-minded, constantly crying, baby that throws tantrums every opportunity it gets. We complain a lot about many things and there's definitely a very toxic and unhealthy side to us. On the other hand, though, I've made a bunch of different, extremely solid, groups of friends thanks to that same community. There's a lot of debate, HEALTHY debate, that's been recently going on about the game (thanks to people like LS, Phreak, IWD, and other streamers and prominent members of the community who openly discuss champions, items, builds, microplay and macroplay) and I find myself engaging with tons of random people who have their own views and ideas of how it all works or should work. The LoL community is massive, so it's to be expected that there's a lot of negatives to it, but overall I owe so much of my life to it and I'll never say it's
a bad community. They're like family. Sometimes, you just don't get along, but they're there when you need them (just like with your fundraiser!).
What other passions do you have?
I got into Breaking mid-2019. Dancing has always been one of my favourite activities and I felt like I resonated very well with that style specifically. There's a really big underground scene in Argentina which I had no idea about, so it was very encouraging to find others to dance with. The breaking community is incredibly open-minded and willing to help, that's part of why I love that dance style so much. I also did Crossfit for 6 years and Wing Chun Kung Fu for around 2. I may get back to the latter sometime soon, but I dropped out because I grew a bit bored of it. Other than that, I love reading (currently going through all of "A Song of Ice and Fire" and planning on picking up "The Stormlight Archive"), spending time with my girlfriend (who loves me, despite being a LoL fan hahaha) and singing. I'm also planning on taking up guitar lessons again soon.
Massive thank you to Ivan for taking the time to answer my questions. I am loving interacting with people from different countries and this is the first time I have talked to someone from Argentina. The cat is GORGEOUS!!! Lots of Love LeicesterLadyPerkz xxx
Comments