Interview: Okan Kaya and his world record breaking gaming session of Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Summary: (http://www.rawdlc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/photo.jpg) Meet Okan Kaya - father of two, devoted husband and a massive Call of Duty fan. Earlier this week Okan managed the near impossible by setting the world record for longest video game marathon. rawDLC got in contact with this driven gamer and here is his story. It is easy to see sometimes why gamers on a multiplayer tear can seem strange to the general public. It's hard to explain to people why you spend hours on end locked in a room, why easy access junk food is important or why twenty hours spent in anguish for a single achievement is worth it. However, gamers don't care. For the serious gaming professionals this is a lifestyle choice and they couldn't be happier with it. Okan Kaya is looking to accomplish more than just an Xbox achievement or a PlayStation Trophy. His skills are beyond such accolades such as these. He wants world recognition. Two years ago he heard about the world record for a video game marathon. The record at the time was 54 hours and he knew he could beat it. Unfortunately, two Canadians beat him to the punch and set a staggering new time of 120 hours and 7 minutes forcing Okan to hold off and regroup. The desire still niggled at him though. Coinciding with the Call Of Duty: Black Ops II launch, two years later on Tuesday the 13th of November, Okan with the help of his team from 4Cabling set off to destroy the already mammoth record. With next to no training, he commenced his epic journey into the record books. "I only play at nights." Okan told us. "I have two kids and I generally play when they are asleep so I usually jump on at 9 or 10 o'clock at night and average around four hours sleep a night. Doing this in itself is training, I guess. But I did test myself and did 37 hours straight before my wife dragged me to bed. I could have done a lot more and that's when I knew I could make it." The rules were simple. Food and drink were allowed as long as they didn't interfere with gaming and ten minute breaks were earned for every hour played to be used however he saw fit. "I tried to build up as much time as I could for sleep and was getting about two and a half hours of sleep a day. Breaks were hard to manage. If you play for three hours and forty minutes you only get 30 minutes not forty. Some matches would go for too long and I would have to wait another fifty minutes for time off." After 135 hours and 50 minutes Okan put the controller down and took the Guinness World Record for longest video game marathon ever. To put into perspective the amount of time he played, when he crossed the original record he had been playing for five days straight and is still hungry for more. Not only is he already back to full strength but he is ready to defend his challenge. "I know how much work it took and if someone does beat my time I would do it again. I remember looking at my boss as I finished and saying that I could have gone on for another week. I just ran out of time." For the full interview,either subscribe to the rawDLC podcast (found here) or click on the audio link above. rawDLC would like to thank Okan Kaya for his time and also thank Click PR for arranging the interview. If anyone wishes to pass on their congratulations to Okan, please email josh@rawdlc.com and we will pass them on to him.