Minh "Gooseman" Le, the creator of the original Counter-Strike, recently gave an interview to the author of the YouTube channel Indie Game Joe. During the conversation, he shared his memories of meeting and working with Gabe Newell.
According to Gooseman, Gabe is an eccentric person. At their very first meeting, he asked him a question that stumped the developer:
We went to a company lunch one day, and it was my first time meeting Gabe, and I was about 20-23 years old then. It was my first year at Valve. And, you know, he immediately, point-blank, asked me: 'What do you think makes a game great?' And that's a very difficult question to ask [someone as young as me].
Gabe, Gooseman explains, likes to ask questions very directly. The developer feels that the Valve boss simply doesn't realize that these are uncomfortable questions — that's just his nature: 'He's just a very honest person and wants to get to the bottom of things. You know, he doesn't like to beat around the bush.'
During the conversation, Gooseman also noted the Valve boss's hobbies. For example, for five months he was fascinated by Mongolian throat singing — not all company employees were thrilled with his performances:
At some point, he got into Mongolian throat singing. And Gabe watched a documentary about Mongolian singers and became very interested in the topic and started doing it — and sang all over the office. And I remember, many people were annoyed by it because it was quite loud. And he sang every day, people started closing their doors.
Gabe Newell was also fond of collecting knives — he had an entire room with various models. Over time, huge medieval swords and axes also appeared.