I used to play online with the guys that developed action quake 2 & did alpha testing, was involved in dev discussions & donated ideas (while working on my own mod) up through when they transitioned to the HL engine where it eventually became CS & I tested early versions of that as well. I never met Gabe, but I had to work on his domain account when I worked at a domain registrar & when I was on hold calling valve, they had the half life scientists voice the phone tree.