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The World of Competitive Gaming
cphilo wrote to mention an article in the AP about the world of competitive gaming. From the article: "Welcome to the basement lair of the 24-year-old Wendel, the man known and feared by aficionados of multiplayer games across the globe as 'Fatal1ty.' If you deign to think of video games as simply a childish pastime, consider this professional game player. He collects a six-figure salary, has his own brand of gaming merchandise and travels the world to compete - regarded by those in the know as one of the most gifted players of his kind."
Not to take away from the guys accomplishments but will a time come when we all but do away with the need to press the flesh?
Why do we need to gather and mingle in the face of the web, the very essence of which is near instantaneous communication at a distance. This reminds me of those who need to print out hard copies of material in order to study it properly.
Do we gain or lose signal to noise when we gather to celebrate our heroes?
I keep a few fundamental books at hand's reach but other than those and the turn over of new material taken out from a library, I'm much more comfortable and able to take from an e format than from dead tree material, and, I can learn more from another at a distance than when merged in a touchy feely mind meld.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
Another professional gamer, this one only 7 years old, is LiL Poison.
Now this is a child prodigy. Pbbbt...that other kid only got to college by 8.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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Not another "pro gaming is on the rise"-article. Just because a handful of people can live of pro gaming doesn't mean this is something that is even close to big yet. More money is being diverted into pro dart an pro bowling than pro "eSport". "eSport" suffer from the great disadvantage of not having a set of fixed rules (what game is popular this week?), not having any real arenas to fill to have "real social mass appeal" (you can't cram a few thousand nerds into an arena and actually watch a real game). Sitting in your bedroom watching a replay of a game on your monitor does not cut the cake.
/lars
"eSports" today is just marketing from game companies and CPU/GPU-manufacturers. Keeping the dream of teenagers around the world alive that "one day they can make cash from what they like to do best".
You want to make money? Computer gaming is probably the single most stupid thing you could waste your time on!
Ok, theres a user here on slashdot called Fatal1ty
What are the chances now that this guy is the real one, or its just a troll using his name?
How much respect does a name get you, and how would an online site decide who was the real Fatal1ty?
(I only ask this after taco's recent ponderment about WoW banning his account)
liqbase
Remember the vast majority of people will do nothing but ruin there lives trying to make a professional career out of playing video games at this stage in time. Only a handful of reflex freaks are going to be living it up and there livelihood will depend on maintaining those skills. The vast vast vast majority of computer geeks are better off getting a programming job or something. You have more chance of making a career in the NBA, at least then a few thousand people make huge money as opposed to a handful making good money as is the case with this "career option".
I agree. Knowing and using the limitations of a system is the mark of someone who wants to win, not necessarily an abuser.
Hiding in a wall hack is cheating. Bouncing around a map using rockets on rocket arena requires talent.
Each game has it's own limitations, and each fight has it's own strategy. Many British generals decried the foul tactics of the American Revolutionary army as they used guerilla tactics. Come out and fight us face to face! Line up in bright colors! Don't attack during tea time!
Do you want to win or have a long set of rules? If it's the rules, go play D&D, not FPS. You (and the rest of us who won't have to listen to Yet Another Whiner) will be happier.
If you've seen him on MTV (True Life: I'm a gamer), you see that he does actually manage to pull girls doing this, or they make it seem that way. On the other hand, they also show a guy who is the world's best Golden Tee player, and he looks like he totally lost the game of life.
Also, comptetitive game playing can be extremely interesting to watch. Just take a look at this SF2 tourney highlight:
Ken vs Chun-Li EVO 2004
Yeah, okay. Whatever happened to Thresh, who preceeded this kid by years? Pioneer? Please.
This fellow is far too full of himself, in part because there's so many fanboys lurking in the online community that just envy everything about him. But realistically, anyone could win these tournaments. He is nothing special -- he just happened to dedicate more time than most to become exceptionally good. So what does it require to win? An insane amount of time spent in front of the computer, and a little bit of insanity for good measure.
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
I was a competitive quake3 player, in the clan stickmen, and used to play with fatal1ty before he won his first major tournament. I would travel to Kansas City and LAN with him for a few days, and what most people don't realize is that he is truly obsessive about playing. He would put in 15 hour days 7 days a week, exericise to keep in good physical shape, and study the game, and more importantly, it's players, incessantly. Any time I had an advantage over him in a 1v1 map, we would play it over and over and over again untill he had learned all of my patterns.
Few people appreciate how much passion he has for winning.
By that deinition competative crap-taking is a sport.
I would still say the participants aren't atheletes.
My work requires me to do something, have some skill, and there is a defined ruleset. We are competitive with other companies. Per your definition, my job is a sport. Add in that a sport requires physical exertion and you might have an acceptable working definition.
From someone who takes part in competitive gaming and is very knowledged on the subject, it is very hard to deny him of being the best gamer (in terms of FPSs). He has an unparalleled track record in past competitions, and has continued to prove his place at the top. The only rival that Fatal1ty currently has is "Vo0", a Norwegian player that has traded many matches with him. Fatal1ty is definately is above the rest.
"The type of people who bunny hop around maps using the rocket launcher to frag you as you spawn, collecting all the weapons before anyone else can get to them."
I'm failing to see how this is considered an "exploit" or "lamer tactic". It is a very viable strategy that, when attempted versus other players of high calibre, CAN be countered.
Keep in mind that the higher level players do not fall into the holes that average players would. Actual strategy is employed to avoid being spawn fragged, locked out of weapons, etc, whereas the average player would throw up his hands in frustration.
Your claim that pro-gaming is based on abusing bugs and shortcuts is ridiculously unqualified and shortsighted.
You have obviously not seen him play then...
I have, _several_ times at Quakecon and let me tell you it is unbelievable. He will play just hard enough to screw with his opponent... only whipping out the "tricks" when he needs them.
For Quakecon 2004 he was setup in the Abit booth and was playing people for spectacle... if you could even kill him _once_ you got a prize. If you could beat him then you got a whole new computer.... only a few people got a prize at all.
One of the memerable moments from watching him play was when he was taking on a beginner in Doom3... Fatal1ty ran into a room and knew the guy was coming behind him... he shot out all of the lights and crouched in a corner... while his opponent ran _right_ past him... the crowd HOWLED with laughter and his opponent swung around dumbfounded until he got a shotgun in the face.
Fatal1ty plays _so_ often that he is basically one with the game... he knows every nook and cranny of every map and knows exactly which weapon to use in every situtation... he also has an uncanny ability to predict the behaviour of his foe.
Go see him play sometime... then tell me he is some kind of "lamer".... I think you will be surprised.
Friedmud
I've always wondered why the US, which has got to be king when it comes to successful ways of marketing personalities and products (Elvis, pop music groups, etc), doesn't have the degree of idol culture that Japan does, where being a celebrity is a *really* big deal.
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
The point of sports, likewise, is to have fun, not win...
Do pro-sports seem any less acceptable to you?
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
Some pro-gamer fat' is. During the Pain Killer world tour he hid in the rafters of a map for the remainder of a match because he was afraid of losing. Competitive gamer my ass.
-illumina+us "I put on my robe and wizard hat..."
Dunno, but from my observations of people playing, lots of person handles 3D movement very poorly. My brothers and most of my game playing friends are able to fairly consistently beat me (by a small margin) in games like GT2 or anything where you're mostly concerned with front-back, left-right movement. Switch to a flying game (especially if the ground is there) and I can usually take on several of them at once. Oh yeah, and Descent 2 kicks major ass, almost as much as Freespace.....I miss Volition....
I don't care what youre doing so much as the idiotic way you're doing it.
I think this is the link to the video:
s _daler_map1-2.zip
.nsv (VP6), my PowerBook with mplayer and VLC can't play this.. :(
http://files.cyberfight.ru/21219/FINAL_fatal1ty_v
But the video is a
Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel started professional gaming in 1999 by entering the CPL (Cyberathlete Professional League) tournament in Dallas and won $4,000 for placing third. Emerging as one of the top players in the United States, he then flew to Sweden where he competed in a tournament against the top 12 players in the world. By winning 18 straight games and losing none he took first place, becoming the number one ranked Quake III player in the world. Two months later he followed that success in Dallas by successfully defending his title as the world's best Quake III player and winning the $40,000 grand prize.
Since then Fatal1ty has traveled the globe to compete against the best in the world, winning prizes and acclaim, including the first DOOM 3 Inaugural Deathmatch Championship at QuakeCon 2004 for a $25,000 grand prize. He presently reigns as the only 3 time CPL Champion of the Year, winning each, annual title in a different game, a feat never before accomplished.
Now, products of the highest quality are being introduced under the Fatal1ty brand. The same dedication that drives Fatal1ty to be the world's best gamer is being translated to offer innovative products intended to enhance the gaming lifestyle and experience. At the same time, Fatal1ty is dedicated to expanding the popularity and opportunities for cyber athletes.
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It is possible to view recordings of matches in most FPS games today. Websites like cyberfight.org and esreality.com has quite an archive.
However, most of these replays requires the respective game and any additional mods and maps installed in order to view the replay, in order to save size. I would recommend watching a video compilation. own-age.com is a site with many videos in the most popular games, and this is the link to the top downloaded video. it features mostly highlights in Quake 3. http://own-age.com/vids/video.aspx?id=660
If you arent familiar with Quake3, it will be very hard to spot anything but fancy moves and aim when you're spectating "pro" players, but keep in mind that there is a high level of tactics involved. Pay attention to item timing.
I would recommend watching this video as a starter. It requires Quake3 with newest pointrelease and the mod "OSP". It is played on the custom map ztn3tourney1, so you will have to get that too. It features two swedish top players at ESWC2005.
It is recommended to use "DemoShowCreator" (DSC) or similar to view the replay as it may be tricky doing it manually if you havent done it before. Here are some step by step instructions http://esreality.com/?a=longpost&id=35018&page=3
I've been playing the games fatality has been playing for a long time. I've seen those who came before him, i saw him come up, and i generally know what i'm talking about when it comes to "eSports" and "pro gaming". Fatality was very dominant for a while, especially in quake 3 when it first came out. But honestly, he is being touted as this super gamer because he's just the most serious and dedicated player. He made it his mission to become THE "pro gamer" and dedicated himself entirely to this goal. He has been near the top in q3, unreal tournament, and now painkiller, but he's not the most dominant as far as actual skill and winning goes. Because he is so dedicated, PR is on his side, companies are promoting him because he is the self proclaimed poster boy for fps pro gaming. But there are people better than him in every game he plays. Voo has been convincingly better than him in the CPL World Tour (painkiller), there are people better than him in unreal tournament, and the competition level in q3 in the last couple years has been, i dare say, over his head. What he deserves a lot of recognition for, is being that good in so many different games.
:) to get to their level. And this has nothing with exploiting bugs because these games don't have any to exploit. Counter Strike does, but CS is a lame game, which is probably why it's more popular. There is zero exploitation of some technical glitches or bugs in comptitive play, take my word for it.
I'm not hating on the guy, i just hate this PR bullshit that's crammed down people's throats on a regular basis without them even knowing it.
He of course still has to be commended for being able to perform at the top level in so many different games and for what he is doing to promote the idea of "pro gaming". And in case you are wondering, there is definitely something to promote. Gaming is truly a skill as long as you are looking at the right games. Being the best in q3, ut, or painkiller, takes intelligence, excellent hand eye coordination and years of dedication. It doesn't take the top players years to learn new games because 90% of their skills carry over, but trust me it took them many years of work (fun work
On a final note, fatality and this entire discussion is about first person shooters. True pro gaming lives in the world of real time strategy, in Korea. But that's a whole different topic.