Little story about pazazu - E-sports / Call of duty 4 (video inside)
I've been gaming since i was a little kid. My mom and dad had a furniture shop and my dad thought it would be good to buy a computer. I'm talking about 1992 here (I was two). He, like me, was also a bit of a geek. He managed to get a LAN connection going on with the neighbours, enabling them to play games versus each other. People at the time found him a bit strange doing things like that. A bit after I think we were amongst the first adopters of this weird thing called the internet (wonder if it becomes big some day). I remember playing Age of Empires when i was 5 over ISDN, needless to say it was a cool and expensive(!) experience. We had bills of over 2.000 euros a month, just for internet. So you can say, i grew up gaming.
Fast forward to the the year 2008. In the years before i mostly played Call of duty 1 (2003), totally skipped on Call of duty 2 and went to play World of Warcraft for a few years. I always had the urge to get better in a game, i did not like single player games too much and i just had the urge to try and be the best in a game.
A few years after, practicing in different teams and trying to get better. I kinda got better. Most of the time i played with a guy called pr0phecy, who actually lived really close in the same city. Pr0phecy is this super nice guy who always makes you laugh because he does weird stuff. I remember being in a tournament final (he being the only one left vs 3 guys) and he randomly started to sing this kids song super loud, he actually clutched that round while singing. He was also the guy who made you wait when going to a LAN in Belgium because he needed to put peanutbutter on a whole loaf of bread just 2 minutes before leaving.
People laughed when i told them i was good in a game. Most of the time they said something like: "How can you earn money, with something so stupid?" or ''A game is not a sport , how can anyone be good in something so stupid?''
We did not think it was a joke however, we practiced with our team 3 to 5 hours a day 5 days a week, mostly after classes. We did different kinds of tactics and studied our opponents. Everyone in the team had a certain role, i had a hard time explaining people its not 'just shooting people' and no, i'm not a lunatic who will go out buy a gun and kill people. At one point i actually got called by the Dutch news when a shooting took place in 'Alphen aan de rijn' and they found the guy playing Call of Duty. I felt most people did not understand it at all, hell at first i do not think my parents even understood it. After explaining it to them they actually started to watch the streams i was on. My mom also defended me when i told other people i gamed for 'money'. This wasn't that much money, most of the time i got lucky if most of my expenses got paid.
I've met lifelong friends through e-sports. We laughed, cried, got angry together and shared so much throughout the years. The best is they came from all over the globe. I think i can speak for a lot of people when i say that the Call of Duty 4 promod community was like a family. I still kinda miss it sometimes. Nowadays people earn a ton of money and esports is getting bigger and bigger. More and more sponsors are joining and more investments are made. I did not make the cut though, Call of Duty 4 died and CS:GO became a big game. I had 10 years of Counterstrike practice to beat and i figured real life was getting to me anyways. I don't game anymore as i know i was better before.
Here's a highlight of me playing:
What do you guys think, is esports a real sports? Have you guys met any friends for life through gaming?
People laughed when i told them i was good in a game. Most of the time they said something like: "How can you earn money, with something so stupid?" or ''A game is not a sport , how can anyone be good in something so stupid?''
If we always hear what people say we will never step forward :D
You are so right! Same can be said for cryptocurrencies right now. Anyways I think you should always do what you enjoy, unless its hurting other people of course.
Some egames teach one to act quickly and to take quick decisions, to react. Spacial skills better as well.
Bad Ass!
Doing real sports does not always mean you have to run or jump. Chess is a sport as well. Sports is about competition, about achieving the best results within a given set of rules. Therefore I think, that e-sports is absolutely comparable to real sports. I remember how I was sweating, while playing Starcraft at 160 actions per minute (with peaks of over 200 apm).
That is quite some time ago...
For me it was the competition, the league, my team, the friendships, the nights on teamspeak, and of course it was about being the best.
However, life isn't endless, and I'm not sure what advice to give to young gamers. Spending too many years in virtual worlds can turn into a huge loss eventually, since there is only one youth! I guess, it's always about keeping a certain balance in life.
I think your pretty much spot on on how i look at it myself, unfortunately this is not the majority thought. You can debate that Chess is a sport. E-sports includes many elements of traditional sport – so why should it be viewed any differently from dressage, ice dancing or billiards?
What team did you play on (if any)? Do you still talk/see the people who you've met through playing Starcraft?
I played in the PGL Germany (Starcraft Broodwar, 3v3). We made the third place one season, I believe in 2004. Our clan tag was ToR. Unfortunately, I can't find old statistics online, as the league does not exist anymore, and the name PGL was reused quite often. Maybe I should check, if my old hard disks still work, since I used to save many game replays. Yes, there's some players I met online, who I still hear from every now and then ;)
Cool, i did not know Broodwar 3v3 was that big? 2004 is a bit before my time haha. It's a shame those memories (stats) are lost, always nice to look into it once in a while. Same goes for Call of Duty - a lot of matches were played on clanbase, which sadly is not there anymore. Same goes for the biggest forums. I think you totally should search for old gameplays and record them! I know i would watch yours ;)
Crazy Koreans :)
In South Korea they already had Starcraft academies, where they would give out scholarships to talented players, and practice for hours each day. Also they already had tv channels showing Starcraft games back then, I'm sure they still do all that :) Actually I just found an announcement, that there will be a Broodwar remake with polished graphics soon:
Look at the scene at 00:16 and you'll see what I'm talking about, SC BW was a monster :)
I remember watching Broodwar - but i guess this was in a 'late stage' 2005-2006-ish?, never really played it though. I have some friends who are pretty good in SC2, most notably Harste. Still enjoy watching some matches ever now and then, gaze at the skill people have haha. I know it was big in Korea! Looks so cool those vids :)