Blog Posts from "fams- A work in progress for all to see" - Gameriot.com

eSports guide for beginners

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:29:18 -0400

http://www.gosugamers.net/warcraft/features/2408

Enjoy! by b-sheep

My non gaming blog.

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:02:15 -0500

Digital Life Fiasco

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:49:47 -0400

I used to love the Digital Life event, until this year. With a ladder on a faulty system, it was inevitable that there would be problems. I understood that right from the get go. What I did not anticipate was the blatant lack of rules that were follow, by the administration of the tournament as well as the teams participating. On top of that the ladder system itself was faulty.

This entire fiasco all started about 3 days after the ladder ‘began’. I put it like this because until my team had started to challenge others noone was even challenging anyone. They figured they would just get a free berth at the end. They were sadly mistaken. After we had scheduled a few matches and settled in to practice for the maps we were to play the following week I became aware that the ladder system was faulty. Now you may be asking yourselves, how can it be faulty? A ladder system works off of points, simple. Well...it is simple until you begin being challenged for times that you are already scheduled to play on. Then you have about 6 challenges pending, and 3 waiting to be played. This causes a rather large problem because seeing as how it is the last two days of the event you cant propose new times for your pending challenges. On top of that you cant do an instant challenge to any of the teams that are on your pending list because well....they are still pending.

That was one problem, it was dealt with in a lack-luster way, but I understood the administrators dilemma. There are others to follow, that are directly the administrators fault. However not all administrators were less then helpful. Some were going above the call of duty and did more then what was asked for. They took the time out to sit down and help, not just pass you off as another small problem that could be dealt with in time.

Then comes the problem of cheaters. With no anti-cheat to speak of it was obvious teams would. I wont give any team names on that part as I am no anti-cheat administrator and I have a biased opinion as well I could not tell for sure. But, there were cheaters outside of the game itself.

The first incident:

Was a team that had played 4 matches and then went inactive. Being inactive just ensures that noone can challenge you. Your points stay the same, and you do not lose any for going inactive. When you come back from being inactive, you still have those points so you retake your rightful position. The thing with doing this is, if you have a challenge that was accepted and the date was confirmed etc. and you go inactive these confirmed challenges go away. So you can challenge as many teams as you want, and some will decline and lose points and you can in theory stay on top of the ladder this way. Noone seemed to notice this, and when I brought it to the administrators attention they simple said "there is nothing we can do, we have no choice if teams go inactive or come back because they can simply provide a reason". Which comes to no surprise to me as they are telling the truth, who are they to say the team is lying without a doubt?

That problem didn’t bother me so much, mainly because the team in question never ended up doing anything on the ladder anyway. If that were different I may feel different.

No, my real problem came with one team trying to cheat us out because their schedule didn’t work well with what they had proposed and confirmed as a match date. The date confirmed was "Sep 9^th 5:15pm Pacific" so we had contact with the team via the DL PM system as well as a full 1 and a half page IRC log. We showed up to the server aware that the other team was unlikely to show. The didn’t, and I preceded to claim our FF win. I was quite surprised when I went to report the FF win, we had a 0-16 loss versus Devastation/Turmoil. I check the reason why and it says; "Hard to reach, impossible to contact". I laughed to myself and read it again, no mistake that is what it said. I send 3 e-mails to the administrators in charge of the event, with the IRC logs, the SS of us in the server at the correct match time and the overturn the FF loss. Happy as I was, I was a little confused and knew that this wasn’t the end of it.

The following day, we played 3 matches (sadly lost all) but I wasn’t bothered. I hadn’t expected to win many, especially versus hyper!, mTw, and TLR. After this we went to sleep, and I woke up a few hours later and decided to see if Hyper! $ had contacted me. He had, and he had said that Devastation/Turmoil overturned the previously overturned match. I wondered how, but didn’t care because I had the correct proof and there was no way they could win the dispute. I speak to the admin and he says that it got over turned because; "you failed to show up". I found this hilarious, and preceded to explain what had happened, he went to the head administrator and explained exactly what I had just told him. He comes back to me with; "they provided screen shots of them in the server at the correct time". I said I had too, and that this shouldn’t even be a situation because they changed their dispute reason. So it was obvious they were lying, especially after my screen shots and IRC logs.

This did not change the situation. They said that Devastation/Turmoil is a respected team so they opted to side with them. This in itself is a fiasco, but then insulting a teams dignity and intelligence was the bitter icing on the sour cake. I began to argue with the administration of the event, saying that they lied to you and even changed their dispute reason, this was an obvious decision. They did not listen and only after 2 hours of proving my countless points did they decide to act.

Then came the next problem, they only decided to delete the match and give us back the points we lost. This was unacceptable of course. As we were in the right the entire way through the event, and now we get penalized because they are "respected". If that’s the case then I don’t want to be a pro gamer anymore, nor do I want to have anything to do with e-sports. If every league is corrupt and wont follow simple logic then why bother?

To top it off, the rules clearly state

"Reporting – After the match, you must go back to the match details page and report the victory. Only winners should report the match. If you blatantly report a false win you may be banned from the Tournament."

It seems even the league wont follow its own rules. This made me sick at this point. How can a tournament not follow its own rules, that is comparable to policemen making illegal drugs and passing it off as nothing. I then had to talk to the administration for another hour just to get my money back from this travesty which they call an event.

To top off the terrible experience, they had me answer questions on how good the event as and to give reasons why this was my opinion just to get my 25$ entry fee back.

Out of all my 6 years in e-sports I have never had such a terrible experience. I would rate the GGL as atrocious. I would suggest if you do sign up for a GGL sanctioned event that you are aware that you can be thrown off to the side if you are not known or if you are not willing to cheat and lie. Keep that in mind the next time you participate in a GGL sanctioned event.

Starting ew (update 4)

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 19:08:51 -0400

Well, we came 4th (out of 6th) which was actually quite well considering we only had 4 hours of practice with our 5 players. We went 1-2. It was good for the team especially since one hadent lanned before, and we needed to play together in a tournament to get the feel for it. It went well so I am happy, very tired though so Im going to bed.

Starting new (update 3)

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 04:25:24 -0400

Well my team has the XFX tournament tomorrow (well in 4 hours) and I cant sleep....not becuase im excited, its just another LAN (with a lot on the line albeit but still its just a LAN) I cant sleep because my nights and days are reversed so..tomorrow may be a rough day ahaha

My team practiced tonight and got a lot of the small problems out of the way. We did pretty well considering the circumstances involved.

We shall see how tomorrow goes, I will update this in about 12 hours or what ever the halfway mark is between the day (matches etc)

There is one team that I am worried about but the others we should be able to take without much difficulty. Atleast to my naive knowledge ahahaha

We should do fine though. Stay tuned!

Starting New updated 2

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:40:19 -0400

Well, I got the job I applied for at gotfrag.com. I am very happy about that as you could imagine.

I had to go and download a few videos (Sk believe and wNv the way to champions) to boost my moral and get my inspiration back. it helped a little bit.

We have our first digital life match on sunday right after the XFX tourny so that will be interesting to say the least. well I just checked digilife in the middle of that and I have another match on the 11th. good luck to us :P

There hasn't been too much other then that really. I will keep you all updated.

Starting new continued

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 16:27:39 -0400

Well, we have 3 players that are good by community standards. One that is quite bad. And a fifth that we haven't been able to practice with yet because of schedule issues.

The XFX tourny that we entered is in 6 days and we are not even close to being ready. I am wondering wether I should kick the newest addition (the player that is quite bad) and then continue on after the tournament without him.

I could teach him, but we have digitallife comming up as well and when one player can cost a match it is very discouraging. Especially when hes bran new to the game. Like...to put it into perspective he has never played de-maps.

I came down here to start a life, and to be honest I can't have someone like this holding back a simple success. It is discouraging though however considering he is a nice guy and everyone gets along with him really well. Which all teammates should have. But when it comes to skill I could find a dozen people that could outperform him in a second. But then comes the question of chemistry.

I told myself after bootcamping this weekend and seeing how bad the communication and skill really was that I would see how he performs at the LAN event and base the decision off of his performance. And if he pulls his own weight then I may consider just putting hi through an extensive bootcamping and try my best to get him up to speed.

But then comes another problem if that happens, I am looking for a job (writing albeit) and its proving rather difficult considering my age and the fact most people don't like the way I do things. Which is understandable but only to a point.

And if I do end up getting one of the 3 positions I have applied for then I wont have time to bootcamp with him how I would like, that is even if he performs at the LAN.

The rest of the team just looks at me and says solve the problem its yours, which of course it is mine. And I will eventually solve it. But I don't want to make a crucial mistake so early in this 'adventure' as many people keep refering to this as.

I recently picked up a GoW (gears of war) team that placed 6th at the CPL this weekend. But then they found out I woulnd't be able to fly them around the world and then they are quitting unless I can convince them to stay. Which will most likely not happen (convince them I mean)

Bills and payments haven't been a problem but they will be in due time if I do not get some sort of steady income, because relying on tournament winnings and trying to get reliable sponsors when you don't even have a solid 5 is pretty much impossible.

All in all this week will be an interesting one to say the least, with one person on the verge of being let go, and another I haven't even seen play its looking as though XFX is pretty much 'In The Mist' ironically that is my teams name.

But I do have faith in our 4 other playrs (even if I haven't seen the fifth play)

his experience is pretty impressive for someone that isn't known well.

And the other 3 (including myself) could possibly pull off a couple wins to impress some people and maybe get the ball rolling with this team.

Sadly only time will tell, and then the fact that the applications I sent yesterday I would think I would hear back from them around the same time as we end up playing in XFX this weekend (8-9 Sep). So, either I can have a fantastic miracle week or a rather terrible week and everything will fall apart and I will be at square one again like my first day here.

I am off to go do some work, stay tuned as there will be more news to come later this week.

The Miracle Of Life

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 22:59:33 -0400

Many refer to the birth of a newborn child as; the miracle of life. But when that miracle is turned to ruin because it wasn’t so much a miracle as it was an accident. What becomes of the situation? Does it become denounced and portrayed as a non-event?

The ‘Big Boom’ theory was also referred to as the miracle of life. But what if it to was just another accident.

Does what we have now and the rest of space then become a mockery of what a true miracle is? If so the creation of ‘miracles’ is also a non-event.

Which leads to another profound question. ‘What is?’

Hate: Emotional Terrorism to Some, Motivation to Others

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:03:53 -0400

Hate is a never ending experience in someone’s life. From the smallest ridicule to the most truamatizing of mental anguish. Hate is evident and always will be throughout the course of someone’s life. It can build friendships or tear them apart. Make a man or break him. Hate is what you will it to be. You can mold it into a fiery passion that gives you the motivation to succeed in what you wish. Or it can rip your mind apart piece by piece until all that remains is a tiny insecure fragment that enables people to manipulate you.

Hate is a part of life. Don’t live someone else’s life. Use hate as an advantage so as to ensure success and happiness will follow in its hollow footsteps to bring light to the darkness that once was.

The Thought of Beauty

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:30:19 -0400

The mass of thoughts that goes through ones mind in any given day is 1 in an infinite.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if the mind is cluttered by an infinite number of thoughts will the beauty be shuffled aside like countless other thoughts a person might have? If so does this render an object ugly? Or would that, as well be the product of an already forgotten thought process.

If an objects worth is garnered by its beauty does this make it worthless and in turn purposeless? If an object does gather the appropriate attention, will it be valued more if one person finds it more beautiful then another? What if a person believes the beauty that they are looking upon is priceless? Is this why there are paintings that I personally may find ugly are sold for millions of dollars, yet something I find extraordinary has no value at all? Who are we as people to judge and own beauty if it is something that never is and always was but could never be but always is but could never have been?

Starting New

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:00:27 -0400

Well, I finally made it here. I am now in Florida as of yesterday (Aug22nd). The plane ride was good until the last 30 minutes then I had to deal with some kid wacking me with his seatbelt and kicking me. Other then that the trip here was fine.

Id have to say that there are a lot of things that are done differently in Canada then here in the USA. I have had some minor problems but they wont really affect anything in the long ( I hope) so all is good so far. The house I'm living in with Chris is great, but it does need a lot of work (mostly painting)

We plan on going to Gigabits on Tuesday to look for some players and meet some people. I am still waiting for my computer sadly which makes me feel homesick a lot becuase I cant just talk to my family or send pictures or any of that.

(I am currently using Chris' laptop)

Its really hot here. A lot warmer then what I am used to anyhow. People here are around the same as Canadians for the most part, although you can really tell the differences.

But all in all everything is going according to plan. Ill update this again soon!

A reporters guide to reporting.

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 17:42:40 -0400

Since my first guide went over so well I thought I should publish this one as well.

This one however was geared towards a friend and fellow writer of mine. But I am sure it could still help others as well.

The objective of this is to help manager a reporters time and keep them focused on the job at hand when attending an event.

With this guide you will not have any task you cannot complete. Which in turn will make your coverage of an event top notch. So, come next event people will be flocking to your site to view your coverage first.

NOTE: These steps can be taken in any order, this is my personal order.

Step 1: Scope out the venue a week prior to the actual event. Try and obtain a floor plan and study the lay out so you know your way around. Many a person has gotten lost/turned around at an event and had to spend 10-15 minutes finding their way back when they could have spent that time interviewing teams or taking pictures.

Step 2: Most organizations will give their writers an itinerary or a list of exactly what they want; interviews, pictures, scores etc. If not ask for one, or make one yourself.

- If they want interviews/pics of specific players try contacting the managers before hand and setting up a time and place. If that isn’t possible but they don’t reject the idea of iview/pics then ask where they might be (general vacinity) and track them down during lunch or dinner.

Step 3: Another thing to look into before going is obtaining a press pass. Ask if you just sign for one at the door or if you have to reserve one prior.

Step 4: If your time isn’t already planned out for you. Plan it for yourself. Create a neat schedule to follow, it will save you time and allow you do cover more.

Step 5: At the event do things as you planned and instead of planning ‘picture time’, take all of your needed pictures when you are moving from task to task. Just ask players politely; ‘Hey can I get a quick shot of you?’ and you are done.

General Tips: Take pics on the way to task as I previously mentioned.

- Have a big breakfast, chances are that you wont have lunch or supper until late that night when you are uploading your days work.

- Try and badger teams during lunch/dinner. They aren’t moving around and its just plain easy to do it then.

- Bring a laptop if you can and are experienced. Schedule a time mid-day and upload that half of the days work so you are on top of things. More people will come to your site if they know they will be updated faster then others.

- You wont have time to ask a lot of questions in your interviews so keep them short. 4-5 of your best questions. And NEVER ask the same generic questions. Keep things new and interesting.

- Be polite, I cannot stress this enough. As a writer you will come off as rude most of the time. But if you are polite in asking for interviews and pictures, people will understand that you are just doing your job and they will become more open to you. Its better for you and your relationship with players and event organizers.

This should get you started if you are new to covering events or maybe it will just give you a few new secrets to shove up your sleeve. Irregardless this should help, this isn’t everything there is to know. I would like to make that very clear. As you go along you may find this style does not work for you or you will just pick up other secrets as you go along in your career. But the guide is always something you can fall back onto if you run into a very demanding schedule. I hope all of that helps!

The CGS is pointless I rather do things my way.

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:57:23 -0400

In the recent days following my announcement that I would be moving to Florida and starting my own team, people that knew me started to message me. Knowing that I play only 3 different games (2 just for fun and one competitively) they started asking me questions. The most famous question of all was; So your gonna try and go for the CGS right?. I sat back the first time the question was asked and began to ask myself if the entire Source community had gone mental. I then of course said "No of course not. That would be a waste of time". Which I got around the same responses which mostly looked like "you’re an idiot".

I then thought long and hard why people were asking me such an obviously stupid question. But then I realized that they did not understand what the CGS even was or what I was trying to accomplish.

Now, many in the Source community think that the CGS is the savior of E-sports, which of course it is not, in fact it is the opposite. The CGS is a complete waste of time. For anyone in it and those trying to become drafted. There are many reasons behind this and it would be all to pointless to leave any out in this opinion piece.

The CGS is and will remain to be a corrupt organization that failed at what they had originally planned to accomplish, which was to bring E-sports to the mainstream. Failing that they began to ***** themselves in the E-sports community. Which also failed.

The corrupt portion of the CGS should be addressed first, as it is one of the many reasons that I chose to ‘stick it to the man’ on this certain subject. The CGS picked the best GM’s, or so they thought. The credentials of the GM’s were to be admired by all, even myself. But then the playboy draft came, and went. With little surprise to me, but a major upset in the community one the less. All of the GM’s picked their previous teams, despite the fact that there were better choices. But wait, I am getting ahead of myself on this part. Complexity and Team 3D were given the chance to draft their CSS teams first round without the chance of another GM picking their previous teams. That seemed a little un-fair to me as the other GM’s were not given the same ruling or even compensation later on. Following the poor CSS picks there were also terrible individual picks in FIFA and DoA4 (which began a rather large uproar over at GGL.com). The picks did not surprise me at all once again, the GM’s picked the players upon marketability. Which was in turn a smart way to pick people for games that weren’t really high on the priority list. This backfired later on of course.

Then came the salaries and contracts. Generous some may say, pointless others may say. I am one of the ‘pointless’ persons on this subject. The object of the CGS was to make gaming come to the forefront for once. Make it come to the mainstream instead of walking in the shadows of "real sports". This was a great idea, but with the salaries jumping into the players minds instead of the greater picture of E-sports going mainstream. The entire plot of the CGS went in the trash just like the teams that participated. The teams picked, lost nothing. But had their owners/managers not been picked would the top tier teams have even competed? Doubtful.

The second part that irked me on the contracts was that the players were forbidden to participate in any other LAN competitions. Wait a second...any other? No that’s not true, if you appealed that there was a special reason then you could participate. But what sort of special reason would give a team the eligibility to even participate over another that had signed the same contracts? These reasons were not given. But coming back to the real point in this, why would the CGS forbid any team/player that had signed a contract to play in another LAN event? Doesn’t that in turn defeat the purpose of the entire CGS concept? One would think so.

Then come the farm teams, which not surprisingly came into play part way through the season. Of course some of the ‘main’ teams were going to perform less then stellar. They weren’t even that good before the draft compared to other teams that had qualified. Why bother even have the farm teams? If you knew your main pick wasn’t going to perform up to par then...oh wait. Many of the teams didn’t know that their main picks were going to perform lousy. But then again the farm teams were not optional. You pretty much had to pick a team. But why...that is the question on my mind. It was a pointless addition to the CGS. Unless you look at it from a Public Relations view like I did after the fact a few months later. The community wasn’t too hostile that a few better teams weren’t picked. But the CGS doesn’t look into communities very well anyway so it wouldn’t surprise me if they thought the upset was larger then it was and decided to add the farm teams to cool a few peoples jets.

Now came the marketing. This was also a flawed point that didn’t surprise me at all either. The only time I ever even saw a snippet about the CGS or its happenings was when it was over or when the upset of coL L.A not making the playoffs happened. But you would think having an event of such magnitude they would at least even try and advertise what was going on? Now I am the ignorant one on this point as I will admit I never even deliberately looked for a CGS news post considering I was boycotting the entire league. But I do peruse around 5 different E-sports news sites that would in most likeliness post happenings of the CGS on their web sites. But only Gotfrag was posting regular happenings, and even then they were brief and very widely spread apart. But wouldn’t an event such as this bother to make sure their proceedings were everywhere? Isn’t this the event trying to bring E-sports to the mainstream after all?

Then came the total waste. Did noone care who won? Anyone at all? Not one person? I haven’t run into any CGS enthusiasts since there were qualifiers to be participated in. Not one person I have spoken to about the event will even tell me why its so great other then ‘30k a year!!!!!’ Which is a pretty pointless comment considering you are restricted to what you can even do.

I think that covers why the CGS was a rather bad event and that I would not like to compete in it. But then on the other hand, maybe I should explain the other reasons, the ones that don’t tear apart the CGS.

I would rather start my own organization that gives me the freedom to compete in any league that I would like. Isn’t that the beauty of E-sports? With this I would get to travel with my friends/teammates. I would be able to gather endorsements, a fan base, business opportunities, friends and much more. I mean, this may just be me after all pointing out the flaws and the factors that led me to love E-sports and want to follow a career in it, but isn’t that what E-sports is about? Fun? Its not just 30k contracts to play around 12 matches and then have the rest of the year off to practice for a quick 12 matches. I rather sit behind a desk and type up reports for around 80k a year instead of wasting my time doing this for money.

Thus I feel that the CGS wasted a year of peoples attentions and focused on the ugly parts of competitive gaming and even then, didn’t do that, that well and in turn ruined a years worth of work and failed to make the underground phenomenon which is E-sports come to the surface. Call me negative and pessimistic but that’s where I stand and I rather do things my way then sign a contract that signs away a year of my gaming life to a team that doesn’t really care about the growth of E-sports but rather a big fat check.

The beginning

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:25:05 -0400

This is the first of many to come in this series of entries. So I shall now explain what this series is exactly. It is the recollection of my involvement and future in E-sports, how it is getting started and every other day updates to come.

I guess I will start off by saying how I got into competitive gaming.

It all started when I was in grade 8. I had finally gotten my Warcraft 3 to update so I could play online. At the time I only had dial up so I was generally 5 seconds behind everyone which made me worse (not that im any good today). I kept seeing these advertisements for the WCG. I inquired about them and finally figured that I would try my hand at it. I soon found out you had to pay to enter and was rather upset; but now a dream was born, to play in the WCG. I then started to play for many hours a day (more then my parents found acceptable) and joined a few teams but still wasn’t ready.

Around 2 years later of still not qualifying, I got cable. Around 6 months after that, my brother told me about CS:S. I said no, FPS games were easy and a waste of time. But when he brought his computer home from school, and he went away for Tree Planting. I decided to give it a shot. I was hooked instantly. I looked for a few teams and started to play in random pub servers. I finally joined a team (noone wanted me until then) and they said that they competed in leagues. I thought this to be absolutely absurd. But as they explained to me, there was potentially millions of dollars in gaming. They informed me of a lot of major tournaments and teams, sponsors and the additional factor that really appealed to me, traveling.

From then on I would practice hours a day, not knowing that I was practicing the wrong way. I then left the team and team hopped for a few years until I got to the skill level I figured was "good". I had then found an Ontario LAN team and entered my first CSS LAN event. I had been to LANs before and the nervous factor was never a problem placing 1^st in war3 twice in my previous tournaments. But I soon found out that the skill I thought was acceptable was definitely not, not even close. I left the LAN team as they had performed less then stellar, and at least I was able to hold my own. I had made a few new friends at the event and began to practice with them online after the event.

Around this point I knew that this was for me, I had been hooked from day one really. But now with the potential to make money and help make E-sports become mainstream, it was a dream almost come true. A few months after this (now 2007) I had been good friends with Chris ‘TheLunat1c’ Schulze. We had spoken before about making our own team organization, but now since I would finally be done school, the opportunity had risen.

Now I am where I am today, finally finishing up the last pieces of moving to Florida and starting my own organization.

What’s next? Stay tuned for updates. There is a lot to happen in the all to near future so stay tuned!

Note: these will not be edited or spell checked unlike my articles.

The Secret To Success

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 05:29:28 -0400

I’ve been thinking lately, how did professional teams become what they are today? With their brands, winning teams, sponsors and their throngs of fans. Well its simple, they are ‘professional’. But not in the way most people would think. The common thought process on becoming a paid organization is that you have to be the best. But to be honest half of the teams these days that get paid to play aren’t the best. Albeit they are extremely talented and are very dedicated to what they do. The fact that they play well is only a small portion of the pie.

Many teams don’t look for the best players anymore. They want an entire package when they look for players. Players they can market, that will have a positive attitude towards the team and E-sports in general. Sure you could have the best players in the world, but what if they all hate each other and have a lousy attitude towards everything and everyone? Simple, you may win a few tournaments but you wont get anywhere in the scene.

When teams look for players or staff in general, they tend to look for the following;

- Looks

- Talent

- Attitude

- Charisma

- Ability to adapt

and other personality traits that could be attributed to Attitude or Talen.

But without these they can’t build a business. The organization would not be able to build a brand or gather a following of fans, especially if noone likes the players.

Many of you reading this may be thinking; ‘well duh!’. But in reality many players and up-and-coming teams do not know this and will try for the best players, and in turn will fail because they disregarded a simple fact about business. Don’t make the same mistake others are making when looking for teams. Look for a well rounded team in skill, and marketability and make sure you like your teammates before you sign any contract or else you may regret signing.

In the end its all up to you to make yourself as successful as you would like to be. Don’t wait for sponsors or teams to come and ask you, grab E-sports by the horns and take charge of your own career.

The Key To A Pad*ded Relationship

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 12:22:42 -0400

Mouse pads, everyone needs one no matter what you use your computer for. But what is the right one for you? Well hopefully this guide will give a little insight into how you purchase your next pad.

From the lonely WoW player to the professional Starcraft players in Korea to the graphic artist using his/her expensive programs. All of them, no matter what experience or calabur need a mouse pad so they can work effectively. A lot of people waste 30-40$ not knowing which kind of pad to buy and end up buying the flashy expensive ones even though they may not be best suited for the person purchasing them.

There are many types of pads from cloth to synthetic to foam. And each has its own sub categories. Many pads have different layers, flexibility, size, shape, texture etc. Now you may not know what you want for your pad, and you may think a pad is a pad. But this is not true. Many a time have I seen people purchase pads and end up with something unexpected, my self being one of these persons. Weather it’s the texture on top to the flexibility of the pad itself. Pictures and descriptions may be misleading.

There are a few key steps to find out what best suits you.

Step one: You will need to figure out if you are allergic to any materials that may be used in a mouse pad of your liking.

Step two: Figure out what exactly you are using the pad for. Weather it is for casual gaming, competitive gaming or doing fine details on your visual arts (ex. Photoshop or auto-cad). Once you figure this out you will be able to determine which top surfaces best cater to what you desire the pad for.

Step three: You will want to figure out if there is a slide factor when you move your mouse. What the slide factor is, how you move your mouse across your desired surface. You will notice this when you are moving your mouse a lot and look down at your wrist. Some people slide their wrist across the edge of their pad, some simply pivot their wrist and let their hand do the movement.

This will factor in how you buy your pad. If you move your wrist a lot when using your mouse you will most likely not desire a cloth pad, simply because your wrist will be irritated after a short while of scraping against the fibers and the edge of the pad. If you pivot, the cloth pad is your best choice since there is little friction. If you slide, you will most likely desire a foam or synthetic style pad because they don’t irritate your skin as much as a cloth one might.

Step four: There are many surfaces to choose from so I will only mention a few. Cloth/plastic/synthetic plastic/foam.

NOTE: You may be asking your self what is the difference between plastic and synthetic plastic. In this guide we will classify Plastic as a shiny hard non-malleable surface. And Synthetic plastic as the softer, smoother, more malleable.

Regular plastic pads tend to be the worst; for any sort of purpose. In heat they tend to get sticky and start to get soft. As well they are not accurate at reflecting the laser/optical sensor on your mouse. So steer clear of these pads when at all possible.

Synthetic plastic is regularly used for accuracy in small movements. The mouse slides well on them and they don’t become sticky/sweaty and soft when warm. They read the laser/optical sensor best for small movements since there are no gaps between fibers or air pockets like in cloth or foam pads. Although this is the ideal pad for arts and other such activities, be aware that these types of pads are generally one layer, and are very stiff.

Foam pads are fantastic for competitive gaming. They are generally one layer and very malleable. Which is very well suited for small desks and LAN events. Because there generally isn’t a lot of room on the tables/desks and these types of pads are able to hang off of the edge and not create a stiff un sturdy addition to the table unlike a dual layered plastic pad. They are also easy to transport to events or a friends house since you can just fold them up. If you come across a dual layer foam pad and there is a solid layer, steer clear. It will only prove to be a pointless purchase considering you will end up rubbing your wrist on the edge and it will be the same effect as a cloth pad.

Cloth pads are usually at least dual layered. Rather then not if you prefer a cloth pad you would want to get a plastic bottom to it with a layer of grip on the bottom so the fibers don’t get large spaces between them and end up not reading your mouse very well. The down side to this is that if you don’t have a lot of room and it is necessary for the bad to hang off, it will not do so in a comfortable way and will end up pivoting more likely then not. Which will result in an unpleasant experience.

Now that you are slightly more educated on what to avoid and what to look for, now we will move onto what you are using your pad for and what works best.

LAN Events: You will want a foam or cloth pad. This is where it depends on whic you prefer. For each has its own downfalls. Foam is great for LAN events since it works well in small spaces. However if the table is concave or you are at the edge of two tables, this will cause your pad to buckle and become impossible to use properly. Although if you get a ‘thick’ foam pad it will end up helping fight those small problems.

A cloth pad overcomes this obstacle easily. However you can’t just fold it over the edge of the table. You will have to either tape the far edge down ensuring that the pad does not pivot on the edge of the table or put your keyboard on it to weigh it down.

House/Office Use: This is where you can choose as you wish without repercussions. This is all personal preference without the worry of what will happen if you get to an event and the tables are less then perfect.

LAN Centers/Cafes: This is where it gets tricky. Different LAN centers do different set-ups. In Russia most people put there keyboard on their lap and the mouse pad in front of the monitor. Other places allow enough space to put everything on the table without much conflict. So if you only go to one LAN center check that situation out first.

Thus there are many choices available to you and I will finish off with what I think the best pads today are.

LAN - Steel Series QCK heavy or Everglide DKT pad

Home/Office - Steel Series 5L or 5C

LAN Centers/Cafes - Steel Series 5L or 5C

Jibo- The Lost Prophet

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:22:49 -0400

Jibo hasn't been in the news to much lately, but that is about to change. I was able to catch up with the busy Chinese Quake 4 star and touch base with him on a few things. Including the up and coming i30 event.

If you could start off by introducing yourself?
I dont need introduce myself

The Q4 1v1 scene is very small and almost dead. How do you as a player think the Q4 scene will grow on an international level in the near future?
I tried last version (1.4) of Q4 and I can say its already much better than before. I see how Q3 fans are also changing to Q4 and playing and having fun. Now it all depends on WSVG and ESWC.

Q4 is a new game with a lot of recent updates how far do you think the game has come since its first release? Do you think its ready to be re-introduced into major competitions like the CPL?
Yes, I think now its almost complete.. But it does have some weaknesses.

Have you ever thought about switching to a game that has more money involved in it? Such as Warcraft3/starcraft/counterstrike?
I play Quake only for fun and because I like this community..I will never play for money but may be willing to try and play StarCraft2 at events :P

With not many professional teams in China how hard was it to find people to play against before you moved to Russia?
I moved to Russia in 1993, so I never met this problem.. When I started my quake career in 2001, it was fortune for me, that the tmp team captian picked me up on their team as their 4th TDM player, later I learned a lot of 1v1 technique from Cooller.

How hard do you find it going from a lousy internet connection to LAN events where there is a huge difference in weapons like the LG and rail?
Oh.. usually its 2 different games you just need a time to habit it

With not many Q4 events how hard is it to keep up with the other players?
I just play for fun and meeting new people in the netbar

Follow up question: Why bother playing just for fun if it is your job? Doesn't that jeoprodize your place on a team?
I never do it seriously..I always play when I want to play. I dont think it will put my team at risk..

Do you have any players you admire or consider your idols?
hehe RocketBoy, he won 12,.000$ in 15min and Sky, he won 2 gold at WCG

It was rumoured that you piad Cooller 15k just so he would lose to you at an event. True or false?
WHAT THE ****? No definitely not:D ROFL How stupid some people can be ...I think its just jealousy from people, who will never believe they can beat Cooller..

What do you think your chances are of winning the upcoming i30 event?
I have no chance to win it..I predict Av3k will win. Also, I have visa problems so I may not be able to attend it anyway. I will know for sure on Thursday

With players like Av3k and Cypher who are very young talented players, but very inexperienced does it put any pressure on you to beat them?
Yep.. people like Av3k and cypher give me more pressure than old-school players do.. because at every new event you will never know what surprises they have for you. They progress very quickly.

So with 10k on the line, does that give you a lot of pressure as well?
No.. it will be my 1st event after my last Quake 4 event, And with the new patch (1.4) this is like my test drive.

3 People have already dropped out of the event; Forever, Lost-cause and Akiles any thoughts on their recent drop out?
My favorites are Av3k and cypher.. but it is very sad to miss the others at the event event. They can all show brilliant games.

With some major names like 2GD, Garpy and cooller at the event how does that affect you knowing you will have to play such powerhouse players?
Hmmm I know them all , so I don't see any problems. Everyone can be beaten, so they don't affect me.

Did you ever think gaming would take you this far in life? or give you the kind of job you have now?
Job ??? Gaming isn't my job, its my main hobby. But I should say gaming has given me a lot of friends around world and opened my eyes and most important is how much fun and how many great experiences I have received.

What are your future plans for gaming?
I wish to write a perfect game and to organize my quake3 event

Any last words or shout outs?
disrespect to ASUS Chinese managers - hope we can resolve our problem soon HF 2 all quake fans and community and huge thanks to Razer Peripherals for supporting me!!

Thanks for the interview.
heh thx 2u2 good job!

TH000; A Player Revealed (Part 2)

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:06:32 -0400

Hi TH_000 and thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview, please introduce your self for those who may not know you.
Hi everyone, my name is Huang Xiang. I’m from the Guangdong province of China and currently 17 years-old.

How did you get into war3?
When I was very young, I used to play Warcraft 2 a lot, so I bought Warcraft 3 as soon as it was released and started to play it since then. I’ve been playing it for almost 4 years already.

What do you do in your spare time?
After a long day of practice, I like to watch animes. Also, I love to hang out with my friends a lot during my spare time.

What do you think when people say “who is this ‘TH_000' guy?”
I don’t think I can say much to those who do not know me , but I will definitely work hard and try my best to show you some pretty amazing games

How do you like your new home at wNv?
Yes I like it a lot. Both the internet and PCs are very impressive here. In fact, we have 2 internet lines here which is very cool.

What is it like being so young yet so successful/talented?
Hehe, of course I am very happy about it! Since I do not have much hobbies besides playing some RPG games and watching anime, the rest of my time is usually spent on practicing in order to be a better player in Warcraft.

How do you feel about your record so far in this season of WC3L?
My record is currently 4-4, after losing to XyLigan and Nilknarf. But I hope to win the rest of my WC3L games so that I will be able to prove myself.

Why is it when you play certain players, like XyLigan and Nilknarf, for instance that you change your race?
I really hate to play human mirror match-ups which is probably my weakest match up right now as well. I am playing against good human players, I’ll choose undead as my race most of the time.

If/when someone starts playing unpredictable strategies against your self, how do you think you will cope playing against them?
Hehe, I have been using funny strategies on my own for almost a year already, so when someone starts using those strategies against myself, I’d know the proper counter for it.

What race do you dislike/like playing against the most? Why?
As I said earlier, I dislike playing against human the most. On the contrary, my favorite match-up is against NE.

What player do you dislike/like playing against the most? Why?
I absolutely hate playing against sore losers. In the VS platform, you will be able to get a free-win when you disconnect yourself from the internet if you are the host, and I meet these people every now and then. The players then I would love to play against are people like Grubby, or somewhere around that caliber. All of them have playstyles of their own, which I would like to play against.

Which do you dislike most being used against you, hero targeting or unit targeting?
I hate being targeted at all

How do you plan on keeping your current level of “unpredictability” in your game play style?
Well for me, I usually just do some research and then I start to practice heavily on the certain strategies and make whatever required changes to it.

Which hero combo do you most enjoy playing with?
MK + BM

Do you ever feel that your recent success is shadowed by other top Chinese players such as Sky? Or that you will always be compared to them?
Yes I do feel that way sometimes and I do not like it at all. I just want to be myself and I hope I can prove it to everyone soon.

What do you think about the recent focus on WoW pvp competitions and the possibility of them becoming a “professional e-sports platform”?
I don’t know.

What do you think about the current state of e-sports? Do you think it has the potential to become as large as other mainstream sports like baseball or soccer?
This topic is quite profound actually. I just hope that eSports in China will be able to grow faster and can become a mainstream sports like baseball and soccer one day.

What is the next event we should look out for you at?
I guess it will be the upcoming ESWC qualifications in China.

How are you able to come up with such unique strategies? Do you have any secrets to share?
Actually, once you have played a lot of games of wc3, you’ll soon have this “feeling” to create new strategies. For me, I started out as an MK user, so gradually after lots of games I knew how to use it efficiently.

People have been saying that you are also very skilled in other races as you have beaten Sky with UD, ToD and Sai with NE. Is it true? How are you able to be so good with those other races?
I did not use NE to beat ToD at all. According to Sai, these rumours sparked from the community over at Replays.Net’s forums. Sorry ToD if you are reading this! Actually, the truth is I managed to beat ToD with UD because I am quite good in the UD vs Hum match up.

The fact that you are still young, do you feel homesick alot?
In the past when I was in Lanzhou, I felt homesick a lot but not anymore for me now. I want to achieve some outstanding results before returning home!

TH000; A Player Revealed. (part 1)

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:04:17 -0400

He may not be as famous as your regular Wacraft3 stars like Grubby, Spirit_moon or Sky but he is definitely on the same skill level.

This 16 year old (this year) wonder boy has defeated players of the likes of Sky, ToD and Sai. Not to mention his undefeated record in this season of WC3L (2-0).

Now don’t write him off as just another mindless automaton that watched hundreds of replays just to play exactly like every other player out there trying to make it big in e-sports. Instead he made his own outrageous strategies, and they win too. They don’t just win because he has near perfect micro, but because he defeats his opponents on a mental plain as well. He keeps them on their toes by continuously changing his strategies from game to game. Wether it is strange hero combos or unit mixes, or even the fact he can change race just to mess up the other players entire game plan. He will put you on your toes and make you watch your each and every move very closely.

Some instances of his odd combos were in his recent match-up VS MYM]FoCuS. The first match was a standard Human strategy with an Arche Mage/Mountain King, caster/breaker combo. But then the second match came and instead of going with a set-up that obviously works well against his enemy, he changes his approach completely. Instead of getting an Arche Mage first, he opted for a Mountain King. Although he still preceded to get his caster/breaker combo. Then for the second strange move of the match he chose a Blood Mage as his second hero. This combo ended up working perfect as the mana feeding the Blood Mage offers makes the Storm Bolt ability for the Mountain King almost of infinite supply. Not to mention when his Blood Mage reached level 2 he opted for the Banish ability, which almost doubled the strength of the MK’s Storm Bolt. Which in turn provided far to much power for the Orc player to handle.

With TH_000's recent success to boost his confidence and his ever changing style of game play. This quiet 16 year old will soon rise to be the worlds most reveered Human player, if he isn’t already. Not to mention the other 3 races he is highly qualified in as well.

The Business of Things (CS 1.6 to Source)

no.spam@gameriot.com (fams) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:01:42 -0400

It has been a topic of debate for some time now. Since the day Counterstrike:Source was released, people have been talking about it replacing its older brother CS1.6. Since then the community has been split. But with the new era of competitions upon us, it is time for a change. The out-dated graphics and same predictable maps of 1.6 aren’t pleasing the fans like they used to.

Many people in the 1.6 community believe that Source is the wrong game to go with and that tournaments and sponsors should stick with 1.6. That decision is wrong. 1.6 had its time in the lime light but now its time to graciously step aside for its younger brother.

Now many 1.6 fans will be reading this and probably thinking of a few choice words they would like to share with me. To these skeptics and all others wondering why there has to be a game change, this is why..

Tournament organizers, sponsors and the media/general public do not wish to watch out-dated games that aren’t visually appealing anymore. They do not want to spend their hard earned cash on an old dying game.

Now many of you are probably yelling at your monitors calling me an idiot for jumping on the ‘Source band-wagon’. Also saying that graphics don’t make great game play. Which is completely true, graphics don’t make great game play. But they do bring billions of dollars and millions of fans to the competitive esports scene.

Now I am expecting the, ‘Source has to many bugs’ argument. Which is only half true, and completely irrelevant. Source may have many bugs still needed to be worked out but then again, it has only been out for 3 years (this being its 3^rd year). On the other hand 1.6 has been out since 2000. It was had 7 years of updates to become what it is today. Source still has to go through that same evolution.

Take the Quake series for instance, Quake 3 was the biggest dueling game since it came out in 1993. As soon as Quake 4 came out everyone shed the same tears that the 1.6 community is shedding now, ‘to many bugs’. Which again, was completely true. But because of all of the patches/updates (especially 1.4) Quake 4 has become a great game, and widely accepted among the Quake community.

Now you are probably saying, ‘well Source is far to easy to be a competitive game’. Which is completely false. I have spoken to many 1.6 players that have said Source is too easy, I then preceded to ask them who they had played against to give them the impression the game was tooe asy. On which they replied a team name that I had never even heard of before. Just because you beat a Source team; doesn’t necessarily mean they are good to begin with or that the game is easy. Many of you will probably throw the example of Complexity at me saying, ‘HA! They went from 1.6 to Source and now are disputably the top team in Source’. But what you must understand is that they had switched to Source when it first came out, but switched back because it wasn’t economically feasible for them to continue on with Source. Not to mention the coL players frequently ESEA’d and scrimmaged Source before other major teams like JMC or EG even made the recent decision to switch over to Source. And look at those teams, they aren’t even able to keep up with the original top Source teams like Hyper!, verGe or EFGaming.

Now you are going to talk about how most Source players are 13 year olds that ruin the game. But then again, its common knowledge that ALL licensed events must abide by ESRB ratings in which case children under 17 years of age are not aloud to even play an ‘M’ rated game, right? So these youngsters wont even be at events to ruin them for you.

After all of this you will probably just say that ‘the 1.6 community will band together and live on’. But you wont. Without financial backers to invest in a game that wont benefit them in any way, its only a matter of time before 1.6 is dead and only a memory. Which you could retort that ‘Valve just made million dollar deals with major companies to put advertisements into 16'. Which means nothing. Valve may be making money, but guess what, the esports scene doesn’t benefit from it at all.

Major financial giants like Intel or Ati don’t want to send money to events that host only 1.6 anymore because those games don’t push their products. Noone that plays 1.6 needs a top of the line graphics card or an Intel chipset. Heck, all you need to run 1.6 is windows 98.

Thus the need for the game switch . Esports can’t survive without financial backers or media appeal, and that is the larger picture here isn’t it? More tournaments, more money in the scene and to become a mainstream sport just like hockey or baseball? To get that, you need more visually appealing games and financial backers. So if this ‘dumbed down’ version of how business affects the 1.6-CSS game shift doesn’t sway any opinions. Maybe it really is time to switch to WoW PvP after all.