“Holee Mudda uv Fricking Gawd!” Over 700 gamers from 62 countries competed at the 2004 World Cyber Games Grand Final in San Francisco last October.
SAN FRANCISCO — The City by the Bay is known for a lot of things, not the least of which involve high-geekery. So it’s no surprise that our fair city would be chosen to host the 2004 World Cyber Games (WCG) Grand Final — billed as the world’s largest computer and video game festival — last October.
For this event with extravagant sponsorship by Samsung, one would expect that KoreAm would send its top-notch games-culture reporter to task. Yours truly, who only holds rank in “SSX Tricky” was pleased to pitch in. Sadly, due to frequent bouts of motion sickness, I am not as familiar with first-person shooters. But man, do I love them geek gamer boys and girls.
First thing’s first: The WCG’s ability to bring together so many countries from around the globe was impressive. Uzbekistan, Serbia and Montenegro were well represented for the first time since the inception of the WCG in 2000. One should note that these nations were not even independent states until 1991. As an observer on emerging social and cultural trends, I find an indefinable satisfaction from knowing that the fall of tyranny is followed by competitive multi-player online gaming. Who knew you could go from communism to slackerism within 13 years? That, my friends, is progress. Or something.
Team Netherlands, during their medal ceremony, kissed the trophy and passed it on to the next teammate. They then pretended to know all the words to their national anthem, singing loudly only at the refrain.
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The Grand Final, held over five days of intensely unblinking game play, was a flurry of aggressive competition and a crash course in the international phenomenon known as E-sports, short for electronic sports. A legitimate and serious professional career choice by some players (in South Korea, some earn six figures), individuals and teams train extensively for months before participating in WCG tournaments and gain fame by winning at local competitions and advancing to regional and national finals. San Francisco hosted the best of the best, with more than 700 players from over 60 nations.
Players, team leaders and the press from around the world (over 250 media reps covered the WCG) take video gaming and e-sports quite seriously. In 2004, the WCG distributed over $2.5 million in prize dollars, with over $400,000 disbursed at the Grand Finals.
DAY 1
My initial reaction upon arrival at the Civic Center Plaza was, and I quote: “Holee Mudda uv Fricking Gawd!” The jaw-dropping started at this point, and repeated all week long.
A huge Roman-styled façade with a stage, a screen taller than my apartment building and lawn-chair seating for a small army were erected within the plaza. Multimedia vendor tents by NVidia and Creative Labs flanked the main stage area and frequently belched out pimply kids speaking Spanish and French and sporting WCG running outfits. Yet, it looked like very few of these players could run very far. Still, it was hard not to envy their pimping keyboard jock gear.
A faux wall for rock climbing and a trapeze exhibition were set up for the gamers interested in testing out their physical prowess. Now who’s the genius who thought that sweaty-palmed, nervous gamers should be anywhere near heights?
