![shaftwhores only by [EXE]dann](/files/avatars/2007/51852-shaftwhore.gif "shaftwhores only by [EXE]dann"){kind=small}
What the fuck are you doing with your life?
Daniel massaged his mouse hand. His father was furious. A-Level results had been posted, and it had only been a matter of time before his grades filtered back to his parents.
“Father, I’m going to be a pro-gamer. I’m good enough to be the best!” He answered with utter sincerity.
His father paced up and down in front of the log fire. The rug had been kicked away in disgust when he had confronted Daniel with this particular dose of reality.
“Daniel, we paid for you to be educated at Private School. We gave you every opportunity to discover your calling in life.” His fathers face had lost all its usual serenity. Standing before Daniel was his biological Creator, in all his wrath.
“And you stand here telling me that you’re good at playing games! What the fuck do you expect to achieve from that?” Daniel decided that now would not be a good time to explain his reasons.
“You’re so-called friends encourage you to skip classes to play more games, and you expect me to believe that this has been a good thing? Daniel, you disappoint me.” His father lowered his head and shook it from side to side.
“You don’t understand what I do…” Even his own ears realized the futility of such a statement.
“You’re bloody right I don’t understand what you do. I spent thirty years of my life building a home for this family! I worked my bollocks off to see you become something. And what do I see? A complete and utter waste of time and energy.” His father turned his back on Daniel and stared into the flames. The way his shoulders sagged suggested that some of this bullshit had actually meant something to him.
Daniel felt hollow. Even if he’d been given a day to sit down and tell his father what about the future of gaming and the massive earning potential, he would be no nearer to explaining anything that mattered. His father was a different breed. He was vehemently opposed to computer games. They were akin to hardcore drugs in his opinion, sucking life out of humans to serve their own infinite need.
His hand ached. He’d spent all last night (and most of today) on his PC, duelling a plethora of human foe. After two years of serious practice, he was widely recognized as the best duellist in the UK. His father did not know this, not that it would have changed anything. Being the best in the World for masturbating would have probably gleaned more respect from him than what Daniel did in the dark.
“Let me tell you something Daniel.” He uttered, almost to himself.
“You will work for a living my lad.” he intoned, “You are no longer welcome in this house. I will pay your first months rent for a flat in London, after that you are on your own.”
And that is where it began for Daniel. Had his father been less extreme, it was quite feasible that Daniel’s urge to play Quake would have diminished over time, as real-life and females entered his awareness. But instead, he plunged himself into an ambition.
Daniel wanted to be the best Quake duellist ever seen. He wanted this more than anything else. His father’s offer of a flat, he took up without comment. A teenager has pride, but it is directly wired into the size of his or her earnings.
In the month he had been given to find his feet, Daniel discovered The Playing Fields. It was a fairly unique establishment in the UK. It was a permanent LAN (local area network), which catered for gamers of all types. It hosted a great range of tournaments, and was the focal point for all that represented E-Sports in the country. He challenged players to duels, and fought against the best his country had to offer. Initially, Daniel fought for recognition. But as his alias, “Rail^Raptor” became known to the skilled few, he started entering competitions.
It was on his last week of free rent that Daniel took part in his first gaming competition. The Playing Fields hosted a tournament to determine (unofficially) who was the best duellist in the UK. He entered unseeded, having no titles under his belt. He was defeated by Blokey in the final, securing himself instant notoriety within the gaming community, and bagging himself £1000 pounds in the bargain.
The rent was secured for another month. His daily living expenses were minimal, he ate little and lived in TPF. His presence had become more of a boon than a burden for the proprietors, so they let him play free of charge. Daniel surfed the Internet looking for anyone good enough to challenge him.
After 6 months it had become clear to the entire gaming community that a new star had been born. Daniel’s rise to success took his life by storm. A year after leaving home, he had moved out of his pokey flat in Woolwich, and was living in an apartment in Greenwich. His sponsors ranged from Computer hardware affiliates, to Internet giants. His name was well known within a specialised community. However, In Ocotober 2004, it all changed.
The game to change the world’s perception of computer games was called Doom 4. Created by ID, the company that spawned the Quake series, Doom 4 created graphics and game-play which transcended one form of personalised entertainment and entered the global industry previously dominated by movie-makers.
Doom 4 looked like a film and played like a game, but felt like something completely different. News companies started paying attention to the new form of mass-entertainment. Following in Korea’s footsteps (which had news channels covering computer games even in the 20th century), Europe and America hosted massive tournaments, with generous cash-prizes for the winners.
By 2004, Daniel was rapidly approaching middle-age for professional gamers. He had been playing games for 4 years, and was twenty years of age. His mouse hand was permanently aching from Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI). The constant precise movement of his mouse had slowly impacted upon the ligaments and muscles in his right hand.
Fortunately, new types of controller were introduced. In 2004 came the Light Cubes, and six months later came the Pod. He had been gifted a Pod from Sony (its creator). It looked like a small circular podium, with a hand rail stretching around at waist-height. Along the hand rail were twenty four tiny laser emitters. These sensed body movement within the Pod, and transferred these movements into certain games.
Assisting the game-play was a gun. With this gun, and the laser sensors, a player could interact with the gaming environment to a new level. Daniel became adept at this technique, spurning the Light Cubes because of their demands placed upon hand movement. His right hand was damaged from repetitive game-play, but rested into the trigger of the Pod Shotgun with ease.
He attended his first Cyberathletes Professional League (CPL) in the summer of 2005. The CPL brings together the best gamers in the world, choosing six games on three different platforms on a yearly basis.
Doom 4 was an epoch in gaming experience, and as such, became the most important game of the CPL for 2005. It was a hotly contested tournament. Duellists from around the globe descended upon Texas (USA) to compete for the most prestigious title in gaming. Daniel was ranked 163 at the beginning of the tournament. He finished in third place, behind Z-Type and $p|dey (both Americans). Fame and international acclaim soon followed.
Because the two top players were both American, European media attention swung to Rail^Raptor, the British newcomer. His sponsorship deals became astronomical, as European-based computer companies linked themselves with Daniels prodigious talent. Media attention began to grow. Interviews became routine for Rail^Raptor (As he was commonly known), and he would often read about his achievements in the Sports sections of national newspapers. The world had acknowledged Gaming as a sport, starting with Russia in 2001. But it was an infant in an entrenched Institution, and was still refused any acknowledgement by the Olympic committee.
Like most major Sports, the actual money came from public interest. Consequently Doom 4 had been a multi-platform initiative. ID software had managed to develop the title on 3 different games platforms simultaneously, in an attempt to corner the market. It was released on the X-Box 2, Playstation 3 and the PC in the Fall of 2004.
Rail^Raptor switched instantly from the predecessor Doom 3 and started learning the new game. The control and physics of Doom 4 had been refined, but were essentially elements gleaned from the best features previously seen in First Person Shooters. The major difference was the graphics. For the first time ever, graphics were almost indistinguishable from special effects in movies. As the game was fast-paced, the scenery and characters seemed to be part of an action movie. The game looked incredible!
Unfinished…
Copyright Richard Elliott 2002
Daniel massaged his mouse hand. His father was furious. A-Level results had been posted, and it had only been a matter of time before his grades filtered back to his parents.
“Father, I’m going to be a pro-gamer. I’m good enough to be the best!” He answered with utter sincerity.
His father paced up and down in front of the log fire. The rug had been kicked away in disgust when he had confronted Daniel with this particular dose of reality.
“Daniel, we paid for you to be educated at Private School. We gave you every opportunity to discover your calling in life.” His fathers face had lost all its usual serenity. Standing before Daniel was his biological Creator, in all his wrath.
“And you stand here telling me that you’re good at playing games! What the fuck do you expect to achieve from that?” Daniel decided that now would not be a good time to explain his reasons.
“You’re so-called friends encourage you to skip classes to play more games, and you expect me to believe that this has been a good thing? Daniel, you disappoint me.” His father lowered his head and shook it from side to side.
“You don’t understand what I do…” Even his own ears realized the futility of such a statement.
“You’re bloody right I don’t understand what you do. I spent thirty years of my life building a home for this family! I worked my bollocks off to see you become something. And what do I see? A complete and utter waste of time and energy.” His father turned his back on Daniel and stared into the flames. The way his shoulders sagged suggested that some of this bullshit had actually meant something to him.
Daniel felt hollow. Even if he’d been given a day to sit down and tell his father what about the future of gaming and the massive earning potential, he would be no nearer to explaining anything that mattered. His father was a different breed. He was vehemently opposed to computer games. They were akin to hardcore drugs in his opinion, sucking life out of humans to serve their own infinite need.
His hand ached. He’d spent all last night (and most of today) on his PC, duelling a plethora of human foe. After two years of serious practice, he was widely recognized as the best duellist in the UK. His father did not know this, not that it would have changed anything. Being the best in the World for masturbating would have probably gleaned more respect from him than what Daniel did in the dark.
“Let me tell you something Daniel.” He uttered, almost to himself.
“You will work for a living my lad.” he intoned, “You are no longer welcome in this house. I will pay your first months rent for a flat in London, after that you are on your own.”
And that is where it began for Daniel. Had his father been less extreme, it was quite feasible that Daniel’s urge to play Quake would have diminished over time, as real-life and females entered his awareness. But instead, he plunged himself into an ambition.
Daniel wanted to be the best Quake duellist ever seen. He wanted this more than anything else. His father’s offer of a flat, he took up without comment. A teenager has pride, but it is directly wired into the size of his or her earnings.
In the month he had been given to find his feet, Daniel discovered The Playing Fields. It was a fairly unique establishment in the UK. It was a permanent LAN (local area network), which catered for gamers of all types. It hosted a great range of tournaments, and was the focal point for all that represented E-Sports in the country. He challenged players to duels, and fought against the best his country had to offer. Initially, Daniel fought for recognition. But as his alias, “Rail^Raptor” became known to the skilled few, he started entering competitions.
It was on his last week of free rent that Daniel took part in his first gaming competition. The Playing Fields hosted a tournament to determine (unofficially) who was the best duellist in the UK. He entered unseeded, having no titles under his belt. He was defeated by Blokey in the final, securing himself instant notoriety within the gaming community, and bagging himself £1000 pounds in the bargain.
The rent was secured for another month. His daily living expenses were minimal, he ate little and lived in TPF. His presence had become more of a boon than a burden for the proprietors, so they let him play free of charge. Daniel surfed the Internet looking for anyone good enough to challenge him.
After 6 months it had become clear to the entire gaming community that a new star had been born. Daniel’s rise to success took his life by storm. A year after leaving home, he had moved out of his pokey flat in Woolwich, and was living in an apartment in Greenwich. His sponsors ranged from Computer hardware affiliates, to Internet giants. His name was well known within a specialised community. However, In Ocotober 2004, it all changed.
The game to change the world’s perception of computer games was called Doom 4. Created by ID, the company that spawned the Quake series, Doom 4 created graphics and game-play which transcended one form of personalised entertainment and entered the global industry previously dominated by movie-makers.
Doom 4 looked like a film and played like a game, but felt like something completely different. News companies started paying attention to the new form of mass-entertainment. Following in Korea’s footsteps (which had news channels covering computer games even in the 20th century), Europe and America hosted massive tournaments, with generous cash-prizes for the winners.
By 2004, Daniel was rapidly approaching middle-age for professional gamers. He had been playing games for 4 years, and was twenty years of age. His mouse hand was permanently aching from Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI). The constant precise movement of his mouse had slowly impacted upon the ligaments and muscles in his right hand.
Fortunately, new types of controller were introduced. In 2004 came the Light Cubes, and six months later came the Pod. He had been gifted a Pod from Sony (its creator). It looked like a small circular podium, with a hand rail stretching around at waist-height. Along the hand rail were twenty four tiny laser emitters. These sensed body movement within the Pod, and transferred these movements into certain games.
Assisting the game-play was a gun. With this gun, and the laser sensors, a player could interact with the gaming environment to a new level. Daniel became adept at this technique, spurning the Light Cubes because of their demands placed upon hand movement. His right hand was damaged from repetitive game-play, but rested into the trigger of the Pod Shotgun with ease.
He attended his first Cyberathletes Professional League (CPL) in the summer of 2005. The CPL brings together the best gamers in the world, choosing six games on three different platforms on a yearly basis.
Doom 4 was an epoch in gaming experience, and as such, became the most important game of the CPL for 2005. It was a hotly contested tournament. Duellists from around the globe descended upon Texas (USA) to compete for the most prestigious title in gaming. Daniel was ranked 163 at the beginning of the tournament. He finished in third place, behind Z-Type and $p|dey (both Americans). Fame and international acclaim soon followed.
Because the two top players were both American, European media attention swung to Rail^Raptor, the British newcomer. His sponsorship deals became astronomical, as European-based computer companies linked themselves with Daniels prodigious talent. Media attention began to grow. Interviews became routine for Rail^Raptor (As he was commonly known), and he would often read about his achievements in the Sports sections of national newspapers. The world had acknowledged Gaming as a sport, starting with Russia in 2001. But it was an infant in an entrenched Institution, and was still refused any acknowledgement by the Olympic committee.
Like most major Sports, the actual money came from public interest. Consequently Doom 4 had been a multi-platform initiative. ID software had managed to develop the title on 3 different games platforms simultaneously, in an attempt to corner the market. It was released on the X-Box 2, Playstation 3 and the PC in the Fall of 2004.
Rail^Raptor switched instantly from the predecessor Doom 3 and started learning the new game. The control and physics of Doom 4 had been refined, but were essentially elements gleaned from the best features previously seen in First Person Shooters. The major difference was the graphics. For the first time ever, graphics were almost indistinguishable from special effects in movies. As the game was fast-paced, the scenery and characters seemed to be part of an action movie. The game looked incredible!
Unfinished…
Copyright Richard Elliott 2002