It's not like he made transition from Quake to StarCraft and then to Fifa.
Come on, it's FPS after all. If you are good in one title, know/have FPS basics - you'll be good in all of them if you practise enough. And he played games which hadn't really had any big scene (Doom 3, AvP2).
He's good but I bet others could do that as well (if had the time/motivation), but no one has really committed himself to gaming like he did. I mean people stick with one game, because they LIKE/LOVE the game, not because there is money on the line. At least in most of cases.
you forget the amount of extremely talented players lurking around painkiller, and the ammount of cash (100k+) you'd get just by being top 5 in 2k5 just from prizes. lexer and rat and forrest and wombat and daler and cha0tics and so on didn't just stay out of that cash for no good reason. some tried really hard, and others saw it futile.
Flash / Jaedong - staying on top in the hardest game ever
fox - he's best all round Quake player ever, pwning in Q3, CPM, QW, CTF, CA, TDM, DUEL, Q4, Q6, Q2, QL, Q8, :QQQ
Have to agree with you on fox - i still feel that his raw talent was second to none, even the likes of Cypher. It's such a shame he always choked and never got to win a huge lan. :-/
Yea, doth thou, verily
Sit in thine electric mantle
Hark! Punishment forcometh
For polish gentlemen beset in your iron rays of doom and death
Your hand be true, your cause be right,
STOP BEING CUNT, PLAY MORE QUAKE LIVE
Such a difficult question to answer, and essentially impossible as no-one will agree on the definition/criteria of what makes the best gamer of all time; especially across multiple games.
I'm not up to speed really on other games, but imo in quake:
The best control based player: Cooller
The best aim based player: Toxjq
The best "enemy-position" orientated player: Cypher
The best aim+pattern based player: Z4muz
The best defensive player: Rapha
Best dueler ever: Rapha, no-one outsmarts him, and can play his very best under the highest pressure. Gets the job done when it matters the most; arguably the most mentally strong player there has ever been in quake.
Best TDM player ever: Fox, very intelligent control/area based player who could assist the team in any manner on any map in any situation.
Best multi-mode player: Czm; multiple duel champion, and the stuff he pulled off in ctf was bat-shit insane. Also, anyone who has not watched that Qcon 2002 FFA match, go watch it now to give you a hint of what this guy was capable in his prime. Exceptional.
As for multiple games, I have no idea. Wombat seems to be the best candidate as he has been successful in several (CS, COD, Q3, ET).
But the best gamer ever? It would probably have to be one of the startcraft legends; the level the koreans have pushed the game, and the level of competition means its probably the hardest game to win anything in.