Hmm... where did we last save? Oh yes, now I remember. We were discussing the arcade origin of cyber-sports. But to the chagrin of quarter coin manufacturers, in the mid-'80s Nintendo's Super Italian plumber stomped out arcades like so many goombas (and the only real-world social gathering place for misfit video game savants was dealt a serious blow).
Gaming moved into the home and then split into two directions -- console and computer -- which created a rift in the competitive sphere. Though the former got its own movie as far back as 1989 (The Wizard, featuring Fred Savage and proto-indie queen Jenny Lewis' epic journey to the Super Mario 3 tournament!) it was the latter that created the modern competitive gaming movement.
And it was all due to DOOM.
id Software had popularized the first-person shooter genre with Castle Wolfenstein 3D the previous year, but it was 1993's DOOM shareware release that saw that game insinuate itself into ten million PCs and change popular culture thanks to its LAN-based multiplayer deathmatches. As id designer John Romero said at the time, the move from killing computer-controlled monsters to human-controlled avatars was monumental. "If we can get this done, this is going to be
the fucking coolest game that the planet Earth has ever fucking seen in
its entire history!"
Initially, gamers would connect modem-to-modem or through university or work computer networks. When DOOM II came out the following year, dedicated electronic bulletins board systems were launched to enable wide area network play. It was still primitive, but from this point on competitive gamers wouldn't be just chasing a high score -- they'd be chasing each other. (They'd also be chasing controversy, as politicians and cultural critics railed against the "mass murder simulator," especially after DOOM was tied to the Columbine shootings).
Microsoft staged Deathmatch '95 in October, the first modern computer gaming tournament (and probably the first large-scale LAN party). The world's best players had already been fragging each other over dial-up -- but this was a chance to face each other in person... or, y'know, virtually in person. By the next major event, 1997's "Red Annihilation," id's fully-3D follow-up game Quake had taken over the scene. Unlike its BBS-reliant predecessor, Quake was built for the dawning Internet age and allowed gamers to easily compete with frenemies around the world.
Both tournaments were won by competitive computer gaming's first virtuoso, Dennis "Thresh" Fong, who in the latter tournament beat his final opponent 14 games to one (it was also reportedly the only round Fong ever lost in a tournament) and walked away with id founder John Carmack's red Ferrari 328. Long since retired, Fong is known as the "Michael Jordan of e-sports" and was certainly the first to make a proper career out of it. Earning a reported $100,000 per year while competing, Fong later used his money to fund various websites and portals, including the gamer social-networking site Xfire which he sold to Viacom for a cool $102 million. He currently runs the gaming social network Raptr.
Though the Doom and Quake series shaped competitive gaming, they would eventually take a backseat in the 2000s as more advanced PCs, next-gen consoles and a diverse crop of games redefined the current era of televised competitions, professional gamers, reality shows and even superstar celebrities (in South Korea, anyway). Tune in next time...
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In anticipation of the March premiere of Pure Pwnage on Showcase, Joshua Ostroff's four-part series on the history of competitive gaming continues on February 23rd.