Gaming Like a Pro: A Peak Inside the World of Competitive Gaming
By: Anna-Michelle Lavandier
These gamers play to win and win big.
Competition among gamers is nothing new, but competing to see who is the best in the city, state, country or the world brings out an entirely different part of the gaming community to the stage.
Whether that means bragging rights at school, official tournament ranking or even cash, this thriving community plays to see who is the best of the best.
Competitive and professional gaming is one of the most prominent displays of the gaming community in media thanks to the big venues, prominent names, the rise of eSports, and huge stakes. Because of this, it has become one of the first things that come to mind when video games is discussed.
However, Nikki Wulf, of Miami Beach, Florida, believes that classifying it as a representation of the entire gaming community is not necessarily accurate.
“I don’t think it’s a fair representation of what gaming is because we are not all competitive,” she said. “Sometimes we play for fun or to be a part of a community. Competitive is a whole new level, but it is still part of the gaming aspect.”
Wulf (aka Miss Azuki) has been playing since she first got her hands on the Atari, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the TurboGrafx consoles at 4 years old.
As Wulf moved on to other platforms, she has won tournaments in a variety of games including Dance Dance Revolution, Counter Strike 1.6 and Halo 3. She was also a member of the top horde guild in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Wulf continues to share her passion for gaming with others on her Twitch channel, MissAzuki.
She plays Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm and Counter Strike competitively and has ranked in both Masters and Diamond categories.
“I got into competitive gaming naturally because I grew up playing [these] consoles and such,” Wulf said. “It creates almost a euphoric feeling when you compete and win.”
To proud retro gamer Sean Grant, of New York City, learning new things is part of the fun of competition.
“To be challenged actually changed the game for me,” Grant said. “When you’re in a tournament in pinball, it’s extraordinarily taxing. It’s all about skill.”
Grant’s most recent placement is #23 in the world in pinball and has placed in the final four in two different world championships.
“The very first event I went to in 1992 or 1993, it was the first time I was around people who were as good as I was,” Grant said. “I was really happy and I had to actually train myself to have a killer instinct if I wanted to beat them. I was learning and I had never been in a situation where I was learning. I was usually just the best one in my neighborhood.”
That magical feeling of doing your best and dominating the competition is shared by Ian Mooney from Denver, Colorado.
Mooney is a competitive player in both Super Smash Bros. Melee (playing Ganondorf) and Super Smash Bros. Project M games. Mooney is also a member of Lunacy Gaming, an eSports team which competes in several gaming genres. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, he ranked #126 in the world in 2015. Since entering the competitive scene at 13 years old, this community has had a profound impact in shaping him as a gamer.
“The 10 years I’ve been traveling around the world and competing have truly made me the person I am today,” Mooney said. “I’ve been to 25 states, seven countries, and endless cities all because of a single video game. Most people in my position have barely even left their home state.”
Another Super Smash Bros. Melee player, Kelvin Ong from Seabring, Florida, claims the #1 spot in both Seabring and in Bradenton. Ong has also placed in the top 25 in Central Florida for Super Smash Bros. Melee.
“I love feeling my heart pound after I take their last stock to win the game,” Ong said. “Others get satisfaction from creating something, or being in an immersive story, or just goofing around in chaos and mayhem with their friends. But as a competitive gamer, I have the most fun when I’m trying and I have an opponent who is also trying, whether or not I win or lose. And having a cash prize or ante’d money on the line also adds to the adrenaline rush.”
His introduction to competitive gaming began with a few friends, a Nintendo GameCube and a projection screen in the 10th grade. It quickly became a passion as he trained for his first tournament.
“I began learning one new technique every day for a few minutes, during dedicated sessions for an hour or two, and reinforcing the muscle memory during the most random breaks, like waiting for the food to microwave or for someone to finish with the bathroom.”
While the road to becoming a competitive gamer is not an easy one, it is filled with an entire community equally as determined to learn, grow and be the best they can be in their games.
Ong learned that every character, even the best ones, have a weakness and it depends on the player’s skill to discover it.
“ I almost never see anything as overpowered or broken, just something that has a weakness to be found,” he said.
Wulf learned that it can even inspire other gamers to pick up their own controllers and learn what it takes to compete.
“ My most memorable moment being apart of these communities is when I have a fan come up to me and tell me I inspire them to play, or they’re excited to finally meet me in person,” Wulf said.
One of the most important things for a competitive gamer to have, besides determination and skill, is support from family and friends. This was a lesson that Mooney learned when he decided to get more involved in competitive gaming at 14 years old.
“If you ever grow up to be a parent and your child, for some ungodly reason, decides that being a competitive gamer is something they want to do, please do everything in your power to support that dream,” Mooney said.
Mooney credits his mother’s support for being where he stands as a competitive gamer today.
“Many of my colleagues through the years would have been equally successful as I, but fell in their dreams because their parents/guardians were not supportive and did not allow them to go where their heart led them,” he said.
While gamers in this particular community have to fight their way to the top, they couldn’t be in better company.
For more information (including contact info) about the players mentioned here, email me at amlavandier@gmail.com.
The Nerd Castle is an ongoing master’s capstone project with the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism that will be used to explore, showcase and expose diversity and the issues surrounding it within the gaming community.
Anna-Michelle can be found on Twitter @amlavandier. The Nerd Castle can also be found on Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr (@thenerdcastle).
