This day and age,

Here we are, August 2004 - +- 7/8 years since proper gaming actually started when a BNC and UTP networking became available to us. Starting off from a Pentium 1 computer playing Doom2 to currently playing Doom3 on a Pentium 4.

Times have changed, we as people/gamers have changed and it's going to continue to change forever. The only aspect I hope that does not change is our morals, principles and honour... if you say you have those ofcourse :)

From breaking 10 mice in 1 month playing Quake1 with a 56k modem (+- 200 ping) and yes I just had to play because even though I could break 10 mice in 1 month, it was still so exciting and interesting to play... especially when I ran right past my rocket once due to lag. ^^

Between competition standards, professionalism, growing up and learning life these changed and in between all this everything else was changing to. Mice became expensive but much better for gaming, headphones got released that had such good quality I could hear your model fart in the game around the corner while you were camping!@!@! and ofcourse our PC's improved as time went on. What I realised that took even longer than all of this together, to change was ourselves and our attitudes.

There have been few but very far between, gamers with the perfect attitude which I think we should all stand up to and come to respect in order to see what it is really about. Besides having fun, getting pissed, smoking joints and breaking each other's faces, there's attitude and sportsmenship. This is something that took me a long time to learn as (and I admit this, I used to have such a big ego I could swim in it.) Once I learned it, my skill and level of playing games improved alone. I stopped worrying what people thought of me and my game and only concerntrated on what was important at the time, playing the game to the best of my ability and being able to keep a level head while doing so.

Yes, it's perfectly normal and good to have confidence in what you do and how you do it, that allows you to do it better and more accurately, but there's a very thin line between confidence and arrogance, just like there's a very thin line between love and hate.

What I'm aiming at here is to tell you from personal experience and playing games for 8 years, having a very good attitude and a little ego will get you further in today's professionalism, besides helping you, it will help your game to be the best it can be. There's 1 particular gamer in South Africa I will always look up to, not for being the best Doom2, Quake1 and Quake3 player at a stage before everyone else caught up, his attitude alone made him the best. [DC]VipeR in my opinion is my champion and always will be.

Worfaire WCG 2001, Quake3 semi finals, fellow clan mates and good friends, VipeR and myself were matched up to play Q3Tourney2. VipeR's best map and ideal conditions for the former champion. We started, the game got off to a rough start for me but I kept my head and ended up winning. Immediately afterwards having to beat VipeR he turned to me, shook my hand and said, "Now concerntrate and give it your best for the final, you can do it and nothing can stop you!". That to me was so amazing I actually couldn't beleive that someone I managed to beat (I still don't know how) could say that to me just after I beat him. From that point on my opinion about an ego, my attitude and feel of gaming in general changed for the better... all thanks to his excellent attitude! I didn't end up winning the competition, losing to my brother Ph4ntom in the finals... but at that particular time and age, it really didn't matter to me as much as it did before I got there as I acheived something hardly anyone of us get, gratification and self realisation.

Enjoy the game for the game, professional sport in the world has way to many politics these days to actually be enjoyed like it used to be, let's at least keep gaming to this level and not lose what we have already lost.

-- James "s3c.8.Shadowl0rD" Cloete