Last weekend, for what might be the first time since I became a Frag Doll, I treated myself to a little gamer vacation and caught a flight to Seattle to check out the World Cyber Games.  I love Seattle, and I love gaming, so really that makes it a perfect combination. I also love visiting my friends and having some time to catch up, so that was the icing on the cake.

For those who aren’t familiar with WCG, it bills itself as the Olympics of Video Games and it does a pretty decent job of it in terms of the setup.  Every year qualifiers are held throughout the world to determine the representatives each country will send to the Grand Finals, which take place in a different country each year.  The last WCG Grand Finals in the US was in San Francisco in 2004, which I sadly missed out on.  Players compete in their various games, representing their country and earning gold, silver, or bronze medals.

By the way, USA kicked ass and took home the gold medal in Tony Hawk’s Project 8, Gears of War, and Dead or Alive 4. We got the silver in Age of Empires 3 and Project Gotham Racing 3, and also took the bronze in Dead or Alive 4. Brazil (wtf?) and South Korea tied for 2nd in the standings.  Clearly, there was no 1v1 FPS like Quake 4 in the tournament, or I think Sweden would have placed higher than 10th. Not to be unpatriotic, but I have a huge soft spot for Sweden as a mecca of gaming.  I mean, have you seen their internet infrastructure? OMG!

Though I’m no good at the genre, I still love RTS so I made sure to catch the Warcraft III and Starcraft matches.  It was amazing to watch Korea play against China because there were so many fans of both countries in the crowd waving flags around and shouting.  I wouldn’t have been surprised to see guys shirtless with their country’s flag painted on them. It was just that kind of love.  Korea’s big gaming TV station (or… one of them) even had an enormous setup on-hand to film the matches, and one of my friends almost got decapitated by the… camera thingy swinging around. Give me a break, I don’t know production terms. It might have been a jib.

I couldn’t help but be impressed by the massive production values the organizers threw into this event.  Aside from a couple small typos in their promotions--Field of Dream, where is your missing S--everything was top notch. They had a theme song that blared between matches, and I can’t decide if it’s godawful or if I adore it, but either way it now lives in my head so I guess it did its job. There were fireworks, enormous gameplay screens and player camera setups, commentators, lethal camera crews, crowds of enthusiastic spectators, smoke, flashing lights, futuristic gaming pods. The works. It was great.

Aside from the gaming it was also wonderful to catch up with friends I miss (I love you, Eekers!), bond with new friends (I love you too, Mischief!), and meet one of the coolest girl gamers I’ve ever known online and who I now know for realz--Trinelin from Girlz of Destruction.

And sandwiched in the mix was banana splits, cajun food, an entire season of Entourage, a trip to the Pike Place Market, breakfast sandwiches, and ample sleep (for once, at a gaming event, I demanded to sleep).  All in all, a good weekend.

It’s too bad I used up my time and finances and didn’t leave any to spare for E for All, since it seems like that’s going to be a fun event this weekend, but I think WCG was worth it.  I just wish it lasted longer.  It was so much fun to be a civilian and not be tied up working at a gaming event that I want to do it more often.  My pocketbook trembles in fear.

- jinx

you were not to blame for bittersweet distractores