This is part two of a special report on Major League Gaming brought to you by GGA contributer Mike Drucker. If you haven't read it yet, read Part One.
Meet Bonnie Burton. Bonnie's 12 years old. She's got a blonde pony-tail and rosy cheeks. In fact, if you saw her on the street, you'd think Bonnie was just a regular middle school student from Pennsylvania.
Bonnie is also in the winner's bracket final round of Major League Gaming's free-for-all Halo tournament. In fact, in the matches played so far, she's rarely done worse than fourth place out of eight, often beating well-known professional players.
"I just love playing Halo," Bonnie, who calls herself "Xena" in the game, said. "My brothers introduced me to the game, and I decided to compete."
One of her brothers has been eliminated in the winner's bracket already. In fact, Bonnie and her brother consist of a very few people to make it this far, and four of them being the Dream Team players I mentioned yesterday.
And such is the first day of the Major League Gaming tournament, a day marked by a large, diverse gaming crowd, and hampered by a few growing pains by the MLG.
As a bit of background, the MLG was founded by Michael Sepso and Sundance DiGiovanni. Two friends who both worked (and made a fortune) in the technology industry, they wagered against each other in Halo matches. When the pot became so large and the amount of other friends watching and asking in the pot so great, they had an idea. They decided to create a corporation to consolidate professional videogames as companies such as the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA has done with their respective sports.
It took a long time, and even more capital.
"No one would invest in something like this," Sepso said. "I had to liquidate my company, Gotham Broadband in order to get the money to get this off the ground."
Today was the first day of the first tournament held by Major League Gaming.
Filing into the small lounge was a veritable cross-section of society. Older adults, registering for Gran Turismo 3 and Madden 2004 were standing around holding their PlayStation 2 controllers and waiting for the games to start. Kids with acne and their mothers in tow stood next to tall, built players in full 'gangsta' outfits, discussing Halo strategies. An Asian man in a large, ten-gallon cowboy hat traded Soul Calibur II strategies with a SenSei Mack, the extravagant head-band wearing gamer co-hosting the event.
Girlfriend and boyfriend teams were many, and the strangely romantic picture of two people holding each other and their X-Box controllers was not uncommon at the event.
Mothers watched the younger of their children, some with looks of disdain, others with looks of joyful curiosity.
Fathers dragged their reluctant children to the event, promising their kids a prize for their patience.
Most of the players wore nametags, although one Halo player named "Ghost" wore it spray-painted on a hat. Almost everyone recognized each others' names from the MLG forums, joking and teasing each other about recent topics.
All in all, a large, varied crowd came to the event, and there was nothing but friendliness amongst them.
The event didn't start off without its quirks, however.
Registration was delayed because many of the players underestimated the New York City early morning traffic. Many players showed a large amount of frustration at having to wait over an hour past the official noon starting time to begin their games.
"It's the first day, things are going to be chaotic," said Sundance DeGiovanni, co-founder of the MLG. "But things are running right."
Other players became incensed by some games' rules and last minute additions. More than one Gran Turismo 3 player showed some distaste at the fact that initial seating runs would largely decide the fate of the rest of the GT3 tournament.
Besides some unrest over the wait and rules, the players and officials managed pretty well. Eventually, GameTime Nation allowed waiting players to have free practice matches. Some players sat down and compared strategies and war-stories. Friendly trash-talking filled the air.
Around 12:30, Sundance brought down all the gamers and set down some rules. In a scene that was strangely reminiscent of Fight Club, all the gamers circled Sundance in the facility's basement.
"We'll start soon," he said. "But some ground rules. You can either use your controller or get one from the desk. The TV volume is fine how it is. And, if you're not having fun, tell someone. If someone's being an ass, tell me." And then he dispersed the group, and soon the games began.
Halo, Soul Calibur II, Madden 2004, and Gran Turismo 3 took up all the TVs of the lounge. While SCII, Madden, and GT3 got a hand full of TVs each, Halo took eight, with each one hosting four people at once in free-for-all matches. Despite the high amount of respect amongst players in the tournament, a large number of the people at the tournament had made Bonnie their favorite underdog. As she walked away from a King-Of-The-Hill which she had dominated for the first half of, numerous players gave her high fives, which the cheery pre-teen didn't seem to mind at all.
Bonnie Burton with her brothers
Michael Sepso, the CEO of Major League Gaming was all smiles about the Burton siblings. "They're one of our most elite groups, and seeing them play is a unique experience." Not a small amount of people told Sepso that Bonnie and brothers should be the next players the MLG signs, such as the Dream Team mentioned in part 1.
Even her mother, Georgia Burton, was a bit surprised by Bonnie's skill. "I tried Halo. I mean, I tried, but it just requires too much practice. I was surprised by her skill. For a 12-year-old, she's got some skill."
Even as matches grew intense, the feeling around the lounge was friendly. Players on Soul Calibur joked with each other, even as they were beating one another. Shizz, one of the highlights of the Halo tournament even took a go at the SCII tournament.
While he put up a valiant effort with Talim and Raphael, he didn't do as well as he expected.
"I got raped," Shizz laughed. "People are using Voldo, and I've never seen anyone before who knows Voldo and all his hundred different stances."
Still, Shizz remained all smiles throughout the match.
The Gran Turismo 3 tournament was less jovial. While matches were one on one races, the two players hardly ever talked. In fact, unlike the other three games, there was almost no trash talking or laughing whatsoever. Serious business was the way of the day in GT3.
"Hogster-iR" a 30-year-old player who declined to give his real name explained the seriousness as branching from the players' reputations on the line. "I flew in from Lexington, Kentucky to take the opportunity to prove I'm the best in the nation," he said. "I am a little disappointed that there aren't many Gran Turismo players, but at the same time, the people here are tough. These are long, tough matches."
Still, once the games were going, there were few hiccups in the MLG's plans. Except for a few cancelled screens in Halo before score-keepers aquired statistics and a shortage of chairs, everything ran smoothly. "Moist," as a local player named Jynx described it.
"All in all, people enjoyed themselves," co-founder Sepso, who also worked as a game referee, said. "We did start a little late, but tomorrow will be really choreographed. We're doing good, and people are having fun. That's what's important."
As the day ended, Bonnie made a prediction for tomorrow's events. "Poon," a serious contender on team SDK, "is going down."
Poon, a bearded college student laughed off the trash talking. "She can come and get me," he said. "I'll be waiting."
It's been an interesting event, indeed. Now, what remains to be seen is how Bonnie and the rest of the winner's bracket players in the final round will do tomorrow. And then team-Halo takes over the televisions for a whole new tournament.
Oh. According to many players, there's a father-son team playing tomorrow. And the son is 5 years old. And apparently, they are one of the top contenders.
Tune in tomorrow for the final day's report.
Mike Drucker was born in the wilderness of suburban South Florida. When he was younger, his parents were foolish enough to buy him and his sister a Nintendo Entertainment System. Taking it to it like someone who takes to something they like, thank you very much, Mike became a gaming addict. Initially planning to become a strategy guide writer as a child, Mike realized he sucked at games competitively. Later deciding to become a programmer, it became apparent Mike was a failure at software engineering. Finally settling on writing about gaming culture, Mike may still have no skills, but he's trying his darndest to break into the niche of videogame journalism.
Mike's currently a sophomore at New York University, majoring in English and Journalism (two separate degrees, mind you), and minoring in Creative writing. He's 19 years old is thrilled to be dating a fellow gamer, the mysterious (whose mystery is only exceeded by her power) Vicky Zadorozny.
Besides gaming, Mike reviews movies for a local newspaper, covers NYU sports for a different newspaper, and writes short stories for his hard drive and hopes.
His website is http://home.nyu.edu/~msd248.
Bonnie had *so* better win this.
Posted by: Bowler | 10/26/2003 at 08:12 PM
Bonnie is going to make some lucky middle schooler very happy.
Posted by: Lev | 10/26/2003 at 10:36 PM
Serious. Go, Bonnie!
Posted by: Jason | 10/26/2003 at 10:40 PM
Er... "Serious. Go, Bonnie!" in reply to Bowler's comment.
Posted by: Jason | 10/27/2003 at 12:01 AM
i know bonnie from school and she says shes good but i didnt kno that good!! Wow
Posted by: Saige | 10/29/2003 at 01:20 PM
Her two big sisters couldn't be more proud. GO BONNIE!
Posted by: Khanis | 10/30/2003 at 02:07 PM
Every man has his hobby-horse.
Posted by: Guy | 04/07/2004 at 02:11 PM
I saw Xena/Bonnie yesterday at the Agp tounrmant in D.C. while I got whiped she put up a fight and alot of the guys there were talking and we all agreed, that in 2 or 3 years she will be hot in more ways than one...
Posted by: Mike | 04/26/2004 at 05:27 PM
I saw Xena/Bonnie yesterday at the Agp tounrmant in D.C. while I got whiped she put up a fight and alot of the guys there were talking and we all agreed, that in 2 or 3 years she will be hot in more ways than one...
Posted by: Mike | 04/26/2004 at 05:27 PM
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Posted by: outsider | 04/11/2006 at 07:42 AM