This is part four and the wrap-up of a special report on Major League Gaming brought to you by GGA contributer Mike Drucker. Read Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

The Major League Gaming tournament in New York City has come and gone. The winners have accepted their checks, GameTime Nation is once again open for the general public, and the Dream Team are off somewhere kicking someone else’s ass in Halo.

While I’ve basically covered all there was to cover of the event, I’d like to share some personal thoughts on the overall event, and just how it went.

A personal opinion of sorts.

First of all, I find it a really admirable thing what the MLG guys are attempting to do. Right now, they’re trying to do something for video games in a country that often thinks of video games as a kids thing. It’s got to take not a small amount of guts to start up professional gaming.

Korea’s fascination with gaming, and StarCraft in particular, as a sport is well documented, in America it’s almost unheard of. In America, game tournaments are usually regionalized affairs made up by friends and passed along by word of mouth.

In fact, a comparison to the MLG can be made to professional skateboarding. While about twenty years ago, the prospect of skateboarding and other “extreme” sports being a highly profitable business and a large spectator sport were hardly considered. Skateboarding was at the time the thing those kids did.

If MLG can pull it off, and I think they can, video games may be at the same level skateboarding is now.

But I digress.

The New York City event was the first for the Major League Gaming and thus a major milestone. Any first is going to be fraught with mistakes and problems. At the same time, any first is also going to be the yardstick that other events are measured by.

So, for your convenience, I’ve made up a bit of a pros/cons of the event to deconstruct just what went right, and just what went wrong.

Facility

Pros: GameTime Nation is definitely a cool place. I’ve been there more than once in the subsequent week, and it’s just got a good atmosphere. All of the equipment is in good condition, and the TVs can’t be beat. The place is made for gaming, and I think that the players in the tournament enjoyed themselves there.

Cons: There was a small shortage of chairs. While it wasn’t significant, a few players had to go without. Furthermore, the facility itself was a bit cramped at times. While this could be attributed to four tournaments occurring at once, some preplanning would have allowed a bit more leeway. Walking from TV to TV for me and many of the officials was quite a task with so many people.

Overall: While cramped and sometimes hard to sit, that couldn’t be blamed on the GameTime Nation employees or MLG officials. GameTime was a great place to have the event, bar-none. Sure, it got cramped, but any LAN party veteran knows the feeling and the etiquette that goes along with so many bodies in such a small place.

Games

Pros: Halo, Soul Calibur II, Madden 2004, and Gran Turismo 3 were great choices for games. Furthermore, the rules were concise and fair. Despite some player complaints, the pre-tournament games that decided seating were not only fair, but a necessity. Soul Calibur II, with it’s various imbalances was pretty well evened out by the removal of Necrid and Spawn as valid characters.

Cons: Okay. Now, my Halo skills aren’t great, so I couldn’t tell, but there were some rumors of The Dream Team doing some teaming-up in the free-for-all games. Some rules are needed to prevent such teaming up.

Also, while the rules are great, a lot of players were confused by some of them. I believe a posting on the website detailing and explaining all the rules of each game played would help to alleviate this problem.

Overall: Great games, great rules. As long as players are completely informed of rules and conditions beforehand, it should be all good.

Players

Pros: Great diversity. Great numbers. With players ranging from older men to a father and son team in which the son is only 5 to a 12-year-old girl to teenagers, there was enough diversity and variation to make each individual player worth watching. Styles were different. Hell, even the trash talking was different.

There was not one player that was overly rude. Okay, maybe the Gran Turismo 3 winner was a bit strange. But overall, no one was a jerk. No one complained after it was all over. No one blamed their controller. The players were fair, honest, and fun.

Cons: None, really. The crowd was polite. There was an overflow of players, but, hey, that’s a good thing.

Overall: Damn fine job done by the players.

The Signed Players

Pros: The MLG hired the right four guys. Not only is each player different from the other in personality and playing style, but they all are great ‘star players.’

I can imagine each player as being extremely marketable. None of them are jerks; they’re all friendly. In fact, many of them, Shizz and Darkman in particular, are hilarious.

With their larger-than-life personas and quotes – a Shizz shirt with the phrase “Triple kill!” on the back comes to mind – the MLG has contracts with very sellable and gamer friendly guys.

Cons: This isn’t really a con, but more advise. Sign the Burtons. All of them. They are all fantastic. They are all related. While I may have focused on Bonnie here, every member of the Mastas of Disastas is well worth signing.

SDK, and especially leader StrangePurple are also worth signing.

Overall: Great players signed so far, keep it going.

Merchandise

Pros: Nice shirts the MLG officials and pros had.

Cons: I heard at least a dozen people ask to buy one. The MLG really needs to get some merchandising going on, selling their name on shirts and hats and whatnot. A few people wearing MLG clothing on the streets could go a long way.

Overall: Gamers wanted to give bags of money to the MLG for their shirts. The MLG really needs to get said shirts together for their audience.

Officials

Pros: Officials ruled, as one friendly guy I never learned the name of, “with an iron fist.” In actuality, they were really good at standing up for ten hours a day, keeping track of scores, times, records, and who-played-whom. This was especially considering many a gamer stepped out or didn’t come back or came in late. Adjustments were made quickly and fairly. The officials, for an unpaid first time job did an excellent job.

Sundance, Michael, and all the referees were great guys. They were very friendly and very ready to talk to any of the gamers present.

Cons: A lot of Halo players quit before proper scores could be recorded. A good system needs to be set up for immediate score acquisition. Or possibly even moderate penalties for quitting out early.

Overall: Good referring overall. Friendly, fair officials. Need to keep those Halo scores under control, though. Not their fault, but still their responsibility.

Event

Pros: Pretty good timing after the initial delay. A good amount of food was available both in the facility for purchase and in the Greenwich Village neighborhood around. Sundance made loud and clear announcements to players, and the games proceeded by and large without much problem.

Cons: Delays. Delays. Delays. The first day was almost an hour and a half behind schedule. While this sounds like a simple problem, if the MLG will ever become a proper spectator sport, it needs to be punctual. This is more the players fault for arriving late and not leaving early, but again, it’s the MLG’s choice when to begin the tournament.

Overall: After the delay, the tournament was as cool as the other side of the pillow.

Well, that’s about as comprehensive a laundry list as I can make up.

The event was great fun for everyone involved. While there were a few problems, there was nothing too major.

I was simply impressed by the amount of gamers and non-gaming passers by who were willing to stand around and watch the tournament as it went on. If Sundance and Michael can harness this curiosity to watch people play video games, they may reach the goal they aspire to.

This is the first tournament in the season, and we’ll soon see how other tournaments turn out. Hopefully, professional gaming game take off in America as it has in Asia.

“We are professional gaming,” Michael Sepso said. I wouldn’t say that yet. However, perhaps in a few years, it will be professional gaming the same way the X-Games are “extreme sports.”

Hell, I’d watch it.