Gaming Lessons

Back in 2001, I went to the local video store to rent a few games for this thing called an “Xbox” that my parents had gotten me for Christmas. My dad went with me, and the first game that caught our eyes was…you guess it, Halo: Combat Evolved. I would love to tell you that this was the start to my involvement with competitive gaming, but actually, it wasn’t even close.

For years I played Halo’s single player like crazy, and on the weekends I would have my friends over for a good game of slayer on Hang Em’ High. Once I even went to a Halo party held by my local youth pastor where we played CTF on Blood Gulch all night long. Looking back, none of us were that skilled, but at the time I thought we were superior to everyone else that played.

A few years later rumors started swirling about the release of Halo 2. I remember the date would always get changed, and as a young teenager, I was getting fed up with waiting. One day that all came to a halt when I was watching E3 and one of Bungie’s lead guys pulled up his sleeve to reveal a new tattoo. “11/9/04” For months I waited for that night to come. The night it did, I was at a Colt’s game where they were hosting the Vikings, who at the time were my favorite team with the Culpepper/Moss combo. As excited as I was for the game, I was even more excited for it to come to a close so that I could make the trip home to Gamestop and pick up my copy from the midnight release. Well, it turned out to be a 2:30 in the morning on a school night release for me. I have to say, I have the best parents in the entire world. They let me play three games that night before bed, and the next day called my school saying I was sick and let me stay home all week and play. My nephew and I would battle back and forth on lockout using SMG’s and double needlers, I was having the time of my life, but still I did not know about the world of competitive gaming.

I was going on a field trip to the Zoo for school, and as always, my dad was attending as a chaperone. On the way there, we got to talking with a boy from my class about this mysterious thing called “Xbox Live.” My father and I were both in awe at the fact that it was possible to play our favorite game with millions of people around the world. That field trip was a week before the end of the school year, and when I got home from my last day of school, my Xbox was connected to Live. That whole summer, my father and I did nothing but play Halo 2 24/7. My gamertag was Kdawg15, and his was Kdawgs Dad. We started throwing Halo parties on a bi-monthly basis, and the more we through, the more that people would start coming.

My First Taste of MLG

During these Halo parties, we would always have epic games of Tower of Power, Zombies, and even KOTH on Midship where everyone had rockets and snipers (talk about some crazy k/d spreads). One night we were having a party, and a group of guys came who I didn’t even know at the time, they had just heard about the parties. They wouldn’t play Tower of Power and Zombies with us, they preferred what I now realize was MLG game types. I didn’t quite understand it at the time, but I sat behind them watching them play, amazed at the strategy involved.

That was really my only taste of competitive gaming in Halo 2. When Halo 3 came out though, things begin to change for me. They had the MLG playlist, and I wasn’t quite sure what that was all about, so I Google’d it. It just so happens that there was an event that weekend, so I started to watch. I didn’t know the names of the pros or the teams, but one player that caught my eye was Snipedown on Triggers Down. I’m now a friend of Snipedown’s, but at the time I remember thinking that TD was named after him, and I was amazed at how we used that sniper. Then I seen T2 with his leadership skills, the Ogre’s with their teamwork…I was just amazed at how big this world of pro gaming actually was. From this day on I was hooked.

Not Just a Halo Fanatic

Outside of Halo, I am a huge MMA fan. I am a staff writer for MMA Authority & Lifestyle Magazine, which I absolutely love. I travel around the world going backstage and sitting front row at all of the UFC and Strikeforce events. I have people like Wanderlei Silva and Arianny Celeste in my cell phone. However, gaming has always been my first love; I’ve been gaming since I was a baby. So lately I’ve decided to get myself involved in the world of pro gaming as a writer, and I have to think Eric Wrona, who you may know as Snipedown, for helping me achieve that goal. I’m now here as a part of the Gaming-Lessons team, and I look forward to talking to each and every one of you readers at some point. I hope you enjoy my work as much as I enjoy producing it. Have a blessed night everyone, and no matter what anyone tells you just remember, chicks <3 gamers.