<html>

<head>

<title>loonygames - print happy version</title>
</head>

<body leftmargin="10" topmargin="10" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<table width="100%" border="0" height="58" bordercolordark="#000000" bordercolorlight="#000000">
  <tr> 
    <td height="57" width="26%" align="left" valign="top"> 
      <div align="left"> 
        <h1><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><i><a href="../../index.html">loonygames</a><br>
          <font size="1">a <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">blue's news</a> 
          publication</font></i></b></font></h1>
        </div>
    </td>
    <td height="57" width="74%" align="center" valign="top"> 
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p><a href="../2.12/gsm/index.html">&lt;&lt; Back to Normal View</a></p>
<p>URL: <a href="../2.12/gsm/index.html">http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.12/gsm/</a><br>
</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>Vol. 
                2, Issue 12<br>
                February 17, 2000<br>
                </b>
              <b> 
                </b>
              
                <b><i>Game, 

                  Set, Match!</i></b></p>
                <b><i> 
                  King of the CPL</i></b></p>
                by 
                  Stephanie &quot;Bobbi&quot; 
                  Bergman</p>
              
              

<!--
       function gotoSite(obj)
          {
          var s;
          s=obj.options[obj.selectedIndex].value
                         location.href=s;
          }
// -->


              <?
              
              include("/home/loonygames/loony.timedoctor.org/includes/gsm.htm"); 
              
              ?>
              
              
              
               At 
                just about this time last year, Vangie Beal and myself were working 
                on putting together the Female 
                Frag Fest &#146;99. We had a gaming service to help with match 
                organization, but hit a major stumbling block when working out 
                how to do live finals. End of it, we realized we needed a credible 
                organization, with experience doing live events to help. Angel 
                Munoz, CEO of the Cyberathlete 
                Professional League was an answer to our prayers. Thanks to 
                Angel, the FFF&#146;99 finals were held at Ground ZERO, the CPL 
                Event held in NYC in September, and were a huge success. In order 
                to understand the world of professional gaming, you need to know 
                the people and organizations behind it. So, starting with the 
                one I know best, I caught up with Angel to ask about the CPL, 
                and the future of professional gaming.</p>
              </p>
              <b>What 
                is the CPL?</b></p>
              </p>
              The Cyberathlete 
                Professional League, or CPL, is the first LAN-based computer gamers 
                league in the world and has elevated advanced computer gaming 
                to a professional sport. We hold several large location based 
                events a year and this year we will have two large events in Dallas, 
                Texas, one event in California, an event in Singapore and one 
                in Stockholm, Sweden. We are the only organization doing professional 
                events internationally and we have the largest cash prizes of 
                any well-known gamers league.</p>
              </p>
              <b>Why 
                was the CPL created? How has it's mission/objective changed?</b> 
                </p>
              </p>
              The CPL 
                was created to bring well-deserved attention and sponsorships 
                to advanced gamers and to establish standards for live events 
                that would match the standards upheld by all professional sports. 
                When we launched the league in 1997, these ideas were considered 
                to be on the border of ridiculous but gamers have become much 
                more comfortable with these concepts, thanks in part to the proliferation 
                of our concepts and the wide exposure we now receive in the media. 
                Our mission has remained unchanged and we believe that the CPL 
                competitions will continue to grow and expand into a widely accepted 
                sport.</p>
              </p>
              </p>
              <b>What 
                do you think about the increasing number of organizations, such 
                as yours, existing to run these events for gamers? Do you think 
                there is room for more than one?</b></p>
              </p>
              I am not 
                very familiar with many other organizations, we know that we created 
                the concept of professional gaming, we know that our events are 
                the most popular and followed in the world and we know that there 
                is enough room for several leagues with different specialties. 
                On the other hand, it does seem that everyone is launching a league 
                these days and that may have a positive outcome, as it may help 
                pro-gamers get more attention, prizes and sponsorships.</p>
              </p>
              <b>Do 
                you think the CPL and other groups are effecting the gaming industry? 
                If so, is it a good or bad influence.</b></p>
              </p>
              It is 
                quite obvious that the CPL has had an impact in the type of games 
                that are being released. The gaming industry can no longer ignore 
                cash purses of $100,000 per event or the fact that people are 
                travelling from all over the world to participate in our tournaments. 
                They can see that the 
                CPL has established itself as the clear leader of competitive 
                gaming and want to some are trying to incorporate their games 
                into our events. When I meet with developers they all extol the 
                virtues of their multiplayer implementation and I have to smile, 
                because when we launched our 
                league multiplayer was only an afterthought add-on for single 
                player games.</p>
              </p>
              <b>Are 
                they any plans to work with developers to create better tournament 
                support within the games?</b></p>
              </p>

              That really 
                is beyond the scope of the CPL. On the other hand we are excited 
                about the fact that many of the top CPL gamers are being invited 
                to beta test not only games but a myriad of computer peripherals. 
                The pro-gamers are the ones that should be consulted on these 
                issues as they have a heightened awareness of the minute details 
                that make the difference between a mediocre product and one that 
                could excel in a professional environment.</p>
              </p>
              <b>What 
                do you think the future of competitive gaming is? </b></p>
              </p>
              Larger, 
                better events and bigger prizes. And of course the international 
                recognition of competitive gaming as a sport.</p>
              </p>
              <b>Is 
                the CPL planning any international events for this year?</b></p>
              </p>
              The CPL 
                is finalizing the arrangements on its two newest divisions: CPL 
                Asia and CPL Europe. Both divisions have events planned for this 
                year with a Singapore event planned for June and a Stockholm, 
                Sweden event planned for July. Next year we are planning to launch 
                two additional divisions: CPL Australia and CPL Canada, if we 
                identify the perfect partners to manage these operations.</p>
              </p>
              </p>
              </p>
              <br> </p>
              
               <b>How 
                do you feel about a universal ranking system for gamers?</b></p>
              </p>
              When organizations 
                talk about a universal ranking system they seem to believe that 
                the CPL will agree with their methodology and in some way use 
                their system or promote it, this is clearly not going to happen. 
                The only way for a gamer to be ranked high in our league is by 
                playing in our tournaments. 
                Each year we crown a CPL Champion and the point system we use, 
                only accounts for performance data generated at our events.</p>
              </p>
              <b>In 
                order to accumulate points for the CPL a player must physically 
                attend a CPL event, if I remember right. Are there any plans change 
                this to allow for more players to be eligible?</b></p>
              </p>
              No. All 
                major sports require a commitment from the players to leave the 
                comfort of their house and physically go to a park, court, stadium, 
                etc. The CPL follows the same principles, but through our growing 
                number of CPL Qualifying Centers we want to make the league more 
                accessible to the gamers that may find our events a bit remote. 
                We envision having an official 
                qualifying center in every major city of the US within the next 
                two years.</p>
              </p>
              <b>Where 
                would you like to see the CPL in 10 years?</b></p>
              </p>
              In 10 
                years I want the CPL to be a multi-billion dollar franchise with 
                operations in every major city of the world, holding large international 
                events with millions of spectators worldwide. I also want the 
                top professional gamers to be generating millions in sponsorship 
                and prize winnings.</p>
              </p>
              <b>How 
                realistic do you think that is? (Genuinely curious, I have no 
                idea myself)</b></p>
              </p>
              When I 
                launched the CPL I could have listened to the hundreds of &quot;realistic&quot; 
                people that told me it was a preposterous idea. Now, people worldwide 
                hail the CPL as the standard for all LAN tournaments. I extrapolate 
                from that experience that an average reasonable person would predict 
                that the chances of professional game tournaments becoming a multi-billion 
                dollar business are close to zero but then again the CPL team 
                is neither average or reasonable :) </p>
              Therefore, 
                my prediction is that we have a great chance of building a new 
                sport and solid 
                business around that new sport that could in fact create a new 
                billion dollar industry.</p>
              </p>
              Take &quot;professional&quot; 
                wrestling as an example, if someone told you that if you dress 
                up two people in sometimes ridiculous costumes, put them up in 
                a ring and have them pretend to fight each other, you could build 
                a billion dollar business, would you have been skeptical let's 
                say ten years ago? 
                ...But Vincent McMahon did it and today that franchise is worth 
                about a billion dollars.</p>
              </p>
              <b>Next 
                month is your next event...what do you expect to see there? How 
                many participants, any workshops, etc.</b></p>
              </p>
              What we 
                are going to see at the Razer/CPL event in Dallas is the highest 
                attendance from international gamers in the history of competitive 
                gaming. Here's a current breakdown:</p>
              </p>
              - 7 gamers 
                from United Kingdom<br>
                -10 gamers from 
                Sweden<br>
                - 4 gamers from 
                South Africa<br>
                - 1 gamer from 
                Poland<br>
                - 2 gamers from 
                Norway<br>
                - 1 gamer from 
                New Zealand<br>
                - 3 gamers from 
                Netherlands<br>
                - 8 gamers from 
                Germany<br>
                - 7 gamers from 
                France<br>
                - 1 gamer from 
                Denmark<br>
                - 22 gamers from 
                Canada</p>
              </p>
              We also 
                expect gamers from Russia, Greece and other countries to sign 
                up when we re-open our tournament registration.</p>
              </p>
              <b>WOW...why 
                do you think you're seeing such a large international turnout?</b></p>
              </p>
              I think 
                for two main reasons:</p>
              </p>
              1. Our 
                cash purses for our large events are now pushing six figures</p>
              2. The 
                CPL tournaments have an international reputation of being fair 
                and well run.</p>
              </p>
              <b>Do 
                you think events like QuakeCon raise the standard for what is 
                expected at LAN Parties? How will you compete?</b></p>
              </p>
              I am happy 
                to see that QuakeCon has incorporated some of our standards into 
                their events. Let's not forget that many event standards, like 
                having all of the tournament computers exactly the same, were 
                created by the CPL. I have only the highest respect for the organizers 
                of QuakeCon and I also admire the fact that they have maintained 
                that operation non-profit for the benefit of id's customers.</p>
              </p>
              Thanks!!</p>
              <i>- 
                Stephanie &quot;Bobbi&quot; Bergman needs to come up with better 
                taglines.</i></p><br><p>&nbsp;</p> 
<p><a href="../2.12/gsm/index.html">&lt;&lt;Back to Normal View</a></p>
<table width="100%" border="1" height="29" bordercolordark="#000000" bordercolorlight="#FFFFFF" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="99%"> 
      <div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><i>loonygames 
        - the best damn gaming magazine online </i></b></font></div>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Print CGI is 
  &copy; 2000 <a href="http://www.square8.com">Square Eight</a>. Used with permission. 
  Article is &copy; 2000 its original author. All other content is &copy; 2000 
  loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. You got that??</font></i></p>
 