<html>

<head>
<title>loonygames presents: Game, Set, Match! - all about competitive online gaming</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<style type="text/css">
a { text-decoration: none; }
a:hover { color:000000;  text-decoration: underline; }


</style>
</head>

<body bgcolor="#FFF4D0" link="#3333FF" vlink="#000000" alink="#000000">
<center>
</center>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="58">
  <tr> 
    <td height="69" width="29%" align="left" valign="top"> 
      <div align="left"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF"><b><i><img src="../../images/logo_new.jpg" width="182" height="63" border="0" usemap="#logoa"> 
        </i></b></font></div>
    </td>
    <td height="69" width="29%" align="center" valign="top"> <center>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "ca-pub-2373963192914918";
/* 468x60 */
google_ad_slot = "3417104156";
google_ad_width = 468;
google_ad_height = 60;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
</center>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="29">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../about.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF"><b><font size="2">about</font></b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../feedback.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>feedback</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../archives/index.html"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>archives</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <b><a href="../../../submissions/index.html"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">submissions</font></a></b></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<div align="center"> <br>
</div>
<table width="100%" border="0">
  <tr> 
    <td width="72%"> 
      <h5><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">//<a href="../../../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">loonygames</font></a>://<a href="../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">issue 
        2.2</font></a>://<a href="index.html"><font color="#7C420E">game, set, match!</font></a>://1, 
        <a href="index2.php"><font color="#7C420E">2</font></a></font></b></h5>
    </td>
    <td align="right" valign="middle" width="28%"> 
      <div align="right"> 
        <h5><a href="../../cgi/printme.pl?url=%252F2.2%252Fgsm%252F"><img src="../../images/icons/print01.gif" width="27" height="27" align="baseline" border="0" alt="switch to printer-friendly version"></a></h5>
      </div>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<br>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
  <tr> 
    <td align="center" valign="top" width="25%"> 
      <table border="0" width="99%" bgcolor="#D7B582" align="center" bordercolor="#E0E0E0">
        <tr> 
          <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%"> <font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> 
             </font> <p><webdog><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#0022A8"><b><font color="#693A0C">What's 
           new today:</font></b></font> 
          
<p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../../index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">New!!!</font></b></a><br></b>
  The archives have been cleaned up, dead links fixed, and the printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments on the main page!</font></p>

 
<p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../2.15/feat/index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">Livin' 
  With The Sims</font></b></a><br></b>
  theAntiELVIS explores the wild and wacky world that is Will Wright's <b>The Sims</b>, 
  asking the inevitable quesiton, &quot;is <b>The Sims</b> the first step toward a virtual 
  life where everyone is Swedish?&quot;</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../2.15/pixel/index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">Pixel 
  Obscura </font></b></a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
  Josh Vasquez on <b>Omikron: The Nomad Soul</b>.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../rl/index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">Real 
  Life </font></b></a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
  Check out our newest comic strip, <b>Real Life</b>! Updated daily!</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../uf.1" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">User 
  Friendly</font></b></a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
  Updated daily!</font></p>
<p></webdog> </p>
 
            <p></p>
            <p> </p>
            <p></p>
             
            </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
      <br>
      <table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#D7B582">
        <tr bgcolor="#D7B582"> 
          <td> 
            <div align="center"> 
              <p align="left"><font size="-1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#0022A8"><b><font color="#00025E">Random 
                Feature:</font></b></font> </font> </p>
              <p>
<p align="CENTER"><img src="../../images/v_thumb.jpg" width="64" height="64" align="MIDDLE"></p><p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">Hey <B>Half-Life</b> fans! Looking for some good reads? Check out Valve designer Harry Teasley's <a href="../../1.16/guest/index.html">guest editorial</a>, our <a href="../../1.16/topshelf/index.html">review</a> of Half-Life, or our interview with <a href="../../1.34/feat">Marc Laidlaw!</a></font></p>

<i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"> 
                </font> </i></p>
            </div>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
      <br>
      <table width="99%" border="0" bgcolor="#D7B582">
        <tr> 
          <td> 
            <div align="center"> 
              <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" name="">
                <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><font color="#339900">Search 
                the Archives!</font></b></font> 
               
                 <INPUT TYPE=text name=q size=12 maxlength=255 value="">
 <INPUT type=submit name=sa VALUE="Google Search">
 <INPUT type=hidden name=cof 
VALUE="LW:216;L:http:/home/loonygames/loony.timedoctor.org/content/images/logo1.jpg;LH:55;AH:center;S:http://www.loonygames.com;AWFID:13a298c7abe84fd0;">
<input type=hidden name=domains value="loonygames.com"> 
<input type=hidden name=sitesearch value="loonygames.com">               
</div>
              </form>

              <p align="left"><i> </i></p>
            </div>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
    </td>
    <td width="75%" align="center" valign="top"> 
      <table width="90%" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center">
        <tr> 
          <td width="50%" valign="top"> 
            <div align="center"> 
              <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E"><img src="../../images/icons/match_final.jpg" width="193" height="246" align="left"><loonystart>Vol. 
                2, Issue 2<br>
                November 17, 1999<br>
                </font></b></h5>
              <h5 align="right"><font color="#00025E"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> 
                </font></b></font></h5>
              <div align="center">
                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="3">Game, 

                  Set, Match!</font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="6"> 
                  The Brave New World of Online Gaming</font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">by 
                  Stephanie &quot;<a href="mailto:bobbi@loonygames.com">Bobbi</a>&quot; 
                  Bergman</font></p>
              </div>
              <script language="JavaScript">

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

</script>
              <form>
  <div align="RIGHT">
    <select name="SiteSelector" size="1" language="JavaScript" onchange="gotoSite(this)">
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.13/ph/">Jump to an Archived Column!</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.13/ph/">Issue 2.13 (Choose Your Format)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.11/ph/">Issue 2.11 (The Bookshelf Edition)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.9/ph/">Issue 2.9 (Death of a Console?)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.7/ph/">Issue 2.7 (...About Game Testing)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.5/ph/">Issue 2.5 (Size Matters)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.3/ph/">Issue 2.3 (All I Want for Christmas is...)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.1/ph/">Issue 2.1 (Sega's Sonic Boom)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.39/ph/">-----Volume 1-----</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.39/ph/">Issue 1.39 (Gameboy for President)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.38/ph/">Issue 1.38 (Consoles Strike Back)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.35/ph/">Issue 1.35 (Play it Again, Sam)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.33/ph/">Issue 1.33 (Do you like scary movies?)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.31/ph/">Issue 1.31 (What's the Score?)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.29/ph/">Issue 1.29 (Out of Control)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.27/ph/">Issue 1.27 (No PAL of Mine)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.25/ph/">Issue 1.25 (Licensed to Thrill?)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.23/ph/">Issue 1.23 (Mirror, Signal, Maneuver)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.21/ph/">Issue 1.21 (Hardware Wars)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.19/ph/">Issue 1.19 (Solid Gameplay)</option>

    </select>
  </div>
</form>              <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
              <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
              <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
              <p align="left"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="../../images/letters_new/o.jpg" width="25" height="39" align="left">nline 
                competitive gaming. It sounds so simple, doesn&#146;t it? People 
                go online, and play competitive computer games. But when you factor 
                in the people, organizations, egos, and money involved, the world 
                of online competitive gaming gets very complicated.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">At the 
                heart of online gaming are the people who log on every night and 
                hangout playing whatever game they play with their friends online. 
                You can find them on ladders like the <a href="http://www.ogl.org/">Online 
                Gaming League</a>, on services like <a href="http://www.heat.net">HEAT.NET</a>, 
                and playing in online tournaments. What is it about gaming that 
                keeps them coming back, upgrading their computers to make them 
                better at the games, shelling out wads of cash for the fastest 
                possible Internet access, practicing for hours on end to get that 
                perfect rocket jump? </font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Then there 
                are the gamers who have earned the tag &#147;Professional&#148; 
                or &#147;Cyberathlete.&#148; They have made something of a career 
                out of winning tournaments both online and off, and are now sponsored 
                gamers, paid to play. There aren&#146;t many of these people, 
                the most well-known being Dennis &#147;Thresh&#148; Fong, but 
                thousands are trying to join him every day, every time they start 
                up a match. A few years ago Thresh seemed as amazed as everyone 
                else that he was making a living playing games. Now it&#146;s 
                just part of a day&#146;s work. What is the life of a &#147;Professional&#148; 
                gamer really like? </font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It all 
                started a few years ago, when this curiosity popped up on the 
                horizon. It was called the <a href="http://www.pgl.net">Professional 
                Gamers League</a>, and for a small fee, you could compete in their 
                online league over a gaming service called TEN. The league finals 
                would be held live, with finalists being flown in to compete. 
                And there would be prize money for the winners. Not just prizes, 
                or a new computer...this was a chance to win cold hard cash. Theoretically, 
                the PGL pointed out, if you won every &quot;season&quot; (the 
                idea being there would be four a year), you could live off of 
                the leagues. Hundreds of people signed up and competed in the 
                events. But TEN wasn&#146;t exactly the best of services, and 
                paying a fee to play was restrictive to a good number of people. 
                People stopped paying attention to the PGL, to the point that 
                their last event came and went without many noticing. Then TEN 
                shut down, or turned into <a href="http://www.pogo.com">POGO.com</a>, 
                an entirely different kind of online gaming service, and certainly 
                not one that would run servers for games like <b>Quake</b> (the 
                game most commonly used in these events). </font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Rumors 
                flew about the PGL being closed, about it not being possible to 
                run a business doing these events. loonygames spoke with PGL Press 
                Secretary Garth Choteau, who assured us that the PGL is not, in 
                fact, closed, and that they will even be at Comdex this week with 
                sponsored players Kornelia, Sybek and K9-Gloucester playing <b>Quake 
                III: Arena</b> in the Acer booth. The league itself is currently 
                on official hiatus, and the PGL is looking at &#147;a number of 
                prospective partners,&#148; presumably other online gaming services. 
                The PGL is, by league design, dependent on online gaming services 
                to provide servers for their games to be held on. Will the PGL 
                find a suitable partner? Or will the PGL be forced to change format 
                or fold?</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              </loonystart>
              <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="index2.php"><font color="#7C420E"><b><font size="+1">Next 
                &gt;&gt;</font></b></font> </a></font> </p>
              </DIV>
            </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<br>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="29">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../about.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>about</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../feedback.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>feedback</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../archives/index.html"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>archives</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <b><a href="../../../submissions/index.html"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">submissions</font></a></b></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="29">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="35%"><a href="../../../index.html"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF"><b><i>loonygames</i></b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="65%"> 
      <div align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF">  </font></div>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. Game, Set, Match! is &copy; 1999 Stephanie Bergman. 
  All other content is &copy; 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction 
  is prohibited, you dolt.</font></i></p>
 <map name="logoa">
  <area shape="rect" coords="52,47,112,59" href="http://www.bluesnews.com">
  <area shape="rect" coords="3,3,179,46" href="../../../index.html">
</map>
</body>
</html>
