Kate Russell investigates the emergence of the 'cyber-sportsmen', the young men at the cutting edge of vibrant, new social scene driven by the two-billion-pounds-a-year games industry

In the first of two programmes, Kate Russell investigates the emergence of a pursuit that began in the nation's darkened bedrooms and is now being played out in exhibition centres, attracting several thousand players for a weekend of gaming.

Kate meets the man behind Dignitas - a multinational team of 88 players - who is attempting to turn young gamers into professional players on full-time salaries, and to establish his organisation as Britain's premier e-sports team. At the vanguard is David Treacy, known as Zaccubus in the gaming world, who has battled dyslexia and sought social acceptance through computer games. Kate speaks to him and his family about their concerns over his obsession.

With society often frowning on the activities of these players, what are their chances of becoming the role models of a new tech-savvy generation? And what intrinsic value can be put on a pursuit that entails hours spent in front of a computer screen every day?

Listen Here

Look out for Episode 2 Next Friday, 11:00 on BBC Radio 4 FM where Kate Russell investigates the lives of professional computer games players.

Fnatic interviewed Fatal1ty for a three part series surrounding the topic of 'Perfect Practice' a concept regularly preached about by Fatal1ty. Click the links below to read the interview.

Fatal1ty - Syndicate Interview Series on Complexitygaming.com

The focus of our next Syndicate Interview Series installment is none other than the famous American gamer Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel.  Fatal1ty has won over $500,000 in prize money during his eSports career and has been one of the pioneers of branded gaming products and licensing deals.  Most recently Wendel tested the broadcasting waters with the Championship Gaming Series.

Thanks for sitting down with us.  Let’s start at the beginning.  When did you first start playing video games?  What drew you to FPS games versus other genres?

I started when I was about 4 years old, playing Nintendo and some Atari/PC/Apple games.  The fascinating thing about playing FPS games was mainly being able to compete in a high caliber game against other people on the internet.  I really looked at it as a sport in another world, playing a game where you had to have some of the same skill sets you needed to compete at a high level playing sports.

You have been quoted as saying that your third place finish in the 1999 CPL Quake event prompted you to pursue a fulltime career as a professional gamer.  In the beginning, did you expect your career to last as long as it did?  How did your family and friends react to you being one of the first professional gamers in the world?

Yah, that event was really great for me.  It was truly when I was just a college kid trying to play games for fun, but also win some money while doing a hobby. I expected after that tournament to just keep playing in the games I love and keep up my hobby as long as I could win some small money on the side. I was expecting to make $10k/year after that as a hobby. It just so happened that it turned into $110k my first year in 2000.  My friends thought it was cool for sure!  It’s a kids dream to turn their hobby into a living, as it was for me. My parents weren’t too fond of it until I started bringing checks home.  My dad was supportive, though, with my competitive nature as he also is extremely competitive.

Read entire article here!

Fatal1ty: Practice, Practice, Practice...

Just a few days ago, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel joined the Friends of Full Tilt Poker roster and we managed to get him to answer a few questions. In this interview he talks about how his gaming career started, how he got into poker, what his relationship with Chris Ferguson is and more.

He is arguably one of the most successful players in the history of gaming and his reign of dominance lies over the area of First Person Shooters, or FPS. As a winner of 12 World Championships which stretch over 5 different titles, he has become the professional gaming icon for many and he has his own brand of hardware, specially designed for gamers. In 2007, he received the first ever e-sport Lifetime Achievement Award for his sportsmanship and his representation of gaming.

Recently, he joined the poker world by becoming one of the “Friends of Full Tilt Poker”, space reserved only for the most important international figures, and we managed to get a hold of him and ask him some questions regarding his newly-found area of interest. Ladies and gentlemen, Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel.