Gaming pros lock horns in Gurgaon
Read More:PC Gaming|Gaming In India|FIFA|Counter Strike|Call Of Duty|BYOC
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GURGAON: There are rows upon rows of shiny computer consoles. People, mostly youngsters, troop in carrying laptops or even lugging entire desktop computers. The predominant colour is black, be it the sartorial choice of those present or the colour of the equipment they carry. They have all come with one objective -- spend the next three days playing a variety of multiplayergames against hundreds of gamers -- Counter Strike, Call of Duty, FIFA, Defence against the Ancients and more.
It's the summer edition of this year's BYOC gaming tournament. And it is currently underway at Ambience Mall, Gurgaon, till the late hours of Sunday. BYOC, or Bring Your Own Computer, is a popular gaming concept in the first world, swiftly catching up in other countries as well. The rules are simple. Participants pay a fee to register online, show up with the computers, connect to the LAN provided to them and let the games begin. What's more, there is big money and merchandise to be won. For one game the collective prize money for different tournaments is set at Rs 75,000.
This twice-a-year BYOC, started in 2007, is being pitched as the biggest gaming festival in the country. Organiser Ashish Gupta says it's possibly the biggest in Asia. In its first year, it was a non-stop 48-hour event. The latest edition is three days long. Participants are known to stay throughout the tournament, some even catching a nap now and then in the sleeping zone demarcated for the players. Many amongst these are professional gamers, who are regulars at such tournaments. They also have teams (usually of five), a requirement for games such as Call of Duty.
The playground is any geek's fantasy. Of course, there is the best of equipment and serious gamers talking, eating and breathing games. One corner even has gaming console complete with eight-bit animation and huge buttons and joysticks, for old times' sake. Electronic gaming equipment manufacturers set up stalls, sure to grab eyeballs with a dedicated section of their market present there. Things are casual and laidback as gamers set up their equipment. They also play their own music. When not close to any one particular speaker, it sounds like a strange mishmash of dubstep, American pop, Honey Singh and of course, gunfire from all the games. As things begin to heat up, there is much back-slapping, name calling and across-the-row shouting - something the gamers seemed to revel in, given they can't do this when playing online with people in different parts of the world.
Participants have shown up from other parts of the country too. 26-year-old Karan Veer Singh, a software engineer and part-time professional gamer, flew in all the way from Bangalore. The airline's baggage tag still dangles from his shoulder bag. Singh is an old hand, who has seen all the BYOCs so far. "It's an opportunity to meet gamers you know from the virtual world. Most gamers come for fun. I was in Europe for a year, and the BYOCs there are a hundred times better. But India is getting there," says the Counter Strike expert. It's the first BYOC for student Parth Kher, 20. Participating as a team with other serious gamers, the young boy hopes to meet his friends from Hyderabad and Mumbai. "I've played with them online before. They are flying in. I'll meet them for the first time," says Kher.
The names of the team are a study in the gaming subculture. You have the Fatal Toxic 5 (called FT5), the Z341ers (pronounced Zealers) and even Deviant Gaming. You can tell they're hardened old hands by the way choose their equipment. Jim Kenedy, also a student in his early 20s, has brought with him an ergonomically designed mouse with splayed buttons. ""You can play long hours with this. If you use a regular, commercial mouse you can't use it for more than 5 hours at a stretch," says Kenedy who did not sleep for three days when he came for the winter edition of BYOC in January. "It got a little exhausting," he concedes.
There is the odd newbie, (or noob, as they call them) too. Gaurav Gupta, all of 16, is present for his first ever BYOC. Still in school, the teenager plans on leaving for home at night unlike the others. There is practically no female presence on the gaming floor. A little asking around reveals, there is a Call of Duty team coming in later in the day that "has a couple of chicks".
Gamers like these are still a budding breed in India. "I started gaming eight years ago. Then if you told anyone you were a professional gamer, no one would take you seriously. It is difficult to explain to parents. But that is gradually changing now," says Singh, who himself organisesgaming events.
Gupta agrees on the growth of the sub culture. "When we started out in 2007, it was just a group of friends. In all, there were 67 participants. This time we have 3,000," says Gupta, whose gaming and sports management company also selects the India team for the World Cyber Games. "It is like the Olympics of the virtual world where 70 countries participate," he says. Looks like no one's holding back the gunfire.
It's the summer edition of this year's BYOC gaming tournament. And it is currently underway at Ambience Mall, Gurgaon, till the late hours of Sunday. BYOC, or Bring Your Own Computer, is a popular gaming concept in the first world, swiftly catching up in other countries as well. The rules are simple. Participants pay a fee to register online, show up with the computers, connect to the LAN provided to them and let the games begin. What's more, there is big money and merchandise to be won. For one game the collective prize money for different tournaments is set at Rs 75,000.
This twice-a-year BYOC, started in 2007, is being pitched as the biggest gaming festival in the country. Organiser Ashish Gupta says it's possibly the biggest in Asia. In its first year, it was a non-stop 48-hour event. The latest edition is three days long. Participants are known to stay throughout the tournament, some even catching a nap now and then in the sleeping zone demarcated for the players. Many amongst these are professional gamers, who are regulars at such tournaments. They also have teams (usually of five), a requirement for games such as Call of Duty.
The playground is any geek's fantasy. Of course, there is the best of equipment and serious gamers talking, eating and breathing games. One corner even has gaming console complete with eight-bit animation and huge buttons and joysticks, for old times' sake. Electronic gaming equipment manufacturers set up stalls, sure to grab eyeballs with a dedicated section of their market present there. Things are casual and laidback as gamers set up their equipment. They also play their own music. When not close to any one particular speaker, it sounds like a strange mishmash of dubstep, American pop, Honey Singh and of course, gunfire from all the games. As things begin to heat up, there is much back-slapping, name calling and across-the-row shouting - something the gamers seemed to revel in, given they can't do this when playing online with people in different parts of the world.
Participants have shown up from other parts of the country too. 26-year-old Karan Veer Singh, a software engineer and part-time professional gamer, flew in all the way from Bangalore. The airline's baggage tag still dangles from his shoulder bag. Singh is an old hand, who has seen all the BYOCs so far. "It's an opportunity to meet gamers you know from the virtual world. Most gamers come for fun. I was in Europe for a year, and the BYOCs there are a hundred times better. But India is getting there," says the Counter Strike expert. It's the first BYOC for student Parth Kher, 20. Participating as a team with other serious gamers, the young boy hopes to meet his friends from Hyderabad and Mumbai. "I've played with them online before. They are flying in. I'll meet them for the first time," says Kher.
The names of the team are a study in the gaming subculture. You have the Fatal Toxic 5 (called FT5), the Z341ers (pronounced Zealers) and even Deviant Gaming. You can tell they're hardened old hands by the way choose their equipment. Jim Kenedy, also a student in his early 20s, has brought with him an ergonomically designed mouse with splayed buttons. ""You can play long hours with this. If you use a regular, commercial mouse you can't use it for more than 5 hours at a stretch," says Kenedy who did not sleep for three days when he came for the winter edition of BYOC in January. "It got a little exhausting," he concedes.
There is the odd newbie, (or noob, as they call them) too. Gaurav Gupta, all of 16, is present for his first ever BYOC. Still in school, the teenager plans on leaving for home at night unlike the others. There is practically no female presence on the gaming floor. A little asking around reveals, there is a Call of Duty team coming in later in the day that "has a couple of chicks".
Gamers like these are still a budding breed in India. "I started gaming eight years ago. Then if you told anyone you were a professional gamer, no one would take you seriously. It is difficult to explain to parents. But that is gradually changing now," says Singh, who himself organisesgaming events.
Gupta agrees on the growth of the sub culture. "When we started out in 2007, it was just a group of friends. In all, there were 67 participants. This time we have 3,000," says Gupta, whose gaming and sports management company also selects the India team for the World Cyber Games. "It is like the Olympics of the virtual world where 70 countries participate," he says. Looks like no one's holding back the gunfire.
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