Playing Quake 3 with Fatal1ty

At one time, many people definitely would have agreed.  Now some people dispute that there is a real way to determine who’s number one.  His Wikipedia article shows him winning 5 world championships.

When Quake 3 Arena came out in 1999, I was slow to start playing.  The movement was different from Quake 2, so I said it sucked for a while… I did the same thing when Quake 2 came out, hanging around in Quake for several months.

Eventually I decided I would make an effort to practice and switch to Quake 3.  At 2am, I found a server with three guys on it.  One of them was really knocking around the others, so I was sure I could learn something.

His name was Fatal1ty.  I had no idea that he would be famous and actually make a good living playing video games.  In a 2006 interview with 60 Minutes, Wendel said he had already won more than $300,000 playing in tournaments.

His aim was freakishly accurate and mention was made that he might be cheating.  He suggested that we should take turns spectating through his eyes.  While we watched him play, he gave us lessons.

His first piece of advice: Use low mouse sensitivity so you have to use your whole arm to turn the mouse.  This way, you have a finer control on where you are aiming.

Fatal1ty uses a printer pad, not a mouse pad.

His second tip was to watch where your opponents are going and listen to confirm the possibilities.  By listening to your opponent pick up items, you can figure out where he is and where he’s going.

The last tip was to practice alone just flinging the mouse toward fixed targets like doorways, so you learn to put a rocket where a guy is going to be without thinking.  Hear a sound, flip, fire, dead guy.

He said, keep practicing and eventually we would be able to hit guys in mid air with rockets.

I was thinking, “Right.”

Eventually the other guys left and it was just me and Fatal1ty.

I played him one-on-one.

I never picked up a piece of armor.  They were always missing.

I could just barely hit the guy, but he was always armored up and always lived to get the frag on me.  

The score was 45 to -3 when the time was up.

I got -3.  I didn’t kill him once.  In my panic, I killed myself 3 times.

This guy had rockets waiting for me wherever I went.  I was shocked he was able to get around the map so quickly to me.  I was startled a number of times.

If I had known who he was, I would have recorded the game… 

Games like Quake 3 Area became a way of life for lots of people.  It’s looked at as a sport.  

My friend Peter Spear (aka Timi, aka Herb) and I started looking at the game with a zen… it was like you could tell who you would get along with well in real life by how they conducted themselves in the Arena.

I put “in the Arena” because that’s the way Pete always put it.  He always called it the Arena.

He also always sent the greeting, “High,” when he entered.

The company who produces these games, id Software, has been beta testing Quake Live, a web-based version of the Quake 3 system.  It’s now gone live.  

I’ve been playing a little more lately and my skills have been coming back.  

I love being accused of cheating.  Tonight I actually mentioned my game with Fatal1ty and said they haven’t seen anything until they’ve played someone at or near that level.

One of my texts read, “He beat me badly.  I scored -3 and I swear I shit myself twice.”

There was just one reply, from one of the other 10 players on the server, “You actually shit?”

The rest probably thought I was lying.  I mean, if someone said, “Hey, I played in a pickup game against Michael Jordan,” would you believe them?

Here is a video through Fata1ty’s eyes in a 2000 final against Makaveli.  Remember, this Makaveli guy is really, really good, too, but Fatal1ty wins, 13-0.