To be honest, not since the days of 7-11 Street Fighter matches, have I cared about video games. Sure, I have battled my friends in various shooting games here and there over the years, but it has just never been my thing, always seemed like there was something else I would rather do. I suppose not being a TV person would also add to the lack of interest, but I just never got it.
That said, over the last several years, the home video game market has become a multi-billion dollar a year business, with sport games such as Madden and first person shooters like Halo (1-3) holding kids, mostly boys, in front of their TV’s for hours a day. It has also spawned the professional gamer, who travels around the country to go head to head against other like minded individuals over several days of competition.
I spent most of 3 days walking around the Major League Gaming 50th Pro Circuit competition in Raleigh, NC making photos of the gamers, the sponsors ( surprise, Doritos, Hot Pockets, Old Spice and Dr. Pepper) and the attending spectators.
It was a short view into a different world, one of the great advantages of this job, but I cannot say it brought me any closer to buying the 3D television I saw on display, nor to dedicating my free time to the pursuit of a Halo 3 crown, but it was exciting/ scary in its own way, to see kids so excited and taken under the spell of the games.
I suppose I hope they spend all the rest of their time reading and running laps around the neighborhood, but who am I to ask.
See the whole story on my website here
and the full edit in the archive here