Growing up in Gaming

Mar 13 2007 2:06PM

Video games have been around for decades, progressing and evolving as time has gone by while giving joy to millions around the world. But video games are more than just flashing lights and thousands of moving pixels around the screen: they're involved mutual experiences between the user and the machine, a simplified gateway into a complex universe of 1's and 0's; a gateway which one man wants to expand to the youth of today.

That man is the 23-year-old Quake 4 superstar Rafik Bryant, known as "LoSt-CaUzE" to his legions of online fans. Bryant is one of the most prolific gamers today, appearing at events across the globe, from London to South Africa, including a stint at the World Series of Video Games's grand finals in New York City. He's also been featured on MTV's Gamers Week 2.0 series, making an appearance on "Sucker Free," all to promote the thing he loves to do the most: gaming.

Coined the AMERICAN STEEL over years of competitive play, Bryant was born in Hayward, California before moving to Sacramento a short time later. During that time, Bryant encountered the life-changing experience that is video games. He started as young as four, when his Dad bought him games for the computer, his first being a RadioShack Tandy. "Dude, it was a Tandy," Rafik laughs as he talks about his old machine. "We had to use a fake 5 ¼ disk just to get it to work." He always preferred computer games over console games because of the ability to customize settings. Before he was able to play the games though, he had to learn to use the computer. By six, he was fully using the computer by installing his favorite games, starting his young fragging career with Doom and Commander Keen.

Without video games he wouldn't have acquired the knowledge he needed to use the computer. "I didn't really care about computers at that age besides wanting to see shiny things move on the screen," Bryant revealed about his younger years. "Those shiny things introduced me to the world of computers to begin with. Without video games I would've never had these great experiences or the drive and passion to learn all the things that encompasses a game on a computer."

At the age of 13, the Bryant's wanted to be closer to family and moved to Bryant's current home in Dallas, Texas. As Bryant moved hundreds of miles away, he left behind all that he'd known in California, including his friends. He would spend the next several weeks skateboarding along Texan streets bored out of his mind. "I had nothing to do all day and no friends." That was until he met his computer knowledgeable classmate Izac Ahn, his first real friend since the move. Bryant was now entrenched at his computer, eager to learn new things and, of course, play new games.

In 1997, the Internet was just beginning to boom with dot-com success. It also marked the first time Bryant was introduced to the wonderful world that all of us gamers now love. "I never had the Internet before. I noticed when I had to go online I couldn't use the mouse and the computer would freeze." Rafik took it upon himself to get books, read up on the situation. and fix the problem. Which he did, of course. "I switched the IRQ's between the mouse and the modem. It worked from then on out I was proud of myself."

Rafik's Online Experience

His first online game would be the famed flight 3-D first person shooter Descent, with a community as hardcore as Quakeworld was. Descent was considered a Doom clone by many and it never got the popularity that ground first person shooters got. Bryant was a proud Descent player too, "We used to call Quake players ground pounders," laughing at the old Descent days. Bryant played on dial-up so normal pings would range from 150-200. Even then, his accumulated smarts allowed him to set up a dial-up virtual network between him and his friend. This would allow both of them to ping under 100 while still on the same modem.

His first LAN party came when he was 14 when he learned to set up all of the computers by himself. He would then move on to building the computers themselves, taking on any challenges he encountered. One of the first he encountered was when his Dad's friend's broken computer needed to be fixed. Bryant said he could do it and his Dad gave him the job. "My friend and I got all the parts that Bryant and his friend asked for," says Herald Bryant, Bryant's father, as he thinks back. "Two to three days later the computer wasn't fixed, parts were everywhere, and they weren't doing anything. After I got on their case, I came back a day later and it was all finished. I was amazed. That was just the beginning."

Bryant also participated in what many parents fear when it came to their kids being on the Internet. That fear would be their children talking to anonymous individuals through chat programs. Bryant downloaded the international chat client for gamers, IRC. There he did the complete opposite of which many parents fear: make friends. Good friends. "When I meet people that I've talked to online, it's like we've been friends for years. There's no color online, no race online, and everyone is more equal. I think kids who interact with the computer today are much better off than in my day, when I couldn't."

Outlook for 2007

To find our Bryant's outlook for 2007 and beyond along with "Changing The World," pick up a copy of Beckett eSports magazine today. They're available at various outlets such as Barnes and Noble or subscribe by calling 1-800-840-3137.