Professional Gaming's Growth

We picked Wendel's brain about e-sports and gaming in general, specifically the increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and anti-gaming activists over violent games. Considering that pro gaming's top titles are usually shooters such as Quake 3 and Counter-Strike, we asked Wendel if the game violence controversy would hurt e-sports' chances of being accepted and embraced by the non-gaming public. "Every sport has its flaws, whether its steroids of drugs or gun violence," Wendel said. "But more or less, gaming is about fun. I don't think gamers are violent. If they have anger or aggression, they tend to take it out on the game rather than other people."

We also asked Wendel about drug use among gamers at the professional level (for more on this subject, check out TwitchGuru's investigative story here), which has become a more high profile issue in recent months. In fact, CPL founder and president Angel Munoz told TwitchGuru last month that his league will require all participating players in CPL competitions this year to agree to a possible drug test. While it's a long way away from random drug testing for Ritalin, methamphetamines and other narcotics, it's still the first known example of a pro gaming league taking such a step.

Wendel acknowledged that performance enhancing drugs could be a potential issue in e-sports but didn't think it become a serious problem yet. "In every sport, athletes are looking for an edge in competition, and gaming is no different," Wendel said. "People cheat in online gaming all the time." Wendel added that he's not even sure how much energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster help gamers during professional competitions. "I can't play on that stuff. I try to be totally natural - no caffeine, no alcohol, no nothing."

Lastly, we talked with Wendel about some of the things he's looking forward to in the gaming world this year. For games, Wendel said the title he's looking forward to the most is Enemy Territory: Quake Wars from Quake developer Id Software, which is due out this summer. But thing that Wendel is most excited about is Windows Vista. "Vista is going to be huge for games," he said. "I think with Windows Live, it's going to bring the PC gaming and console gaming worlds together." Wendel said he's looking forward to seeing Xbox 360 gamers with controllers go up against PC gamers with mice and keyboards in online matches.

As for when Fatal1ty will return to professional competition, we'll just have to wait and see.

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