Last week Razerguy packed his bags and made the long trip from San Diego in the US to Hanover Germany to visit his good friends at Jollenbeck Speed-Link at CeBIT. In case you aren’t familiar with CeBIT it is one of the largest, if the THE largest computer/consumer electronics show in the world.

Jollenbeck, our main European distributor had a large, attractive booth in Hall 27 (yes, there are 27 enormous halls to visit … at least my feet told me so) and a section of their booth was dedicated to Razer products … aptly named RAZERZONE. This area is secured and not open to anyone under the age of 16 due to German law that prohibits young gamers from being exposed to (so-called) violent games. Of course they can be exposed to all of the big breasted booth babes and sex related merchandise and literature, but they can’t see Half-Life 2.

Fortunately Razerguy is just barely old enough to see M-rated games and was allowed to enter the RAZERZONE and play Far Cry to his hearts content.

I did wander much of the expo and was amazed to see how many gamers show up for this event. Hall 27 was crawling with gamers and there were many competitive events. The ESL shared the Shuttle booth and the multiple gaming action was fast and furious. It was almost as busy and there were almost as many gamers there as Games Conference in Leipzig.

This made me think about how different European Gamers are from the US gamers. While there is a passion for gaming and certainly great talent on both sides of the pond, EU gamers seem to have more passion for a longer time. American gamers begin with much passion but many lose interest or find other interests to shift their focus. European gamers seem to start fast and then pick up more speed. The country rivalry in Europe is also something that US gamers aren’t exposed to. This is a carry over from soccer where nationalism often builds to Olympic proportions … and occasionally violence. Fortunately the violence remains in pixel proportions where gamers are concerned, but there is no mistaking the “edge” that even a spectator can feel in a Sweden vs. Denmark or a Germany vs. just-about-any-country match is held.

Americans, at least North Americans, don’t have state rivalries. Guys (or gals) in Mississippi don’t really get up or particularly excited about playing teams from Alabama or Utah. Even US vs. Canada is relatively mild, except for the usual Canadian jokes about Curling.

National passion does make a difference in “match play” over time. I think that competition, particularly live competition is peaked beyond the normal team vs. team when nationalism is added to the mix. In Asia there is certainly a great deal of national pride and the big gaming countries like Korea and Japan look at a loss to country rivals as a significant disgrace.

I can imagine that in Latin America there is a huge national rivalry between the countries, such as Brazil vs. Argentina or Mexico vs. just-about-any country.

IMHO live gaming is where it’s at. There are some really great online players who virtually disappear during live events. Live competition offers another dimension to our sport and if eSports is ever going to become a commercially accepted mainstream sport, much like the X-Games, live events and live players will be the reason. Just for the fun of it and the social aspects of online gaming is great, but to hone ones competitive skills and make it to the professional level, nothing compares to or prepares one for the live event experience.

Certainly the CPL has its CAL leagues, but the real prize money lies in their big live events and their world tour. I think this is also one of the reasons that the WCG is so popular, with their emphasis in nationalism. With 60-plus countries represented they have captured the essence of the Olympic Games and certainly US players can feel the pressure of representing their country … but that’s only once or twice a year. In EU that experience can happen nearly every week, and that is one of the reasons that European players are better prepared for the pressure and seem to me to be more strategic than their American counterparts.

I have often noted that US players may have more individual skills and perhaps even more raw talent; however in head-to-head matches against EU teams they seem frustrated and often inept. Actually the differences in styles, talent, experience and attitude make for some really interesting matches. I’ve also noted that American players have other sports, activities and distractions that cause them to lose their edge after a few years. Education is probably a pretty good reason to back off of the training grind. Certainly some of the same things happen to EU players too but it doesn’t seem to happen as early and as often.

I love to see an event like CeBIT, which in the past was attended primarily by old men in baggy suits, now being taken over by the gaming world. Halls 21 through 26 also displayed considerable gaming products and gear, but Hall 27 was where all the real action was. This was my third CeBIT so I’m certainly not an expert, but what I saw this trip made me feel really good about the gaming world. We are finally being getting the recognition we deserve. No longer referred to as a niche market, the youth of today are being referred to as the “gaming generation” and manufacturers and marketers are finally taking gamers seriously.

Naturally, I must say that Razer saw the light in 1997 and has been taking gamers and gaming VERY seriously from day one. Now it seems that everyone is after a share of your attention, loyalty and of course money. Before you get too pissed about this and boycott late comers like Pepsi and Gillette, I would humbly suggest that you actually go out of your way to support those sponsors that support gaming. Why? Think about it … if you support the sponsors products they will continue to sponsor more events and prize money will continue to grow. Without the REALLY big sponsors like Intel and Samsung pro gaming and the potential of eSports would never happen and gaming would still be ONLY in cyber cafes today. I don’t care how good gamers are or how exciting it is to watch a great match; gaming would have never been much more than a home entertainment diversion if it were not for those sponsors that support it.

I know many gamers are proud to say that they are too smart to fall for marketing hype and that they don’t trust big companies, but think about it, would gamers ever have a big show like CeBIT opened to them without the big sponsors to unlock those doors? I think not.

Please write me and share your thoughts about the subjects covered in this BLOG. I plan to write and post several BLOGs a week and it would be great to get feedback from all the Razer fans and critics. My goal is to make the new Razerzone full of timely content and this BLOG allows for more interactivity. I will post every reply as long as you keep it clean. We have decided not to offer a forum on Razerzone because Razer Blueprints (http://razer.tigga.org) does such a good job of that.