"Is this the first WCg e-sports competition?" Looking at the empty venue and the bustling crowd, Huang He had to admit that there was still a big gap between dreams and reality.
In Huang He's imagination, WCg should have been packed with dignitaries and teeming with visitors, with countless players swarming the entrance, cheering loudly for their supported countries and teams.
But in reality, although there were people queuing at the entrance, there weren't many, and no scalpers either, as one could buy tickets directly from the ticket window at that moment.
Huang He, accompanied by Leng Zhimeng and a translator, totaling three people, entered the venue after queuing for only half a minute.
There were more people inside the venue, but the hall was designed very simply. The stage was built in the center of the venue with only a few TV screens. On both sides of the stage were two glass rooms with computers inside, and nothing else.
Compared to the future LPL stage in China, this stage was utterly annihilated.
However, even such a stage was only for important matches and the finals. At other times, contestants had to sit in front of computers arranged like an internet cafe and compete face-to-face.
Fortunately, the organizers at least designed them to be face-to-face rather than back-to-back, otherwise, they could have seen each other's screens directly.
Huang He, who once had endless fantasies about WCg, was very disappointed. But Leng Zhimeng was extremely excited. Such a simple stage was already considered luxurious to game players in 2001. After all, playing games was still considered a street rat by parents, something to be ashamed of. To be able to become a professional player openly like this and participate in dazzling competitions was the dream of countless players.
"Brother-in-law, let's quickly find some Chinese players to cheer for them!" Leng Zhimeng said excitedly. Huang He nodded but was clearly absent-minded. His gaze was more focused on the manufacturers.
Do you really think Boss Huang came to WCg to fulfill his dream?
If he really wanted to fulfill his dream, Boss Huang could have organized a WCg himself.
Huang He's purpose for coming to WCg was to meet the game manufacturers here. After all, there were few occasions where game manufacturers from all over the world gathered, except for the annual E3 and the future CJ.
However, E3 was in July and had already been missed, and CJ would hold its first session in 2004. Therefore, the only occasion where a large number of game manufacturers gathered was WCg.
Of course, there were not many game manufacturers gathered at WCg, only a few whose games were part of the competitions. But it didn't matter. Huang He's current goal was Blizzard.
Speaking of Blizzard, it was a household name in China, but that was after Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft, and Dota became popular. At this time, Blizzard was still not very popular in China. The only work that could be called popular was StarCraft generation 1, which was also the only competition item for Blizzard's participation in WCg this time.
It's a pity that Huang He didn't know anyone from Blizzard, so even if Blizzard's representative walked past him, he wouldn't recognize them. Moreover, there were no designated manufacturer lounges in the venue. After looking around for a while and failing to find the main target, Huang He could only follow Leng Zhimeng to wander around the venue, looking for Chinese players.
This also seemed quite difficult, as Koreans and Chinese looked almost the same. Leng Zhimeng looked around several times but couldn't recognize which ones were Chinese.
It was our Boss Huang who had a discerning eye. After just a few glances, he found a place where Chinese people were gathered and led Leng Zhimeng over.
"Brother-in-law, how did you know those were Chinese?" Leng Zhimeng asked in confusion.
"It's a matter of temperament!" Huang He yawned. "All Koreans have a petty, self-pitying, yet arrogant and conceited thief-like temperament. I can tell who is Korean and who is Chinese just by feeling it!" xxs12
"Really!" Leng Zhimeng was shocked!
"Absolutely true!" Huang He said with a serious expression. However, this statement was half true and half false. It was true that Koreans indeed had those temperaments, but the falsehood was that Huang He didn't recognize them this way. Instead, he recognized an e-sports player here, who was also China's first and only WCg StarCraft champion, Ma Tianyuan, ID mty.
Some people might exclaim, they have searched through all the StarCraft champions of previous WCg events, and they were all Koreans. Where did a Chinese champion come from?
That was because Ma Tianyuan won the championship in the team event of StarCraft, teamed up with another Chinese player, Deep. This was also the only e-sports player Huang He recognized at the scene.
[PS: I am very sorry, but I could not find out Deep's real name. Also, it is really difficult to find detailed information about the participants of the first WCg. The only information I can find is about the champions. This is the so-called victory of one general comes at the cost of ten thousand bones. People only remember the victors forever. Therefore, the names of some e-sports players who will appear later are all made up by me and do not represent real people.]
As for the later Sky, he had just joined an e-sports team.
"Go, China team, go!" Hearing the familiar Chinese, Leng Zhimeng excitedly waved her fists to cheer for them, which startled those Chinese people. Then, upon seeing such a cute girl, they immediately smiled and started chatting with Huang He and the others.
These people were indeed the Chinese representative team participating in WCg. There were a total of 16 people, participating in all the events.
"The Quake project is finished!" a player sighed. "We were eliminated directly in the qualifiers. It seems we have no chance in this project."
"It's okay, mty and I are in good form, and the team event has entered the second round," Deep said.
"Everyone must cheer up! Whoever wins the championship first, I'll let them be my boyfriend!" Leng Zhimeng continued to wave her fists and shout boisterously. However, this made the boys present breathless with excitement, as Leng Zhimeng was indeed too beautiful. If she were to be their girlfriend, it would be simply...
It was fortunate that they never watched Focus Interview usually, otherwise, if they had recognized Leng Zhimeng as the CEO of oo, they would have been even more excited.
"By the way, do you know where Blizzard's official booth is?" Huang He already knew the future competition results, so he wasn't very concerned. He was just eager to connect with Blizzard's official.
"Blizzard?" As a result, everyone looked confused and didn't know the name at all. Only a thin boy tentatively asked, "Are you referring to Blizzard Company, the developer of StarCraft?"
"That's right!"
"Their workroom is on that side of the venue. There's a row of temporary rooms there, and one of them has their company logo on it. You can see it there!" the boy said.
"Thank you!" Huang He nodded, then looked at them for a few moments, and suddenly felt that the boy looked familiar.
"What is your name?"
"My name is Fei Le!"