A weekend of Devastation

If you're a competitive gamer and someone asks you to name a big video game tournament, Evo, Final Round and Seasons Beatings probably come to mind. These competitions draw in throngs of competitors from across the globe to test their skills, witness heart pounding battles, crushing victories and disastrous defeats. Victors often disappear within a mob of deafening cheers, raised arms and pumping fists, while the defeated wrap the cords around their game controllers and saunter home. Now, Devastation has risen up to join the echelons of well-respected gaming tournaments.

If you stepped through the Phoenix Convention Center third floor ballroom doors between Oct. 7 – 9, 2011, a large white banner that read “DEVASTATION” splattered in black lettering hung high above the registration table, greeted you. Items up for raffle, including tournament edition arcade fighting sticks, gaming keyboards, and Gears of War-themed headsets, waited to be claimed. Swirling spotlights focused on the center stage that would hold cosplay and Rock Paper Scissors contests. Dozens of glowing LCD TVs sat on long tables and flickered with life and arcade cabinets lined the side walls, all warbling their own electronic languages. The rumblings steadily grew louder as more and more competitors arrived – Devastation '11 had begun.

Like many things, Devastation started small. In 2005, the emergence of the Seventh Generation of consoles and online gaming threatened to snuff out arcades, confine gamers to their parents' basements and extinguish video game tournaments in Arizona forever. Robb Chiarini decided that he'd brave the naysayers and revive the fun, love and social atmosphere that once surrounded competitive gaming and started to organize his own video game tournament. Thus, Devastation was born.

“That very first year, I ran it out of my house. I had a game room set up and I built these gianormous arcade sticks,” Chiarini said. “I thought 'hey, this is fun!' even though we played for 24 hours straight, people were tired, and I overextended myself for a single-day tournament. I had a blast and I see where I did some things wrong but I think it was great fun for everybody.”

About 70 people came from Arizona, New Mexico, California, Colorado, and Texas during the first event, and as the years passed, Devastation steadily grew larger. The 2009 competition at the Phoenix Convention Center drew in just less than 1,000 attendees, snatched more than 160,000 online viewers spanning 80 countries, and clawed its way to becoming one of the largest and most reputable events of its kind in the world.

“I want people to have fun [at Devastation], have a good time and make them feel like they are a part of the event,” Chiarini said. “I've gone to other events where they basically just say, 'hey Number 133, go ahead, you're up on Stage 2. Once you're dead, then go away'.”

Devastation '11 boasted tournaments in a large variety of different games, including: Gears of War 3, Dance Central, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Tekken 6 to name a few.

All was not well, however, and Devastation '11 had its share of problems. The most apparent was the confusion among the organizers that stemmed from the variety of video game tournaments. Some tournament pools started much later than scheduled, which caused some competitors to drop out due to time constraints. Audio and video problems with the online streamed matches also popped up and some TVs blacked out during gameplay.

Jeremy “Black Mamba” Florence started seriously competing in video game tournaments after he won fifth place on Dead or Alive 4 at Evo 2006. He entered Devastation beginning in 2009 and was disappointed with the organizational issues that plagued this year's event. Despite his misgivings, Florence still considers Devastation to be one of the better tournaments he's been to.

“The venue is definitely one of the best venues you're going to get in a gaming tournament. It's big and spacious. They have a ton of games to play, so you're not going to be bored the whole time you're here,” Florence said.

At the back of the ballroom, dozens of chairs sat, facing a movie theater-sized screen where spectators could observe web streamed matches. David “UltraDavid” Graham, along with several guest commentators, described every heart-stopping round and bone crunching strike. Some high-caliber gamers, including WCG Ultimate Gamer Season 2 champion, Kat “Mystik” Gunn, showed to compete at the event. Other big names in the competitive gaming scene, such as Alex Valle, Mike Ross, Justin Wong, Ricky Ortiz, Peter “ComboFiend” Rosas, Abdullatif "Latif" Alhmili, and Ryan "Filipino Champ" Ramirez, came to wage war on the digital battlefield.

So, you say that you can stomp all your friends at Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, have the highest Gears of War 3 kill streak on Xbox Live, and dominate every opponent on Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, at all your local video game tournaments? Great job! Does this mean you're ready to take on and defeat professional gamers like Justin Wong at events such as Devastation? Pro gamers can sometimes spend up to 60 hours a week honing their combo execution, headshots and kill streaks.

Tons of practice and fast reflexes are only part of the equation, however. Competition's equally mental and physical. Do you think that your nerves will hold up to the pressure when the spotlight's on you, everyone's watching and tension saturates the air?

Gunn's no stranger to such challenges that come with the territory of being both a female and competitive gamer. Girl gamers often face animosity and hostility when playing online and video game tournaments are typically male-dominated events. Undeterred by these obstacles, however, Gunn began her competitive gaming career with in 2006, participating through Major League Gaming and emerged as one of the top dozen U.S. Halo players. She's also a national Dead or Alive 4 champion and went on to win the second season of the video game reality show, WCG Ultimate Gamer Season 2.

Since winning Ultimate Gamer, Gunn's been focusing more on creating and training pro gaming teams through her company, Antelope Valley Gamers. Regardless of your level of experience, she believes that when it comes to showing up in that moment and your tournament life's on the line, it's vital to not forget to enjoy yourself.

“I try to remember to have fun. I think that's the biggest problem is that when you get so serious about a game, it takes out a lot of the fun.” Gunn said. “If you lose, it's hard to get over it, because you lost, somebody was better than you. That's pretty devastating to your ego. I think you just got to remember, 'OK, remember what I did wrong, try to improve and just try to move on as hard as it is and focus on having fun.'”

Despite its hiccups, one thing Devastation '11 definitely didn't skimp on was fun. Whether you're just starting out competing, a tournament veteran, male, female or just wanted to get the highest score on Pac-man, Devastation had something for everyone. Well worth the lack of sleep and mounds of empty energy drink cans. Now, go crack open another bottle of Mountain Dew and get back to training!