Fatal1ty

Last year, Peter Schrager (Fox Entertainment Group) listed the ‘ten most feared people in sports’. First, Mike Tyson (rape, ear, etc). Sixth, competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi (eats fifty-whatever hot dogs in twelve minutes; he splits the frank, inserts both halves into the mouth, soaks the bun in Sprite, pushes it in, repeats). Second, Jonathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel.

So who is this alleged ‘Fatal1ty’ and why do you care? More or less, Fatal1ty (Fat) is a ‘professional’ video gamer, specialising in first person shooters (Alien versus Predator 2, Doom 3, Painkiller, various Quakes); but then, the Fat is so much more than that. He is the Cyberathlete Professional League’s (CPL) solid gold boy – blond, six foot, with white little pearlers, from Kansas City – and, since turning to gaming ‘full time’ in 1999, has got his mitts on something in the vein of US$500 000 in tournament prize money. In the meantime, Creative Labs et al have been lining Fat’s pockets for the license to bung his name on an assortment of motherboards, mice and t-shirts.

In short, Fat is the first of the ‘professional’ gamers to become more than a gamer, but an economic force unto himself. His white cherub face and his lack of chub, commonly synonymous with gamers (he was photographed semi-naked and seemingly oiled for Time), Fat was fundamental in turning gamers, like himself, into marketing opportunities (Tylenol now sponsors Team Ouch!).

MT: Do you have other gamers who are obsessed with you, or stalkers?
F: I have a lot of fans.

MT: So, yes, you do.
F: I have people who always talk to me. But, I mean, I don’t really go out too much into the public when I’m at tournaments … I try to stay locked away.

MT: So there are people who are obsessed with you. [Pause.] You have found that.
F: That I have a lot of fans, yeah. I mean, it’s normal to have fans. I mean, how many people get obsessed over Tiger Woods?

MT: Yeah, sure.
F: It’s kind of the same thing.

Fat’s gaming accomplishments are vast, but his favourite, he tells me, was winning US$150 000 at the CPL New York City World Tour Finals in 2005. The victory, it seems, was particularly sweet, given Fat’s history with competitor and rival Sander Kaasjager, aka ‘Vo0’.

Dutch Kaasjager was younger, better, and had insulted Fat in Sheffield. During a break in the comp, while Fat was absent from his computer, Kaasjager took Fat’s lucky stuffed tiger (it sits on his monitor at every game) and began petting it. Fat melted down and began screaming, locked in a kind of demented fury.

‘I went crazy,’ Fat says. ‘That was the loudest and most emotional I’ve ever been at a tournament, ever in my career. I’m yelling at him, “PUT IT DOWN! PUT IT DOWN!” and he keeps holding it, grabbing onto it tighter, cause he’s really scared, he’s like, “Calm down, calm down, Jonathan, I just wanted to look at it”. And, you know, that threw me. I was just really determined to beat him.

‘At the end of my interview [at the finals] they said, “Hey, do you want to say thanks to anyone, like to your sponsors or to your partners, or whatever, to your business?” And I’m like, “No. I came here for one thing, and that’s to win. I don’t care about any of that crap right now”. I was really pissed off the whole tournament.’

We talk for some time about this stuffed tiger.
F: A lot of girls think it’s very cute.

MT: So it helps with picking up?
F: With what?

MT: Picking up. Women.
F: Uh, I don’t know, maybe. I mean, I have a lot of charm.

I ask whether he prefer to date gamers.
F: I don’t really care. Most of the girls I’ve dated are not gamers. They’ve played some games like for fun, like messing around and stuff like that, but I mean, they don’t play the games I play, for sure! [Laughs.] But, you know, I don’t really do too much PC gaming with females. I think females try to stick to easier, simpler games. But, you know, most of the girls I like are into modelling or fashion and stuff like that.

MT: [Pause.] Why do females prefer to stick to easier games?
F: Say again?

MT: [Slowly.] Why do females prefer to stick to easier games?
F: I’m just saying that the girls I tend to date; they don’t play games like I do. If they do play games, they play card games, or they play Bejewelled, or [laughs], you know, they just play games for fun.

MT: [Pause.] Sure.
F: I think most of the girls I’ve dated in the last couple of years or so have all been models.

MT: Okay.
F: So they’re more into … [Laughs again.] They’re more into doin’ their make-up and looking pretty. [More laughs, also muffled laughter from background.]

A conspicuous, recurring theme in Fat’s interviews has been his mother, who tried to curb his constant gaming as a teenager. His grudge for his mother is explicit and vocal. ‘She never believed in me,’ Fat whinged to Business Week. ‘This is about proving her wrong.’ Likewise, to Pitch, Fat said, ‘She has to live with the fact that she was wrong,’ then added, on a more eager note, ‘So when you get a chance, you better rub it in as much as you can, because it’s worth every second of it.’

By the time this story is published, DirecTV (in association with Fox and Fox’s IGN) will have broadcast the Championship Gaming Invitational. The Invitational is being marketed as some kind of biblical, arena-style gaming death match, with champion Jonathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel as host, on-air analyst and the jewel, more or less, in its crown.

But will this be a successful venture by DirecTV? ‘I think definitely,’ Fat says. I think not. Watching someone game is like watching someone watch a movie. Whatever ‘I’m-gonna-kick-yo-ass’ preamble is constructed, they’re still just sitting.

‘The person will be part of it,’ Fat explains to me, ‘and the character and their story as a person, where they grew up as a kid, what their story life is to become a top gamer.’ Yes, but what story? I grew up in the ghetto and I couldn’t afford a computer, so I had to build one out of bricks and steel? Whatever. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating.


Fun with facts:
Fat and Kaasjager haven’t spoken whatsoever since New York 2005.
Fat’s mother does not grant interviews.