Beyond the Game

So what do you say, are you excited to meet the best players in the world right now?

There they are. Let's get this match started.

At the Cybergames Grand Finals, let's meet our players in this round of Warcraft III.

In the red corner, all the way from the Netherlands, is Grubby.

Since his 2004 world championship, one of the world's best cybergame players.

We're excited to see what he can do at the finals. Put your hands together for Grubby.

All right, and now, in the blue corner...

for the worldwide Cybergames grand finals...

please put your hands together for Sky from China.

He is the defending champion.

Is he going to be able to win 3 consecutive grand finals?

Sky! Come on out here!

Grubby versus Sky.

We're watching 2 of the top contenders.

2 fantastic main stage players take on each other in this match.

I am Sky, a player of the Human Tribe.

In this game, there are the Human Tribe, the Night-Elfs, the Undead and the Orcs.

The Human Tribe is more or less like us in real life.

They are similar to the primitive human tribes on this earth.

Grubby plays the Orcs.

The Orcs are very strong. They ride wolves and leopards.

They are created based on beastly elements.

I don't think I am very smart. I think Grubby is a really clever player.

I don't think he is better than me or that I am not as good as him.

But he's a very difficult opponent to deal with.

Warcraft is a strategic game.

It is something like chess or go.

At the beginning of the game, we have the same resources.

Players must utilize the resources the best they can to win the game.

The mind thinks of strategies and your hands type in the commands.

The winner beats the opponent by maximising the use of the resources.

I don't think I am that clever. I am quite slow.

To overcome this I must work harder than others.

Others may practice for 3 hours a day but I will spend 12 hours.

It's so messy here.

Don't know where to start.

It's OK. - It's messy.

If I was your mother...

Our allies are under siege!

According to Chinese traditions, people should be...

diligent and work hard to make a living.

To earn money by playing games...

just doesn't sound right, not a proper career path.

Parents should arrange for their child. Children should follow their parents' wishes.

If the child doesn't listen...

they are considered to be rebels and disrespectful.

As parents we would ask "Why don't you listen to us?"

We wanted him to be a doctor. He didn't listen.

Our kid, Li Xiaofeng, had his own opinions.

I taught my son the same way my mother taught me.

I would discipline my son using my mother's methods.

Sometimes I beat him with sticks...

but he still carried on playing games.

He remained silent and just bore the punishment.

He has a strong will to rebel. He was a stubborn child.

Sometimes when we got extremely angry, we beat him violently.

I decided to go to Beijing and be a professional player.

I had great ambitions at that time.

I dreamed to be the number one in China. I wanted...

to represent China in the world finals in Korea.

By winning the championship...

I would be able to sustain myself and carry on playing.

I've never been scared.

Nowadays, young people are not afraid of anything.

When we've set our goals, we are determined to accomplish it.

We may not understand why we are doing it but we do our best...

before we understand.

First we go for the photo shoot.

Welcome to the stage, Grubby.

OK, one more.

I had to come a long way to get here.

First because of the money, the flight was very expensive.

This was the first time I left Venezuela alone.

The flight went first to Paris, to continue to London.

So I went to London...

No sorry, to Paris and London and from there to Eindhoven.

I took the train in Eindhoven, and after one and a half hour...

I finally reached Rotterdam.

Then I walked about 40 kilometers, crossed the city.

Then another 2 kilometers to get here...

and I'm here for one reason only.

To meet a great player. Grubby, or "4K-Grubby".

You win. - I win.

Kind of close at the end. - Yeah.

I thought you show him closer to expansion.

But the army is inferior.

The Raiders they kill the buildings...

and they're nice and fast and they have ensnare...

but as far as fighting goes against level 4-4-2 heroes...

they're kind of shit.

Maybe I should sometimes give up an expand to kill his main base.

But he always staffed his heroes home quite well.

So he could defend at least a little. And then if he kills my ex...

Because it's just one Demon Hunter against your whole army.

But Orb of Venom, he's standing next to his Moon Wells shop, Tree of Eternity...

You know how Ancients swap down the Raiders.

I think it's boring to play the Human Race.

I prefer playing the villain. Plundering.

Hit and run in other words.

A bit of guerrilla tactics.

I bet everybody knows the quotation from Sun Tzu's Art of War.

"Attack where you are not expected."

"If your opponent is arrogant..."

"compliment him to make him overconfident."

That's a cool way of playing.

It takes a lifetime to master.

Do you think she's still coming? - Maybe I go alone with her.

You lot aren't coming anyway. - Most probably not.

No, I thought so. Especially if you're going to China.

We definitely want to go there. To China.

There's nothing I have to be in Holland for after the WCG.

It only depends on other contests. - In America perhaps.

But flying to the US is just as cheap from China as from Holland.

China - Korea will be much cheaper...

but if there's a team-event in Germany it will be dearer.

When would you want to do that? - As soon as possible.

Then you can choose the place where you want to stay.

So it will be going through.

Do you want to take sandwiches? I can't help doing this.

Just like when you went to school.

Don't you throw them away on the way!

At first I tried out many Chinese names.

Such as "He Who is Lonesome Because of His Power".

And "He Who is Hardly Defeated".

And also "The Number One in This World".

After thinking it over and over I remembered the 3-letter word SKY.

It has no meaning, just the sky.

The first impression I got is that the boy was like a block of wood.

Like a country boy just arrived in a big city, he didn't know very much.

Since I was the local, I felt responsible to look after him.

To be honest, when he first arrived he wasn't very skillful.

I played better than he did at the time.

I didn't know much about his family situation.

But I knew his living condition was not very good.

And when he was broke and hungry I would help him out.

I treated him as my younger brother.

I would give him financial support to compete.

He went to Xi'an for his first competition.

He lost in the first round. He was very upset about it.

It's difficult for me to describe his mood. You should ask himself for details.

Afterwards he told me that he had tried to commit suicide.

But by then he had recovered. So I can't tell you any more.

There is a saying: "You will get up from where you fell down."

I felt very bad at the time.

I was all by myself. I have overcome that experience by myself.

Among the good Undead players, there was Madfrog in Europe.

I never met him. He played in an era before my time.

He was a truly smart player.

Nobody could match him.

This is the...

goodbye movie from China.

I don't know who made it or...

Yeah, like when I said I would retire.

It's very good music but I don't understand what it says.

A LEGEND RETIRES

I was the first person to go and play in Korea...

from Europe. And to stay there for a long time.

They wanted to see me lose, I think, the Koreans...

'cause the first game I played was against an opponent...

that they all cheered for, so...

I won that game as well.

I was playing Undead.

The fastest race.

When Frederick returned from Korea, he had been there for 10 or 11 months.

He had become very thin...

and pale when he came home.

He had only been playing behind the computer over there...

he had hardly any muscles left.

So he had changed a lot when he returned.

Changed? I thought he had changed dramatically.

He looked like a zombie.

I thought he was very sick.

I was kind of lost, because...

if you do something very intensive for...

I don't know, since I was...

12 or 13, when I played a lot.

Until 19, then it's really hard going back to a normal life.

You get... or at least I got very...

anti-social by not being able to talk to people every day.

I think that was the hardest part.

Learning to communicate again.

Things like that.

Good luck.

I was living in Singapore.

I used to do a totally different job.

I was a model before I met him.

I never knew what I wanted to do. I always had a love for games...

but it was only a passion, like a pastime, a hobby.

I didn't expect to go into gaming.

I guess, meeting him was a turning point.

He can't live in Singapore.

In Singapore the connection to the game is not very good.

So he can't do a lot of training in Singapore.

He can only live in places where there's a good connection to the game.

He came to Xi'an for the WCG, a very important competition.

I was the commentator for the tournament...

and I coincidently was the commentator for his match.

I can still remember the moment deeply in my mind.

The training conditions were bad.

And there were not much people who understood us.