At 27, he calls the shots in the Global Gaming League
Marv Albert. Howard Cosell. John Madden. Each of them legends in the business of sports broadcasting. Now it's djWHEAT's turn.
Marcus Graham is djWHEAT, a 27-year-old college dropout from Nebraska who's hoping to become the first big-name announcer in a booming new sport -- competitive computer gaming.
''I'm actually the first official professional broadcaster in the gaming broadcasting phenomenon," Graham said. He was just hired by the Global Gaming League, a firm in Santa Monica, Calif., that's trying to transform computer gaming into a spectator sport to rival the NFL or Major League Baseball. In his new gig, Graham will travel the world, doing play-by-play coverage of computer game matches for broadcast over Internet audio and video, and for cable TV channels.
''Marcus is the John Madden of video gaming," said his boss, Ted Owen, cofounder of the Global Gaming League. ''He is a critical piece . . . of bringing this to the mainstream in the United States."
Computer gaming as a spectator sport is already more popular than many people realize. The finals of last year's World Cyber Games drew 30,000 spectators to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. But the United States is far behind South Korea, the mecca of competitive gaming. During last year's finals in Seoul, 150,000 fans showed up, and the games were broadcast on television and the Internet.
''There's a whole new sport evolving out there," said Owen, a former investment banker who launched GGL about two years ago. ''We are attempting to . . . bring it to the masses and make it an enjoyable spectator sport."
Every sport needs its stars, and the GGL is working to develop them. It runs a website that offers free memberships to gamers, either as individuals or as gaming teams or ''clans." Site members can hook up with each other to compete in online tournaments. And not just for bragging rights. Elite players can win sizable amounts of cash -- such as $10,000 for top performance in the popular shoot-'em-up game Counter-Strike.
''In 2005 we want to take this to the next step," Owen said. ''To that end, we're going to roll out the live event productions." And for live sporting events, you need a live announcer.
Enter djWHEAT, who was into game broadcasting before it was cool. The online nickname is inspired by Graham's home state of Nebraska and its vast wheat farms. Graham took two years of computer science classes at the University of Nebraska before dropping out to take a job as a computer administrator. He lived in a house with four other avid computer gamers who formed a clan to compete with other players over the Internet. Graham used software that recorded each game, so he could look for ways to improve the clan's performance. As he watched, he began commenting on the action. ''I would essentially record my thoughts about our strategies, the way other teams were reacting to things," said Graham. He was so good at it that fellow clan members suggested that Graham try doing play-by-play on the Internet. ''I just sort of had a natural knack for explaining the action," he said.
At first it was little more than a hobby. ''It was essentially a very underground type thing," Graham said. ''We would broadcast a game, and people would just happen to notice it and jump on." As word of djWHEAT's announcing skills spread, gaming clans would ask him to do play-by-play for their matches. Thanks to the Internet, living in Nebraska was no problem for Graham. He could tap into games being played anywhere in the world. ''One team who could be in Michigan would challenge another team which could be in Florida. I'd get on the server and jump in." By putting his computer in ''spectator" mode, Graham could watch the game from various points of view, while describing the action to his listeners.
Graham founded radioitg.com, a website that hosted his play-calling, as well as a variety of other game-related broadcasts, including a weekly talk show. Meantime, Graham began to get paid for his play-by-play work, as gaming competitions began to attract sizable crowds around the world. ''I have called matches in Paris; Daejeon, Korea; Seoul, Korea; London; and probably 20 different locations across the United States," he said. In Korea, Graham's English-language commentary was broadcast on a game-oriented TV network. ''They actually subtitled all of my commentary during the week that I was there," he said. ''It was actually surreal to see."
Graham could have done even more traveling, if it weren't for his day job. But thanks to the GGL, game announcing is now Graham's full-time gig. The GGL is striking deals with a number of media companies, including National Lampoon Network, a cable TV channel that serves 600 US colleges with 4.5 million students. This fall the network will sponsor a nationwide computer game competition with $50,000 in prizes, and djWHEAT will be behind the microphone.
It's a long way from the Super Bowl. But if the United States follows South Korea's lead, Counter-Strike could someday become our national sport, and djWHEAT could become the voice of online gaming.
