Gaming at new heights

Gamers, clans, LAN parties, MMOG's…blah, blah, blah…make any sense to you? No? Fear not…for I (who was unable to tell a MMOG from a GMO last week), am about to attempt the tremendous feat of educating you on a segment of the US$10 billion video game industry, which has even surpassed the motion picture industry as being the most profitable entertainment industry in the world today! Having spent a good part of an hour with four ardent (and very patient) gamers A.K.A. 'Death Company' (DC) last week wondering if they were speaking to me in a different dialect, I was finally able to get the gist of, what can only be called this 'whole new world!'

Having formed in September 2006, with the vision to take Sri Lankan gaming to new heights under a single competitive banner, DC has grown from 10 to 50 members in just over a year now. Well known as Sri Lanka's first serious and organised gaming clan, DC works along the theme of a card pack, with the clan being headed by the 'Four Aces' (Four A's).
(If possible put these 4 paras in Computer type font, pref in green)

Nickname:
Shanil Wickramasinghe
Gaming Alias: Daelin
Clan: Death Company
Species: Unknown
Tasks: In charge of all administration affairs, collaborating with clan members on major decision to be made and delegating duties on behalf of the Company.

Nickname:Rohita
Goonatilleke
Gaming Alias: Anoren
Clan: Death Company
Species: Unknown
Tasks: In charge of peace keeping within and outside of the clan and maintaining good relations with other clans and all who interact with the Company.

Nickname:
Radeepan Kanapathipillai
Gaming Alias: Blade
Clan: Death Company
Species: Unknown
Tasks: In charge of organising and coordinating publicity for all public activities cum events and handling merchandise for the Company.

Nickname: Teague Gray
Gaming Alias: Munky
Clan: Death Company
Species: Unknown

Tasks: In charge of skills management, overall supervision of practice matches and training, organising teams and research into game-play, tips, hints etc., for the further development of the Company.

Note: The Treasury is a joint task undertaken by the Four A's. In addition, there are also two Jokers to aid the Four A's in their tasks and step in for any one of them in their absence. Taihsin Shiek (A.K.A. Xuan Wu) is one, whilst the other is yet to be appointed. The Four A's also hand pick certain members who seem to possess more potential in a specialized area than the average member and rank them under the relevant suit depending on their strengths.

The birth of DC came about as a result of Shanil and Lohita's idea to start up a proper gaming clan in Sri Lanka. Thereafter, having met equally avid gamers Radeepan and Teague at College, they decided to join forces and get cracking on their venture. "A clan is basically a group of players working towards a common goal. DC caters to a wide group of gamers between the ages of 13 and 30, whose taste in games are quite diverse," explained Teague. MMOG's (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) such as Lineage II and World of Warcraft, FPS's (First Person Shooter) like Counter Strike and Unreal Tournament, RTS's (Real Time Strategy) such as Command and Conquer and Warcraft and RPG's (Roll Playing Game) such as Diablo, Hellgate: London are some of the main types of PC games, the Company caters to.

In response to whether gaming directly/indirectly promoted violence, Rohita elaborated that "Gaming is like immersing yourself in a really good movie or book, just much more interactive. There are various storylines and can have different endings depending on the decisions you make.

Just like you won't go around killing people after watching a violent movie, the same applies for gaming.""It's like plugging out of this world and plugging into another; a fun escape from real life. What's more, every game carries an ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board) rating which stipulates a suitable age recommendation for each game. Also, not all games are violent, for instance, 'The Sims' which is still the best selling PC game in history, is not violent at all, added Shanil.

Having successfully hosted four LAN Parties between last October and January 2008 (a gathering of local gamers and their computers which they network together to play multiplayer computer games) on a relatively low key, their fifth LAN Party (L5), to be held in April, is billed to be bigger and better than ever before! For more information visit www.deathcompany.org."It's nothing personal…just business" after all…