ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MLG FORUMS
Hey everyone,
I guess I should start with a little background of myself. My name is Ruben Gilbert, more commonly known in the Xbox Live world as Mania. I’ve been a competitive gamer since the days of Halo: CE. I used to LAN with my local friends and the best gamers from around my area. In Halo: CE, we used to play “competitive” FFA’s on Hang em High and Boarding Action, mostly because they were designed cool. Halo 2 is when we heard about MLG and “real” competitive gaming. We LANned much more frequently for H2, and my friend Wild and I began to show more promise in it than most of our other friends. I played Halo 2 online in 2005 and 2006 and found my way to a 30 in the hardcore playlist.
So, at the end of 2006 I was beginning to become accustomed to high levels of play, but I was still a noob without a doubt. I found myself idolizing the top pros of the time (mainly the FB members, Walshy, Ogre1, Ogre2, and Strongside). This was about 8th grade that I started to take Halo really seriously.
Then Halo 3 came out. Our friends still got together every couple of weeks to LAN, and Wild and I week by week would slowly start advancing in skill level over our friends more and more, soon to the point where it wasn’t even really competitive anymore. At this point I tried to find the best players online that would play with me. I focused on all aspects of my game: strategy, positioning, movement, individual skill. I just practiced and practiced and practiced every day. I wanted to become like the members of Final Boss. In late 2007, I found out that some top pros and semi pros attended LANs in Massachusetts, namely Assault, Mudvayne, Arkanum, AK, and Butabi, among other skilled players. I played well at these LANs, and found out that my practice had actually paid off; I could compete with top players.
So I started to practice even more. I wanted to get even better. When the MLG playlist was announced for Halo 3 in early 2008, I played it all the time and soon got my 50 in it. On a daily basis, I was playing with top pros at the time and was actually taking games off them. Unfortunately, I have never been able to attend an MLG event. I have been on many teams, all of which broke up for some reason or another. For many reasons, including money and school, I just haven’t been able to attend an event. I’ve taken all honors classes my entire high school career and am now in my freshman year at Middlebury College. Gaming, however, is still my number one hobby and greatest passion.
This leads me to the purpose of this thread. Throughout my years of gaming, I have come to understand how to play at the top levels, and might have even made it to the top myself if school and other factors hadn’t hindered me.
I want to share my passion for gaming with others, and I want to help fellow gamers however I can.
I’m creating this post as a way to communicate with community members. I know so many people who ask for advice or training for Halo. They look to the top pros, but the pros are busy gaming and keeping up their own skills. Watching pro gameplay is useful, but often limited if you don’t pick up on some things yourself. I want to know what you as a community would like to see for content in Halo. I just recently started up a stream at Twitch. I am looking for ideas on things the community wants to see in a stream. Pro Gameplay analyses/commentaries, tutorials, my own gameplay and analysis, or any other ideas that you guys may have.
Please post any ideas you guys have and I will check this thread regularly! Also, please check out my stream and follow me on twitter @MLGManiia for updates when I will be broadcasting.
Thanks!!
Mania
