Feature

Unreal Tournament

Intekhab Sadekin

It was a first of its kind; a dawn of a new era, the Unreal era. Confused? Probably. Let me clarify. BRAC University Computer Club (BUCC) would do anything to attract more students and make sure that they stay there. They tried everything but nothing seemed to work. Then they came up with an idea that was sure to be a hit among the students. They planned to have a gaming tournament, which incidentally drew a lot of students towards joining BUCC. In an educational institute such as BRAC University a gaming tournament is out of the question but they are very enthusiastic about drawing students towards BUCC and finally they gave in with reluctance. The person who organized everything right to the tick was Tonmoy who is a very hardworking member of BUCC.

The game that we play is 'Unreal Tournament'. It started when one of our ex-students installed this game in one of the PCs and played only by himself. But soon there were others who played the game and before long, the game was being installed in more than just a few PCs. Suddenly there was an outbreak of this game being installed in almost all the PCs in the university. It spread almost like a virus. Within just a few days everyone was playing this game since it supports multiplayer over the LAN. Very soon teams started to form and played unofficial matches among themselves. There were fanatics, including myself, who bunked a lot of classes just for the sake of playing and as a result did really bad in one of the semesters and so did many others like me. But that did not stop us from running to the labs as soon as the classes were over and playing for hours. The authorities i.e. the system administrators took heavy measures to stop us from playing the game and went to great extents to prohibit game playing in the labs but every time we used to outsmart them and continued to play.

Like they say, every problem is an opportunity in disguise. BUCC authorities decided to use this craze of game playing to their advantage. BUCC needed students to join this club and hence they found a way. They arranged a gaming tournament for us but not before a great deal of persuasion by the students. The only condition was that only BUCC members could play. So there were a lot of students who joined BUCC for being able to participate in the tournament.

This gaming tournament was held twice and the first was held in Fall, 2005. It had 6 teams all from the CSE department since it was held by BUCC. The first time around everyone knew who the probable champion was and the only team that even came close to giving them a run for their money was ours and we had absolutely no chance to beat them and that was the story in the finals. The name of our team was 'Blitzkrieg Syndicate' and that of the champion team was 'Kalpurush'. The 30-minute final lasted for about 5 minutes and we were down 5-0 in Capture the Flag (gamers would know what I am talking about).

The second time around it was a totally different story altogether. This time the stakes were high and not only the championship title was on the line but for many, they were playing for their pride. There were a lot of politics that went on outside the arena and teams were formed and broken and players were migrated from one team to another. There were a lot of foul play that went on which made this event more interesting. Emotions were running high and every team, it seemed like, had a lot to lose other than just a game. There were 8 teams this time and they were not just from the CSE department but from other departments as well. And also this time there were stronger teams than the previous tournament. There were us, WTF, previously known as Blitzkrieg Syndicate, 6UP, another strong team and Warlords, the reigning champions. These three teams were the contenders for the title but not quite evenly matched. Most of us knew that the finals would be between Warlords and 6UP but both the teams were a bit weary of our capabilities and thought that we might just sneak in through to the finals, so we were definitely a force to recon with. But as luck had it, we did not make it to the finals and the teams everyone knew would make it actually did.

The final match was action packed and had everything a final should. It was supposed to be a 30-minute final which went on for an hour more. The game went into sudden death and after a lot of drama, Warlords were the champions again. The final score was made after one and half hour of game play and the spectators were literally on the edge of their seats. The final was very gripping and full of action because both the teams were so evenly matched.

All being said and done there was this other thing that stood out in this tournament. For the first time, a girl played for one of the eight teams in this male dominated tournament. Their team was mediocre and most of the players were just beginners. She was brave enough to accept the challenge from her opponents and proved everyone wrong by playing an outstanding game in one of the matches in which they lost but they lost with their heads held high and to everyone's astonishment she was the highest scorer for her team. When the word was out that a girl was playing, she and her team became an object of mockery for everyone. Everyone said that she wouldn't last a second in front of their opponents but she spoke; she spoke indeed, with the score that she made in one of the matches she played. All of us who made fun of her sealed our mouth from then on and some of us felt ashamed to have not being able to score more than her on that match where the miracle took place. Her name is Iffat Jabin and she is a student of CSE department. Gone are those days when Unreal Tournament was being played among guys only. Bravo Iffat!

Dept. of CSE
BRAC University