VILLAS – Ian Taylor returned home from Warsaw, Poland, April 10, thankful for his experience but not the winner he had hoped to be.
Taylor and his team, eClipse, placed ninth of 12 teams in the Wargaming.Net League Grand Finals. The top eight teams competed in the brackets to divvy up a $320,000 tournament purse, including $150,000 grand prize.
“Although eClipse did not do nearly as well as hoped and projected from some, I would love to thank all who supported the team and myself on our journey to the grand finals,” the 17-year-old said. “It wasn’t an easy road, especially for a team full of teenagers that have been professional gamers for a total of five months. It was an accomplishment making it as far as we did, and I can assure anyone who supports our team that it can only get better from here. Expect us in the next grand finals, and expect us to take it all!”
Taylor’s mother, Debra Skain, said she watched the tournament and the games “Were hair-raising nail-biters. The score would go back and forth, tie up, and then eventually the other team went ahead.
“The gamecasters kept calling eClipse the Cinderella team, or Boy Scout team because they were the youngest,” she added. “Many were surprised that they made it this far, but others weren’t because they played really well.”
The tournament centered around a multi-player, online game called World of Tanks, which features early to mid-20th Century-era fighting vehicles. Taylor said the game requires a lot of strategy while learning about World War II history from the maps and cities where the game takes place.
A game can last up to eight minutes and success depends on how well the team plays on the battlefield rather than how the individuals perform. eClipse consists of five Americans, two teens from Canada and another one from the Ukraine.
“The tournament had a stretch limo pick up the team at the airport when they arrived in Poland,” his mom noted, “with neon lights and music blaring. They felt like rock stars; it was very exciting for Ian.”
Taylor arrived in Poland April 5 and visited some of the sights, including the Holocaust Museum and a World War II military museum before competition.
His visit was surrounded in some controversy because Taylor has missed 16 days of school, four more than allowed by school policy. Pupils missing over 12 school days for a year-long course, six school days for a semester course, will not receive credit for the courses, according to policy. Taylor stands to lose credit for his junior year of high school.
“Ian has been talking with a variety of people to understand his options,” his mother said. “He will be 18 by this fall, so I am trying to keep an open mind about things. We’ll talk through it and work it out I’m sure.”
Skain is supposed to contact the vice principal in June to work out any possible credit restoration according to a letter she received from the principal.
“Many do not support me for what I do or how I go about doing it,” Taylor said in an April 6 Facebook post. “Most who know about me know me for the money I’ve made from the game in Vegas, but I play for much more than that.
“Throughout my life as a gamer I have not been supported, and even hated and insulted over the fact that I was a gamer. However, I never gave up and never will, and I’ll make sure that I show all of America that you can really make your dreams come true if you try your hardest and do not give in. Use my story as an example to not give in to pressure and public opinion, and continue doing your best and do what you think is worth your time.”
Taylor has said he is interested in engineering, possibly building and engineering online games. He and his team won $75,000 in Las Vegas in February when they took first place in the North America tournament. Taking first place also gave them the chance to compete in the Grand Finals in Poland.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.
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