As some of you might know, I'm currently performing my military service in southern Sweden, to become a military chef. The education is not that very long, only seven and a half months, but it's still quite a big part of my life. Being in the military gives me almost no time at all for gaming, apart from the weekends and maximum of a half hour a day in the computer hall. A half hour a day flies by real quick, with all the projects I'm involved in I can not keep track of them all. I usually just check the news here at GosuGamers plus the crew forums here and there to keep myself posted. This can sometimes be very frustrating for me, since I can not help the way I can and be a part of the "new" StarCraft era with all the new sponsored teams, the StarCraft Clan League hosted by ESL and much more of those new sweet features. But at times it is quite nice to be on the other side of things - to watch it fly by and evolve without me doing anything. However, there is one thing that I am still up for, and have my hopes up that I can attend to even though I'm in the military - the World Cyber Games 2005 in Singapore.

I have been invited as a World Cyber Games 2005 referee, the same as » Mazor and » poGDI from GosuGamers were last year in San Fransisco. Mazor, our very own beloved head administrator of GosuGamers was invited this year too, and our site were given another referee spot. As I was to join the military, I thought it was no chance whatsoever that I were to fill that spot alongside Mazor and be a part of World Cyber Games 2005 in Singapore, and the spot was meant to be given to someone else in the GosuGamers crew. After a month or two, the spot was opened again due to money issues, and I was then invited once more by Mazor to come join him to Singapore. I decided to give it a long time to think this through if I were to do this. Was it even possible for me to take time off from the military to leave for Singapore to attend a computer tournament where I'm not even the one participating? I started to wonder; has e-sport evolved that much that a lone soldier can take a week off from his military service to be a referee in what could be called the Olympics of computer games?

“The Swedish military might understand the importance of the tournament once I convince them. They might understand what huge amount of work hours the World Cyber Games have forced, the huge amount of money involved, the publicity in the world and most of all the number of players participating.

”I decided to try it. Who knows? It might go through. The Swedish military might understand the importance of the tournament once I convince them. They might understand what huge amount of work hours the World Cyber Games have forced, the huge amount of money involved, the publicity in the world and most of all the number of players participating. But who am I kidding? It's the military. They are not exactly known to be that modern and accepting. What will they think when I send in my application that says "computer games referee" on it? The military is meant to build character and has a lot to do with physical activity - I don't think a computer festival is really the perfect reason to get a week off. But who knows?

I've been wanting to go to the Grand Final of the World Cyber Games ever since I heard about it. With this spot I was given, I will not let a thing such as the military stand in my way. Or at least not my cowardice of not trying. I'm thinking that if I were to get a week off for this, it was meant to be. I'm not usually a man who believes in faith and stuff like that, but if I, a lone soldier, can go to a computer festival, it is meant to be.

I asked around in the military home on what they thought of my chances to be able to go. A few actually thought that it is doable, since there is a rule saying that they will have to let people go who are to take part in elite sport events. But when it comes to my case, when it comes to computer gaming - is it really looked upon as an elite sport event? In my, yours and a lot of other gamers' eyes - of course. The competition is there, the money, the fans and most of all the dedicated players are there. But in my captain and my major's eyes? Hardly. Let's just hope for the best, and that they might get an insight in how big this is.

It will surely be interesting to find out whether they will approve it or not. I hope I will know for sure next week. Either case, I've tried my best. And even if I don't manage to break through from the military a week, there's still Italy next year.