Senior Simon Kaubisch, who began playing the Xbox game Halo in 2001, has since developed his skills to compete semi-professionally.

Kaubisch plays at both the local and national level. “Through Halo, I have met a very diverse arrangement of people,” he said. “I know people across the world ranging from New Zealand to New York, and from all different backgrounds.”Kaubisch started attending local Halo tournaments in 2007 and attended his first national tournament in San Diego in 2008.

This November, Kaubisch attended a tournament in Anaheim with his four-person Halo team. “Somebody paid for me to go to a tournament [from] Nov. 6 to 8 at a very large convention center hosted by Major League Gaming,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands of people watch the live stream online.” Class of 2009 alum and former Halo teammate Matt Kramer wrote in an e-mail that Kaubisch ranks individually among the top 64 nationally and is “definitely the best player on his team.”

Halo is a first-person shooter game where two teams of four play against each other. “From a beginner’s point of view, you basically go around shooting people, but there’s a lot more strategy and depth to it,” Kaubisch said. “You have to time weapons, learn spawn locations, team and personal strategy. I don’t think anyone who plays it casually grasps the depth of it until they actually try to play competitively.”

Kaubisch wants to clear up the misconception that all gamers are nerds. “The average Halo player is just a normal person who plays it in their free time,” he said. “Sure, there are some who are more dedicated than others, but mostly, it’s just about having fun, albeit in a different way than most people would.”

Kaubisch said he devotes more time to academics and sports than to his Halo activities. According to Kaubisch’s parents, Jim and Liz Kaubisch, he only played an hour a day when he first started.

Although Kaubisch does not plan to pursue gaming as a professional career, he said his experiences have helped him develop important life skills. “I have learned the importance of education and giving yourself opportunities for your future,” he said. “I have learned that sometimes in order to succeed, you need to find the right contacts. I have applied for sponsorships and learned how to properly market myself. And I have traveled across the country on my own, with only a plane ticket, a credit card and few directions with me.” Kramer agrees. “In the two years that I have known him, he has really matured as both a player and a person,” he wrote. “His attitude has improved tremendously; he never gets down on himself and is always inspiring others.”