Video game show lures Oklahoma man

A Tahlequah gamer competes with other top U.S. video game players in the SCI FI Channel’s "WCG Ultimate Gamer,” which premieres at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

The WGC is the World Cyber Games, an international electronic gaming festival. In "Ultimate Gamer,” 12 U.S. gamers will live together in a loft in Los Angeles as they compete in video games and in real-life challenges based on video game situations.

Mark Smith was born in Oklahoma City, grew up in Altus and now lives in Tahlequah. He’s competing with the other gamers in the series for a chance at $100,000, a Samsung electronics package, and becoming a representative of the WCG.

Smith, a longtime competitive gamer, saw an Internet post about auditions for "WCG Ultimate Gamer” and was instantly intrigued.

"I got this tingle down my spine. I just knew I had to go and try out for this show,” he said.

Smith drove to Chicago to audition, and was selected for the program.

Smith makes custom jewelry and also enjoys hunting and fishing. But his passion is gaming.

"I grew up gaming in Oklahoma,” Smith said in a phone interview with The Oklahoman. "There’s a bigger gaming scene in Oklahoma than you’d think.”

Oklahoma might not be the first place people would think to look for a top-level gamer, and Smith said his laid-back Oklahoma demeanor might have caused some of his competitors to overlook him.

"I will say, I think being the Southern boy, people didn’t see me coming, that’s for sure,” Smith said. "I guess they don’t think we have the Internet here in Oklahoma yet. But I definitely came ready to play, and I think they were very surprised by that.”

The show will run for eight consecutive weeks on SCI FI.