EPTNote: This essay includes footnotes which are given in [brackets]. Please check the sources given below to cross reference them. I also made two translations of short excerpts of German interviews, feel free to check these as well. If you got additional information that could be interesting to be added feel free to link them in the comments.
General information:
![[image loading]](http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/820/gitzzzold.jpg)
(Image source: ESReality.com)
Christian ‘GitzZz’ Höck was born March 19th, 1984. [001] He lives in Fürth, Bavaria (Germany). [008] After he finished school he went to civil service and picked up an apprenticeship to become a physical therapist. [006] He likes computer games (e.g. Leagues of Legends), playing the guitar, jogging and hiking. [005][007][008] Unlike a lot of other Germans he is not interested in soccer. [006] His nickname is based on, as he once explained, “a little child who couldn’t say Christian correctly. He said something like gitzian… so gitz”. [006]
GitzZz is one of three German gamers to ever win the World Cyber Games twice. [001] He is widely regarded the world’s best professional Unreal Tournament player and is counted among one of the most famous figures in Western E-Sports. [001] He once stated that UT 99 was his all-time favorite game of the franchise. “I would say I was definitely bound to UT1. I played UT2k3 because there was nothing better (and new) available. I enjoyed UT2k3 and UT2k4 most of the time I played it but you can’t compare it to UT1.” [004]
He retired in 2005 to make a short comeback in 2007. [001]
Gaming Career:
Christian Höck first played Unreal Tournament with one of his friends in their own clan, SFF. Later on he joined clan IGX, with whom he was able to give Mortal Teamwork (mTw) a challenging game. Höck eventually joined clan shuuk and played alongside Br3z3l, Frag^m and Flocutus. [006] In 2001 he represented Germany in the first-ever World Cyber Games alongside Crush and Flocutus. [006] Though he lost his first game during the group-stage against Korean gamer bz-sin, he finished first without another loss and took home the trophy. [001]
(Video source: WCG 2001 Grand Finals, Youtube)
In 2003 Höck said that he could have been dropped on his way to the finals. In his game against clanmate Flocutus his opponent managed to make a comeback to 9-10 after being 0-10 behind. Only a lucky-shot with the Bio saved GitzZz from losing. [006]
In the World Cyber Games 2002 GitzZz dropped to the lower bracket due to a loss to New Zealand’s Nicholas ‘eVentfLoW’ McCabe. He made his way to the lower bracket finals by beating Neutro (Portugal) and Laurens ‘lauke’ Pluijmaekers (Netherlands) to eventually face eVentfLoW again. In the grand finals he faced shaggy from the UK. With his second WCG victory under his belt he became the first ever two times WCG champion. [001] During World Cyber Games 2002 Christian Höck also changed clans to Shroet Kommando (today’s SK-Gaming). [001]
In 2003 he participated in the first ever Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) playing Unreal Tournament 2003. He and Jonathan ‘fatal1ty’ Wendel (US) were considered the favorites of this competition and Höck delivered by beating Björn ‘zulg’ Sunesson (Sweden) in the grand finals. [001] After ESCW 2003 Höck admitted that he struggled with motivation due to implementation of the shield gun and its impact on the way duels were played. [005] An interview on ESReality in 2004 reaffirms his opinion. When asked about the new additions to UT 2004, he said “I would have loved to see the shieldgun left out since it would be a more offensive gameplay”. [004] GitzZz didn’t attend World Cyber Games 2003, because Unreal Tournament 2003 was forbidden in Germany and thus all German contenders were excluded from competition. [001]
During the ESWC 2004, one Unreal Tournament release later (UT 2004), Höck faced his all-time rival lauke again. The game between the two is regarded as one of the best Unreal Tournament duels of all time. [001]
(Video source: ESWC 2004 semi-finals, Youtube)
In his opinion lauke was a very good player and always posed a challenge. [004] He lost the grand-finals to Maurice ‘Burnie’ Engeldhard a fellow German and also among the players Höck considered to be among the best of the UT 2004 community. [001][004] Interestingly enough GitzZz took the situation at ESWC 2004 with a humor. “Still it’s kinda funny that I came 2nd at ESWC with even not knowing one of three maps 100%. Had pretty much gitz-luck again until the final. There I lost it
.” [004]The same year Christian Höck and his teammates contended in the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) Summer Extreme tournament. Sk-Gaming won the event after beating lauke’s home clan Fnatic. [001]
![[image loading]](http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/8286/skcplvlhornyfragmgitzzz.jpg)
Team SK-Gaming: v.l.t.r Horny, frag^m, GitzZz, Cloud
(Picture source: CPL 2004 SK-Gaming, [002])
In late 2004 GitzZz once again qualified for the World Cyber games, alongside Burnie. Once again Höck had to play against Engelhard, this time in the semi-finals. He lost and ended up fourth after being defeated by Roman ‘Chip’ Verenko from the Ukraine. [001]
After his drop in the qualifiers of ESWC 2005 Höck announced his retirement in June 2005. [001] With the release of Unreal Tournament 3 though, GitzZz had a short-lived comeback in 2007. He couldn’t quite deliver in UT3 and due to the lack of major events he decided to return to retirement in 2008. [001][008]
Gaming philosophy, reflection on his life as a pro-gamer and play-style:
Christian ‘GitzZz’ Höck never considered himself a pro-gamer and always treated the games he played as a hobby and not a source of income. [001] “Wenn mir ein Spiel sehr viel Spaß macht, dann bin ich auch mit Ehrgeiz dabei.”
(Translation: If I enjoy a game a lot, I can be very ambitious)[005]
He also noted that to compete in E-Sports you need ambition, talent and a bit of luck. [008]During his retirement he reflected upon his career as something he was rather proud of and that he didn’t regret it. [007] “Rückblickend bin ich stolz auf das was ich selbst und mit meinen Clankollegen erreicht habe. Es war eine komplett andere Jugend als sie wohl die meisten Leute erlebt haben. Ich bin froh, dass alles so war, wie es war und würde es gegen nichts anderes eintauschen wollen.“
(Translation: Looking back I’m proud of what I and my clanmates have achieved. The whole thing was a different kind of adolescence most people experience. I’m happy that it was at is was and I would never exchange it for something else.)[008]
In 2011, 27 years old, he added that he would not allow his kids to play as many computer games as he did. [008]As part of an interview in 2004 he was asked how he dealt with the financial factor in gaming and the pressure that could be put upon him by his clan. He answered that he and his clanmates (SK.ut2k4) met the demands by their clan and that he was confident that they won’t be booted any time soon. “[…] I doubt we would get kicked as long as we keep on practicing. There are just-for-fun clans and those who search the competition. You have to decide for yourself in which one you want to play.” [004] Though pro-gaming at that time was profitable Höck never considered this an option. “I would never play a game the whole day week after week because I think I would lose the fun then. […] It has always been a hobby for me and nonetheless I was quite successful. […] As long as my apprenticeship doesn’t suffer of it is fine
.” [004]His way to practice was to “practice with everyone, good and not that good players
. When I wanna play I don’t wanna search 2 hours for a player who wants to play. Im just asking in a public channel and the first one who answeres gets the match. When I want to play a special opponent im asking one of my mates most times.” [006]Höck said about his play-style that it was “about timing the armors, taking weapons away and outsmarting/outaiming the opponent so you actually just have to adjust to the specific game.” [004] He also considered himself an aim-based player preferring the Sniper, Pulse and Minigun over balance-based weapons like the Flak. [006] With regards to team-games he stated that they were more relaxed and left time for thoughts outside the current game (e.g. dinner). The game was becoming, overall, more unpredictable. [004]
My last words: Bye bye Christian! <3
![[image loading]](http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/948/gitzzznowadays.jpg)
(picture source: WCG Germany)
Sources:
Note: Sources state the name of the author, year of release, title and body of publication as well as the link of the source.
[001] Various Authors (2011). Christian Höck. Wikipedia Germany. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Höck
[002] http://www.derquaker.com/krime-stellt-vor-die-ut-legende-fragm/
[003] Höck, Christian (2010). GitzZz Profile. SK-Gaming. http://www.sk-gaming.com/member/GitzZz
[004] Carmac (2004). ESWC Heroes: GitzZz. ESReality. http://www.esreality.com/?a=longpost&id=717635&page=1
[005] Conrad ‘csc’ Conrad (2007), Interview mit mouz|GitzZz. WCG Europe. http://www.wcg-europe.com/de/content/468.htm
[006] Polisatiy (2003). Christian “GitzZz” Hoeck. Cyberfight.org. http://www.cyberfight.org/offline/interviews/16863/
[007] Unknown Author (2006). The reawakening of…. Unrealnorth.com. http://www.unrealnorth.com/article.php?action=view&aID=64&aPage=1
[008] Haendly, Karsten (2011). Was macht eigentlich gitzZz?. WCG Germany. http://www.wcg-europe.com/de/content/1349.htm
