| Ka-pi96 said: But... why? I mean, is there like a cash prize or something for having the "record"? If not, then who gives a fuck whether your name is recorded in some book next to it or not? |
I'm pretty sure Billy Mitchell carved out a decent life for himself over the years derived primarily from the notoriety of his video game records.
This is just from Wikipedia:
He rose to national prominence in the 1980s when Life included him in a photo spread of game champions during the height of the golden age of arcade games.
On July 3, 1999, Mitchell achieved the first perfect score of 3,333,360 points on the original Pac-Man... Mitchell achieved the perfect score at an arcade in Laconia, New Hampshire, and set the game's world record as recorded by Twin Galaxies. For this, Namco, the makers of Pac-Man, brought Mitchell to Japan for the Tokyo Game Show that year to name him the "Video Game Player of the Century". In a ceremony on the Namco stage, company founder Masaya Nakamura presented Mitchell with an award commemorating the first "perfect" game on Pac-Man.
Mitchell has appeared in several documentaries on competitive gaming and retrogaming, including Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade (2007), The King of Arcades (2014), and Man vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler (2015). The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
So yeah, there are cash incentives to having your name listed as a World Record holder.
