In the Playoffs

Despite an absence of choking incidents, weapons charges, drug violations and other prerequisites of modern-day athletics, the Professional Gamers League--the first attempt to move computer games into the status of professional sports--is off to a fairly auspicious start.

Jim Dangcil, a 21-year-old Chatsworth resident, emerged as the top-ranked player after a monthlong qualifying round that whittled a field of nearly 1,400 players down to 256. Starting today, those players will compete for more than $65,000 in cash and prizes to be awarded at the conclusion of the regular season in late January.

Dangcil, a technician at Slamsite, a Burbank-based gaming company, earned the top-seeded position by racking up 1,553 kills and suffering only 223 deaths during 17 hours of competition in the popular combat game Quake.

“I didn’t shy away from other people,” said Dangcil, whose online handle is “Reptile.” “I went after them, even players with high rankings. The real time to worry is the next round, because if you die, you’re out.”

Others did shy away from top players, especially from Dennis Fong, who goes by “Thresh” and is widely considered the best combat game player in the world. The league had to award Fong a bye because other players simply turned and ran whenever he entered a game, preventing him from logging the required number of combat “encounters” to qualify.

Fong finished with 149 kills and just one death in 55 minutes of activity. Game officials attributed that single death to a networking glitch that left him temporarily defenseless.

Players won’t be able to flee in the regular season, which consists of one-on-one combat. “You can run, but you’ll just die tired,” Fong said.

The early rounds weren’t without some controversy. The San Francisco-based league, sponsored by Advanced Micro Devices and other high-tech companies, disqualified 50 players, including about 10 for cheating.

Garth Chouteau, a league spokesman, said some players tried to pad their rankings by enlisting the help of friends. According to the scheme, conspirators would allow themselves to be killed repeatedly by another player hoping to secure a high ranking.

Chouteau said the league, managed by online gaming company Total Entertainment Network, was pleased with the turnout for the first of four seasonal tournaments scheduled. About half the 1,400 players were not network subscribers, meaning they had to pay a $10 registration fee.