Todd Rogers (gamer)

Todd Rogers (born 1967)[1] is an American video game player who has been described as the first professional video game player.[2][3][4][5] In 1986, he was invited to be part of the U.S. National Video Game Team.[6][7] He had claimed to be recognized by Activision for having achieved many record-setting high scores, but many of his records were later disputed for a lack of verifying evidence or found to be impossible to achieve.[8][9][10] In January 2018, the Twin Galaxies record database removed all of his scores from their leaderboards and banned him permanently, and Guinness World Records stripped his records.[5][11]

  1. ^ "Controversy Surrounds America's 1st Pro Video Gamer, Born in CNY". June 4, 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-06-04. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  2. ^ Yadron, Danny (August 7, 2010). "City Resorts to Pac-Man for a Reboot". Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  3. ^ "Longest-standing videogame record". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on January 29, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  4. ^ Moultrie, Tamika (January 5, 2013). "Interview: Video Game Legend Todd Rogers Talks About Being The First Pro Gamer Ever". Complex. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference WP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Good, Owen (April 13, 2012). "There was Once a U.S. National Video Game Team, and This Guy Was Its Captain". Kotaku. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  7. ^ Compton, Shanna (October 26, 2004). Gamers: Writers, Artists and Programmers on the Pleasures of Pixels. Soft Skull Press. p. 280. ISBN 9781932360578.
  8. ^ Alexandra, Heather (July 7, 2017). "Doubt And Drama Still Haunt An Old, Seemingly Impossible Atari World Record". Kotaku. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  9. ^ Beschizza, Rob (January 24, 2018). "Video game record-setter accused of cheating". Boing Boing. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  10. ^ "Dragster Designer David Crane Has No Doubts Of Todd Rogers' Record". Twin Galaxies. January 23, 2018.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Alexandra was invoked but never defined (see the help page).