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Stevie Case

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused withSteve Case.
Stevie Case
Case in 2023
Born1976 or 1977 (age 47–48)[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Kansas
OccupationChief Revenue Officer
EmployerVanta
PartnerJohn Romero(1999–2003)
Esports career information
GameQuake
Playing career1996–1997
HandleKillCreek
Team history
1996–1997Impulse 9

Stevana "Stevie" Case(born 1976–1977)[1]is an American businesswoman. She is known for competing in thefirst-person shootergameQuakein the late 1990s, as well as contributing professionally to thevideo game industry.

Competing under the aliasKillCreek,she was one of the first notable femaleesportsplayers, gaining recognition for beatingQuakedesignerJohn Romeroin aQuakedeathmatchin 1997. She was the first professional gamer signed to theCyberathlete Professional League(CPL).

Case worked forIon Stormbetween 1997 and 2001, conductingquality assuranceand level design. She left the company to manageMonkeystone Gameswith former Ion Storm employees Romero andTom Hall.After a stint atWarner Bros.managing the production of mobile games, she began working at various companies in business development and sales.

Early life

[edit]

Case was raised inOlathe, Kansas.Her parents are a science teacher and a social worker,[2]: 179 [1]and she has a younger brother named Andy.[3]As a child, she enjoyed playing computer games. Her first gaming experiences were withLode RunnerandJouston anApple IIecomputer her father bought when she was in second grade.[1][4][5]

Case attendedOlathe East High Schoolfrom 1991 to 1994.[6]As thestudent government president,[7]she was one of theplaintiffsin the 1995 court caseCase v. Unified School District No. 233.[6]During the trial, students and parents in Olathe successfullychallengedthe school district's decision to banAnnie on my Mindfrom the school library.[8][9]Case later attended theUniversity of Kansasin hopes of getting intolaw school.[2]: 180 

Career

[edit]

ProfessionalQuakeplayer and John Romero deathmatch

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While at the University of Kansas as afreshmanstudyingpolitical science,Case enjoyed playingDoomandDoom IIwith her circle of friends.[1][4]Through her then-boyfriend, Tom "Entropy" Kimzey, she became interested in playingQuakecompetitively. Case joined Kimzey's team, Impulse 9, and began competing under the name KillCreek.[2]: 180 This alias was taken from theLawrence, Kansasband Kill Creek, who had a member Case was friends with.[3][10]Impulse 9 competed in theQuakecompetitive league Clanring, and won the T1 championship event in 1996.[11][12]

After a few months of competing and making a name for herself, Case traveled toDallason a pilgrimage to meet some of the developers of her favoritefirst-person-shootercomputer games.[1][3]During her trip, she got the chance to play aQuakedeathmatchagainst the game's designer,John Romero,but was beaten by him in a close game.[2]: 186 After Romero put up aweb pagejokingly insulting her skill at the game, Case publicly demanded a rematch with him.[13]While Case initially struggled in the best-of-three rematch, she rallied back to win the first round 25–19, and went on to ultimately defeat Romero.[14]As punishment, Romero agreed to set up a web page praising Case.[1][15]

Case was twenty years old at the time she won the rematch in 1997,[16]: 104 and beating one of the co-creators ofQuakeat his own game brought her a lot of publicity. She gained a sponsor in computer mouse manufacturerSpaceTec IMCthat year,[13][17][5][18]and her victory against Romero received coverage inRolling Stone.[19]Angel Munoz, the founder of theCyberathlete Professional League(CPL), convinced Case to join his league in July 1997, becoming its first signed professional gamer.[20][21]She eventually became one of the league's original founders.[16]: 104 Case competed in the first all-femaleQuaketournament that year, coming in second behind Kornelia Takacs.[22][23]With the stability of sponsors and a $1000 monthly stipend from the CPL, Case decided to drop out of university and move to Dallas in the middle of 1997;[3][21]she said that while she had a passion for political science, she "was not excited about the day-to-day aspects of politics or practicing law."[4]

Transition to game design

[edit]

While playing professionally, Case began looking at game design as a potential career, stating, "I love games, and I love competition—but having no choice but to play the same game day-in and day-out with all sorts of pressure attached just didn't suit my nature."[21]According to Case, she did freelance game design work from her Dallas home for two years after university, using free design tools that she downloaded.[24]: 55 One of the first game levels she designed was forSiN: Wages of Sin(1999).[21]Setting up a small studio called Primitive Earthling Games, she and some friends created aQuake IIadd-on calledVengeanceand submitted it toWizardWorks.[25]However, it never became available for purchase due to publishing delays.[21][26]Between 1998 and 2000, Case authored threestrategy guidebooks forPrima Games:Jazz Jackrabbit 2(1998),Buck Bumble(1998), andDaikatana(2000).[27]She also contributed to theirQuake IIstrategy guide.[28]

Case withJohn Romero(left) andRichard Gray(right) atQuakeCon2000

Case was hired atIon Stormin the summer of 1997 as avideo game tester.[21][25]After numerous members of theDaikatanadevelopment team left during the game's troubled production, Case accepted Romero's job offer to become alevel designerin November 1998.[3][21][29]Case helped design levels forDaikatana[30]andAnachronox(2001).[31]It was during this time period that Case began to date Romero. According toDavid Kushner'sMasters of Doom,it was at this point when Case "radically reinvented herself" by losing weight, bleaching her hair, and undergoingbreast augmentationsurgery.[2]: 216 Case received further press coverage, appearing on the March 2000 cover ofPC Accelerator,[32]and being featured as one of the "Next Game Gods" in the November 2000 issue ofPC Gamer.[33]She was approached byPlayboyto appear in a nude pictorial, based on an interview she did in theLos Angeles Times.The pictorial was released online in May 2000.[4][34]When asked about how she changed after moving to Dallas and making video games a career, Case responded:

Making the leap to games helped me to realize that the only way to be truly happy is to live by your own rules, not limited by outside expectations. I love my job, found a wonderful boyfriend and truly found myself through games.[4]

Case was still involved in the Cyberathlete Professional League in some capacity. She eventually transitioned into being CPL's "Master of Ceremonies",[35]and in 1999, Case joined the CPL'sboard of directors.[36]

Case left Ion Storm in January 2001[37]to follow Romero to his new company,Monkeystone Games,which was founded in August 2001.[29][38]Monkeystone was a mobile game development company formed from Romero's interest in mobile games, sparked by him wanting to move away from the lengthy development cycles of big-budget computer games.[39]Case worked as a producer for Monkeystone's first game,Hyperspace Delivery Boy!,and also created the music and sound effects.[40]She also was credited on titles like Monkeystone'sRed Factionport for theN-Gage.[41]After leaving Monkeystone Games, Case became a senior project manager forWarner Bros.Online's mobile group.[42]

Sales and business development

[edit]

According to Case, she decided at this point to slowly transition out of working in the game development industry, stating in an interview:

There was a ton of harassment and hate and sexism and abuse. People would send me hate email all the time.... The benefit of connecting with people was so drowned out by how bad it felt to be in the spotlight.[43]

Case recalled receiving the opportunity to leave game development when one of her contacts approached her about a potential junior sales position at his workplace.[43]After leaving Warner Bros., Case was employed atTira Wirelessin sales and business development.[44]Afterwards, she held a position withSpleakMedia Network, where she was a director of product management.

In September 2008, she was vice president of business development and sales forfatfoogoo,an online commerce company.[45][46]Case also served as Senior Director of Business Development atLive Gamer,[47][48]and joinedPlaySpanin 2010 asvice presidentof sales.[49]PlaySpan was acquired byVisain 2011.[50]

On March 1, 2010,NewWorld,the former parent company of the CPL, announced that it had signed a two-year agreement with Stevie Case for the production of a new podcast show calledStevie FTW.[51]According to the website'sRSSfeed, the last podcast was uploaded on March 11, 2011,[52]and the last social media update was on the same date.

After working as the vice president of growth at San Francisco-based startupLayer,[43][53]in 2022 Case became the Chief Revenue Officer at computer security firm Vanta.[54]She is also listed as a participant in SheEO, a nonprofit supporting the funding offemale entrepreneurs,[55]as well as the female investor group 37 Angels.[56]

Personal life

[edit]

Case datedQuakeplayer Tom "Entropy" Kimzey, who was also a University of Kansas student and a member of Impulse 9.[2]: 180 According to the June 1997 issue ofSpin,they were involved romantically until the spring of 1997.[57]Case had also dated game developer Tom Mustaine.[58]

Soon after defeatingJohn Romeroin aQuakedeathmatch,she and Romero started dating. Case and Romero moved in together in 1999, but their relationship ended in May 2003.[3][16]: 252 

Case went on to marry a director of product development atTHQ,and had a child with him.[3][16]: 252 In a 2016 interview, Case stated that she had been a single parent with full custody of her child for eight years.[43]

Works

[edit]
Year Company Title Role/Position
1998 N/A (freelance) SiN Special Thanks[59]
1999 Ritual Entertainment/2015 Games Sin: Wages of Sin Additional Level Design[60]
2000 Ion Storm Daikatana Level Designer[30]
2001 Anachronox Additional Level Design Cleanup[31]
Monkeystone Games Hyperspace Delivery Boy! Producer, Music and SFX[40]
2003 Red Faction Creative Commando[41]

References

[edit]
  1. ^abcdefgLevine, Bettijane (1999-08-01)."She's Winning a Place in the Cyber History Books".Los Angeles Times.ISSN0458-3035.Retrieved2019-07-09.
  2. ^abcdefKushner, David (2003).Masters of Doom: how two guys created an empire and transformed pop culture(1st ed.). New York: Random House.ISBN0375505245.OCLC50129329.
  3. ^abcdefgKushner, David (2022-10-26)."Stevie Case vs. the World: A Pioneering Gamer Opens Up About Industry Sexism".Vanity Fair.Retrieved2023-12-30.
  4. ^abcdeKushner, David (2000-05-11)."Stevie Case".Playboy.Archived fromthe originalon 2001-02-15.Retrieved2019-07-09.
  5. ^ab"Killcreek interview".Electric Playground.Archived fromthe originalon 1999-02-03.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  6. ^abStevana Case, et al. v. Unified School District No. 233, Johnson County, Kansas, et al.(United States District Court, D. Kansas. November 29, 1995),Text.
  7. ^Kielwasser, Al (1994-09-22). "Queer Fall Preview!".Bay Area Reporter.Vol. 24, no. 38. San Francisco, CA. p. 13.At a news conference this March, Stevie Case, Olathe East High School student body president and lead plaintiff in the ACLU's case,...
  8. ^"Case v. Unified School District No. 233".University of Miami Entertainment & Sports Law Review.13(2): 288–290. July 1996.
  9. ^Scales, Pat (2009).Protecting Intellectual Freedom in Your School Library: Scenarios from the Front Lines.American Library Association. pp.22.ISBN978-0-8389-3581-1.
  10. ^"Chat With Daikatana Designer/Playboy Celebrity Model Stevie Case".Playboy.Archived fromthe originalon 2001-01-06.Retrieved2019-07-10.guest27: Are you talking about the band Kill Creek from Lawrence? steviecase: Yes, definitely. I borrowed my name from them, and they were very nice about it.
  11. ^Jebens, Harley (2000-04-28)."Quake Competition Upcoming".GameSpot.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  12. ^"blue's Quake News September 28-October 4, 1996".bluesnews.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  13. ^abSaunders, Michael (1997)."Queen of 'Quake' Making a Killing".The Boston Globe.Archived fromthe originalon 1999-01-17.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  14. ^Uttermann, Alex (August 1997). "Beating Romero At His Own Game".Computer Gaming World.No. 157. p. 42.
  15. ^Copel, Lib (2000-04-13)."Games People Play".The Washington Post.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  16. ^abcdChaplin, Heather; Ruby, Aaron (2005).Smartbomb: the quest for art, entertainment, and big bucks in the videogame revolution(1st ed.). Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.ISBN1565123468.OCLC60359576.
  17. ^Soete, Tim."KillCreek: Master Murderess!".GameSpot.p. 2. Archived fromthe originalon 2002-10-22.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  18. ^Brown, Janelle (1997-07-08)."Quakefest Gathers Warrior Geekstresses".Wired.ISSN1059-1028.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  19. ^Dovey, Jon; Kennedy, Helen W. (2006-05-01).Game Cultures: Computer Games As New Media: Computer Games as New Media.McGraw-Hill Education (UK). p. 128.ISBN978-0-335-21357-3.
  20. ^Fitzgerald, Brian R. (1999-10-04)."A Showdown at the Quake Corral Becomes a High-School Nightmare".Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  21. ^abcdefgLaw, Caryn."GameSpy Interviews - Women of Gaming: Stevie" Killcreek "Case--Ion Storm".GameSpy.Archived fromthe originalon 2011-02-24.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  22. ^Raney, Rebecca Fairley (1997-09-02)."Cyber-Amazons in a Death Match Sans Testosterone".archive.nytimes.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  23. ^"Kornelia Triumphs".PC Gamer.November 1997. p. 83.
  24. ^Reis, Ronald A. (2001).Careers in art and graphic design.Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series.ISBN0764116290.OCLC44979715.
  25. ^abJebens, Harley (2000-04-27)."KillCreek on Daikatana".GameSpot.Retrieved2019-07-11.
  26. ^Case, Stevie(1999-02-21)."Stevie" KillCreek "Case"(Interview). Interviewed by Josh Forman. Archived fromthe originalon 1999-04-20.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  27. ^"Books by Stevie Case".Amazon.RetrievedNovember 4,2011.
  28. ^Jebens, Harley (2000-04-28)."KillCreek Teams With Prima Quake II Guide".GameSpot.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  29. ^abTaute, Michelle (2007-12-27)."Q+A - Stevie Case".Print Magazine.Retrieved2019-07-09.
  30. ^ab"John Romero's Daikatana".AllGame.Archived fromthe originalon 2014-11-17.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  31. ^ab"Anachronox".AllGame.Archived fromthe originalon 2014-11-15.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  32. ^"Gaming 101".PC Accelerator.March 2000. pp. 17–39.
  33. ^"The New Game Gods".PC Gamer.Vol. 7, no. 11. November 2000. pp. 69–100.
  34. ^James, Michael (2000-09-04)."Playing for a Living".The Baltimore Sun.Retrieved2019-07-09.
  35. ^Humphries, Scott (2001-05-24)."Stevie Case Interview".IGN.Retrieved2019-07-10.
  36. ^"Speaker Biographies".Electronic Entertainment Expo 2001 Directory - Official Exhibit Guide(booklet). 2001. p. 34.In 1999 Stevie rejoined the CPL as a member of the Board of Directors.
  37. ^Gibson, Steve (2001-01-29)."Case Leaves Ion Storm".Shacknews.Retrieved2019-07-09.
  38. ^Ramsay, Morgan (3 June 2015).Online Game Pioneers at Work.Apress. pp. 256–.ISBN978-1-4302-4186-7.
  39. ^Howarth, Robert (2001-10-04)."MonkeyStone Games - An ex-ION interview with Killcreek, Romero and Hall".Voodoo Extreme.Archived fromthe originalon 2001-12-21.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  40. ^abStevie, Case(2002-01-25)."Stevie" KillCreek "Case Interview"(Interview). Interviewed by dolo. Archived fromthe originalon 2002-04-20.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  41. ^ab"Red Faction".AllGame.Archived fromthe originalon 2014-11-15.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  42. ^Steinberg, Scott (Summer 2004). "Love & Rockets - The stuff that makes girl gamers tick".Surge.No. 3. p. 58."All my fame came because I was female," admits Case, who now works as a senior project manager for Warner Bros. wireless division.
  43. ^abcd"Stevie Case".techiesproject.2016-02-23.Retrieved2019-07-11.
  44. ^Wigandt, Rebecca (2009-05-06)."Interview: Stevana Case, gaming trendspotter".Gamer's Intuition.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  45. ^"Stevana Case joins fatfoogoo executive team".fatfoogoo. September 30, 2008.
  46. ^Cardaun, Sarah (2008-10-01)."Stevana Case appointment"(Press release).Retrieved2019-07-09.
  47. ^Ashby, Alicia (January 19, 2010)."Live Gamer Hires Stevie Case".Engage Digital. Archived fromthe originalon August 15, 2011.
  48. ^Caoili, Eric (2010-01-19)."Live Gamer Hires Stevie Case For Business Development".gamasutra.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  49. ^Caoili, Eric (2010-08-31)."PlaySpan Appoints Stevie Case As Sales VP".Gamasutra.Retrieved2019-07-09.
  50. ^"Visa Buys Virtual Goods Monetization Platform PlaySpan For $190 Million In Cash".TechCrunch.February 9, 2011.
  51. ^"Stevie Case Teams With NewWorld to Deliver Stevie FTW Podcast".NewWorld. March 1, 2010. Archived fromthe originalon August 16, 2011.
  52. ^"Stevie FTW Podcast".feeds.feedburner(RSS feed). Archived fromthe originalon 2011-10-04.Retrieved2019-07-11.
  53. ^Case, Stevie (2014-07-23)."Why I joined Layer".Layer.Archived fromthe originalon 2019-07-13.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  54. ^"Stevie Case".LinkedIn.Retrieved2023-08-03.
  55. ^"Stevana Case".SheEO.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  56. ^"Angels".37 Angels.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  57. ^Kushner, David (June 1997)."Blood Sport".SPIN.p. 107.[Entrophy] plays bass in a local band, studies genetics, and until this spring even dated a University of Kansas student government leader who, I find out, is none other than I9's Kill-Creek, the Bonnie to his Clyde.
  58. ^Soete, Tim."KillCreek: Master Murderess!".GameSpot.p. 5. Archived fromthe originalon 2002-12-22.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  59. ^"SiN".AllGame.Archived fromthe originalon 2014-11-14.Retrieved2019-07-12.
  60. ^Ritual Entertainment(2015).SiN: Wages of Sin.Activision. Scene: staff credits.
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