Fort Worth Star Telegram July 23, 1998, Thursday FINAL AM EDITION SECTION: LIFE & ARTS; Pg. 3 LENGTH: 364 words HEADLINE: Point and flex BYLINE: TOMMY CUMMINGS, Star-Telegram Writer BODY: Angel Munoz, founder of the Dallas-based Cyberathlete Organization (www.cyberathlete.com), has a vision in which people known as cyberathletes receive the same respect as professional athletes. These cyberathletes train. They develop skills. But instead of laboring on a football field in Wichita Falls, cyberathletes dedicate themselves to the hand-eye coordination that makes them elite computer game experts. As many as 700 of them will be putting their skills on display beginning at 2 p.m. today at the Cyberathlete Tournament at the Infomart in Dallas. The four-day tournament, billed as the largest LAN-based (local area network) event in gaming history, features some of the nation's best gamers competing for a first-place prize worth $ 20,000. The official tournament, in which competitors go head to head in the computer game Quake, is limited to 256 entrants (others can enter if some don't show). Spectators can take in the trade exhibits and workshops or watch the tournament on big-screen televisions wired to the 32 networked computers, which are standardized with a 266-megahertz processor and 17-inch monitor. Many of the elite competitors have accumulated points and a ranking from other LAN tournaments. Ranking the players helps them secure sponsors from computer and game manufacturers, Munoz said. "Our whole concept is to approach it as a real pro sport," Munoz said. "We have people who want to rank well, just like baseball players want to perform well. " This is the Cyberathlete Organization's second gaming tournament. The first was known as FRAG, or Foremost Roundup of Advanced Gamers. The fall tournament drew 600 participants. Munoz said his event differs from those in other gaming leagues, particularly the AMD Professional Gamers' League (www.pgl.com). The PGL also holds events to determine gaming champions, but winners are determined through online competition. "Ours is a live event," Munoz said. "Instead of playing by Internet from our homes, we're trying to go the path of what people expect to see at a sporting event. "