Well, we’ve come to the wonderful, inspiring day of my week and I’m honored to be posting on this story. I just want to say thank you to my friend Matt for sending me this story. Thanks man!
Today, we’re going to be talking about a gamer that I truly admire and respect for how he’s lived his life and how he’s allowed himself to still be able to enjoy the gaming world and his personal life with a joy for life rather than begrudging his personal struggles. His name is Matthew “LookNoHands” Fink – a prolific Starcraft player and amazingly inspirational gamer.
This guy is fantastic - watch him play Starcraft and your jaw will drop.
I only found one decent video interview with Matthew [ and it’s a long one ] but it’s phenomenal to see how positive he is towards life. He’s a brilliant mind and I applaud him for all his success. ESL TV did the interview with him, and I actually applaud them too for providing the interview with such respect and dignity to Matthew. Matthew’s positive outlook on life is something that should be truly cherished by everyone and I think it humbles all gamers and makes any of us appreciate the way we individually play games and interact with others.
Matthew was born without a spleen and this caused his body to be massively susceptible to infections. He acquired an infection and it required the doctors to have to amputate his limbs at 1 1/2 years old. I’ve been in hospitals frequently throughout my life, and I’ve experienced what it feels like to be a hospital child – but I love Matthew’s attitude regarding his situation. He’s never known life without the situation he’s been given, and so he’s focused his life to benefit what he can do – rather than focusing on what he can’t. The fact that he’s a gamer on top of it all – is fantastic and the man is brilliant! BA in International Relations, PERFECT scores in Science and Math on SAT- and he’s planning on going to GRAD school for Political Science and MEDICAL school!
Way to go man!
Why does his story mean so much to me?
Well, just watch him play – and then you’ll see why this story touches me so much. I’m a huge advocate for game accessibility and providing more and more options for gaming for all players. I love that he doesn’t use any special equipment or hardware – he uses a keyboard and a mouse. I think there’s a lovely quote that he says in the interview that I think people need to take away from most gaming:
“I think it’s cool, Starcraft in particular, is a really neat opportunity for someone like me and for other people with physical disabilities because it’s – once you get to a certain level – about how your mind works, rather than how fast your fingers work.”
I love that he sees his gaming outlet as a way to compete with others without any assisted adaptations – I can’t tell you how much that touches my heart and makes me admire this man even more. He’s a phenomenal player with a phenomenal view on life whose message – I hope will influence other gamers to realize how blessed they are and how humbled they should be for their plastic controllers and ability to use them.
” I’m a very competitive person, and I’ve competed in all sorts of things – debate – I swam for a while, I’ve done stuff like that and that was nice and I really enjoyed it, but it was never quite enough. I could never compete against others without those sorts of adaptations. It was always ‘He did really well, but’ – and so this is a real different opportunity. This is the first time where I’ve really ever gotten the chance to [ measure yourself against everybody ] Exactly.”
So – here’s to you Mr. Fink! I’m inspired by you man – you make me appreciate my life and humble me to look at my own physical limitations with a renewed sense of confidence. You are my Inspirational Gamer of the Week sir and I hope that your journey around the world to support the play of StarCraft 2 and accessibility for disabled gamers – helps to provide encouragement to others and open the eyes of future developers to see how truly remarkable some of their valued players can be!
You can even like him on Facebook and follow his progress as he draws his world tour to a close on his Facebook page:
Fantastic gamer – fantastic individual – inspirational for sure!
Gastrogamer 