By: Maddie O’Shea

A silence of concentration overwhelms the room. Fingers rapidly mash buttons and the sound of punches and kicks fill the air. Eyes follow the movements of Liu Kang as he takes the final punch, fatally knocking down his opponent, Sub-Zero.

Mike Sharif-Riazy, a 2013 Hershey High School alumni, led The Money of Video Games, one of many Community Day activities. Riazy wanted to make students aware of the networking that can help him or her succeed through his own experiences with Mortal Kombat.

From an early age, Riazy had a love for video games.

“I was born a gamer,” Riazy said.

He has always enjoyed collecting random Mortal Kombat memorabilia, following in his brother’s footsteps.  

Back in his childhood, YouTube was not as accessible as it is today. In its place, him and his brother found Mortal Kombat web forums which had videos of matches.

“Seeing those videos made me realize there’s a lot more to a game,” Riazy said.

Riazy soon began playing Mortal Kombat. He fell in love with its cool design, lore, and characters.

In 2011, Midway Games released Mortal Kombat 9. The game was created to be more competitive, and Riazy wanted to be a part of it. In his first “major tournament” he ended up placing 13th out of 144 players. From this point, he realized his potential for the game.

Riazy went on to compete in the Northeast Championships—what he considers his “debut tournament”. He gained immense popularity from this event.

“Ever had pressure, stage fright? This was the only time I experienced that,” Riazy said. “I had people behind me, shouting, cheering me on, watching, losing their mind over me playing video games. Nothing will compare to that.”

His success landed him a job at Kombat Network, where he runs, streams, and organizes tournaments. Each tournament, he gets paid $300 to $500.

From these competitions, Riazy has been intertwined into a large social circle.

“I just talk to people. Taking my hobby and meeting people, being social—you talk to them and find out some pretty nice things,” Riazy said.

Riazy has been offered a trip to Sweden to be the “right hand man” to a leader in the Kombat Network.

“Simple networking can get me to a nice place,” Riazy said.