Michael Vlaicu is a name synonymous with the mobile video game, Call of Duty, because his performance remains top-notch. As a result, one of the most energetic faces on the mobile gaming scene internationally, goes by the moniker ‘Starbeast’ too. The tag signifies the number of followers who hang on to every move of Michael’s within and outside the gaming scene.
Born in 1986 in the communist Romania, where the country was dealing with a simmering civil revolution, Michael was introduced to difficulties early on, with long queues outside bread stores. Even a simple drink of juice was hard to come by because of sky-rocketing prices, which the common Romanians found hard to pay. However, Michael’s family decided to take things into its own hands, moved to Canada eventually, in hope for a better life. While the hardships were far from over, the family was at least safer and in a more egalitarian atmosphere.
More than anything, it was here that Michael got introduced to the exciting world of video gaming. For young Michael, who was only 9 at that time, days were spent scouring the streets for discarded furniture, since they didn’t have money to buy new one but the only respite was the local gaming parlor. Young Michael would spend hours after school daily honing his skills on the Super Nintendo. Soon enough, he had gained a reputation as quite the gamer among the neighborhood kids.
Talking about his transitioning life from Romania to Canada and eventual unveiling of the pleasures of video gaming, Michael says, “We would line up for bread for hours, I would eat meat only once a week and cheese was a luxury to come by. As a kid, I remember telling my parents that I wanted to have Tropicana juice, but they could not buy it for me because it was damn expensive. Finally, when we reached Canada, I got introduced to video games and it opened doors to a tremendous new world for me.”
Michael’s father also noticed his son’s liking for the world of video games and bought him a MS-DOS computer. Subsequently, Michael was hooked on to learning C++ programming language as well as typing, both of which made him excel in the later part of his life as a video gamer. Today Michael is one of the fastest computer typists in his province with a typing speed of 130+ words per minute and 99% accuracy. Owing to his fast-typing speed, Michael has also received several accolades and honors in the gaming world.
The Starbeast is today the undisputed leader of his community of gamers and followers, for which he credits his early days as a novice gamer. Reflecting upon his life so far, Michael says, “It was during my time with StarCraft & Warcraft that I noticed my typing skills came in handy. I felt like a superhero among my competitors, and I just wanted to keep that exhilaration going.”
Being a Facebook Gaming pro, Starbeast’s exclusive stream as one of Facebook’s biggest partners, continues to revolutionize the gaming scene with his Call of Duty Mobile game play, in which he pushing intelligence in an aggressive manner, earning many young followers in return. Obviously paying a tribute to thousands of his fans and gaming colleagues, Michael has the last word, “COD Mobile is my favorite game of all time. This is the future – it allows you to play on PC, Tablet and Phones.”
