Ben Gold was renowned 35 years ago as a champion gamer who held the world’s top score on Stargate, setting the record on his 16th birthday, in addition to records in Millipede and Q*bert. He appeared on ABC’s That’s Incredible, in Dynamite magazine, and Life magazine. He is also well known for his friendship with the embattled Billy Mitchell.
Ben has now begun to use his own notoriety to attempt to defend Billy Mitchell after the later was found to have cheated to achieve his scores. Gold has stated that he believes Mitchell is being unfairly attacked saying “I feel like Billy has been vaillainized. I want people to know he’s a very nice guy and a family person, fiercely loyal. That’s more important to me than video games.”
Gold is now claiming he witnessed Mitchell achieve the scores which have come under fire in recent weeks, and that they are legitimate. Gold has also stated there is no motivation for Mitchell to have cheated and that he had nothing to gain by doing so. The fact that Mitchell has achieved a measure of fame and attention that he parlayed into a career however, does raise some eyebrows. Gold then further claimed that Mitchell is the victim of a conspiracy that is out to discredit early gamers and that he is also being targeted.
While Mitchell may have his defenders, he remains blacklisted in the community and has not yet provided any new evidence thus far to exonerate himself. In the meantime, a lot of attention is starting to be given to early game champions who went unnoticed at the time, so some good has definitely come of this.
Gold even noted that Mitchell is getting a lot more attention now that he has in years, claiming attempts to erase him are backfiring. True he may be getting more attention now, but it doesn’t seem to be the kind he wants.
But what you all think of the matter? Do you believe Ben and Billy? Or do you feel the evidence provided tells the truth?