{"id":11293,"date":"2011-04-13T13:46:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-13T11:46:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T22:00:00","slug":"south-african-gaming-the-good-and-the-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/11293-south-african-gaming-the-good-and-the-bad","title":{"rendered":"South African gaming \u2013 the good and the bad"},"content":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect those of MyGaming.<\/em><\/p>\n

I often wonder, as South African gamers, what do we have to put up with that other places on earth don’t? Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of being a gamer in South Africa. <\/p>\n

The Cons<\/strong><\/p>\n

First things first: Telkom. For any of you that have had run-ins with this monstrous company, you will understand the levels of hell associated with its name. For a long time they ruled us all, cracking the spiked whip, likely laughing manically all the while. Whether dealing with epic phone line waiting times, ignorant call-centre workers, or tardy technicians that arrive whenever they feel like it (usually while you are away and busy), there is no denying that Telkom is a total pain in the ass. <\/p>\n

Linking on to the last point, I would like to mention the bandwidth limitations we deal with. Sure, things have eased up with uncapping, better pricing and faster speeds, but still it can cost an arm and a leg to be an online gamer- specifically if you do not want to be shaped. While our line speeds are on the up, they are are still pretty weak compared to international standards. Then there are the wireless options such as 3G, which can offer reasonable speeds (signal dependent) but, when compared to land-based alternatives, are just exorbitantly priced. Sadly we live in a country full of dichotomies. While some areas have access to 10MB+ ADSL and great 3G signals, other places have to deal with endless cable theft and weak wireless connections.<\/p>\n

Next up we have local pricing. Now I know there is a ton of math and economics that factor into determining local pricing (all beyond me, I admit) but, as South Africans, I feel we often get shafted. Purchasing from overseas is frequently the cheaper choice, specifically when dealing with expensive items and hardware.<\/p>\n

Other cons include the distance from international MMO servers, as well as the limitations that come with playing on local FPS servers, such as limited player numbers of niche titles. Then of course there is our local Xbox Live service – don’t even get me started on that though. <\/p>\n

The Pros<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over here in the, R S of A, we are lucky enough to see little to no restriction of gaming based on content. Whilst other countries, such as Germany, Australia, and sometimes the US see heavy restrictions on violent content in gaming, we just get it all – yum! This is great for us since variety is the spice of life, and I swear, I AM over 18!
“Mom can you buy me Murder Splatter Killhouse 3. Pleeeeeeeease!!” <\/p>\n

Sure this could be argued as a catalyst for violence but, then again, it could be argued as a release of stress as well. Either way, we can have our cake and murder it. <\/p>\n

You would think that living in a small country, we would basically have to beg at the table of larger countries for scraps when it comes to gaming media and information, but we do not. We have great print publications such as NAG and PC Format, and then of course there is MyGaming as well as numerous local online gaming communities. <\/p>\n

To match our great publications, we have a more than adequate expo to go along with it – R@ge. Every year work is done to make it bigger, better, faster and stronger, and it usually shows. Each year it grows in size, quality, attendance and revenue generated. Sure there are some areas in need of attention but, hell, we as South Africans have our OWN gaming expo, which is pretty awesome!<\/p>\n

I am sure you noticed that I mentioned South African pricing also as a con. However, all is not what it seems, and often our PC games in particular are priced lower than the US or EU RRP. We are also seeing numerous titles matching European release dates, which is fantastic, considering how things used to be (frequently weeks to months of waiting). Then we have a slew of great specialty gaming retailers offering some great deals, and often great games even before they hit our shores.

To Close<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know there is work that needs to be done (obviously), but I am glad to say we have it pretty good over here. Being a gamer for over two decades, I have seen how things have grown, and I will say I am not disappointed. If you live in or near a CBD area, you will likely have access to some great gaming stores and, even if not, most will deliver at a reasonable price. The grass is pretty green over here, if you ask me.<\/p>\n

So what do YOU think are some of the pros and cons of gaming in South Africa? <\/a><< Share your views in the forums<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just how good, or bad do we have it in deepest Africa <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}