{"id":11408,"date":"2011-04-20T09:25:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T07:25:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T22:00:00","slug":"the-growth-of-e-sports-and-how-we-re-killing-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/11408-the-growth-of-e-sports-and-how-we-re-killing-it","title":{"rendered":"The Growth of E-Sports (And How We\u2019re Killing It)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our columns section we ask various local gamers for their opinions on certain topics. These articles are meant to create lively debate, and the opinions expressed therein do not necessarily reflect those of MyGaming<\/em><\/p>\n

You have angered the nerd<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently I conducted a kind of, gaming experiment.  I decided to play the Starcraft 2 1v1 ladder (ranked matchmaking), and use the exact same “cheap” tactic every game. This tactic is called a “6 pool”, which for those who don’t play, is a tactic of the Zerg race to make attacking units as early as possible (long before anyone would reasonably expect you to get them in a “normal” game).  The reason this is so shady is it relies completely on catching your opponent off-guard and winning in the first few minutes. If it fails, the game is unsalvageable. <\/p>\n

Well, as of writing this I’ve done this for 10 straight games, and my record is currently 9-1. Of course, these fast ladder points came at the price of an enormous amount of internet abuse. People in online games are sore losers at the best of times, but beat them with such an underhanded strategy and it’s like taking a crowbar to Pandora’s Box.<\/p>\n

After an hour of having my insult vernacular substantially expanded, I began to reflect on whether or not it was justified. Certainly, in the same situation I’d be laying down a bit of anonymous internet fury myself, but I feel that’s more of a bruised ego than anything else. The shady tactics just serve as a convenient excuse for a loss, “you could never beat me in a real game”. <\/p>\n

Yet after all, a win is a win. Any situation in which you lost the game and your opponent won, he\/she played better than you. They may not be a better player overall, but in that match, you were outplayed. Certainly very few parallels exist in popular sports; a try scored off of a quick tap-and-go penalty when the opposition isn’t ready is still 5 points after all, and I’ve never heard any team berated for it. <\/p>\n

I’m better than you, n00b<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fact is there is a murky streak of elitism which meanders its way through the gaming community. New players are scornfully labeled as “n00bs”, and veterans make their experience known as often as possible. Gaming communities are generally quite closed, and new players may often be intimidated by the generally negative reception they often receive. This becomes a self-perpetuating cycle, newer players take their initiation of abuse and scorn until they become veterans, and earn the right to treat others the way they were. Noob empathy is not in the arsenal of the elite gamer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6pool: You’re doing it wrong<\/em><\/p>\n

The problem with this is that we want more people playing games. The more people playing video games, the better it is for us as a community in almost every way. A greater interest in games means more money to be made by potential investors. Anything that has the attention of the masses has the attention of the people with the fat wallets. <\/p>\n

A bigger community results in a much larger competitive scene, and the overall growth of e-sports. Big name sponsors, attracted by the large audience, will provide money for big tournaments with high production values. This is already showing in North America with the explosive success of Starcraft 2. Huge names such as IGN have started their own leagues with massive prize pools, and commercial sponsors such as Stride chewing gum and Sony Ericsson have sponsored individual players. Back home, we have the rising success of competitions such as the Do Gaming league, which is consistently attracting more players and more interest. Watching Call of Duty or Starcraft 2 on television is no longer a laughable pipedream, but perhaps a real possibility in the future. <\/p>\n

Self-defeat<\/p>\n

The only thing standing in the way of the rampant growth and success of competitive video gaming are the gamers themselves. This childish attitude of elitism discourages people from taking an interest in competitive gaming, and many gamers, who could be contributing to the growth of e-sports, whether as players or spectators, are put off by the poor reception they receive.<\/p>\n

This attitude has been highlighted recently in the torrent of sanctimonious outrage polluting the internet over the release of Crysis 2. I am referring specifically to PC gamers (the fact that such a distinction even exists further shows the poor attitude being discussed), who feel that Crysis 2 has “sold out” to consoles. This anger stems from the fact that Crysis can be run on its highest settings without reducing your computer to a quivering mess. The irony is that many of those campaigning against it probably have computers that are much better off with the reduced graphics. The internet is a bandwagoning catalyst, and gamers are some of the worst out there.<\/p>\n

   <\/p>\n

<\/em><\/span>Crysis 1.<\/em> <\/span>                                                                     Crysis 2.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m primarily a PC gamer, and I’m happy with Crysis 2 being a little more toned down than its predecessor (and no, not because I can’t afford a decent PC). The reason I’m happy is accessibility. I want to go online and have a big list of servers to choose from, with tons of people playing. I want competitive communities and tournaments and great content. These things come organically with a larger player base, and the more accessible your game is, the larger your player base can be. If this comes at the cost of not being able to floss my teeth in the reflection of a water droplet hanging from a palm frond, well then, so be it.<\/p>\n

As a community, we need to stop trying to be different or special – when what we should be aiming for is the norm. Something being popular doesn’t ruin it, it makes it better. The elitism, poor attitudes and immaturity need to go if we want e-sports to be taken seriously. As hard as the gaming community tries to grow e-sports, they also need to realize that they’ll be the ones who kill it.<\/p>\n

Are you an angry gamer? Do you crush nerd skulls under your boot heel and tell them they’re bad? Tell us about it in the forums, or leave your comments below!<\/p>\n

Are elitist attitudes hurting E-Sports?<\/a> << Have your say in the forums<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is why we can\u2019t have nice things<\/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-11408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11408","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=11408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}