eSports

There’s been a lot of stirring controversy in the past month over the issue of eSports. By which I mean, KOTAKU has been stirring up a lot of controversy over the issue of eSports. As much as I want to berate the article and its mildly biased twisting of words – I actually want to thank Kotaku for going ahead with it, because it really helped to bring the community closer together.

About a month or two back I started to get into Starcraft II, REALLY into Starcraft II, and this inevitably lead me to The Internet where I traversed the sea of endless video replays, commentaries and teachings of the game. I still don’t know why, but Starcraft was just a game I really wanted to become great at. I’ve been an RTS fan for as long as I’ve been gaming, but Starcraft was the first to bring the determination to compete at a more than casual level. I started with The Day[9] Daily, which I was tipped off about by “Arkayla” over on our awesome forum (WINK!), and before I knew it I had become a regular viewer of Husky and JustinTV’s MANY live streams.

I began to love watching other people play. People better than me, playing video games for money in a way I dare not dream of, who I will likely never know or even interact with in any capacity. It was a very bizarre pleasure which I’d never experienced before. I’ve always been a heavy player and a light watcher but the enjoyment of watching some of these masters go to town live was strangely exhilarating. This was when Kotaku’s writer jumped out of nowhere to twist a professional gamer’s words into declaring that eSports were on the decline and that they were only enjoyed by weird, lonely freaks among the gaming community. Driving the point that she had a particular distaste for the idea home as hard as possible with the closing line: “Here’s to staying one of the Regular People.”

I realise I’m nearly a month late to the party, and most people’s pitchforks have been laid down and the torches extinguished, but SCREW THAT NOISE! What must happen to break this social standing surrounding games if even other gamers cannot resist the urge to look down their noses at others who love the same hobby as they do? Nearly 23 million people from over 150 countries tuned in to the MLG gaming event in June. Over $100,000 in prize money was won at the Global Starcraft League tournament. Not to mention the ridiculous sponsorships from some of the largest brands on the globe. I realise I’m new to this scene, having only been involved with it for a few months, but I will not stand idly by and not shout from the rooftops that eSports are the future for me.

Regular sports have always been rather dull to me, so maybe it’s the same for a lot of others when it comes to eSports, but when I first got into them I thought I was but one of a few. Thanks to Kotaku I found out that this is not the case as the uproar caused, from just that single article, showed me that there is a strong eSports community – and that I’m proud to be a part of it. I highly recommend that if you’re even remotely into the idea that you check out some eSports that are out there. Doesn’t even have to be Starcraft II, there are a shockingly high number of eSport games played out there right now. I’ve even seen some freaks playing Street Fighter IV!