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Many people know the words of the song, âDo you know where you are going to, do you like what people are showing you, where are you going to?â
None of us can foretell the future, but without having a clear vision of what we all want, and what we are working towards, none of us will ever achieve our maximum potential.
So, what is it that we want for eSports.
Without question the majority of gamers want:
A professional league that is well run and well funded,
Continual international competition, and
The ability to play on the most advanced systems available.
In order to âunpackâ the above, we need to look at each issue independently.
A professional league:
In order to run a professional league, you need to have numbers of spectators and a strong support structure. If you look at football and or rugby, you will notice that all professional leagues are characterized by the following support structure:
1. There are relatively few professional teams,
2. There are a number of paying spectators,
3. There is a strong system of amateur school, club and interprovincials leagues that can be used as a nursery to develop new talent.
As you will see from the above, every aspect reinforces the other.
The amateur leagues create the love of gaming and of competitive gaming, while they also draw parents and older gamers into the sport to provide the much needed volunteers to ensure the success of the sport. The amateur leagues to create the spectators who look up to, and follow the exploits of, the âtopâ professional players.
The spectators, in turn swell the coffers of both clubs and the professional league by purchasing memorabilia, purchasing tickets to view matches, etc. The spectators too have an important function to fill as they represent an outward showing of how popular the sport actually is. Of course you can âbusâ in supporters as a quick fix, and with modern technology, there are many ways of âbussingâ in spectators, but it is âbums in seatsâ that are the most important. Nothing is as important to a sponsor and to the very sport itself as the paying sponsor. Where would the Blue Bulls be today without its huge and loyal fan base. Certainly even Manchester United would not be the team it is today without its international team base. It is true that South Africa does also have marketable brands. It is not uncommon for the Mind Sports South Africa Protea team to be offered hard cold cash for their kit.
It is therefore vital that each club develops its brand and fan base to ensure long term success. This can be done in many ways and is probably best dealt with in an entirely separate article.
The professional league feeds of both the amateur leagues and the spectators. However, it is the successful professional leagues that generate the media coverage, and the huge amounts of revenue from sponsors and fans alike to further develop the playing fields and amateur leagues.
So as you can see each aspect is interconnected.
International competition:
Everybody who plays any sport has dreams of representing their country, of being the best, and of playing the best, but how do we make this possible?
International competition is always reserved for those who have proven themselves to be the best in their fields. International competition is not for the feint-hearted. Athletes from other sports go on fund-raising drives, and often dig deep into their own pockets to find the necessary funds to go overseas in order to represent the country, and to, more importantly, prove just how good they are.
However, it is all for naught if there isnât a strong feeder system in the form of amateur and professional leagues to nurture talent to produce the players that can play at the highest possible levels.
Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) has embarked on a policy of getting players back into international competition. In 2005 the MSSA sent a team to participate in the WCGâs Mobile Games Championships, sent a team in 2006 to participate in Taiwan in BF2142, and sent an individual to the 2007 WCG. In 2008 MSSA brought SK GAMING to South Africa, and in 2009 enabled a player to go to the WCG (Guitar Hero) and a player to go to DreamHack (Quake 3) as well sent two players to South Korea to participate in the IeSF Challenge (FIFA) in South Korea. Already in 2010 the MSSA has sent a team of two to New York for the LG Mobile World Championships and has commitments to the IeSF to send a team later this year to South Korea for FIFA and WarCraft III.
So, in short the MSSA has, since 2005, sent 19 players overseas and has further enabled a total of 11 South African teams (55 gamers) to play against a top international team.
You may well remember Bravadoâs outstanding performance against SK GAMING at the 2008 African Continental Championships. I get misty eyed, every time I think about it!
Amateur leagues:
The word âamateurâ seems to be a dirty word among gamers.
The majority of any sport, whether you wish to acknowledge or not, is the amateur â the person who plays the game for the sake of the game â because he/she loves the game.
The love of the game, and the love of competition starts at school where the interschool rivalry spurs athletes on to greater heights. The competitiveness spills over into club competition and into the amateur provincial and national championships where people play their chosen sport in order to prove their personal worth and for âbraggingâ rights.
However, it should be noted that amateurs are not necessarily worse than professionals â it is just that they are not paid! Often you will find top flight sportsmen and sportswomen who are amateur in name only, everything else about them is professional â their attitude, their training, and their behaviour.
In other words, what we are looking for is a change of mind-set where players get back to basics, re-examine why they play the game and play the game for the love of competing â no matter whether the outcome is a win or lose scenario.
Conclusion:
To reach the desired result, all the necessary structures need to be in place. Of course, I am not saying that we will achieve it this year, or even in two yearâs time, but it can be achieved if the majority of gaming organizations work together.
By ignoring any of the structures that need to be in place, any system will be flawed and will not bear a good harvest. Instead, you are likely to only have leagues that limp on from year to year, and where funding eludes all but the biggest.
Remember, we all feed on each other, and we all need to work to ensure that the eSports environment is conducive to investment.
By pulling down any one aspect of the community, the gainsayers weaken the whole and ensure that finances are not directed towards eSports.
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