Watch out — Your Pessimism is Showing

What makes eSports great?

I asked myself this question this morning. As I woke up to emails responding to inquiries, replaying old VOD’s (demos) from the previous day to analyze, getting on a Skype call with some colleagues, and lastly is opening up the usual tabs in my browser. Nothing special on a normal ‘day off’ for me. I work a couple freelance positions, I have my own startup, and a part-time job to sustain myself. Time off really isn’t time off, but when I’m free, like many in this industry/community I find solace in my hobbies such as gaming, specifically eSports. Oh boy I love eSports.

Reddit, YouTube, Gmail, Twitch. It’s a glorious combination which has consumed 75% of my time in the last couple of years. These websites have produced some of the most nail-biting moments, some of the most edge-of-my-seat moments, some of the most disappointing moments and I’ll get more into detail about that shortly. Like many I sat back during the last couple of weeks and seen new media & eSports torn to shreds by traditional publications and news outlets.

Frankly, we’re not new to scandals. Controversies are prone to happen in any industry, but we have been under the limelight since the inception of eSports. By our very nature we are still debatably in our youth. We still haven’t — fine-tuned all the kinks yet. We still haven’t regulated our industry. We still haven’t figured it out.. “Sway you ain’t got all the answers!” someone out there is screaming at their monitor reading this. Do we have all the answers? Absolutely not, but that’s our advantage.

Advantage? How so? Simple. While capital continues to flow in, it legitimizes and keeps industry leaders consistently revising internally to ensure they are operating at a golden standard. A domino effect which opens up opportunities for more companies to come in and nod their head as they look at us and say- “alright, you’re clear, you’re tenured, lets do business” — or something along that line.. eSports have empirically been an industry that has mainly relied on developing partnerships which has backfired or hindered our growth admittedly.

They live they learn. It didn’t kill them, it made them stronger. Relevant example, shady sites. It is or shall I say, was a trend that puts big emphasis on luring communities into using them, exploiting them and milking for as long as they could. They were exposed and the rest is now history. Sites like those won’t be around for very long and now the dark days are over, at least for now.

Other examples can be found left and right.

Match fixing? Internal and external procedures put in place to deter that all-together.

Corrupt organizations? Leagues and commissions standardize and promote player protections.

Cheating? Leagues exercise extreme measures to deter cheating through a bajillion procedures.

International competitions? Leagues, players, and communities grow developing relationships with lawmakers and representatives to help players get to events.

Ethics, integrity, standardizing player development? Boards, commissions, leagues all combing forces to bring uniformity into eSports.

eSports loves us, but we don’t love eSports. At least we don’t show it.

We’ve come a long way since the days where LAN’s were hosted in small rooms with a capacity limit of 30 people. When organizations couldn’t afford to pay their players more than $10,000 even though they deserved it. When players couldn’t make a living but they suffered through it all as they all envisioned how eSports would be today, yesterday.

eSports has overcome some of its darkest moments that many said would cripple them entirely and I feel like people forget how much we’ve grown in the last 10 years alone so I’ll recount some moments.

Remember the time the Complexity Gaming lineup won ESWC 2005 beating out SK to win NA our first international event!

Remember the time the CompLexity Gaming organization yet again solidified the American scene as true contenders when they made it to the semi’s in the DW2013 Major!

Remember the time Riot expanded their league operating system in S3 of the League Championship Series to incorporate procedures and regulations which lead to cultivating golden standard practice!

Remember the time when a Brazilian team fought to contend internationally so they went out on a limb, came to America and now have won 2 international trophies (CS Major) under 2 organizations!

Remember the time Evil Geniuses defeated CDEC in the International 2015 (Dota2 Major) and won $6,634,661!

Remember the time the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) competitor attendance was a mere 700 in 2002 now comparing to the massive 4,000 international competitors. Breaking spectator/competitor attendance and broadcasting records each time!

Remember the time Overwatch as an eSports took over the world and went full skynet on us! You can’t do that Overwatch.. This is not FPL. PogChamp

Just naming some of these feats puts a firm smile on my face. My lips curl as I nostalgically ponder on the past and that smile continues strong thinking of the future to come. Nights like this remind me to think positive and push through it. We must all remember at the end of a rain shower there is a beautiful rainbow waiting at the end. I encourage all communities to remember there’s a rainbow out there with our name on it.

Remember the good. Spread positivity, hope, be nice to next Redditor instead of arguing and complaining. Remember that it’s not all upsides, but that’s life. We all go through our own inner demons but collectively as a whole we have done so much good that should absolutely overshadow the negativities. Communities have come together to find each other during times of distress, raised funds for teams in need, helped add prize money to prize pots, helped each other battle depression, traumatic events, societal stigmas and more.

So the next time you think CS is faltering just remember we have gone through worse and we will make it. We’ve become a drama fueled bloodsuckers and it goes against everything that makes us unique to the world around us. I encourage everyone here to take a challenge and better yourself. Set off a chain reaction so you positivity influences everyone around you.

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Hi. I’m a consultancy owner. I deal with eSports, numbers, management and more. I occasionally write and bake awesome pies. This is an opinion piece that reflects on my ideology alone. Like my shitty writing or want to get in contact with me? Twitter @MellowWalt or email homeoffice@esportsrda.net