Lots of International Game Tournaments; But We’re Still Far Behind
July 14, 2008 by eddyhan
When the first international based computer games competition emerged itself 8 years ago, many realized the potential of this “new content” has in the IT industry or any industry that was related. It was a huge success; seeing thousands of gamers actually participated in the event and some sponsors taking a bite out of the meat. Being a gamer myself, I started to believe pro-gaming would actually happen in Malaysia.
Although we were still pretty much pre-matured during that time, many companies were formed and tried to emulate what the US gaming companies or Koreans were doing. Every campaign was experimental and any setbacks that appeared at that time were deemed as challenges. Simple successes were still successes after all.
That was 8 years ago. Sadly even after the first emergence of the World Cyber Games, the only direction competitive gaming scene is moving nowhere but downwards.
With the rather disappointing conclusion of ESWC 2008 Malaysia few weekends ago, many of us still ponders if competitive gaming will still be gaining grounds in our country. Some still perceives competitive gaming is a billion ringgit business that will happen in Malaysia. Ambitiously there are rumors that some are still trying to make something happen.
The main question still remains unanswered: will they ever make it or be crashed and burn again?
Are the competitive gaming organizers doing a good job, or are they doing anything good at all?
The answer is very simple. No.
Year after year, local organizers are still repeating mistakes that were executed almost ceremonially. You may call it ego or maybe lack of perception on the wants and needs, but after so many years when bad goes to worse; even the blind knows that it is a sure tell tale signs that nothing is working.
Unfortunately they almost every time do not want to admit that they suck at organizing any game tournaments. More and more marketing ringgits and sponsorships funds were wasted on cosmetics and invested in conventional mediums that are not penetrative to the general public.
If any of us couldn’t realize it, all of us should know damn well that in any game tournaments in Malaysia honors the sponsors more than the gamers themselves. Corporate sponsors whether you like it or not are always measuring an event by how many products could I sell. The more products sponsors sell before, during or after the campaign, the more successful the event would be.
Every single part of the event is engineered for the sponsors and the organizer to rake in more money. Hence you’ll see superbly ridiculous exhibition structure or stages that gamers don’t seem to care at all.
In the end, the gamers were at the losing end. Being a champion doesn’t even feel that grand anymore. If I were to be a champion of something and all I win was some medal, a big mock-up cheque with ‘highly exaggerated’ value and a trip to some place which most probably going to end up like a cheap holiday, I’d feel stupid as well.
Don’t believe me? Come to the prize giving ceremony of any gaming event some day and see the winning expression of the people up at the podium. Hence the expression “muka sien” evolves.
There was once an ignorant fellow asked me: If you’re so goddamn smart on preaching such comments, then tell me what’s the best way to promote a gaming event?
Answer is even simple. The cash prize!
Believe it or not, it’s in our culture that people will measure the gains compared to the amount of time spent in a competition. Take example of any local singing reality shows.
With more than millions of dollars to be given away and album endorsement deals for the winner, any Ali’s, Ah Beng’s or Mutusami’s (not you Moots) will be camping outside the registration hall just to get a shot of fame.
With competition, you get quality singers. And with quality singers, you get international recognition.
Same thing with gaming, as long as anyone honors the gamers; any event will grow. Unfortunately they are willing to spend on road buntings and blog advertising which no one bothers in the end. Imagine how much cash prizes will elevate if all this unnecessary marketing is taken away? There’s a simple formula which I don’t want to elaborate in this article but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
However, the organizers are not entirely to be blamed. The immature gaming community is partly at fault as well.
Some gamers are always worried about how much money in a short span of time on the things they do best. It’s in their blood to think like that and it’s damn idiotic since they preached about playing for “passion” and “wanting to represent the country and kick ass outside”. But after that they will open their palms and ask “how much am I getting since I’m the champion if not I don’t want to play”.
Almost all the time I hear gamers whining and complaining about how screwed up a sponsorship deal or prize of an event were. “I play and win all the time, but all I get was freaking RM100 a month. This XXX company is stupid.”
They’re not stupid. Just like any businesses, they are trying to justify realistically. And it makes me sick to realize that all the gamers are being engineered to whine and not do anything about correcting the present and make a better future.
So far no one has taken the bold step to make it right. Maybe in the near future, someone might do it right.
Maybe.
Posted in 
Chapree
July 14th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Pretty insight article bringing much dire enlightenment to the pro-gaming industry. I agree that much needed room for improvement is inevitable and can no longer be stagnant
July 14th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
There are perceptions that pro-gaming industry doesn’t bring any lucrative offers for those who are involved. Furthermore, there are some who quit after losing and losing every single match.
Judging from the total participants of CELGames 2008, I really think that a lot of effort need to be made to encourage more gamers to participate in tournaments.
Hopefully, things can be improved in the future… xD
July 14th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Nvm eddy, you’re going to bring us something right xD
July 14th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I have to say, you are right, but how many serious gamers do we had in Malaysia? Unlike China, I see people playing in clans, even games like Warcraft 3, they play in clans, finding clans to challenge and a lot of gaming tournament around. They play and they think hard for strategy to win.
One thing I am really sad, even China has magazine about gaming strategy like Starcraft, they talk about the strategies, their pros and cons, the counter and everything. But in Malaysia, so far, I haven’t see a magazine that was able to talk about gaming strategy in a pro way, in a way they should be telling, a very detailed explanation for the strategy.
Furthermore, most Malaysia gamers are just casual gamers, they do not really wanted to think about the strategies, to work hard on finding the way of winning. That’s why I see so many people playing MMORPG, which u just go and meet people, leveling and bullied low level people because u are higher level or has some cash items to help u. As I can see from people playing DotA, they follow those item builds blindly, like once i was asked, why u buy MKB for PA, u should buy Battlefury. U need creativity and innovative in pro-gaming. That’s what people wanna see u do, something that nobody thought it was possible and u did it.
Another reason that is inhibiting Malaysian gamers going pro are the internet connection. I read a lot of articles about this problem, the internet connection which sucks. It barely allows us to play a smooth game with players from country outside the South East Asia. With less game to play, you possess less experience and all you got were skill that hardly gonna improve because u just found no one is able to train with u and u are less trained.
Piracy also proved a inhibiting factor of people going pro. Without the original copy, most game cannot be played online with other players and hence result in less skillful against non-AI players which their strategy will greatly varies with the AI. This just brought down the overall players’ quality in Malaysia.
However, the gaming competition scene is actually growing over the years as DotA gaining more and more popularity in South East Asia. With team Kingsurf that showed us, Malaysian gamers that we, Malaysians are possible to be world-class gamers. But I still see the internet connection in Malaysian is inhibiting their success which is a really sad thing to see. But with their recognition now, the government seems like planning to develop the gaming scene in Malaysia but I doubt they will really gonna do something that really gonna help the gaming scene in here greatly. But it is still a good start.
If one day, we could see a Malaysia gamer being the champion of WCG Grand Final, ESWC Grand Final, it might be able to opened eyes of many that we, Malaysians have the world-class gamers here, and developing our gaming scene is a great idea.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
nice eddy
July 14th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Well done. What a sharp and precise comment!
I have to agree with u that our local gaming scenes are going nowhere.
If you were to give these comments to the local organizers, they would give u numerous excuse of why certain things cannot be done. Some would tell you to “talk the walk and walk the talk”.
What we also need is to goto the BASICS.
The sheer basic of passion for games and the joy of organizing gaming events.
Let those that really passion about organizing to perform such task.
Find gaming hosts that have certain knowledge to be an MC for the events. Have u heard of a MC that said that he knew nothing of the game that he was hosting/ MC one of previous events.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
belive it or not, there is always a way and time to prove all this.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Most accurate example for this is probably ESWC Malaysia 2008. Where I hear the winners of Counterstrike receive no cash money, no traveling expenses, no flight, no accomadation but just gaming equipment and a seed into the finals!
Thats a joke.
Maybe that’s why more people are taking up DotA
July 14th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
nice article eddy.
July 15th, 2008 at 1:25 am
My 2 cent:
Waiting for someone to be the world champion is not the correct thing to do. It is not waiting that we should do. It is the action that we must start.
Even if there were world champion in Malaysia the community still wont grow if all remains the same. For example we already have Asian Champs here at Malaysia but do people actually care? Wait… do people actually KNOW?
If we all want the gaming community to grow. Everyone must realize their responsibility in the gaming community. One person wont change a thing. But a united community will.
And the community doesnt just involve gamers, it involves sponsors,organizers,medias and others. Only when everyone can be united and have a similar goal then the community will grow.
Until then, Malaysia will still remain at the same pace 8 years ago.
Just my 2 cent~ ^^
July 15th, 2008 at 6:31 am
I see the point in your comment si_jali. My mistake. XD
July 15th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Great article there Eddy. I totally agree with you and will vote you if you’re in the gaming elections haha XD
Really sad that organizers only think about themselves, the benefits they can get for their own company and ignore the gamers. Never even think of helping the gaming industry to grow and make pro-gaming happens in this country. All they think of is pleasing the sponsors because sponsors equal money. But if without gamers, i don’t think any event can be successful as well.
Really hope things will change in the future. What we can do, we will do the best to help the gaming industry to grow.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:22 am
what do you expect organizers to do, if they bring the gamers all the way to a worldwide grand finals, and all the gamers did was say “i don’t think i can win, sure cannot already” before they even start playing?
can’t say that organizers are right, but hey, you can’t clap with 1 hand.. i don’t know about other people but i believe we’ve done all that we could, ask loonatic, he was sent to Taiwan for training before, fully sponsored.
Well, what else would we do, if we don’t please the sponsors? If we don’t have the sponsors, we cannot even think or plan any event to start with at all.
I’m not slamming the gamers, but hey, think twice before you say that organizers only think about ourselves & the benefits for our own company. If this is so, there won’t be a WCG that allows over 1k gamers to join. Why can’t i just run a mere small event in some cyber cafe? Save money. Save my breath to get sponsors too.
p/s: Eddy, this reply isn’t directed to your article ya.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Yo June, thanks for your insights. Yeah no offense is taken since this is to promote constructive arguments. Glad that you replied.
Maybe my article didn’t state it clearly. But what I’m trying to say is that there are no evolvements in the gaming industry for the past 8 years. During the earlier times when it was a trial and error basis, anything is forgivable.
But after 8 years, the competitive gaming industry is still stagnant. You are right, game tournaments and tournament management has been improve, but the people that participates in the game events; the people who makes and breaks the competition has not improved at all. What I’m saying is maybe the focus should be improving the gaming community, not how many people join the event itself.
In2 without a doubt is still the professional in game management. And that’s it.
Check out international tournament organisers. They have awesome followups throughout the whole year. Nurturing their market is their main business. And in the end sponsors ride on their event to sell. Correct me if I’m wrong but in Malaysia it’s the opposite way. Nurturing the sponsors is the main business. And gamers rides on the event to go some place.
It’s already 8 years and it’s proven this method doesn’t work. Don’t you think so?
Non-moving; in the end of the day is still backsliding.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
gamers like me
do not have enuf exposure, in both local and international
and here we are lacking of competitiveness
see the overall example
our cs results are so so in the international, why? because we do have enuf competition locally and players nvr get the chance to travel to play ( beside singapore )
what about dota? Kingsurf has been in the top 3 in Pride for 2 or 3 times, won few outside competition…why?because ther are so many competition locally, and players are strive to improve to be the top…i personally dun like dota, but i haf to admit..they are good, reli good
same goes to fifa, thanks to winds and myfes..our players are competitive in international
me myself has been quite good in international, but lack of local compy…i’m now as bad as the noobs…no matter how hard i train, i still have no idea wher i stand by
July 15th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
“Root cause”
1. How many people at the very top(sponsors, organizers, media etc) dictating the competitive gaming scene in Malaysia are gamers themselves?
2. When gamers take a back seat toward gaming related events, it is obvious who the losers are in the end.
3. Money. If our champions cant event make enough to buy a kancil(don’t even get me started on petrol), how on earth are we supposed to dedicate precious time toward honing our talents?
4. Do you really want it? To be honest, I don’t see it anymore. It’s fine to come preaching about pro-gaming and all the things the community lacks in terms of support, sponsors and tourneys. In the end, the question remains… do you?
Take CGS for example, here they come along, giving KL a franchise, when by right you and I both know the competitive scene in Malaysia isn’t even up to snuff to any of the other cities chosen.
But yet, save for FIFA, most gamers in the CS and racing communities prefer to play 1.6 or NFS or whatever game it is. I just don’t get it. Is getting that RM7500 a month contract not worth your time and effort? It’s ridiculous when only 1 guy shows up for the DoA4 drafts.
You do realize that contract is in fact being able to call yourself, yes you! A Malaysian “Pro-gamer”?
Everyone talks and preaches about how there is not enough prize money, or how sponsors just don’t want to come in and sponsor teams/players in Malaysia due to piracy. How many original games do you own(that you bought with your own money)?
Bitch and whine all you want, but until you discover the root cause. We are all just chasing our own tails and going around in circles.
Stop the Tai-Chi please.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
so many interesting karangan here. lol
July 15th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
@ Grifter: …which is true! Everyone knows that the gaming community needs to step up their game in order to achieve something. And I’ve heard you’ve been trying to make something happen. Kudos.
With the current situation of the gaming community and after years of moulding them into what they are today, it’s going to be tough (but not impossible) to create a revolution of mentality among the local gamers.
The problem is pretty straight forward as we all know what it is. But the next question would be how can we do it and who would be the person experienced and patient enough to do it? You, me, the organisers, the sponsors or does it take all of us to form a symbiotic relationship?
Sadly, only some portion of the entity in this chart are actually doing something. And the rest are still… resting nicely at the “back seat” to watch something happen.
Again I want to highlight, our community has been engineered to “hyping at the problem”, “jumping on the slightest opportunity to flame”, whine, bitch, giving 101 excuses. The lack of gaming education, lack of proper guidance and constant disappointments has been known as part of the reason why we turned like this.
You and I know that we’ve been putting our effort for so long. But for what?
And if we were to start fighting again, who’s with us? Is there anybody out of the circle are willing to listen and join us?
July 15th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
most of the gamers are getting olders…despite still having the burning desire to play game, they still need to think about feeding themselves…malaysia gaming scene not as big as US or Korea, where there are less job oppurtunities in our gaming “industry” (if we have 1 lar)…for me, i take myself as a gamer, from arcade, PC, consoles - i play all, u can c me play wangan/battle gear/time crisis in midv or sunway, sumtimes tekken n KOF in sg wang, play the WE league (organize by munwai),i took part in some of the tourney - first of all in the ESWC2004, but as i’m getting older, there are some needs to be fill, so here i become, a casual gamer, got time, got chance, participate, if not, just live the life norm as it be…but if i’m rich, that will be a different story already…just my 2cen of life reality…of me n winningkaki (doctor, engineer, lawyer n lots of fren who worx still play game, but as i told earlier, they need to carik makan too…)
last but not list - anybody here play game to feed themselves?
July 15th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Years and years has passed and yet no one knows which is the clear direction to make things happen.
Even if we do fight for it, where do we start first.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Just to throw in my own two cents, I’d like to say that while I agree with the majority of Eddy’s post, I differ on his take that offering just a large cash prize is the best way to promote an event. If no advertising is done, the event will only attract the hardcore gamer crowd, which are the only people who may be bothered to check websites and participate in discussions on game forums. The rest of the gaming crowd probably won’t bother to find out about such events.
And then when you have the competition, usually only dedicated gamers, clan members, and friends and family members of the competition winners will stay on to the end of the event. If you don’t have any other stage activities, events, exhibitions, or game booths for gamers or visitors to partake, then a game event can quickly become very boring. A sparsely populated gaming event doesn’t leave a good impression on sponsors, who often need to send a report to their HQ explaining why they should continue to be given a budget to participate in a competition. Which is why advertisements are necessary to attract not only hardcore, but also casual gamers too.
While I agree that gaming tournaments in Asia, or rather Malaysia in particular is quite a different kettle of fish when compared to international events, I don’t think that it’s all too different. Organizers can’t simply come up with the money to run an event by themselves, so they need to appeal to sponsors to come up with the difference.
Just to clarify, I’m not trying to take the sponsors’ side here. I also think that some sponsors can be quite an ass sometimes. When we were in the planning stages for GameAxis LIVE!, we experienced a number of setbacks and weird demands from some potential clients that nearly caused a few of our blood vessels in our head to pop. But like you rightly point out, an immature gaming community is partly to blame to declining competition standards, but I think that’s a separate topic to talk about another day.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Interesting… but something off at a tangent.
So how would you define a ‘pro gamer’? I’ll hazard a guess that many would call themselves ‘pro gamers’ especially in the current game trend, aka DoTA. But what really makes a pro?
I’ve played in tourneys and i can say for sure that our so-called professionals are totally unlike the professionals i’ve played against. E.g. Singapore. I know of a Singapore guild aka clan leader who quit his degree just to pursue a career in gaming full time.
Fat Cat Lim>> Notice how only clans are mostly present at competitions and tournaments? Put a mashed group together of casual gamers and they get steamrollered. Happened during the BF2 competition in last year’s CEL2007 at LYP.
I know because i was playing for XEF. A group by the name of Ghost Recon(totally new!) were beaten in 5minutes flat by MBT, at least, i think it was MBT(an albeit, new group at the time which had members from XEF and @MP)
July 15th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Ehem in Malaysia i noe a person who quit his medic degree for gaming.
LOL ^^
July 15th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
@ Fat Cat: You’re right that maybe advertisements and promotions should be included in a certain gaming event as part of parcel. However I still think it should be prioritized less and put a bigger prize money upfront as the cheese of the event.
Simple put it this way (I’m gonna exaggerate a little here), let’s say a gaming event which invests RM50,000 on advertisements, and RM5,000 on prizes. Imagine what impact would that bring? In another way around, how about RM50,000 in cash prize or a pro-gaming contract and RM5,000 on advertisements? Don’t you think it would be the appeal factor? Which one do you think look more enticing? The only problem is organiser’s could not provide the correct weightage between the prize money and the so-called advertisements.
In fact, scrape the good looking booths. Look at CPL at it’s earlier successful days. It’s done in a hotel ballroom with nothing but buntings, oblong tables and cables. And oh yeah some sleeping bags. The idea is to get more gamers spreading the word, and get more gamers involved.
If you could pull in casual gamers, how would that help? What initiatives had any organiser done to make them be involved further?
But you do have a point that sponsors should not be neglected, and I didn’t say we should. At the moment, I still feel that the gamers are being back-benched and sponsors are being spoilt too much too often.
Look at what we are now? The current competitive gaming industry industry is the product of what we have molded for the past few years. By saying “we”, I’m saying everyone involved.
Again I stress, no one has answered me. What would be the correct balance to make things right? And who would be the one to make it right?
Will the real slim shady please stand up?
July 15th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
what do you expect organizers to do, if they bring the gamers all the way to a worldwide grand finals, and all the gamers did was say “i don’t think i can win, sure cannot already” before they even start playing?
Quoting what June said, yes I believe last year at the World Cyber Games Finals in Seattle, most of the members on Team Hybrid did actually say that, that was because we were indeed without one of our players which was rico. This was because he couldn’t obtain a visa for the USA. With that we had to find someone within 24 hrs who had a visa, and we found one, but sadly he didn’t know how to play Counterstrike. With that in mind, we lost all our hope and we were obviously telling the truth.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
visa problems f***ed things up pretty badly last year.
the stage events.. could be handled better. come on who wanna see little kids & bapoks dancing on stage during a gaming event. have something more relevant la. rofl
i like how wcg has stage matches and matches shown on projectors. it doesnt have to be the finals to be shown on the big screen or on stage. ask the gamers, which team or individual have rivalries/history or something like that. would make a good match to watch tbh.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
@ Aoshi_88: By right, the definition ‘Pro Gamer’ refers to someone who actually makes a living out of competing in videogame tournaments. Much like a professional athlete who takes part in various sports events around the world. Hence the difference betwen a standard athlete (a person who takes part in a sporting event, but derives no main income from it) and a professional athlete (a person who takes part in a sporting event AND is making a living out of it, either through winning competitions or is sponsored by a corporation).
In Malaysia, calling someone a ‘pro gamer’ tend to mean either a person who regularly plays in competition and is good enough to win some cash prizes, or a person who can play really well. Personally, I think we aren’t really ‘Pro Gamers’. At best, we are ‘Amateur Gamers’. And by the term Amateur, I don’t mean a lack of skills. The term Amateur is usually used for sportspersons who don’t receive regular remuneration for their participation. If Fatality wasn’t sponsored by companies or in a clan regularly winning competitions, he would be known as an Amateur Gamer - a really, REALLY good player, except he doesn’t make a living out of it.
I think it’s important to attract the casual gaming crowd to make them realize the difference between gamers who regularly plays or trains in a clan. Not all of them will pick up gaming as a profession or see it as a good way to win money, but a few who persevere will, especially those who remain dedicated even after losing to the ‘pro’ gamers.
@ twenty06 (you’re Eddy, right?): I do agree that a lucrative cash prize is a good attraction for gamers to participate. That’s why we highlighted the ‘Up to RM25,000 in cash and prizes to be won’ in our newspaper ads and commercial. Unfortunately, advertising isn’t cheap and most of the time, sponsors aren’t that willing to fork out a large cash prize. Sometimes, we the organizers have to come up with the money instead.
Take advertising in the newspapers as an example: a black and white half page ad in the Star will probably set you back about RM3K+. And that’s in their normal Metro section. For IT it’s even more. Color ad? Add another RM2K+. You want a full-page ad? Get ready to pay tens of thousands of Ringgit. And that’s just for one ad. Putting a single ad in the paper isn’t enough to remind the public of the event.
For GameAxis LIVE, we ran 5 ads in the Star order to increase maximum exposure to the public. We also ran a commercial on Animax-Asia channel in Astro, as well as distributed flyers to all the various colleges and unis in our MINI Mobile Explorer. We didn’t want our event to turn out like previous gaming events which fizzled and failed because of poor turnout due to little publicity.
For GameAxis LIVE, we managed to break even as we had to make various concessions to our sponsors in order to attract sponsors and exhibitors as they were wary about the success rate of such an event. Thankfully, GameAxis LIVE was well accepted by the public and sponsors.
Sure we could save some costs in doing the event at a hotel ballroom instead but it wouldn’t have the same impact, exposure, and walk-in crowd compared to an exhibition hall within a shopping centre. Competitive gaming in Malaysia isn’t so big and self-sustainable until we can only depend on gamers to participate. Hence the fancy-looking booths and the booking of expensive exhibition areas in more public areas. And admittedly, who doesn’t like a nice-looking booth? Even many gamers today are complaining that the E3 booths now are too blah and formal.
I don’t believe there’s a single solution, person, or panacea to all of this. It’s a gradual process, and everyone has to do their part. I try to do my part as a gamer, as one of the media, and also as one of the organizers. As a gamer, I try to play my part by telling everyone how fun videogames are and that it isn’t detrimental to my well-being. As a member of the media, I try to spread awareness to other local gamers the importance of buying and playing original games to encourage the growth of the local gaming industry. Finally as an event organizer, I try to increase publicity of the tournament and showcase, as well as make things as smooth as possible for gamers and visitors who come to the event.
Hopefully others will do their part too.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:40 am
@ Jali: yeah jali…except u
u’re exceptional + got business already…rite?
July 16th, 2008 at 12:49 am
How about calling gamers as semi-pro gamers? They also regularly join tournaments and competitions and won prizes. At the same time, they also have normal life such as working or doing business. The main example that we can see is Jali… rite? xD
I just wondering, whether we should have a Malaysian Gamers Society, just to cater the needs of all players who represent Malaysia. We have a lot of clans that are active in tournaments. Therefore, we can try to make things organized and co-ordinate with the games organizers to ensure the quality of the tournaments.
Just my 2 cents though, please C&C… xD
July 16th, 2008 at 1:10 am
haaachooo..
ohh no wonder i sneeze..
someone call my name here..
lol ^^
July 16th, 2008 at 1:20 am
*muka sien* =P
July 16th, 2008 at 1:50 am
@ TPK: Actually, I forgot about that term. *smacks forehead* Gah. My England is really going downhill.
July 16th, 2008 at 11:01 am
@StaiN - i wasn’t talking about you guys lah…… *pats*
July 17th, 2008 at 12:10 am
Junieee.. I didn’t say you were la. Thats why I just admitted that Hybrid did do so ;p ahhaha
July 17th, 2008 at 8:53 am
All the karangans…
We should something some conference or something. Shit I’m late for an appointment!
July 17th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Hey nice article there. I don’t know who’s Eddy though. I don’t know 90% of the guys who posted their comments here. I do know Grifter from FMJ (never spoken more than 3 words), Aoshi_88 is one of the BF2 guys i think, nles is some dota guy, si_jali some racing gamer, and Fat Cat Lim (the only one I actually met and had a conversation with albeit not about competitive scene). I dunno who the heck is twenty06.
There’s a point I’m making here actually, I’m just as interested in building the competitive gaming scene (I don’t like the term ‘pro-gaming’, it spawns ego) as much as any of you. All of you have your own ideas. But I don’t know most of you. We don’t exchange ideas face to face. We rant behind an online facade. Some of us are gamers, some of us are sponsors, some are organisers. We’re all here - reading/commenting on this. Do you guys know each other personally?
July 17th, 2008 at 11:19 am
@ZipD agreed.
btw, jali is the FIFA player o_Oa!? he won like top4 at the wcg grand finals 2005 and also won the wcg asian cyber games in 2006. (AM I RIGHT JELLYFISH???) lolol
July 17th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
what i believe is the support from the public and the gov, like example the olympics or any real life sports event if u told ur mum and dad that u r training for olympics or any sporting event im sure atleast ur mum or dad will support or atleast will let u go ahead with it and when u win ur parents sure will be proud of u but when it comes to esports people will say u just know how to play games,waste time bla bla so u see the difference there,its our malaysian culture u can just ask anyone 1 and they say playing games for life =no life.
July 17th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
GRrrRrr @ZipD
I am not “some dota guy” >__<
July 17th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
@ZipD and one more thing, I knew 80% of the ppl who posted here xD
July 17th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
hmm terpress enter before i finish writing and then posted o.O and i dunno how i can edit it lol
well anyway what im trying to say that is the malaysian culture to think that pro gaming =stupid and no life and public or the gov wont support those gamers with that as they think its better to get a real job and earn money instead so what organizers,gamers or anyone should do is educate the public let them know that pro gaming it not a waste of time but a professional job that can bring pride to the family or the country.
and also the participants in all the tourney,everytime i see the people that join any tourney at all are the same people and are always the same people that is only winning in the local scene,we have no new blood nor competitive competition cuz its always the same guy winning again and again and again,we have no growth at all when come to the gamers themself or u can say the local talents are just so limited,its always u see in the finals is A VS B every year and every tourney that is available in malaysia.we are stuck with those gamers only and when they reach their peak performance and sent them to international tourney,they are forever stuck at that placing or ranking and still every year we sent them there and still malaysia is always at that placing in the world.
we really need more new blood!i dunno how we should do it but some way or another if this is continuing on malaysia is forever stuck are where we are now.Our gamers are just not that competitive enough
p/s no offense to the winners and sorry my english sucks,hope u guys understand wat im trying to say lol XD
July 18th, 2008 at 12:26 am
LOL
si_jali = racing gamer
Then Forza = FIFA gamer?
I think jali sucks in racing game la hahaha =P
July 18th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Been saying this for god knows how many donkey years …
Its great that passion gets you that far. Sad to say, passion does not put food onto the table.
Pessimist, you say ? No, just ultra realistic. Bottomline at the end of the day, its all about the money.
Lol, with certain parties [names have been omitted to protect the guilty] still running major tourneys based on a profit margin, things wont change anytime soon.
I had an interesting conversation with a journalist from The Star just the other day regarding this topic. If we are ever to get out of this runt, we’re gonna need a massive paradigm shift from society as a whole.
Until then, the entire collective of Malaysia ‘gamers’ are still waiting for that ever elusive pipe dream to materialize.
Hi nles, Mr DotA Guy. LOL
July 18th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Been there done that, still it doesn’t change. No matter what. Once the semangat dies off, no one will pick it up and continues. No matter what, sponsors or the organizers will always look at the bling bling in return. It all runs down to the facts and figures. So does the gamers in another way. No offense here.
I notice 1 thing tho. When a gamer is down in line, everything goes, everything is okay. But as when the gamer ego climbs higher, so does the demand. So in the end, is there a professional gaming term in Malaysia?
Last time, cash prize 3k, is already a hoohaa in the community. Now…10k is a norm. But its kudos to several parties whom still keep on nurturing the gaming scene in MY. Call it publicity, call it marketing. Whatever it is, they are still dumping in the bling bling into the gaming.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Need gomen to change so new gomen implement bestest education for all then everyone won’t be stupid and argue their ignorance hence, making not only bestest e-sports tournament possible but a generally better a better population who can share same goal. No?
July 18th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
@ZipD..
Eddy = tewnty06 is a LEgendary Hacker =x
btw.. WGt (world Gamemaster tourment) is coming soon .. come Give some support…. remember bring camera along =x ( showgirl phewwit)..
July 19th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
superb essay & great 2 cents!
July 21st, 2008 at 9:09 pm
ZipD>>I went from BF1942 to BF2 and then BF2142 and finally CoD4 with XEF before i quit gaming. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I’m pretty much into photography now. >_<
July 24th, 2008 at 4:15 am
nice 20cent worth of thought provokengness eddy
here’s mine:
i don’t think cash prizes are really the answer although they’d be good incentive to improve a better established market, which unfortunately comp-gaming lacks here. we’re so niche even my underwear has bigger holes than that. but dirty laundry aside, the main problem on the other end of the spectrum is really the mentality. we can debate logistics and resource but if nobody has that will to try, it’ll never happen.
perhaps the organizers should focus on making the comp gaming events and experience for the spectators rather than just something grand to draw sponsors to the event. right now most of the major events i’ve attended either have very limited spectator appeal or look like an attempt to make gamers a mobile product placement object. there’s almost no real motivation for the casual spectator to actually return to the next event or something similiar.
the problem in question for the organizers to address is how to rebrand the concept of comp-gaming into something that every young kid can look forwards to.
take snooker as an example. it’s not exactly the healthiest sport nor do most people play it in the best of environments, but the tournaments itself are so conducted so downright pro you just can’t help not taking it seriously.
i haven’t been to the recent major tournaments but the ones in the past have been continuous letdowns. while i appreciate that events like the wcg are being conducted in convention centers, there was simply nothing to “experience” apart from a few demo games or finals that were done on the projector. most times, the casual spectator would only notice a) booth girls/product, b)gamers playing on computer.
the mini tournaments themselves aren’t exactly helping the comp-gaming image. i’m of course referring to the ones conducted inside public shopping malls. not pointing fingers at anyone but while on the surface it looks like a great publicity stunt, it makes the whole idea of playing games on computer seem cheap. not all gamers themselves aren’t exactly role model materials to follow, especially the ones who’ve been training up all night for the tourney the next day. it’s almost juvenile.
to requote what 20 wrote, organizers have the resources to burn for buntings and nice poster designs, but are they really the things that attract the sponsors? how about large crowds who are actually at the event and participating in it.
i’m not writing about those little trivia questions and prizes, i’m writing about creating that experience for the spectators so that they’ll want to come back to your next event with their friends as well. now How… is an entirely different matter that is too long for the humble length of my posting..
if you asks me, the people who have the best chances at improving the scene rests in the hands of the organizers. i’m not trying to taichi this at them, but all things considered, they’re the ones with better chance at doing something since they have more resources, manpower and control over this situation, at least way better than the lone ununited gamer. build up the comp-gaming image and it will carry the organizers along with it.
we could wait for a paradigm shift to happen and hope the next generation of millenials take a cudgel at bringing up the scene but given the current attitude towards comp-gaming, it’s very unlikely anyone will see the wisdom in doing so.
a bunting can be changed in a month but a mentality shift is going to take a lifetime. we might not all be around even when the day comes for people to actually attend a major comp-gaming tournament like it was the Second Coming but hey, we all got to start somewhere.
So organizers, what’s your move?
July 24th, 2008 at 4:26 am
just something to add, why we can’t really depend on the gamers. most of them are the byproducts of the country’s education system and old brass cultural thinking where it’s all about self preservation and picking apples from the safest orchards hence my stand that at this point, i think its we need the organizers to come out and take the first steps.
make a change, who knows, maybe even the backseaters will start leaning forwards.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
this discussions brings back memories of my days at CHMY… “jangan jadi pro-gamer, jadilah programmer”. lol.
July 26th, 2008 at 12:34 am
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July 27th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
wornshorn is a girl dat is all
July 28th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
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August 3rd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
because there is no enough facilities , peoples from other countries who are far from kuala lumpur cannot go there ,maybe they should try to put some tournament registration in other cities in malaysia also.like in east sides