StarSlay3r's Gaming Blog

As you guys may or may not have known, I've been competitively gaming for about 10 years now. In the past ten years I've watched the gaming industry get larger and larger and watched the rise and fall of many gaming leagues and have noticed many things, some that are good and some that are bad. I've decided to write a blog dedicated to bringing some issues to your attention and write about how things could be improved.

Internet Hate:

For the past 10 years there's always been trash talk... I don't think that's anything new. It seems like more and more however, as the gaming industry gets larger and professional gaming and gamers get more attention the spotlight becomes a target and the jealousy of other gamers often turns into hate. 10 years ago trash talk was pretty limited to some online forums or chat rooms/ lobbies on servers for particular games. Now the fact that pro gamers are so easily accessible through youtube, myspace, blog sites like this, xbox live, email, aim and other online gaming communities it makes it much easier for people to express their disliking anonymously online to a bigger crowd. Unfortunately it's things like this that can ruin peoples reputation since rumors and hearsay are repeated as truth and people assume "if I read it online it MUST be true" rather then talk to the person themselves.

I've asked many pro gamers how they deal with the internet hate and most say the same thing. "I just ignore it. They're usually some 13/14 year old kid ranting because they can hide behind the computer screen." While this is mostly true, it's evolved into much more then that now when elitists that are on teams will create blogs dedicating to their disliking for players or will chat in irc or forums about their disliking of a player potentially ruining their reputation. In instances like this it all comes down to who has the most fans as to who will be the good guy and who will be the bad guy in these situations. (Just look at Mike Watson vs gootecks in the SF4 community for example)

Unfortunatelydue to more and more companies realizing how big the gaming industry is, more and more gamers are gaining fame and are therefore gaining haters. When gamers are featured on Dr.Pepper bottles, in commercials and on TV shows, the jealousy comes out and the hate rages on. It's things like this that are driving up and coming pro gamers away from gaming communities and promoting more underground environments since players feel more safe competing in those situations.



Teams:

Before there didn't use to be so many teams, and the teams that were around were more underground with a small few that stood out and gained attention due to sponsorship. Now with sponsors helping out teams big AND small more and more teams exist such as the PMS Clan, VvV, MoB, and all of the CGS teams that are all pretty much done for now. While there were some teams that were considered more "elite" than others due to the number of professional gamers and top place players they had on the team, it always seemed as though the members on the teams would have the mentality that they are better than other teams. Unfortunately not every gamer can be a paid team member as most teams like the PMS/H2O clans have HUNDREDS of members and only up to about 5 sponsors covering just a few people to go to events. The fact that clans like PMS make promises to send team members to events and also have rules that you have to let other teams belittle you and not say anything is something that really turned me off to the idea of joining a team.


Giving gamers a chance:

This kind of relates to the teams subject... but something I've noticed is that more and more now gamers that are called "the best" at a particular game seem to be under the most pressure to stay on top. While gamers like Fatal1ty find this feat to be easy, some gamers are dealing with criticism if they ever lose a match for any reason. I have witnessed the #2 player in the nation go 0-2 in a match before due to equipment failure and no one says squat about that, but yet if the player that does something like this is one that's in a spotlight, then all of a sudden if they lose a match they've lost their game and they are torn apart by the community, and no, not by 14 year olds, but other pro gamers.

It's a shame to see that this is how pro gamers are treating other pro gamers right now. I remember watching pro gamer Stermy go from being one of the bottom Fifa players (yeah he specialized in FPS games and is one of the top in that genre) to being given a chance by Kat to turn his game around and then became of the top Fifa players in the nation and a part of the 2nd place team in the World. It's things like this that can help the gaming community. Just because a gamer specializes in one genre doesn't mean that they don't have talent elseware, and if gaming communities like CGS should arise in the future I think they'll keep finding the nations best players by giving them a chance to prove that dedication and hard work can lead to a player accomplishing anything they set their mind to.



Ensuring the integrity of E-sports:

I've noticed a couple people in the community that claim they are doing things a certain way for the "betterment of e-sports" but I wonder if they even know what the heck they're talking about. I am all for protecting the integrity of e-sports... but I've noticed that top players are calling out the players asking referees and people running tournaments to modify brackets to do match ups that would appeal to the crowd or boost someones ego. I'm sorry, but last time I checked randomized brackets are how things are done and asking to manipulate brackets for ones own benefit doesn't seem like keeping the integrity of a game or e-sports in general. There were instances of this that happened at Devastation for multiple games and this caused a huge dilemna that was not necessary especially with SF4.

Esports in general:

While I see gamers talking about how they care about helping e-sports and want to contribute, the only person I've really seen doing anything that matters is Fatal1ty. He's started a gaming school where people can come from all over the nation to his Fatality "camp" and learn how to play FPS games professional as well as giving tips on how to be a successful gamer. While I have not talked to anyone who has attended these classes personally I think the idea is a great one that will encourage gamers to pursue their goals to go pro in a safe environment where there are no negative thoughts affecting the player.


Cheating:

Back when I played Quake 1 I remember there were always hackers that would somehow modify their character to do things like shoot rockets out of their ass. If you were ever wondering why someone was just annihilating the competition and it WASN'T Fatal1ty, it was usually some hacker praying on innocent victims that just wanted to up their game or have fun playing.

Now thanks to Microsoft Xbox and other companies there are programs in place to help prevent cheating. Mods are often detected and prevented from being used or accounts suspended to prevent that player from playing online against other players. The new thing to come up is that companies are taking pride in developing products with software that is undetectable by systems and that promote cheating. One of these companies is Evil Controllers. Here's their quote


"Throughout the video game history, there has always been one constant error, HUMANS. Evil Controller LLC develops controllers that finally eliminate the human error in video games. These controllers help you be the best video gamer possible. From a hand gun that shoots like a machine gun or an automatic reload in Gears of War, Evil can provide you with the controller that best fits these video games.Some people believe that these controllers take the spirit away from these games. At Evil we think that increases the fun and excitement in these games. Once you pick up a rapid fire controller for Call of Duty 4, you will NEVER be able to play the game in its normal speed. We are constantly pushing the gaming limits; imagine perfect swings in Tiger Woods or a dual rapid fire in Call of Duty. The lists go on and on from controllers that are specified for Lefties and n awesome Guitar Hero mod. As the industry evolves we are determined to evolve just as fast. "


So basically... do you suck at shooting in COD or Halo 3? Do you want to make it so that all you need to do is get your aim right and you can kill someone with a pistol? Seriously, rapid fire was banned for a reason... do we really want to see these controllers showing up in MLG tournaments? Evil Controllers isn't taking away human error, they're taking away talent so that anyone that can aim at a guy can kill them with one push of a trigger button. Reading further they are talking about some "awesome guitar hero mod" which is probably one of the things I'm most strongly against. I've seen computer programs that are combined with a small unit that can fit discretely inside of a guitar hero guitar to automatically hit all of the notes in a song for the player. What the hell is the point of this? Can we not PLAY games anymore? It's sad that big name gamers are jumping on board to promote a company that prides itself on cheating.


What do I want to see happening?:

Basically I want to see less of these random teams that are all over the place making promises to help gamers go pro but not delivering and more teams that are serious about competing and want teammates that are both talented at their game but also personable. We don't need anymore arrogant elitists in the industry... really, there are plenty to go around. Having teams promotes more companies to team up and sponsor them therefore increasing money flow to the gaming industry.

I would like to see more events like WCG, WSVG, CPL, and such. These leagues and events help to grow the gaming industry and increase money flow into the industry as well as increase the number of people involved of gaming by giving the no name players a chance to show what they've got and be picked up by teams.

WWFOG disappear and ECA gaining more attention. Lets not give gamers any MORE false hopes or make promises that will be broken. If you want to help the gaming community join ECA and make your voice heard.

I recently talked to a kid that was writing a paper on adding a "pro gaming class" to high schools and collages. Basically something along the lines of Fatal1ty's boot camp but more accessible and something that would be a part of the regular persons schedule in school. This is probably one of the best ideas I've ever heard and something I hope will be seriously considered in the near future. By making pro gaming a part of everyone's daily schedule it will become more common and acceptable and will be considered as a "normal job" one day. They take this kind of thing seriously in Korea, why can't they do it here in America?

*I am open to hear what you guys have to say. Is there something I missed? Something that you would like to add? You disagree on something? Post a comment. :D Thanks!