By YEONG XIU HUI
The competitive video gaming industry, also known as electronic sports (eSports), is expected to give out over 50million United States Dollar (RM214million) in prize money this year.
Major tournaments with multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games like Dota 2 and League of Legends (LOL) have witnessed live viewership counts peaking at over 20 million spectators, selling out stadiums and streaming games online to an international audience.
Yet comments about the futility of playing video games and the negative perception towards those who admit enjoying video gaming doggedly persist.
So let us set the record straight about some of the common misconceptions towards the professional video gaming industry.
Professional video gamers, or eSports athletes, are not video gaming addicts. While the world loves to bring up occurence of unfortunate incidents in cybercafes involving video gaming binges, professional video gamers are exactly like physical sports athletes - they know when to stop and when to step back in order to maintain their top form.
Video gaming can be an addiction, but just as you do not claim that every sommelier is addicted to alcohol, you similarly cannot assume that every eSports athlete is addicted to video games.
Another common misconception towards video gamers are their apparent lack of direction in life. A frequently touted cliche points to video gamers being antisocial and unable to form social relations.
Such an observation stems from the lack of deeper evaluation into the situation.
Yes, video gaming undoubtedly leads you to stay in a room facing a screen, communicating within digital contexts. This however, does not mean video gaming makes you an antisocial person.
Soren Bjerg, a famous LOL player in North America, wrote about his personal experience of how he used video gaming as an escape from being harassed and bullied by his peers in real life.
After joining a professional video gaming team, Bjerg opened up and became more sociable as he interacted with teammates and fans from around the world.
There may be a correlation between a tendency to be less sociable and video gaming, but this does not mean there is a causation. Professional video gamers will often testify that video gaming boosted their confidence and gave them hope when they needed it the most.
And finally, video gamers have had an uphill battle to climb in proving that video gaming required the ability to develop valuable soft skills in life.
MOBA games require quick reflexes and the ability to work well in a team. Just as not all physical sports require the exact skill set, video games similarly will differ in its play styles but they are still very much capable of developing skills that society values.
In MOBA games, players have to not only coordinate their movements, but also have counter steps in order to win. In competitive gameplay, seemingly small mistakes could snowball into a heavy loss.
In the end, everything that is so-called negative about video gaming must be taken in the proper context. If someone tries to say that professional video gamers have no future, they should know that this year’s The International, a major Dota 2 tournament, had a prize pool that totalled over 18million Dollars (RM77million).
Major tournaments with multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games like Dota 2 and League of Legends (LOL) have witnessed live viewership counts peaking at over 20 million spectators, selling out stadiums and streaming games online to an international audience.
Yet comments about the futility of playing video games and the negative perception towards those who admit enjoying video gaming doggedly persist.
So let us set the record straight about some of the common misconceptions towards the professional video gaming industry.
Professional video gamers, or eSports athletes, are not video gaming addicts. While the world loves to bring up occurence of unfortunate incidents in cybercafes involving video gaming binges, professional video gamers are exactly like physical sports athletes - they know when to stop and when to step back in order to maintain their top form.
Video gaming can be an addiction, but just as you do not claim that every sommelier is addicted to alcohol, you similarly cannot assume that every eSports athlete is addicted to video games.
Another common misconception towards video gamers are their apparent lack of direction in life. A frequently touted cliche points to video gamers being antisocial and unable to form social relations.
Such an observation stems from the lack of deeper evaluation into the situation.
Yes, video gaming undoubtedly leads you to stay in a room facing a screen, communicating within digital contexts. This however, does not mean video gaming makes you an antisocial person.
Soren Bjerg, a famous LOL player in North America, wrote about his personal experience of how he used video gaming as an escape from being harassed and bullied by his peers in real life.
After joining a professional video gaming team, Bjerg opened up and became more sociable as he interacted with teammates and fans from around the world.
There may be a correlation between a tendency to be less sociable and video gaming, but this does not mean there is a causation. Professional video gamers will often testify that video gaming boosted their confidence and gave them hope when they needed it the most.
And finally, video gamers have had an uphill battle to climb in proving that video gaming required the ability to develop valuable soft skills in life.
MOBA games require quick reflexes and the ability to work well in a team. Just as not all physical sports require the exact skill set, video games similarly will differ in its play styles but they are still very much capable of developing skills that society values.
In MOBA games, players have to not only coordinate their movements, but also have counter steps in order to win. In competitive gameplay, seemingly small mistakes could snowball into a heavy loss.
In the end, everything that is so-called negative about video gaming must be taken in the proper context. If someone tries to say that professional video gamers have no future, they should know that this year’s The International, a major Dota 2 tournament, had a prize pool that totalled over 18million Dollars (RM77million).