eSports at TEDx

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[p]For many of you who do not know me, I run around on CyberGamer interacting with as many LAN event organisers as I can feasibly manage. I also work for Team Immunity, and serve as a writer here at CyberGamer.


Recently I had the privelage of talking about eSports at a [a href=";http://sydneydinnertalks.com/tedxsurryhills/"]TEDx[/a] event in Sydney, where I presented my point-of-view on esports. I figured i'd share with you a little variation and summary on what I shared with the 100 plus room full of business leaders, professors, experts and professionals. Plus some additional thoughts and the discussion generated.


One of my points was to challenge people to actively think about relativism. If you think that Chess requires great ability, than I emplore you to try and understand the ability required to play StarCraft. Both require intimate knowledge of available tactics, and a fast calculating mind. Only StarCraft asks you to manage a micro-economy and entirely more complicated pieces across a far more demanding board.


If you think rock-climbing camps are great team building exercises, then I emplore you to try and understand the amount of teamwork Counter-Strike demands. In both there is a learning curve of skills, awkward adjustment, and a trust that team-mates have learnt these skills aswell so you can rely on them for your own personal safety. Only Counter-Strike asks you to communicate rapidly, organise and coordinate in a timely fashion, and to out-manouevor an opponent with your skill-set against theirs.

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This coming from the last and youngest speaker of the night, following on from speakers like Bettina McMahon (the Head of Policy at the National e-Health Transition Authority), Pat Farmer (MP), Dr. Lou Pollard (the Sydney Clown Doctor team co-ordinator), and many more. Try emagine the pressure I felt when I explained my topic: there is a phenomenon engulfing this globe, amongst many, a phenomenon of fun - video gaming - and from this eSports has been born.


However judging by the feedback and the people who came over to discuss eSports with me at the end of the night, people are genuinely interested. I had gamers, partners of gamers and parents of gamers, from the most fascinating walks of life engage me with discussion about growth, application, social benefit, and how they can get involved themselves.


One big myth I dispelled was that gamers do infact realise they are playing a video-game, and they are not mysterious sun-starved creatures hidden away in basements. Like film, or literature, gaming is able to transport the audience into an environment or situation they may not normally experience. It is a medium that enhances our imagination; not something that replaces our realty while we sit unawares.


See the thing about gaming, is it is happening, more and more, across a broader spectrum of people.

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I think most people would be amazed by just how much gaming has infiltrated Australian society, a report compiled late 2009 by Bond University estimates that 68% of all Australians aged 8 years or older play video games for more than 4 hours per week. That's approximately 15,600,000 Australians. If you think that's significant, apparently 46% of those gamers are female, so they're out there - somewhere.


Personally I think the social stigma against gaming is highly detrimental. Gaming is like watching a movie or reading a novel, only it's something we've been doing as a species for millenia. Games are extremely fun and social activities, from 'arrow into pot' to 'chess', humanity has always found a way to test our skills against one another.


I think it may suprise you to know that only 3% of all gamers admit to never playing video games with others. that means 15,032,000 gamers in Australia are actually quite sociable. Then again we're all born as social creatures, it's something we're compelled to be by our very nature.


This is by no means an indication of how 'nerdy' or 'geeky' Australia is becoming, because in the United Kingdom 73% of people play video games, that's 44,800,000 people. In the United States of America 70% of people play video games, that's 224,100,000 people. To give you an idea of what video-gaming has become globally, last year the New York Financial Times reported that video-gaming had exceeded the music industry and is now valued just over $50,000,000.


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"of all human powers operating on the affairs of mankind, none is greater than that of competition." - Henry Clay

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At this point i'd like to remind you all, i'm not an advocate for video-gaming, what I am however is an advocate for eSports. I really like the idea that some video-games, whether by nature or design, appeal to our competitive sides. The interesting nature of video-games that are translated into eSports, is that they are the ones most able to put our brains power of processing, problem solving, perception, reflexes, coordination, communication and collaboration to the test.
These are some of our most basic human traits, and by instinct we have designed games over our entire existance to exercise these, because they are applicable to daily life (survival for you darwinians). Something that's detail is best served at another time.


Henry Clay, a 17th century American statesman, stated, "of all human powers operating on the affairs of mankind, none is greater than that of competition."
The world all around you is about competition, do I want ATI or Nvidia? Intel or AMD? MSI or ASUS? will my qualifications and resume get me this job or will someone else get it? am I the most appealing person or is the guy/girl next to me? See in everything you do, and will experience there is competition, this is what eSports is all about.


At the core video-gaming is an extremely fun and recreational activity, lets create no misconceptions here, what eSports does is take that fun and recreation and put you into an environment where you're learning to compete. Not only is your mind problem solving away and processing a tonne of input, it is also outputting communication and collaboration with the team around you.

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Taking some statistics from CyberGamer, of the 86,000 members registered here, a majority of 46.8% are aged 16-20 with a total of 83.2% being aged 11-25. As much as you are the younger generations who have grown up with gaming, you also represent the majority of who participates in eSports.


Out of the eSports gamers I meet, most have set goals, drive and ambition, lead a balanced life moderating gaming with other aspects of life, they are confident in themselves, that they can face a problem and over-come it, and they are optimistic about their future. This is not doctrine, nor a benchmark for success, it is just a positive attitude that correlates with participating eSports.


I will never say video-gaming is responsible for enhancing you as a person, or that the hours spent can be converted into real world application. What I will emphasise is that eSports allows you to turn video-gaming into a tool, for your own benefit. Through eSports you have turned video-gaming into more than just a recreational activity, eSports is entirely social and there are benefits to you as a person.


The highlight of presenting at this TEDx event was not being able to share my passion for eSports with other people; but rather to see the interest generated in the minds of others who would other-wise over-look video-gaming, let alone eSports.[/p]