THE GAMING TREND

by Han
published by Rinie Wednesday May 20 2009

Ups And Downs

Many games come and go. Some become an instant hit among gamers; while some games which were less popular may not be able to enjoy the success of other games. Here we chart the rise and fall of the gaming trend when a typical game became popular, through the eyes of a DOTA analyst, Underminer.


Rise to Popularity


Many popular games do not become famous overnight. They become a hit among gamers at first when the cyber café’s start installing them and when people start to play them in massive numbers.Underminer agrees.

“In the case of Dota, the game came out of nowhere. At the beginning, the game will be played as a “side game” for players in CC after “real games” like Counter Strike, Warcraft and Fifa were played. When people found out that there is a competitive side to it, much like the games I mentioned above, people start to play it more and hence contribute to its development, competitively and popularity.”

More Tournaments Hit the Streets


As games become more and more popular, there will be an increasing demand for tournaments for players to showcase their skills. Or brag about their recent success. Underminer agrees.

“As more and more people start to play a certain game, organizers of tournaments (CC owners mostly) will foresee an opportunity to promote their services/premises to the gaming audience by organizing tournaments. Event organizers would take the opportunity to attract crowds for their sponsors by casting popular games in their events for media cash in advertisement.
From a gamers’ point of view, tournaments are means to meet up with like-minded people who loves the game as much they do to actually take time off their lives to play competitively. The interaction between high level pros is something incredible to the gamers and audiences were top quality games between top pros were played out”

More and More Clans Emerge


To win the battles, you need to be with like minded people who are as skilled as you and can provide the training you need. The clans then emerge and compete with each other to achieve their intended goals.

“As the competitive scene increases, more and more individuals who love the game try to become the best in what they like. Where more clans are formed to compete in tournaments, the impression of the public will seem that the scene is huge will lead to more sponsor money being poured in to attract the public’s attention. More and more clans provide the bedrock for competitive ideas to be tabled out and put to test. This indirectly increases the competitiveness of our local teams. For the game of Dota, the collective competitiveness achieved along the years allowed the local Dota scene to win honours and respect internationally.
More and more clans increase the chances of the clans being sponsored by various sponsors for advertisement purposes. In the case of Dota, cybercafés seeks to attach their names in tags of better teams to promote their premises to a wider elite audience”.

Domination of a certain clans


Like sports (think Manchester United, Rafael Nadal etc), certain clans would prove better than the rest and the gap between the winners and the rest would widen. Here is how Underminer views such an incident.

“When the competition went up a notch like what Kingsurf did to the local Dota scene, teams which normally can get by with 1 or 2 less committed players just cannot do that any longer. Merges appear and teams will more dedicated individuals started to grace the scene to even the odds of domination of a certain team. This creates a skill gap between the top 1% and the rest where we can see the contenders for all open tournaments will be among the top 1% (or even 1 or 2 teams).
This is not a necessary a bad thing and should not be the reason of the decay of the game. Note that badminton itself faces the same problem where only 1 player in Malaysia Male singles is currently the best of the crop and is considered “dominating”. This does not kill off badminton, in fact it serves a good yardstick for everyone to improve and did not kill off but actually promoted the casual badminton players interest in the game. I believe the same should hold true in truly great E-sport titles.”

Dislike/Banning of Certain Clans


If a clan is proven to be too dominant, should they be banned? Just like how International Football governing bodies try to prevent the rich teams from becoming more powerful, can this be implemented in E-sports?

“This is not something I cannot agree fully nor can I agree whole heartedly to. Where it is of some argument that banning certain teams in tournaments will improve the chances of unknown teams in the competitive circle, the fact still proves that they are unknown for a reason.
The famous Dota player from Penang, NZ.K1ng once told me at an SMM Grand Final, he believes what you work for is what you get. Players and teams who work hard to be good will come good and if your effort is not there, you will, well…. Lose. This is meritocracy in its brutal(est) form and organizers who seeks to reward complacency really goes beyond my understanding.
Unless there is a certain series of tournament where past winners individually will not be eligible for the next tournament of the series (much like the amateur series and SMM qualfiers), banning certain teams that are strong or even worse, banning teams based on the organizers liking will only kill off the scene."

Fewer New Faces Emerge


Many gamers who lack the confidence and courage to try would not participate in tournaments, they themselves have already written of their chances of success. In this situation, the popular games would be dominated by the same people year after year. As ever, Underminer has a different view to this.

“The situation may not be as gloomy as you see it is. Back to the badminton scenario, we can only see Lee Chong Wei dominating men’s singles tournaments in Malaysia where no one can come close to dethrone him for the past few years. It will seem that less and less new faces emerge from the badminton scene. But did badminton die? No. In fact it could be argued that his domination inspires a whole new generation of players to take up his mantle once he retires from the game.
The point of that example is when the E-sport is good enough to endure, new faces always will appear, for them to reach the kind of heights of their dominating predecessor requires time and effort. For that new faces which will not be apparent until after the older generation retires.”

Game Dies


All good things come to an end. Even the strongest Roman Empire shall falter, and the longest serving ministers will be replaced. Does the same apply in gaming? Would players get bored after a period of time and ditch the game completely?

“The game “dies” when no one is playing it anymore and the game itself will not be able to generate any sponsorship money. Much like Warcraft 2 “dies” when “Warcraft 3” is released. I believe an enduring E-sport title will survive and not technically “dies” unless a clear successor to it in the form of a sequel replaces it in the gamer’s heart.
The long term strategy is to get the mainstream media involved and make it something like in Korea, where the interdependency of Starcraft stakeholders just will not allow it to die off.”

The Spotgamers team would like to thank Underminer for his time and effort in conducting this revealing and thought-provoking interview.