Get In the Game
E-Sports Gaining Ground, Competing for Cred
Of those who actually know the term, few take e-sports seriously. E-sports—also known as competitive gaming (as in, videogames)—will never be as professional or accepted as mainstream athletic sports. But it has been growing steadily since the ‘90s.
Competitive gaming still revolves around a limited number of videogames. Street Fighter, StarCraft and CounterStrike: Source have all stood the test of time and are still played at a very high and competitive level.
These reasonably priced games are accessible to anyone and, unlike the new wave of dance and sports games that have gamers moving their bodies, give no advantage to those in better shape. In fact, it’s not uncommon for quadriplegics to be able to play at a highly competitive level.
Like other competitive sports, however, success depends on practice and commitment, and nowhere is this more evident than at the pro level.
Though on the surface, players sitting around pushing buttons might seem indistinguishable from a group of schoolkids rushing through levels of Mario, these players are competing in an organized league over cash prizes or gaming goodies like expensive limited-edition controllers.
They’re looking at salaries, international tournaments and rigid training schedules of 10 to 12 hours a day. And some of the world’s best players are actually based in Quebec.
Andrew “Attero” Golec is a former Concordia student. He’s also captain and coach of Team Dynamic, one of the most successful StarCraft teams. Team ReIGN, another major StarCraft group, includes Quebecers Paul-David “Slush” Pagé and Jonathan “KiWiKaKi” Garneau.
Their hard work and practice has paid off: these pro players earn salaries that can pay them anything from part-time-summer-job money to enough to support themselves year round—and, for the best players, even more.
Their popularity or recognition isn’t region-based, though; in fact, they’re less famous here in Montreal than they are in South Korea, where e-sports, governed by the Korean e-Sports Association, are something of a national pastime—hundreds and thousands of people watch them play against other foreign players.
Some major veterans of StarCraft, like Koreans Lee Jae-Dong and Lee Young-Ho, are sponsored by companies like Korean Air.
They can earn upwards of $100,000 a year and their matches are televised nationally.
Of course, it’s not just about the money or the fame. Challenging, varied gameplay and the excitement of figuring out how to defeat your opponent—what’s exciting about any old-fashioned sport—are the lifeblood of the e-sports world.
Though the phenomenon is most popular half a world away, Montreal still boasts one of the largest LAN parties—an event where people bring their computers and compete or play games with one another on a local area network.
LAN ETS, which is held annually in March, is celebrating its tenth anniversary next year, a testament to the how long e-sports have been around.
There’s even a regular viewing party, called Barcraft, for major e-sports events.
The event is kind of like watching the Super Bowl at a bar… if the bar was Club 1234, and the people were a whole bunch of excited and pumped-up nerds watching a 64-inch projector with powerful surround-sound.
