Waste of Time? No, It's eSports

By Johnny Ngo on July 16, 2014

An old friend of mine once told me she didn’t think that it was worth while for me to play all the games that I played. She told me that they weren’t a good use of my time; a better use of my time would be to play a sport or get a job.

I heard this same logic from my family and many other friends, and it soon became a belief of mine that I kept with me for a very, very long time.

I personally enjoy playing games like League of Legends, Cardfight!! Vanguard  and StarCraft II. I spend a lot of time at my computer every day playing LoL and SC2. As for Vanguard, I’ve attended tournaments all over the Midwest to compete and play this game that I’ve invested a lot in. I’m very passionate about these games. Of course, the games that I play aren’t limited to just that list of three, but gaming has just been a part of my life for a very long time.

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Now, for me, I’ve always had a passion for gaming, but never wanted to delve too deep into it. I was always pressured by my parents and mentors to focus on school, get an education, etc. It’s kind of scared me from embracing the love I have for it. If there’s ever something that you’ve been passionate about that you’ve almost been afraid to embrace, you may have heard the phrase “you’re not alone” at some point in your life. You may have heard it from a friend when you were feeling down, or maybe when you were taking on a challenge that most people wouldn’t even consider.

Whoever told you that is right. You are not alone. You just need to make the effort to find people who are like you in that sense.

Maybe find someone who is willing to take on that challenge with you. Or find someone who feels the same way that you do about something. Or find someone that enjoys playing the same games as you.

Let me tell you a story.

In 2001, there was a game released for the Nintendo GameCube called Super Smash Bros Melee, the sequel to a hit game from the previous generation’s console, Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo 64. Nintendo is known as a company who wants everyone to enjoy their games and systems. They release non-competitive games that are fun for everyone; all your friends, family and the rest of the world. Popular games like Mario Party, Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros were all game series that were very popular party games. They were all games you could play at a get together with friends, your brothers and sisters or anyone you wanted.

Now, here’s a bit of history about the game. I got most of this history from a documentary that was made by fans about the game. It’s very long, but it’s worth every minute. I highly, highly recommend it. Here’s a link.

At the time, the GameCube’s competitors, which were the Xbox and the PlayStation 2, had some games like that, but also had a lot of competitive games. These games actually took skill to play competitively, they’d require practice to get good at and some of these games would even have ladders for people to climb. As you climb these ladders, you’d rise in the ranks and would have to continue playing to maintain your spot.

Now, Super Smash Bros Melee was never intended to be a competitive game. It was supposed to be just like the majority of GameCube games at the time: just another fun game to play at a party with friends. Nintendo never wanted Melee to become the competitive eSport it is today, with thousands and thousands of players worldwide.

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If you’ve read any of my past articles, you might think that “thousands and thousands” doesn’t sound nearly as grand as the millions of people who are playing games like League of Legends or Defense of the Ancients 2. But, it’ll make sense why that’s such an accomplishment after a bit of backstory.

Melee got extremely popular after it came out. It was one of the best fighting games for its time, and is still considered one of the best games ever released even today. People played Melee with their friends, and they soon realized that there were a lot of different things you could do within the game. Before you know it, there are players that are telling their friends that they are “the best” because they “always beat [their] friends.” Competition and rivalry grew on both the East and West coasts, and there soon became a rivalry between the East and West coasts as to who had the better players.

These competitions rapidly grew in popularity and word got around to Melee players nationwide. Cash prizes were awarded at tournaments that were held all over the nation. Some of these players were only 13-year-old kids in high school who would travel from California to Illinois just for a chance to compete and come out on top, winning thousands and thousands of dollars in cash prizes.

The Nintendo GameCube did not have any internet features the way most games do now, so multiplayer matches would mean that you would need to physically be plugged into the same console to play. Players would travel together, get hotel rooms together and compete together in tournaments that were held all over the nation. The coming together of people from all over the country was worth it for those who shared a love and passion for the game. This is something that is seen in another world –  the world of sports.

A large eSports event known as the Evo Championship Series is a tournament that hosts many different one-on-one fighting games. Melee is a multiplayer game that allows up to four players to play against each other, but there are different versions of competitive Melee, such as singles (one on one) and doubles (two on two). Evo noticed how big the Melee community was getting and picked up the game for their competitive tournaments, as well as MLG (Major League Gaming). There are also many other events that are specifically for Melee that continue to attract and bring in players even today.

Nintendo was (and still is today) against the idea of any of the Super Smash Bros games being a part of the competitive scene. Nintendo made multiple attempts to discourage players from making Melee the competitive eSport that it still is even today, 13 years after its release.

There came a point when Evo dropped Melee from the games that would be featured at the event. Two years ago, Evo held a competition of sorts to see which game has a community that would be able to raise the most money for breast cancer. The game that raised the most money would earn the last spot in Evo, and Melee players raised almost 100,000 dollars. Even over 11 years after it’s release, there is still a large enough community to raise such a large sum of money towards breast cancer in hopes that they would increase their chances at re-entering the eSports scene again.

Nintendo went as far as not letting Evo stream the game live for people to watch to further discourage the competitive Melee community from keeping things alive.

This hit the front page of Reddit after an hour. A few hours and tons of backlash later, Nintendo decided to change their minds.

However, for Evo 2014, Nintendo actually decided to step up and sponsor the event. Many people were very pleased to hear the news.

And, just this past weekend, Cloud9′s “Mang0″ won Evo 2014 for Super Smash Bros Melee.

The beautiful thing about a game like this is the fact that it brings people together.

This game is more than just a game for some people. It’s a major part of their lives where they can be somebody. They can be competitive, they can make a name for themselves, they can practice to become the best they can be by working their minds to the point where even the slightest mistakes can cost you the game. The in-game decision making and precision that translates into buttons being pressed and joysticks being turned is why these games are more than just games; they’re eSports.

When I think back to that old friend I mentioned, and everyone else that’s ever told me these games I play are a waste of time, I think about how much these games mean to me and their significance in my life, the way Super Smash Bros Melee has impacted others’ lives.

The players of Melee came together whenever they wanted to hold tournaments and get together. If they couldn’t be the popular football player in high school that never got bullied and had all the glory, they could be the number one Melee player and leave for a tournament one Friday night, come back Sunday afternoon and tell their friends and family about the cash prizes they just won and all the fun they had when traveling.

These games aren’t just games, they’re a way of life. A culture. And one word to sum it up? It’s eSports.

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