Into the World of Gaming
As a kid entering this century, you might have come across the age-old classics- Super Mario, Dangerous Dave, Tetris. The creators of those games probably thought to offer a cool leisure experience to their consumers back in those days. Every day while we completed our schooling exams, we imagined the 3-month long summer break to relax, chill and probably clean out the dust sitting on these cassettes and get them running. With Roofhafza and lemonade, your dream summer vacation was the one you wish it never ended.
Few years down the line, we made great strides into PCs, graphics, laptops and smartphones, that all of these devices now present life-like games to play and enjoy. Today we have a genre of games such as arcade, action, building, racing, strategy, FPS, and so forth. You get to complete missions, objectives, tasks and conquests within these games, and more than often, it does seem like a point to brag. If you are a dedicated gamer, you’ll know of a professional gaming world, with players competing for titles and a prize pool. Technology did accelerate pretty fast, and today we can visualize the pretty life-like games.
Pro gaming people, this shouldn't surprise you when I quote — the people who are not into gaming view it as a negative element in society. If you pitch a gamer and another person who is not really into gaming, you can see how quickly it can escalate into a verbal conversation. As a recreational gamer myself, I’ll try to express my two cents in this blog without any bias.
Is There Anything Positive about Gaming and Esports?
First of all, there is a huge player base for many games, be it on a smartphone or a PC. The staggering numbers reported by game developers indicate many active people from different age groups are trying to play, learn, and win their games. There are tons of articles and studies available on google scholar that show various benefits one can get from playing video games. These include an increase in hand-eye coordination, enhanced visual and spatial ability, out of the box thinking and use of the short term and long term memory too. These are just the conceptual benefits that can be realised and improved via FPS, RTS, or other gaming modes. If we talk about a person in a co-op scenario, various secondary skillset gets polished — teamwork, coordination, interpersonal communication, and even leadership.
I know it can seem far fetched to imagine how games can translate to so much growth potential for a person who is not well versed with the world of esports. Taking that into account, today, there are several internationally reputed LAN gaming tournaments and competitions that present the participants with a platform to showcase their talent and their team camaraderie. You can always check out some of these events in Dota2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valorant, etc. and how they transformed some kids into millionaire esports celebrities with time. Every digital game with an avenue for expansion has rapidly accelerated with our progress in digitalization, and it must not be a surprise to know that there are now clubs and agencies that manage, operate and scout for gaming prodigies and talents. Multiple job prospects have opened up to commercialize, promote and expand the horizons of esports and its tournaments.
Many articles deeply cover each of the aspects that I have written in the previous paragraphs, and honestly, it is a daunting task to cover everything here, so I’ll leave it to you to explore the pros of gaming. To summarise, one can imagine the world of esports as something similar to that of sports in general, and the only difference is that this occurs in a digital age and not something on track and field.
What is not in favour of Gaming?
In this section, I’ll present the arguments against esports collectively and what should be your takeaway if you are a dedicated gamer, casual or even occasional gamer, or otherwise are against gaming because of a list of reasons you get to read in every second article about gaming. To begin with, everything that is against gaming, the first and foremost reason would be how unhealthy it can be for an individual to keep playing on a system. Second, there is a widespread conception of the associated toxicity of gaming. There is no denying that there are many games with an internal set of conquests and involve multiplayer modes that have this problem, at least at some level. The third major downside to gaming would be that they can be addictive, and it can tarnish the interpersonal relations of gamers with people outside in real life when they are not gaming.
It is evident and true that esports and games can consume a lot of time, and they can put mental pressure and exhaustion on those involved for a long time. Let's look into the lifestyles of a pro-gamer or those playing under the banner of an esports club. We will notice something different compared to a recreational gamer or an addict. The pros invest a lot of time to train systematically, with other activities in their routine, which involves downtime probably at the gym, yoga, mediation etc. The point to be noted here is that the professionals in the game have a clear cut objective as to why they are playing, and that is to earn for themselves, their organizations and win tournaments. If we consider that, the critics could probably invite the pros to be speakers for a TED talk for some career inspiration. Put that into account when you generalize anywhere. There is said toxicity in terms of team banter, rage and a variety of things, and the root cause here seems to be how gamers tend to ‘tilt’ or seek vengeance or gratify their ego in being a better gamer than their opponent. Honestly, when we talk about the root cause, it seems to be an anger management challenge and isn’t really because of participating in gaming. If we look at social awkwardness and damage to relationships due to gaming, it is yet again an issue of time management and prioritising their interests.
The Bottom Line
The world of esports as it is now, presents a variety of opportunities to people, and at the same time, comes with its own set of issues and challenges. While the developers of the games are well vested in addressing these concerns, it still has its task cut out towards making esports understandable, enjoyable. So what should you make out of this blog? Should you stay away from gaming and those into games, or plan something to make a career out of it? The short answer is it depends. If you believe you are good and can improve with lots of practice and go pro someday, you should consider your career options, and if it feels right, knock yourself out, start grinding to the top. If you are addicted to games or think they provide you with a kick or a sense of euphoria after playing regularly, you need to take it easy. A recreational gamer or a hobbyist needs to remember you have a real-life outside and invest your time there more than in a digital arena. In the end, you need to take care of your interests and can't do things at the cost of your personal or professional life goals. To your future games, GLHF 😁
