Mom, Dad: Gaming is a real sport
MANY psychologists will tell you that playing video games for hours on end is bad for you.
But Barry Louzada laughs off claims that gaming can cause loneliness, social awkwardness and laziness.
That’s because he has made a career out of his love for gaming – and Louzada is anything but anti-social and lonely.
In fact, the 36-year-old professional gamer from Joburg has made thousands of friends around the globe thanks to his career.
“There’s always been a stigma about gaming being anti-social – that’s nonsense,” said Louzada. “I’ve made lifelong friends purely based on gaming. I’ve even gone to their weddings.”
He has also raked in a small fortune, from competing in electronic sports tournaments around the world.
“Last year I competed at the World Electronic Sports Games in Dubai, where we played for $1.2 million (R15.7m). The trip was all expenses paid, and they put us up at five-star hotels,” Louzada said.
The umbrella ter m for organised, competitive online gaming, eSports has become one of the most popular sports worldwide. Some of the best gamers earn more than traditional professional sports stars.
Last year, professional gamers at the annual Dota international tournament competed for a whopping $22m in prize money.
“The team that won the tournament took home more money than Andy Murray took for winning Wimbledon,” Louzada said.
“Each player in the winning team won more money than Germany took home for winning the Fifa World Cup, and also made more money than the NFL players took home for winning the Super Bowl.”
ESports attracts more viewers globally than the NBA, and that figure is climbing – 180 million are expected to tune in to eSports by 2019.
But while eSports has become increasingly popular around the globe, in South Africa, it remains very much an underground sport.
Louzada is trying to boost the profile of eSports in the country, and this week he and his team at Mettlestate – a tour nament and production company – announced the launch of a new local eSports tournament.
It is offering a R1m prize pool to South African gamers who compete in the two-month tournament, which kicks off in the next two weeks. It will feature 24 teams playing the popular game Counter Strike Global Offensive.
“The great thing is that any gamers can enter the tournament. It’s not just for professional gamers,” Louzada said.
The tour nament will be broadcast on Twitch TV, a live-streaming video platform.
Louzada hopes the tournament will change the perception of gaming in South Africa.
“We’re offering R1m – that is a lot of money. Hopefully parents will take their children more seriously now when they say they want to become professional gamers. There’s a lot of money in this industry,” he said.
However, negative perceptions persist. “When you imagine a gamer, you imagine a nerdy kid in a basement, am I right? You’ll be surprised by the people who are gamers,” Louzada added.
Samantha Wright, a member of Mettlestate and the presenter of the upcoming eSports tournament, hopes it will encourage parents of gamers to embrace the sport.
“I get a lot of moms who complain their kids want to become professional gamers. I tell them the best thing you can do for your child is to let them play video games,” Wright said.
“Video games help with hand and eye co-ordination, analytical thinking and many other things.”
Professional eSports gamers work incredibly hard, are skilled, and dedicated, she added.
“This is a profession that they take very seriously, and the idea that a gamer is a lazy kid who has no social interaction isn’t the case at all,” she said.
“Professional gamers train hard, they go to hand-eye specialists, sports psychologists, and even dietitians. They take this really seriously; it is an elite sport.”
Mettlestate hopes to raise the popularity of gamers themselves.
“Just like Cristiano Ronaldo has built a brand for himself as a footballer, we want to do the same with SA’s pro gamers, ” said Louzada.
“In other countries, gamers are public figures. They feature in commercials, are well-recognised and earn tons of money.
“Hopefully the same will happen in South Africa in the near future.”