Gaming rages on in SA
EXPLOSION: THE INDUSTRY HAS REALLY TAKEN OFF GLOBALLY
serious gamers are focused on computers.
This is platforms. This is where the relatively new esports sector has exploded. Prize money for international tournaments is as high as $25 million, and the big brands have all put their names behind teams around the world.
The top teams tend to be part of multigaming organisations, or MGOs, who supply management, administration and organisation.
MGOs have separate teams competing across multiple games. In South Africa, for example, the Bravado Gaming MGO competes in CounterStrike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Defense of the Ancients (Dota) 2 and Call of Duty.
It even has an all-female team, called Finesse, which competes in CS:GO, and is sponsored by Dell’s Alienware.
The team captain, who prefers to be identified by her gamer name, “Saltymonkey”, says she stumbled on CS:GO accidentally and then heard about an all-female team. She has now been playing competitively for more than two years.
“When we started Finesse, there were very few female gamers in the CS:GO scene and we were one of only two female teams. We decided that playing together as five girls would show other girls you can enter this space, and be competitive.
“In the past year, we have seen it increase from two to 40 girls’ teams. We are friendly with them and make sure we mentor them.”
For now, she says, it is necessary to have separate leagues for female teams, as gaming was largely seen as a boys’ arena until a few years ago.
“It’s still a very male dominated space and often you find they are extremely derogatory towards you, even sexualising you, asking for your phone number just because you’re female.
“Ever since we started the Finesse movement, that has changed drastically, because people are now used to females being on the circuit.
“Girls only started catching up recently, so unfortunately there is still a skills gap, but we are hoping one day there won’t be any segregation.”
Saltymonkey can’t make a living from gaming. She is a business analyst for a software company by day. Her team trains for four hours every night, and competes for eight hours every Sunday.
Alienware supplies all their hardware, which means they can play equally effectively from home or at competition venues.
Similarly, Logitech G will sponsor the Aperture Gaming MGOO’s all-female CS:GO team, ApG FE. They provide the brand’s latest devices and peripherals from the G-Gear range, as well as covering players’ expenses for attending events.
None of this enables them to make a living from gaming.
Only the top South African teams, competing internationally, are able to “play” full time.
Bravado’s male CS:GO team was able to base itself full-time in the US to compete in – and win – a championship called the ESEA Mountain Dew League, one rung below the top professional CS:GO league in the world.