i dunno but this stir-fry is pretty good man

"On the other hand you have gamers not being respected (or paid) the way they should be."

A shift in mindset is needed. The world does not owe gamers a single thing. Not only that gaming as a sport is highly flawed, because of the lack of standards. First get esport to work at grassroots before we even start to think about gamers getting payed in a sustainable way.

I would have thought this would be more appropriate a few years back. Pro gaming has slipped a little.

Some things need to happen:
Stability - I keep going on about this but games shouldn't change week-in week-out, year-in year-out. In Asia, Warcraft and Starcraft are the big games and have been in use for years! Both spectators and players know that it will be there the next day, can get used to what is happening, etc. The CGS is a positive step in this way as it is (relatively) stable with game choices. A contract to use (game) for 2-5 years would be a positive step as gamers, spectators, sponsors, etc know that this game WILL be used.

Majors - Similar to Golf & Tennis it would be nice to have an organised season with major tournaments (ESWC, something akin to CPL finals / major events) and other tournament stops. This would also make it possible to have rankings (and would aid the stability factor)

Union - Not like G7 (allegations of bullying so that they could use certain headphones for example). But one where players can see a clause (such as the infamous CPL gag order) and refuse to sign such a contract. Also to aid players being paid in a timely manner - if tournaments are to be run as a business then competitors should be treated as creditors. You can be sure that if they were to delay paying rent / electricity / wages they wouldn't last long and it should be no different when it comes to prize money.

Sponsors - Currently sponsors hold a great deal of control within pro gaming. And unfortunately unless you are top 3-8 (probably 5), you will not do very well within pro gaming. Unfortunately, it's a relatively new scene that exploded so it will take time before the shoe is on the other foot and teams have more control. Right now, players and teams will scrap for ANY deal they can get. If the scene is nurtured in the right way though, it will be able to grow and develop (even though it may take time) and then there can be a platform similar to real sports.

Have been meaning to do a column piece but it keeps getting put off but these are some of the main points...Considering the relatively short amount of time that the scene has been around, it has done well in terms of drawing in sponsors and major tournaments, etc. Every sport had its amateur phase, just gaming got a "pro" tag a little too soon...

Not like G7 (allegations of bullying so that they could use certain headphones for example).

I think that was justified. No tournament organizer should force you to use any certain headphones, especially when several gamers might be sponsored by a company and using their headphones may be a part of the sponsorship. It would be like the Olympics saying that everyone has to wear Nike shoes.

Oh I know :) That was one step towards bringing power back from sponsors.

But there are other issues that I wish would be looked at or pushed harder...

Definately D!

They could name the site: raged.com or something

And it's only $ 5000 ...that's like 19,99 € or sth

I'm gonna look into it.

Right after buying google with my lunch money.

I think ESR needs a face-lift a lot has changed on the internet since this site design.

http://www.esreality.com/?a=preferences change css?

even that's old.

make a new one then :)

I dont agree, I dont know many sites that are as clean and commenting is a joy on this site with the coloring of unread messages etc

ESR is still millenia ahead of any other site, you just watch :P

I think this is a case of putting the cart before the horse, or in this case trying to organise the leagues before we've got the sport.

Right now the mainstream tournament games seem to be Halo 3, DOA3 and Guitar Hero and if that's what constitutes pro-gaming who cares what happens. Players of these games deserve neither pay nor respect and trying to set up websites or organisations to get them respect is a wasted endeavour.

Before we worry about leagues, pay or respect we need a game to play that is high skill and generates interest from the media in general. At this time no such game is forthcoming (which is why these days I spend all my time whining and none of my time playing - I need a game to play damn it!!!).

Right now the mainstream tournament games seem to be Halo 3, DOA3 and Guitar Hero and if that's what constitutes pro-gaming who cares what happens.

Only in America.

I wouldn’t say the problem was restricted to America and organisations like the South Korean World Cyber Games (Guitar Hero, Halo 3, Fifa, Carom3D etc) and European ESL (Fifa, Pro Evolution Soccer) uses similarly poor games. Admittedly there are some respectable European tournament organisers like Euskal and the ESWC but they’re in the minority.

I think we need to take action when we need to.

Tons of players put up with tons of shit from these terrible leagues and companies. Fox is a great player, but sometimes I feel bad for him because of money bullshit from leagues like CPL and GGL.

For example, the Quakecon incident this year. Bullshit. What did we do? Nothing.

I think that we need to know when to DO something. For example, Quakecon has put us though bullshit this year, sure the event was decent, but it obviously appears that players aren't being respected. So, why not do a boycott?

It's too early to do something like that right now, but I honestly think that the top players + competitive ones should do something like that if they keep this shit up.

I'm not saying "BOYCOTT QUAKECON RIGHT NOW". I'm just saying, the players need to start doing something drastic instead of nothing at all.

If not now, when? We let CPL go on for far too long, and it's only hurt the image and professionalism that we had been trying to build. People are worried about boycotting because they need the money, but they don't seem to understand that if the model gets poisoned by events like this, there won't even be tournaments in the future to make money from.

Fatal1ty used to say that we should support these tournaments and games that come out and just wait until things got momentum so that, in the future, we could possibly have the professionalism we need. It was a bad idea then, and it's a bad idea now. We're no closer to that goal than we were 8 years ago.

as long as most gamers will be immature kids with various complexes and disorders, i really doubt they will succeed with anything at all on their own.

coller winz