Once upon a time, someone in the upper echelon of the video games industry thought it would be a good idea to merge sports culture with games culture, and there followed a disastrous series of events leading to, well, this. What we’ve seen this week at the Dota 2 Shanghai Majors has been nothing short of embarrassing for actual fans of eSports.
From Gabe Newell’s public firing of profane commentator James Harding to the termination of an entire production team, there couldn’t possibly be a worse way of exemplifying the significant impact of competitive gaming on our culture, right? Wrong.
Apparently, along with these mishaps, unusual noises audible on the stream, commentator booths devoid of soundproof glass, and questionably secured Wi-Fi provided for the teams, there’s this god-awful video to top it all off.
Seriously, is this a player introduction video or a ‘90s advertisement for the Sega Genesis? Whatever it is, it’s unbearable. With a $3 million price pool, you might expect a less cringe-worthy offering, with a dose of professionalism, but alas, this is eSports we’re talking about here.
Like a teenager entering adulthood, the entire genre is still finding its way in the world. And it has seen one careless oversight after another. SB Nation reported on Wednesday that an entire match was delayed after the Shanghai Major event staff misplaced Team Spirit player “Ramzes666,” or Roman Kushnarev’s, keyboard.
Game is delayed.
The Shanghai Major’s staff has lost Ramzes666’s keyboard…— Team Spirit (@Team__Spirit) March 2, 2016
Due to that incident, a 31,000-seat stadium was left completely vacant. And while the production has made some improvements since, there’s no denying the unpleasant aftertaste resulting from this dastardly video.
Screaming “We fear nothing!” in unison may send a chill down my spine, but if anything, it’s out of sheer pity. Clearly, eSports are trying to take a page out of the books of actual athletic organizations, when in reality, it should be finding its own trademarks.
