Monthly Archives: March 2012

Popularity Pointing to Players

Reddit, a News Site That Has Content Generated by Fans and Players Alike. Photo : Samuel Chu

The increasing popularity of eSports coincides with the rise of social media. Similar to how pop culture consumers seek out tabloids for personal information on their favorite celebrities, gamers are also looking to become more personally connected with their favorite players. Community centric websites such as Clgaming.net and Solomid.net have content by these favored players. Fans can find podcasts, videos, blogs and articles with the click a mouse. Similar websites provide user generated content by famous video game players.

This grassroots style of eSports coverage is very popular with fans of the industry. Opinions from their favorite player are much more coveted than opinions from a reporter. In this field, a fan may seek journalistic coverage of an event to find out what happened, but if that same fan wanted an opinion of what occurred that person would look to their favorite player.

Solomid.net, a Site by a Professional Team That Allows Them to Interact with their Fan Base. Photo : Samuel Chu

Reporters must now struggle with what they want to accomplish while covering an eSports event. Should they provide a broad plot summary of what transpired or should they offer their insight, but if their opinion is not valued should they give it? If fans prefer coverage from their favorite players is there any hope for more professional, legitimate reporting?

It’s a Two Way Street

EG. Idra, a Professional Starcraft 2 Player being Interviewed by Rachel, a Reporter for Cyber Sports Network. Photo : Cyber Sports Network

For there to be better eSports journalism, two things need to happen. Players are going to continue to provide content and it would be unreasonable for them to stop. Instead, more adequate reporters need to provide more adequate reporting. And consequently, fans of the eSports scene need to actually read such coverage. Social media as a whole seems to be increasing the popularity of informal media outlets, such as blogs, but in a scene where largely all the press coverage belongs to this informal style of reporting, there should be room for professional coverage.

Team Counter Logic Gaming Getting Ready To Play Photo : Samuel Chu

East Coast All Star Introductions Photo : NBA

Lebron James and Eli Manning are common names thrown around a dining table. But how often does your brother bring up professional video game players Justin Wong or Dan Dinh? Most college students are aware of their school’s basketball or football team, but how about their school’s League of Legends team?   For some people, competition and video games do not go hand in hand. A video game is played for fun. You might be by yourself or with some friends, but a video game can be a source of hours of entertainment for relatively little cost. For some people, a video game that anyone can play can mean a lot more than just a hobby. For some people, a video game is worth practicing for, worth dropping out of school and worth pursuing a career in.

Similar to how anyone can play a pick up game of basketball, anyone can play a game of Street Fighter. However, after a while, some people start to get really, really good. They start to get so good that their gameplay can in fact be quite a spectacle.  Good enough that they can have enough people watching so that they can attract advertisement agencies. So why aren’t more people watching? Why don’t these gamers have the same level of popularity and financial success as a star athlete?

Professional Gamers?

Team Solo Mid Holding MLG Providence Tournament Winnings. Photo by : Major League Gaming

Counter-Logic Gaming and Team Solo Mid are just two of the many upstart teams attempting to make League of Legends, a video game, more spectator friendly. They have started up websites where anyone can watch them play. Whether it’s a casual match or a tournament match, these gamers are trying to dispel many of the misconceptions that go along with being a gamer.

Part of the reason why the gaming culture has yet to fully reach out to the mainstream audience in America (in Korea, competitive gaming is already a large part of their culture) is the unfortunate stigma that gamers are “nerds,” that gamers are socially awkward, degenerate, and embarrassing individuals. While this may be the case for some gamers, it is not true for every gamer out there. In fact, many gaming teams (especially in Korea) have specialized training facilities and require their players to utilize these facilities to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Many of the players from Team Solo Mid and other established gaming teams are very approachable. Their chat rooms that go along with their streams are part of the reason why many fans feel such a connection with these players. And while I would take my bets on the basketball player being in better shape than the video game player, that does not necessarily mean that mister six foot tall could hold up a dinner conversation better than your competitive video game player.

So next time you feel like kicking back with a beer and catching the Knick game, flip the Team Solo Mid game on instead.

Youwatie Kalicharan was once a 10 year old girl who didn’t want to go to her local Hindu temple in Richmond Hill, Queens. Now she is a 20 year old artist for “Creations by Wattie.” Youwatie has overcome strict immigrant parents and the confusion of being in a temple filled with images of deities she did not understand. Now she creates religious paintings inspired by her dreams and is an artist for Hindus in her community.

Youwatie R. Kalicharan beside a collection of "Creations By Wattie" in her home studio in Jamaica, Queens.

The Art of Beginning

Youwatie explained to me that she first became interested in art through school. She stated, “In school, being in art class was where I felt comfortable. And then when my parents had to force me to go to mandir [temple], I didn’t want to be there. Having no connection to the religion was really weird for me. As soon as I hit sixteen I started dreaming about all of these different gods. And not knowing who they were. Art was the only way I knew how to express myself.”

A painting done by Youwatie for her brother's Hindu wedding.

According to Youwatie, being a child with strict parents has worked as a major advantage for her as an artist. As I interviewed the intriguing community artist she said as a first-generation girl born of immigrant parents, “You are always wondering what decision you should make. Having strict parents and not being able to do what you want actually brought me closer to who I am now. When I meet kids who are inspired by what I do and ask how did you start, I tell them the fact that my parents did force me to go to temple and if they are in mandir [Hindu temple] they should find where their heart is at.”

Translating from Vision to Painting

Youwatie explained to me the process of translating visions in her dreams to artwork. Her first dream was of Mother Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction. She said, ” I woke up wondering, Who was that?” After she had done the research she found a deep connection with the Hindu goddess as a fierce form. For a week, she dreamt one god after another: Lord Shiva, Ganesh, Mother Durga and then she created a journal with all of her drawings. It was interesting to hear the story of a teenager who did not understand images of her religion’s gods and her magical process of translating visions of those gods into artwork.

A collage of "Creations By Wattie" depicting Hindu gods and goddesses. Youwatie's vision of Hindu deity Kali is depicted on the upper right hand corner.

Now Youwatie is a young artist and entrepreneur for her business, “Creations by Wattie” which provides religious paintings to Hindu temples and Indo-Caribbean Queens residents. After asking for her future goal Youwatie said, “I really do want to have a small painting boutique somewhere in the Richmond Hill, Queens area. To have a workshop would be great. So now I’m saving up money to find a small shop. That is my main goal.”

Photos and Text By: Kamelia Kilawan