Esports: Efforts vital to counter misconceptions

COMPETITIVE video gaming, or esports, has become a worldwide trend, attracting millions of fans and significant financial backing.

Still, there is that misunderstanding about whether or not it can be considered a real sport.

Perhaps the most widespread misconception about online gaming is of it being a waste of time, providing no benefits, particularly for young children.

University of Technology Sarawak (UTS)’s School of Computing and Creative Media dean, Associate Professor Dr Alan Ting, remarked: “Many view esports as merely playing video games, not recognizing the discipline, strategy, and skill involved.

“Another misconception is of esports not having real career prospects.

“All these often cause parents to discourage their children from pursuing esports.

“However, the reality is that esports can lead to many career opportunities, and with proper balance and support, it can be a healthy, enriching pursuit.”

For Tiffani Lim, or fondly known as Tiffani ‘Oling’ Lim in the esports community, she described esports as ‘a port that uses gaming as means to determine the level of skills’.

“But at the top level, everybody is contracted full-time to train and compete, and if you lack discipline or a good attitude, you would be filtered out very early on.

“When everybody has similar, top-level skills and reflexes, it takes a lot of grit, determination, hard work, commitment, brainpower, creativity, and also some luck, in order to beat the opponents,” said Lim, an esports athlete herself, as well as a referee with over 10 years of experience in the industry.

She acknowledged that there were elements in esports that could cause addiction and trigger violence, but so were other things.

“However, my argument is that when you understand that esports is a sport, you would know that athletes do not think this way, and these are irrelevant concerns.

“The training in esports is repetitive, and is actually boring; thus, I believe it does not bring about enjoyment, let alone addiction.

“The in-game characters, in their eyes, are the tools and resources that they need to maximise in order to achieve victory.

“In a nutshell, all they have on their minds is how to win the next tournament and how to outsmart their opponents.”

‘Dispelling misconceptions’

Asked if these misconceptions or lack of awareness among the parents were the reason for them to not encourage their children pursue a career in esports, Lim nodded.

“When you see esports as gaming, you tend to associate it with all the negative labels or stereotypes that people have in mind about gaming.

“But if parents know what exactly it really takes for all the top esports athletes to get to where they are today, they would know that it is far from easy or being enjoyable.

“They (committed esports athletes) are respectable individuals who have sacrificed a whole lot in life in order to pursue their dreams, and in the process of chasing victories and making the country proud, they are rewarded with big paychecks.

“Some of them have even earned enough for the rest of their lives before the age of 25

Lim added: “Think about it this way – if you find that your child is gifted in badminton when he’s still very young, will you support him in going down the path of a professional badminton athlete?

“You would have concerns about financial stability – what if he didn’t make it big, and unable to earn enough to feed himself?

“You would have concerns about health – what if he overexerted himself and ended up with lasting sports injuries? Would a successful sports career outweigh all these concerns?

“Just change badminton to esports, and those concerns are what parents should really be worried about; anything else about gaming addiction or whatnot are irrelevant worries. If parents understand the real nature of esports, which is easy to understand if you think of it like any other sport, it becomes very clear.”

In his opinion, Ting said the governments could roll out educational programmes by implementing esports-related courses and workshops in educational institutions.

He also highlighted the importance of investment aimed at providing funding and facilities for esports events and training centres.

“Roll out of public awareness campaigns meant to educate the public about the benefits and opportunities within the esports industry to counter the misconceptions.

“For good measure, establish the regulations to ensure fair play and provide the support for players’ welfare.”

‘Budget wishlist’

On the wishlist for the coming Budget 2025 with regard to esports, Ting was hoping for increased funding.

“Allocate more financial support for esports events, facilities, and training programmes.”

“Additionally, I hope that under the national budget, there would be tax incentives for companies investing in the esports industry.

“Also, I am hoping for the provision of educational grants, or scholarships, for students pursuing careers in esports-related fields.”

Adding on, Ting would want to see the budget include public awareness initiatives such as campaigns to promote a better understanding of esports and its benefits.

Concurring with Ting’s suggestions, Lim said: “If given the right budget, our local talents could really achieve a lot, but that said, the budget allocation must be in the right hands.

“My wishlist for our national budget is for it to have more support for our national athletes’ support team. For comparison, when the Indonesian esports contingent travels overseas to join multi-sport events, they would have a full-fledged support team: doctors, masseuses, psychologists, therapists, chefs, nutritionists, cheerleaders, and many other supporting members.

“And then, they would set up a ‘Rumah Indonesia’, reflecting a true Indonesian house, where Indonesian food is served, and athletes can gather to chit-chat whenever they are feeling homesick.

“Honestly, I don’t think we need to go to that extent, but it would be nice to at least have the basic support like psychologists or psychotherapists because at the moment, we don’t even have the budgets for this, we usually have no budget for training camps or facilities leading up to international tournaments as well.”

Lim also proposed that some funding could be channelled into holding regular esports tournaments at the school, district, state and national levels, throughout the year, so that a stable talent-funnel system could be established for the selection of national teams – the ladder could become clearer for all aspiring athletes.

“With all these things in place, plus perhaps more educational workshops like the Sibu MPI NESDEG Workshop, I’m sure the teachers and the parents would gradually change their perspective towards esports.”

‘Future of esports’

Ting described the future of esports in Malaysia as ‘promising’.

“The region has the potential to become a hub for esports in Southeast Asia due to growing infrastructure, government’s support, and increasing number of local talents.

“The investment in local tournaments, training facilities and educational programmes can further boost the industry’s growth.

“Sarawak, with its unique cultural backdrop, can position itself into becoming a vibrant centre for esports tourism and international events.”

Lim manages the national women’s esports team, and for over the past two years, she has listed two girls from Sibu on their gold medal rosters.

“We have quite a number of Sarawakian youths on the top-achieving rosters across different game titles as well.

“With the rise of mobile titles in recent years such as the ‘Honor of Kings’, ‘Mobile Legends’ and ‘PUBG Mobile’, Sarawak may just be the next place where top professional teams would come in and scout new talents.

“As for Malaysia, we also have a proven track record of producing top players across different game titles, from Dota 2 to Mobile Legends (the Selangor Red Giants just won the Esports World Cup), but we do lack the structures and systems conducive to finding new talents.”

Lim observed that in other sports, there was a clear pathway in terms of programmes being run at the school, district, state, national and up to international levels.

“For now, such pathway is not that well-established yet for esports, where a lot of scouting is done privately by organisations.

“I feel like our government, at the moment, is still unsure about how best to support or nurture the local esports scene or talents, but I believe given some time for education and development, Malaysia will be one of the leading countries in esports, because of our strong and vibrant talent pool.”

When officiating at the two-day International Game Development Conference 2024 in the UTS here on July 6 this year, federal Deputy Digital Minister Datuk Wilson Ugak Kumbong said Sarawak could leverage on the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)’s support and assistance by tapping into these resources to develop its gaming sector.

He had pointed out that with its rich cultural heritage and rapidly-growing tech scene, Sarawak held great potential in the global gaming industry.

“Through MDEC, Sarawakian game developers can access funding opportunities, participate in upskilling workshops and gain exposure to international markets.

“This collaboration can help Sarawak harness its creative talents and drive economic growth within the digital and gaming industries.

“This aligns with the Malaysia Digital National Strategy that attracts and encourages companies, talents and investments to converge on Malaysia, while enabling local businesses and people to play leading roles in the global digital economy,” said Ugak in his speech.