Access All Areas October 2018 | Page 19

OCTOBER | TRENDING Why event security is not a game Words: Stuart Wood A string of incidents has put event security in the spotlight over the past year – but the world of e-sports has some catching up to do S ecurity is an issue that has been in the headlines for events a great deal over the last year, particularly since the tragic terrorist attack on Manchester Arena in May 2017. But there is one sector of the outdoor events world – a rather enormous but oft-overlooked sector – that seems to be behind the times when it comes to security. That sector is e-sports: the playing of videogames at a level of competitive sport. E-sports events range from small, grassroots gatherings of gamers to enormous, stadium-filling behemoths with over $25m in prize money being offered. That last figure comes from The International 2018, a Dota 2 tournament which concluded on 25 August, and was livestreamed by over 15 million people online. But it was a considerably smaller e-sports event that hit headlines just one day later, and not for a good reason. On 26 August, 24 year old David Katz shot and killed two people and then himself at a Madden NFL 19 event in Jacksonville, Florida. The shooting occurred at Good Luck Have Fun Game Bar, a small venue which featured no security whatsoever – be it metal detectors, searches on the door, or members of staff. In the wake of the incident, a player at the event who was shot and injured has filed a lawsuit against both the venue and Electronic Arts, which 19