what they have. But if they want the scene to grow financially, they do need the general attention of society.
Should eSports be recognised as sports in order to help its social acceptance grow?
If eSports would be recognised as sports, it would massively help to shape its image amongst the common members of society, people that aren’ t regularly in contact with video games. We’ d finally have a counter-balance to the negative attention towards video games in the past decades, which would be absolutely deserved. It would also be a huge deal in terms of legal issues. The fact that eSports athletes have problems with their visas is ridiculous. If Messi wouldn’ t be able to fly to the United States due to visa problems, every tabloid in the world would run that as its headline. But since eSports doesn’ t have this level of social and legal acceptance, there will always be problems along the way.
So when do you think this change in the way society thinks is going to happen?
The change will happen once enough companies invest in eSports. This has happen several times before. Think Formula 1: Formula 1 was barely recognised in Germany until more and more companies joined in, including popular car brands. Now the scene has grown up, it has media attention like every other sport, then society joined in and hype was created. What also must be noted is the fact that in the beginning, there were only car companies putting up ads in Formula 1. Now you have cigarette brands or postal services putting their stickers on racing cards, every branch, every industry is trying to advertise using Formula 1. When eSports as a whole has reached that point, that’ s when it has made it. When it’ s not niche anymore and everyone cares for it. That’ s the route eSports will and has to go in order to succeed.
What do you think are potential issues for this to happen?
Obviously professional sponsorships are still pretty rare, which is pretty sad. On the other hand, there’ s unfortunately a lack of professionalism within the scene as well. There are too many amateur teams with 100 Facebook likes that are already asking for a sponsorship. At the end of the day, it’ s always about reaching a lot of people, and as long as that isn’ t the case, nothing will happen.
What’ s your personal dream within the realms of eSports?
A personal dream of mine would be to rent proper exhibition halls and organize even bigger and greater events, specifically for eSports tournaments. That way you’ d have the exact kind of feeling that you have in a football stadium. Of course it’ s already happening, but I’ d like to see it in even bigger proportions.
A few last words!
A small plea towards the community: Support the people that are trying to support you. If there are events, organizers or projects that help the eSports community grow, show them some love and actually pay some money as well. Gamers are used to getting a lot of stuff for free, but they also have to realize that quality is worth the price.
Thank you very much for the interview!
You can find the eSports Club Munich at e-sport. club and on Twitter at @ esport _ club