eSports, as they’ve become widely known, have continued to grow over last five years at a frightening pace. Worth hundreds of millions of dollars in terms of prize pools, advertising and merchandise sales, eSports - across a variety of genres - is enormous. There’s an entire generation intent on pursuing professional gaming not only as a career but as a platform for fame and fortune. DOTA 2, Smite or CS:GO - all of them have a mixed bag of players and abilities. Whether it’s a beginner exploring the game or genre for the first time, or someone gravitating towards it as a result of being bored with their current go-to. What binds them all, underneath the glitz of Twitch followers or adoration, is the competition. Like any sport, eSports players are driven by the desire to succeed: the personal knowledge that you’re improving, beating others and climbing a ladder (whether in the game or through your own benchmarking).  

The fact these games are competitive is largely the reason why they’re so popular and outside of their free-to-play model (with the exception of CS:GO) the developers behind them rely heavily on players returning back for one more game. The draw of the competition and the urge to beat others is partly the reason why I’ve pursued competitive games the majority of my gaming life. Whether it’s the early days of player killing in Ultima Online to climbing the ranks of Heroes of the Storm, it’s the itch of self improvement combined with a personal sense of progression that keeps me playing. Unfortunately and when a game is competitive, certainly in an online space, it’s inevitable that you encounter those that are not only abusive, but elitist.

At times it’s difficult to know which of these attitudes is because one is born out of anonymity and the lack of repercussions (it’s widely accepted that MOBAs are other competitive games are toxic environments) whilst the other is born as a result of an individual's perceived success. Both are issues which are hard to neuter. When it comes to Gigantic, I’ve already seen the saplings of these problems and they’ve begun to grow more and more in recent weeks.

Firstly, I must praise Motiga for not having pushed the eSports agenda. They have, time and time again, that should Gigantic become an eSports title, it will be born of player desire, rather than one forced by them. It’s a sensible and healthy way to go about creating a multiplayer game. All too often developers and publishers instantly want to ensure their game fits the eSports bill (Guild Wars 2 is a perfect example of how not to push an eSports agenda). Despite Motiga’s reluctance, it hasn’t prevented a swathe of the playerbase from already jumping on the bandwagon and I can only breath a sigh of relief that chat was disabled before the game entered Beta. Some of the things I’ve been told or heard include the following:

“I really wouldn’t recommend you give advice to players as you’re not a Community Coach.”

“You don’t really have a right to talk about balance when you play Griselma.”

“Fucking scrub.”

“You’re not part of core testing because you’re not good enough.”

Even yesterday I found myself in a lengthy discussion with an individual who, to begin with, insisted I had no basis for forming an opinion on Gigantic, its Hero’s and how they could tier because I wasn’t A) part of a team and B) wasn’t part of Gigantic’s competitive core team. Playing Gigantic for over ten months, or writing professionally about massively multiplayer games of this type, for a decade was irrelevant.

What I found particularly frustrating about this discussion, more than any other I’ve had with such individuals, is that it exemplifies the current attitude creep of elitism and toxicity within Gigantic. An individual who happened to have stumbled across Gigantic early in development, only to gain access to “core”, is no more entitled than someone who joins today. Making a team in or outside of “competitive core” adds no greater credibility to your opinion.

When a player base is as small as Gigantic, being the first on the scene isn’t a badge to beat people over the head with. Such a small playerbase needs to work together collectively and positively to encourage growth and the nurture of new blood. As a free to play title, Motiga will rely on the retention of players, irrespective of their personal goals or ability. Without these individuals purchasing skins and whatever else Motiga choose to sell, Gigantic won’t last long - regardless of the elitist few.

Unfortunately for Motiga and the players who choose to support and encourage one another, preventing toxicity and egotism is impossible. What we can do however is act on those who bring the community down and for the time being, report them to Motiga.

Gigantic has all the makings of a very good multiplayer game and I hope as someone who is competitive that it finds itself in a position where many dozens of teams vye for the top spot of whatever ladder appears. Until then and for all those playing Gigantic, who think of themselves superior to us peons, I’ve found Tony Hsieh sums it up perfectly:

“Don’t be cocky. Don’t be flash. There’s always someone better than you.”   


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

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