What does it mean to be a competitive gamer in Malaysia?

Picture courteousy of Garena SG/MY 

When people mention players like Doublelift of CLG, Madlife of CJ Frost and xPeke of Fnatic, active players of the current League of Legends scene screams and cheers in respect and awe because as an individual, they are well looked-up to. 

The fan base of players in their competitive scene is so huge that many casual gamers wished that they are in their shoes, enjoying the fame of being well recognized everywhere.

However, what does it mean to be a competitive player in Malaysia?

1. They spend years of their time in a gamble. It might seem absurd but competitive players give and sacrifice a lot of their time just to practice and train up their skills. While most competitive players do it part time, some of them actually take time off their studies just to train. Unfortunately, these sacrifice may even mean nothing in the end if they get anything less than 1st place in a tournament. Face it, we do not live the life of Pro-gamers in Korea or NA, while players from other countries gets salaries and promotion by their company, we don't.

2. They have great vision of e-sports, but is often looked down upon. Competitive players have their vision of bringing e-sports into the Malaysian scene. However, in as much as they try to work towards it, people (Parents, friends & partners) may not find it appealing.When they are asked on their studies/academic achievements, could it be possible for them to say "Nah, I play games for a living". I guess it's alright in some other place, but definitely not Malaysia.

3. They do not treat the game as simple 'a game'. People may feel that competitive players are simply players that wants to use gaming as an excuse to get themselves off the world. Often do I hear that people play game to 'excuse' themselves from having to face 'reality'. That being said, it is definitely not the case because as soon as a person decides to be competitive in a game, they are not playing the game anymore. It's their career, their work, their job.

We've often heard of players like JaeYoong and GoldeNz from the Kuala Lumpur Hunters, who is by far one of the few well known competitive League of Legends players in the scene. Following down the ladder, we have players who are in amateur tourney such as Ozora Veki from Paradox Gaming who had always been in the competitive scene of the Malaysian League of Legends community.

Unfortunately, if we were to compare them with players across the globe, they simply mean nothing because of several reasons stated above. Perhaps these are the reasons why teams start to disband tourney after tourney despite them being decent in the game (4moD - Remember?). It's simply because it's really stressful playing in tournaments, yet when they seek for support, it is nearly non-existent

Thus the author pleads to you - readers. Give your support to these competitive players, they really need the support. Do not let teams amateur teams such as KTHXBAI, Paradox Gaming, and Nothing to Lose die off because if they do, that's the end of the Malaysian e-sports scene

- JVC