For this coming 30th
Southeast Asian Games, the organizers have decided to take a bold step in
introducing a new competitive event in the ensemble. What is interesting about
the new event is that, while intensely competitive in itself, it does not
involve athletic abilities in the strictest sense. But their practitioners in
other dedicated competitions approach it with a mindset of serious business.
This new SEA Games event is E-sports, competing via multiplayer videogames. And
with its prominent inclusion, the member nations of the region are considering
the formation of a foundation to push the envelope of E-sports development.
ABS-CBN News reports the 11-nation region of Southeast Asia is
riding on the rising potential of E-sports events held in their locales, by
proposing that they form the E-Sports SEA Foundation. The purpose of this
organization is to gauge the pace of development in the organizing of
multiplayer e-sporting competitions in the SEA area, with the intent of
instilling an athletic sporting standard for this gradually-expanding new
competitive discipline. The foundation could in theory help to foster the
development of E-sports leagues in the region that will all follow certain
regulations uniform in the SEA, facilitating international sporting competition
standards.
The subject of the E-Sports SEA
Foundation was among the topics of discussion in the recent5th ASEAN
Ministerial Meeting on Sports, of which this country was host. During his
keynote speech on the subject, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) head William
Martinez sees the foundation as “another chance to connect with our neighbors
and together strengthen the foothold of sports in the everyday lives of our
people.’’ And the 2019 SEA Games, which will debut E-Sports as a medal event,
will continue to build the attention and development that was kick-started back
in 2018, when Indonesia added E-Sports to their edition of that year’s Asian
Games.
One issue regarding the
establishment of uniform regulations for an E-sporting league is that the
discipline actually comprises of competitions in different multiplayer
videogame titles. For instance, the SEA Games next month will have medals for
six different E-sport games: “Arena of Valor,” “DOTA 2,” “Mobile Legends: Bang
Bang,” “NBA 2K19,” “Starcraft 2,” and “Tekken 7.” That makes four primarily-PC multiplayer
games (over either local network or internet) and two console multiplayer
titles (one sports and one fighting). All these different events will be
battled for at the Filoil Flying V Arena of San Juan, with a 5,000-person
seating capacity.
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