Hey guys. If you don’t remember me from the days of CGS, my name is Bruce “eCurb” Drope and this is: Kick’n the Curb. In this article, I’m going to be bringing up the subject of the Gaming Idols. The ones that we have all come to love, hate and keep watchful eyes on, and how this has effected the overall community of gaming.
I’ve come to realize during my tenure in the eSports world that there are three kinds of people within the gaming universe. People who idolize others, people who show negativity to those who idolize, and people who never get involved enough in eSports to be set in one of the previous categories. Now I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking Bruce come on man! I follow my own way, I walk my own path. Well… some where along the way you had someone who inspired you to get to where you are today or maybe who got you started on that path and you’ve seemingly just forgot about them along that road to gaming glory.
I remember being a young dapper man just entering the competitive Counter-Strike world and watching my first Counter-Strike movie. It was the zEx ESWC movie with shaGuar, Volcano, Sunman and the others. The part of the movie that intrigued me the most was when I caught a glimpse of them all at a LAN event, and that’s when I became hooked. I became an instant fan of shaGuar. Now I’m sure my story isn’t the same as everyone else’s, but once in a while something catches your eye and that’s where the first part of the journey begins. Your watching a match, you’re reading a team’s website and boom! You become someone who is envious of another and you want to go out and grab their in-game configuration, figure out all the mouse controls, the mouse and mouse pad gear and the PC setup, because you think if you have what that particular person has, what else is stopping you from achieving the same results?
There are others that see things a little differently though. Some turn away from the one’s that have walked the path and they decide to take a different route. Along the way, shunning and disrespecting anyone who feels that player idolization or anything of the sort is the way to go. It is sometimes hard to watch in IRC when one of the pro players makes an appearance in a public channel just to say a few words to the fans and community that supports them. Then out of no where you read comments like: “Man… quit riding his nuts” or “Who give’s a ^$#@ what his mouse sensitivity is?” Things like that I feel are the real reasons why fans are sometimes humbled when their favorite star is just a few words away from communicating. I mean, when you see fans at a baseball game scream for their favorite player who just nails a homerun over the fence, no one screams out “Shut the hell up man!” It truly is what sets eSports away from ever making it big. The community plays a huge role in where the sport goes and how serious it is taken.
In closing, I want people to really take a look at how they got to where they did in this crazy world of gaming. Who we’re your inspirations to take you to the next level? Did seeing KSharp use his deadly awp make you want to hit the LAN scene? Seeing Jason Lake pump up his Counter-Strike team before a big match make you want to be a part of that action? Or even something as small as news article about an event where a particular player performed great in, spark something inside of you to invest your time, money and commitment in bettering yourself at gaming. Cheer on your players, let them know that your just as excited to see them play as they are of playing the game they love.
Graphics by Andy “Ez” Price