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| Nathan Anderson - Western Cape StarCraft Champion |
The MWEB sponsored 2015 Western Cape Championships proved just what the MSSA is all about. The joy and happiness exhibited by all the gamers at the event proved just what a good job the MSSA is doing.
The short answer, of course, is that the MSSA is all about accrediting people and promoting the growth of gaming on an unprecedented level in South Africa.
There are those, however, that claim all sorts of
fiction about the MSSA. Such fictions include that the MSSA has not chosen the best teams for E-FRAG and the IeSF World Championships.
Let us unpack these erroneous claims.
First it should be noted that only gamers affiliated to the MSSA may participate in MSSA events. Thus it stands to reason, based on logic, that the MSSA will (like all other national sport federations) only ever select gamers who are so affiliated to officially represent South Africa.
So why then do gamers not participate in the MSSA events?
Clearly this is not true across the board as the MSSA boasts of having the best StarCraft, FIFA, Hearthstone, etc. players participating in their events.
The only reasons why people refuse to participate in MSSA events can be chalked up to:
- FEAR: Gamers, although brash behind their keyboards at home, are generally afraid to play in LAN championships where they will be seen by other gamers and will be held accountability for what they say and do.
- UNWILLING TO ABIDE BY RULES: Those gamers who continually refuse to play in LAN championships are afraid to play by anyone else's rules in case they do not do well. Those that refuse to play in LANs are those who always cite some online leagues rules even though such rules have no bearing or weight in the competition in question.
- BEING NOT COMPETITIVE IN NATURE: A lot of gamers that refuse to participate in MSSA events are just not competitive. Such gamers are unable to adapt to new and/or different rules and are thus doomed to continue making the same mistakes over-and-over again.Such players find it difficult to learn the rules of the competition and then whinge and whine about their results blaming everyone else but themselves for their performance.
- TOO MUCH EGO: Many gamers have so much ego that they cannot see the 'big' picture. Instead they think that everything revolves around themselves and that they should be treated as 'special'. Well there is a life-lesson here, no-one is indispensable, and that a gamer is only as good as their last game. That is why the MSSA runs annual team trials in a transparent manner. No-one is just picked on whimsy or through any other form of bias as continually requested by 'community leaders'. All team members have earned their place in trials and all teams selected are the best possible teamsat such trials.
- SELF-APPOINTED COMMUNITY LEADERS: There is always reference to the community by a small group of about 10 gamers. These 10 or so gamers also claim the be 'community leaders', but are they? Who voted them in, to whom are they responsible? Do they report to anyone or are they really just tyrants who are rabble rousing the masses in a bid to get their own ulterior motives enforced? What are their ulterior motives, do such only benefit the 'community leaders' or do such motives fall in line with a greater vision? If such a greater vision exists, it has never been expressed anywhere! All that has been expressed is condemnation, bile and bitterness....
- UNWILLINGNESS TO TRANSFORM: The MSSA is committed to transforming gaming in South Africa. To exclude women is to exclude half of South africa's population, and to not promote demographic diversity is to exclude 80% of South Africa's population. Yet the critics who whinge and whine about the MSSA do not even attempt to transform South African gaming. Instead such gamers palm it off as being some-one else's responsibility.
- UNWILLINGNESS TO COMPLY TO THE LAW: A gamer has claimed, "There is no requirement for MSSA to exist". Obviously such gamer has not read the Sport and Recreation Act. An Act of Parliament. However, this seems to be a common thread among the 'community leaders'...that is, "I am a gamer, and the law does not apply to me!". We are all South Africans, the law does apply to all equally.
To put it bluntly, the MSSA will be around for many decades to come. The MSSA will continue to produce national teams and do great development at school level. It is at school level that the MSSA will find its Protea Teams that will officially represent South Africa in international competition and which will help South Africa become competitive on an international stage.
