Esports South Africa, and other games : COVID-19

Showing posts with label COVID-19. Show all posts

Wednesday, 3 November 2021

MSSA's South African National Online Esports Championships - 4 December 2021.

Bearing in mind the government's implemented regulations for level 1 in regard to COVID-19, Mind Sports South Africa's (MSSA) Board as decided to hold MSSA's 2021 South African National Championships as an online event. The reason for doing so is to take into account the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and to ensure that there is maximum participation, without compromising the health of any of its Registered Players, at such national championship.

MSSA will thus be holding its South African National Online Esports Championships on 4 December 2021.

MSSA's South African National LAN Championships has thus not been replaced by this event.

MSSA's South African National Online Esports Championships, which will offer local players the opportunity to qualify for selection to the national squad and for the Protea Team.

In order to participate, players must be registered for the 2021/2022 season.

Obviously Registered Players may participate from the comfort of their own home while being safe from the ravages of COVID-19.

The championship shall be held on 4 December 2021.

Game titles to be played are:

Period/genre	Title	Platform	Age restriction	Players
Shooter	Call of Duty Mobile	Mobile	17	5 v 5
	CS GO	PC	16	5 v 5
	Paladins	PC/PS 4/5	12	5 v 5
Sport	FIFA '21	PS 4/5	3	1 v 1
Sport	PES 2021	PS 4/5	3	1 v 1
MOBA	DotA 2	PC	12	5 v 5
MOBA	Clash Royale	Mobile	12	1 v 1
Fighting	Tekken 7	PS 4/5	16	1 v 1
Fighting	Street Fighter V	PS 4/5	12	1 v 1
Card	HearthStone	Various	7	1 v 1

Tournament Structure:

As per the MSSA's rules, being:

If less than six teams, the championship shall be a Round Robin Championship
If 6 to 10 teams enter the championship there shall be four rounds as played to the Swiss System
If 11 or more teams enter the championship there shall be five rounds as played to the Swiss System

Eligibility:

Any team consisting of players who are Registered Players affiliated to a MSSA member club may enter.

Entries:

Entry is R100.00 per Registered Player.
Only fully-paid-up Registered Players may participate in this event.
Entries must be submitted by 30 November 2021.
To enter, the club must complete the Google Drive document.
The entry form may be found on Google Drive. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_ERR6815uVjSMu4t5KkRxYqGJ_AA88kkz31qRgksASc/edit#gid=287696184
Clubs are to download the entry form, completed the downloaded form, and e-mail it to Mind Sports South Africa.

Medals:

Medals shall be handed over to winners at the next MSSA LAN that they attend.

MALE:

PREMIER: Medals shall be awarded to the first three teams.
UNDER 24: Medals shall be awarded to the first three teams that have not won a Premier medal and which are comprised entirely of students currently registered at any officially recognized University.
SCHOLARS: Medals shall be awarded to the first three teams of learners currently registered at any officially recognized school, provided they have not received any Premier medals.

FEMALE:

PREMIER: Medals shall be awarded to the first three teams.
UNDER 24: Medals shall be awarded to the first three teams that have not won a Premier medal and which are comprised entirely of students currently registered at any officially recognized University.
SCHOLARS: Medals shall be awarded to the first three teams of learners currently registered at any officially recognized school, provided they have not received any Premier medals.

Colours:

Protea Colours: Only Players that are selected to represent South Africa in International Championships may earn National Colours if the Protea Colours Board's criteria are met.
National Colours: All Players that win all of their Matches at a National Championship will earn National Colours.
Provincial Colours: All Players that win all of their Matches at a Provincial Championship will earn Provincial Colours. All Players who score within the top 50% in a specific Period at a Provincial Championship, and who also score within the top 50% at a National Championship in the same period and in the same year, will earn Provincial Colours.

General:

The championship shall be played on: 4 December 2021
The first round will start at 10H00. Players shall be given 60 minutes to complete each round.
The championship is accredited as being of the same status as a provincial championship.
The championship shall be used for the awarding of provincial colours;
The championship shall be used for the awarding of medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in Premier, Under 24, and School categories;
The championship shall be used for the ability to qualify for National Team Squad.
All medals shall be awarded to the recipients at a MSSA LAN championships.

Umpires:

Umpires may only be contacted over Skype on the day of competition. Any communication not on the Skype channel shall not be entered into.

Ladder:

All games shall count towards the National Ladder.

Shout casting:

MSSA shall decide who may shout-cast the games.
Anybody wishing to be appointed as a Shout-Caster must apply in writing to
mindsportscorrespondence@gmail.com

Friday, 15 January 2021

Use of venues for events.

It has been brought to Mind Sports South Africa's (MSSA) attention that under the most recent regulations only sporting activities by recognized sporting bodies are allowed.

Thus venue may only be used for official league fixtures and/or championships, and for training for such purposes.

Unfortunately this means that social, that is, non official fixtures are not permitted for the time being from venues.

Please do not encourage, or permit, the use of the facilities for such purposes, and remain compliant with all regulations in regard to COVID-19.

Please read:

Disaster Management Act - Regulations: Live Streaming
Disaster Management Act - Regulations: Gatherings

Wednesday, 6 January 2021

Gatherings related to sport to combat the spread of COVID - 19.

On 5 January 2021, the Minister of Sport Arts, and Culture, Hon. Emmanuel Nkosinathi Mthethwa, signed the new amendment of directions issued in terms of Regulation 4(10) of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 0f 2002).

The Regulations explain what may be done at all sporting events, and are applicable to all Board gaming, Esports, and wargames events.

Such Regulations deal with which places are closed to the public, sanitation and hygiene as well as stressing that provisions of the Safety at Sport and Recreational Events Act, 2010 (Act No. 2 of 2010) for venues that may have a capacity of 2,000 or more.

If you run a club and/or venue, please ensure that you have complied with the Regulations related to sport to combat the spread of COVID - 19.

Please read:

Disaster Management Act - Regulations: Live Streaming
Disaster Management Act - Regulations: Gatherings

Thursday, 24 December 2020

Wishing all a Merry Festive Season.

For many people, COVID-19 dashed their dreams as lockdown, financial hardship, and genneral uncertainty robbed them of their hopes and dreams.

Even though Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) also bore the brunt of the pandemic, MSSA's Board rallied round to continue to deliver to its members and Registered Players.

Thus in 2020, MSSA still held all its provincial esports championships, albeit as online events, and will still able to select national squads.

Even though there is no guarantee that the pandemic will ease in 2021, MSSA has applied its collective minds in order to have a strategy so that it can even better deliver to its member clubs and Registered Players.

Thus, MSSA wishes all associated to MSSA a truly Blessed Festive Season where all can rest securely and prepare themselves for an action packed 2021.

Wednesday, 9 December 2020

Winners of MSSA's 34th S A National Championships.

Anneka Lourens (Hoërskool Klerksdorp) not only won her section, but also earned National Federation Colours in doing so.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) held its 36th South African National Championships for esports as an online event, and its Figure gaming as a physical event. Esports was only played on 5 December 2020, while the Figure Gaming (wargames) event was held at the Old Edwardian Society on 5 & 6 December 2020.

The SA National Championships for Board Gaming shall be held at the Old Edwardian Society on 12 December 2020.

MSSA's SA National Championships is the last event of the year, and is without doubt, the most important championships on the South African calendar as any player wishing to qualify for selection to the South African National Squad, from which the South African National Protea Team, shall be selected must participate at such SA National Championships. Of course there are exceptions in certain cases, but in such cases, MSSA must be contacted prior to the event.

Having run for 34 continuous years, MSSA's SA National Championships is breaking records, and is the oldest and most well established championship for the games offered by MSSA. However, not all the various disciplines have been played for the full 34 years. Wargames heads the bill at having been played at all 34 National Championships, with Board games (in the form of Morabaraba) having been included in 1996. Shortly thereafter, in 1997, checkers made its debut. It was only in 2005, even though MSSA had been running Provincial Esports events since 1998, that Esports made its way into the SA National Championships.

Despite the pedigree of the other disciplines, it is now esports that contributes the largest amount of participants, and has more games (periods) being hosted than any other discipline.

Even with esports only having been represented at MSSA's SA National Championships since 2005, it makes the esports portion possibly the oldest continuously running esports national championships in the world!

Nine (9) games (periods) were played, of which one (1) was a wargame, and the remaining eight (8) were esports titles.

It must also be stressed that only titles that are played at SA National Championships, qualify to have teams selected that will earn Protea Colours. There are exceptions to the rule, but they are exceptions...

The championship was hard fought, and the standard exhibited showed a marked improvement over previous years.

Eighteen (18) players earned National Federation Colours. National Federation Colours are automatically awarded to all Registered Players that win all their games at the SA National Championships.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Title	Name of player/team	Club	Colours awarded
Ancients Figure Gaming - Premier	Colin Webster	Old Edwardian Mind Sports Club
Ancients Figure Gaming - High Schools	Elwyn Jones	Old Edwardian Mind Sports Club
Ancients Figure Gaming -Handicaps	Greg Laycock	Old Edwardian Mind Sports Club
Clash Royale - Premier	Willie van Rensburg	Hoërskool Klerksdorp
Clash Royale - High Schools	Henco Volschenk	Hoërskool Klerksdorp
Clash Royale - Female	Anneke Lourens	Hoërskool Klerksdorp	National Colours
Counter-Strike: GO	ZAG CS:GO	ZAG Academy	National Colours
DotA 2 - Premier	GoochSons	ZAG Academy	National Colours
HearthStone - Premier	Aidan Vorster	ZAG Academy
HearthStone - Premier	Kyle Vorster	ZAG Academy
Paladins - Premier	BooImplode	Boo Games	National Colours
PES - Premier	Naeem Thomas	PES Society
Street Fighter V- Premier	Theunis van der Merwe	Hoërskool Klerksdorp	National Colours
Tekken 7 - Premier	Jonathan Brown	Team PlayBell	National Colours

Esports South Africa, and other games