Qualifying for Protea Colours

Protea eSports Team that attended IeSF's 8th World Championships - Jakarta

It is that time of the year again when many gamers look towards MSSA's National Team Trials, and wonder what they have to do to qualify for such Trials.

Why does MSSA use National Team Trials to select Team eSports South Africa?

It is common knowledge that everybody's standard of play changes from year-to-year. Not only that there  is a natural growth in new gamers who enter the scene and a natural 'drop-off' of gamers who leave the competitive scene due to changing work and family commitments.

Thus annual trials are held to  accommodate the above changes. Through such system a highly competitive  system  is too maintained wherein gamers are able to fight for their positions as a position in the team is only held for one calendar year. 

May anyone enter National Team Trials?

It must be remembered that the team  selected by MSSA to officially represent South Africa is  an official sports team that officially represents South Africa  and is awarded Protea Colours.

As such MSSA is required to follow due care and follow proper procedure in awarding such colours to its teams.

As such there are qualifying criteria to qualifying for the National Team Trials (NTT), being:

• Such player wishing to participate in NTT must be affiliated to an affiliated member club, and
• Such player must have won a MSSA Regional Championship, or
• Such player must have finished in the top three places, or in the top 20% (whichever  is greater), at a provincial and/or national championship, and
• Such player is already a member of the  national team and has met the terms of the contract, and
• Such player must have a signed copy of the contract, and
• Such player must have a valid passport, and
• If such player is  still a minor, such player must have a signed affidavit signed by both parents as well as an Unabridged Birth Certificate.

Does the winner of National Team Trials automatically get selected?

Gamers should remember that NTT is not a competition, it forms part of a selection process.

At such Trials drug  testing may be  held and gamers shall be tested to see how they deal with issues that may occur.

It must be remembered that those being selected are being selected to represent South Africa. 

Is the team selected immediately at Trials ?

The captains of the teams are immediately selected at Trials. The selected captains then sit with the Selectors and the Team Manager to select the team. Once the selection is completed and all the procedure has been followed, then the team is announced.

May Team eSports South Africa belong to an existing clan/team?

The short answer is yes. A player will only be selected to represent South Africa if he is a member of a club affiliated to the MSSA, so that is really not an issue! The membership that the the team member has does not just disappear when the player is selected for national duty.

Is the national team allowed to enter private tournaments like the DGC or EGE or even overseas events?

MSSA allows all of its National Team Members to enter any competition that they want to  as members of their clan. 

Gamers only play as the national team in international events upon request by the MSSA. 

However, the National Team Member must, and can, only represent a clan that is currently affiliated to the MSSA. Thus, for example,  a member of the National Team, who is affiliated to Clan A, which is a member of the MSSA, that means he cannot play for any clan that is not affiliated to MSSA. Should a clan that is not a member of MSSA indulge in ambush marketing by claiming that he is a member, MSSA will expect the player to publicly renounce any such claim.

Why do the members of Team eSports South Africa need to sign a contract?

All members who are selected to, and join, a national team are given a contract to sign. If the gamer has not yet reached the age of majority, the legal guardian signs the contract. 

Essentially, if the rules are broken, there may be a financial implication as well as a disciplinary implication. Depending on the severity of the breach, action may be taken by the International Federation concerned, SASCOC, or by the National Federation. 

Does the National Team have to abide by a Code of Conduct?

Indeed it does! 

The Code of Conduct that a team has to follow is an amalgamation of what the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and the National Federation expects. Obviously the player representing South Africa has to hold him/herself to a higher standard than the average gamer as so much more is expected of the team member. This way all the parties concerned, the sponsors, the MSSA, the IeSF, and the gamer are protected. The Code of Conduct is not onerous, but largely common-sense. 

In short, it is how you would expect someone to behave if they were representing you!

Is there a difference between officially representing SA in eSports as opposed to any other sport?

There is no difference between officially representing South Africa in eSports to any other sport. eSports is an officially accredited sport, and the Protea Colours that are awarded are awarded by the same Protea Colours Board that awards Protea Colours for all other sports.

Ventus® LoL team banned for 12 weeks by DGC

According to TELKOM GAMING, "The Tribunal Officer recommended that the  Ventus® team be banned for 12 weeks based on the current DGC rule-set. In addition, the Tribunal Officer recommended that Ventus® lose its seeded position, forcing Ventus® to re-enter the DGL from the lowest division once the ban period has expired. Furthermore Ventus® has been disqualified from the DGC and both the team’s prizes and second place finish have been revoked."

Of course there has been an outcry by many gamers  and blogs  that the penalty was not stiff enough. On the MWEB GAMEZONE page, it is even suggested by a couple of commentators that the act was illegal.

If it was indeed illegal, then anyone who was compromised by the act may actually lay a criminal charge.

However, how would Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) have dealt with the same issue should it had occurred in a MSSA event?

From my reading of the rules, the MSSA would  have done  the following:

• The team would have immediately have been disqualified and would have forfeited all awards, and

• If the players had Provincial Colours or higher, such players would be banned from participating in the next three MSSA events, and 

• If the players had Provincial Colours or higher, such players would be banned from selection for the next national team, and 

• If the players did not have Provincial Colours or higher, such players would be banned from participating in the next MSSA events, and 

• If the players had Provincial Colours or higher, such players would be banned from selection for the next national team, and

• All players would be brought before a disciplinary hearing, which would be called in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000, The penalties could range from a three month ban to a life-time ban depending on the involvement of all  the team members and even of the club  officials and the club itself.

This is how seriously the MSSA would have treated any such infraction.

So you want to be a Pro Gamer?

I am always amazed that people entering into the world of competitive gaming expect gaming to be somehow different from the other more traditional sports. As with the other sports, being a professional sportsman is not all about fun and playing for fun.

It is all about hard work – just like any other career that is from 9H00 to 17H00.

Of course you must enjoy it if you want to get the most out of it, but it is all about hard work, and like anything else, there will be the moments when you have been knocked to the ground and when you wonder why you are even doing it.

That is the moment that the champions are separated from the losers, the champions will immediately get up and carry on.

However, if you still want to be a professional gamer, you should:

Take care in picking your game. Picking a game is the first important step. You should be almost blinkered in choosing your game, and when you play it, you should learn as much as possible about the game that you have chosen. Any other game that you play should also feed into the game that you have chosen so that the recreational games, while different, also hone the tactics/strategies/ or other skills that you use in your primary choice of game.

The game that you choose should also be a game that is played on an international level. There is no point in choosing a game that is only played within a small group, or one that will be redundant within 12 months as you will then be limiting your own earning potential.

Choose the long-road. So many people entering gaming choose the short-road that offers what appears to be quick returns. This is the wrong approach as the quick returns are often not substantial nor sustainable. The long-road, although harder will give greater returns for a longer time period. Thus PandaTank instead of going to play in the DGC competition at rAge in 2011 and 2012, he went to the MSSA National Team Trials. By forgoing the quick-fix of the limited prize money, PandaTank was able to compete in the 3^rd & 4^th IeSF World Championships in South Korea where he was noticed. By being noticed at such a level thus allowed him to fly to the USA, France, and Sweden. Not only that the long-term view that PandaTank took, meant that he would become the first ever South African gamer who would be paid a salary to play as a full-time career.

Stay motivated. Being a professional gamer is hard. There are contractual obligations in terms of guest appearances, the number of championships that you have to play as well as even in what position you finish in said championships. Then you will have to face the critics which will range from your own family through to friends, bloggers and journalists. At times it seems more than daunting. But remember that you are doing what you want to, and that you should be absolutely blinkered about it, and put your choice above everything else.

Practice, practice, practice - perfectly. The first thing you must do is set aside the time in which you practice, and then, keep to it! Nothing must come between you and your practice, not your friends not a good night out, not a birthday, nothing! In the practice sessions you must draw up a schedule for improving you reaction speed, knowledge of the game, knowledge of the maps, how others play the game. The discipline that you learn from a well structured practice schedule will treat you well in a competition environment and in later life.

Get the correct equipment. Just as you would not take a Mini Cooper into a F1 race, the incorrect equipment can hamper your chances of success. eSports is a sport of nanoseconds, and, equipment that is outdated or not of the proper standard can be the difference between winning or losing. Even having the proper equipment while you are travelling to or from competitions is important as you do not want to miss the opportunity for every possible opportunity for training.

Find the right team. Once you have established yourself on an amateur level as a competitive gamer, find the club that treats you as a true professional gamer. Do not go to the clubs that offer 'flash', that is, equipment and other freebies. Look for the club that offers a salary and meets with the legal requirements of such. Remember, this is your career and you need cash on the table. You cannot eat gifts, hard-drives and such, you need cash to pay for your living expenses. A club/clan/team that does not pay a salary is not a professional team, it is merely a bunch of amateur players who think that they are professionals. Also, choose a team that is close to you if it is a team game that you are playing as you will need to practice together.

Enter tournaments. As soon you get your gaming equipment, start playing in LAN championships. Sure you will lose at first, but the championships are a good way of preparing you mentally for those big games and for you to develop your big match temperament (BMT). Keep a book with you, and at the end of every game write down what you did right, what you did wrong, as well as how you feel you could have done better. Play as many LAN championships as you can as you will build up a reputation of being dutiful and passionate about the game you play.

Get sponsored. In all sports, athletes benefit from sponsorship. Many years ago I had the privilege of working with Corrie Sanders, and even though the prize-money that boxers win puts gaming to shame, Corrie still made sure that he was sponsored by reputable companies. To get a proper sponsorship, you can do it yourself, or you can go to an accredited sports agent.

Gaming can be a legitimate career path for those who are serious about it, but gaming is still in its embryonic stages in South Africa, so it will be hard, but it can be done!

Flawed tournaments?

On the Do Gaming site, Magiel de Lange (better known as [DvG]enjoy commented in the article “StarCraft 2 DGC Groups Revealed” the following on 27 September 2013:


“yup, that's how I also have it but at this rate the people running the comp have made some funny calls so I wasn't sure. No admin gets back to any queries that I have logged about the way they run this sc2 comp.

if I was coolermaster I wouldn't be happy to spend so much money on a comp that runs for about 9 hours on the Friday night when no one is watching.

Having a single elimination top 8 tournament means all games will be played on Friday and this means Saturday will only see 4 players duke it out for 1st to 4th.

Sc2 having the most registered teams(1 only) this is sad to see the attention to detail DGL have gone about using the sponsors money to water it down to a point that its not even worth talking about.”


Really?


This is exactly what happens when a tournament is run by an organisation outside of the national set-up.


There is no bigger vision and there is no observance to national rules that protect the gamer.


De Lange talks about watering the tournament down, but is it really 'watered down'. The tournament does not lead anywhere.


Sure there is R6,000.00 for first place, but that is just pocket-money. The money that you win will not help you develop yourself as a pro-gamer, it will just barely cover your expenses.


And where does the competition lead?


Nowhere, that's where!


It is not as though the competition counts towards the exclusive national team trials at which gamers are selected to go overseas.


In fact, in 2012 PandaTank wisely chose the National Team Trials over the DGC. It was far more important for PandaTank to go to the IeSF and to be noticed.


I personally have a problem with group stages for developmental championships as they are easy to manipulate to give you the outcome that you want.


The group stages must be absolutely random or work to a very strict ranking system.


Either way, the groups for the StarCraft II DGC seem to be an agreed grouping. The way I see it is that PandaTank and StatiC will be playing for 1^st and 2^nd place, with Skiblet and Shase playing for 3^rd and 4^th.

 PandaTank

StatiC

Pictures used are from https://www.facebook.com/mindsportssa