Growth is not the responsibility of the few!

Andrew Reeves, Jessie Joubert and Jade Thomas on the set of Hectic Nine-9.

There is no doubt that MSSA obtains more media coverage for its disciplines and games than any other organisation in South Africa.

Through the active participation of a number of registered  players newspaper articles, radio interviews, TV interviews happen on a regular basis.

Thus, on Tuesday, 10 January 2017, MSSA players again appeared on Hectic Nine-9. This time they discussed the games  of VainGlory and HearthStone. Both of these games shall be promoted at all MSSA Provincial and National events. Readers should please check the Calendar of Events for dates and venues.

The continued media coverage is not because of any one person, but because the membership as a whole has a vested interest in the success, and growth of, MSSA.

Being a non profit association there is no private ownership of MSSA. Instead there is an acute sense of membership and a desire by members to leave a  legacy that will be of even greater benefit to those who will follow.

It is this sense of belonging that allows MSSA to run events in areas that no other organisation will do so.

MSSA is not concerned with making profits out of events, it is about the delivery of events to the majority of the  people of South Africa.

The need for press coverage.

Jesse Joubert and Jade Thomas on the set of Hectic Nine-9

So many gamers consider that it is sufficient to only get media coverage  on sites  dedicated to eSports.

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) knows that as much media has to be obtained on as many platforms as possible.

Thus by continuously running events in every province (see attached Calendar of Events), to running events at every possible level (schools, Regional, Provincial, and National  Championships), MSSA is able to attract more coverage for eSports than any other body in South Africa.

As a result, MSSA offers its sponsors so much more.

Due to the fantastic work done by all MSSA volunteers, MSSA has already run over 10 events since January 2016, and consequentially MSSA has received coverage of over 250 articles which have appeared on TV, in fora, newspapers, and magazines. 

Why we need inter-provincials in eSports

2014 Protea eSports Team for DotA 2

As Desmond Kurz stated:

"The greater media (Supersport, SABC, eTV, Sunday Times, etc.) does not understand

Clans and Guilds and concepts like that. Take it from me, I have tried. However, they do understand the concept of Western Province and Protea teams because it falls into their frame of reference. So, its much easier to get exposure for gamers when they are part of a Protea Team or Provincial Team. Ok, so this is why a gamer should care:

The more media coverage, the more the players involved can become known to the "non-gaming" audience and the more noticed they are by potential local sponsors. These gamers become known, go back to their clan or guild with a degree of fame that then makes the clans more attractive to potential local sponsors.

I saw this happen with the Cape Town vs Gauteng (North vs South) event last year - we had 5 TV crews covering the event including SABC Sports who aired the segment in the sports section of the main news bulletin at 8pm. When last did a competitive gaming event get that coverage? It really was an experiment to see if we could get gamers that coverage if we packaged the event in a way they (the media) could understand...and it seemingly worked.

I know we can already compete in overseas events, this is true and we will get international coverage which will translate back to sponsor interest but I think that's a longer process that what I have described above (hard to feature in competitions overly subscribed with properly salaried professional teams when we are not yet at that level) .

Does this make sense or is my logic flawed?"

From what Desmond has to say, just another thing MSSA is getting right!