sideshoW
the comparison on what country are committing what atrocities probably isnt suited for vlr so imma ignore that aspect
the big difference why its not seen as a problem is because to my knowledge we have no reason to believe the Chinese government is investing large sums into esports to try and sports-wash their image
theres a couple of reports of investment but theyre all focused on on operations within china rather than trying to make an impact globally (again to my knowledge, feel free to link me articles showing something else!)
however as sideshow mentioned near the start of the video should we have other countries also take such an offensive approach they'd have to be called out too
In my personal opinion paying attention to how countries interact with esports is a good idea anyways due to how powerful sports are for influencing ones population
newcastle fans might be the most sportwashed fanbase ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLF4K-txFmw&t=820s
One of the biggest problems to me, specifically for fighting games but also applies to many genres, is the absurd amounts of money. Smaller scenes are going to see a fall off in the number attending as people will need to save money to go to Saudi Arabia every year for their chance to win big. If it continues, it will fully kill the smaller scenes and new talent will be much, much harder to find. People are going to have to become known through online and that is nowhere near the same consistency as in person at smaller events. A lot of people who are poorer will simply not be able to go to these events in Saudi Arabia without sponsors and local tourneys won't exist.
TO's are also going to be massively impacted by this, many of them will simply have to change job because they won't be getting the same numbers of entries which means less sponsors which means no money to run the event. Video games should not have a "hub" for esports. Video games are world-wide and cannot be condensed into a smaller area without the need for lots of money on both the country, which yes they are willing to invest but also the competitors. I really hope this shit stops because it will hurt the general population of many big titles' esports players, so many people won't be able to compete that should get the chance to compete. Esports will become a "between the richer people, who is the best?", rather than simply who is the best.
This is true, but it’s always been this way in esports.
Only “rich” countries have representation. That’s why Africa and most of SA have little to no representation.
Even huge countries like India struggle because of a lack of money.
Esports are for the rich. If we think globally, anyone with a good computer and internet access is wealthy.
That has always been the case but this would just make it 5x worse.
Also for fighting games, one of the biggest regions in the world is Pakistan. If Saudi Arabia becomes the "hub", many of these players would either stop going to nationals to fund the Saudi Arabia trip or not have enough money to go at all. With the way it currently works it is better, it is not good and the rich do have it easier but there are still chances the way it is now and I do not want it to change to a "hub".
honestly this is something i can get behind, this whole video. as a football fan ive seen sports washing, chinese teams now teams from the middle east have come and taken over the sport.
there was even talk that people from the saudi government had reached out to the british embassy in abu dhabi to tell the british governemt that they are 'watching' what happens to man city and the 116 charges. obv they say they dont want to interfere but they are just 'watching'.
newcastle are owned by the PIF owned by MBS as well which is just more money on money. when one of their sponsers was announced, people called the number provided on the website and there was no one picking up, the website had nothing on it, these countries are really trying to give off a better image
People continually downplayed the scale of it when clubs went from wealthy to billionaires to states and PIF is a state
a state is sooooo much more than the money and this is the case in point. They have so many more mechanisms to exert pressure on not just the sport but the government bodies of these countries to protect their investments. State ownership was not just a more wealthy owner coming in, it represents such a threat to the balance of the sport because it's ownership is not bound to normal procedures of the sport.
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