I have been thinking of starting a blog about gaming for a while now, so here goes. Some people may recognize my gamertag as one of the very first forum members at Major League Gaming (MLG). Others may recognize it from some of the local lead in tournaments I have helped to organize in Bakersfield, CA. Others might recognize me from some of the Madden or NCAA Leagues I co-commish. Or some (probably most) of you don't know who I am and could care less Its all good. I am a 39 year old attorney out here in California who has been playing games since the days of the Odyssey. So, I have seen a lot of things gaming related in my advanced days. For mys first blog entry, I wanted to write about a fast rising segment of this industry we all love...competitive gaming or E-sports.

MLG....wow, how they have grown since the early days. I remember when they first started out and it was Madden '04 and Halo CE. There was no Video on Demand...we would post threads on the forum after getting updates on AIM or the telephone. Now look at them. There is a map based on an MLG arena in RSVegas 2. Halo 3 now has official MLG gametypes. ESPN is sponsoring the 2008 season. It is truly amazing to see this all happen. But I, for one, am not surprised at all by the recent surge of competitive gaming. This has been building for some time now and it just makes sense. You hear so many naysayers opining that E-sports are not real sports and gamers should not be confused with athletes. Why? You hear stuff about gaming promoting laziness. However, in a 2006 report from the Entertainment Software Association, the following information was revealed: "Gamers devote more than triple the amount of time spent playing games each week to exercising or playing sports, volunteering in the community, religious activities, creative endeavors, cultural activities, and reading." Many gamers did not even know that although I am sure many of us who read that will know that they fit that bill as well. Scratch that myth in any event.

"But games aren't real, its all virtual" So? Games still teach teamwork, sportsmanship, strategy, the same sorts of qualities that are present in so-called "real sports." I especially like pointing out to skeptics that gamers have tremendous reflexes when compared to many who do not play and are also almost always quite advances with respect to logical thinking and problem solving skills. And, unlike certain sports, gamers do not need steroids, HgH or performance enhancing drugs to excel at what they do....unless you count copious amounts of Red Bull as a performance enhancer Now, that is not designed as a dig at traditional sports because I am a huge sports fan. It is just meant to prove a point, namely that E-sports are just as real as traditional sports and the guys playing them are most definitely athletes in their own right.

And that's why competitive gaming is now on the upswing. When I was young, I loved sports but I had asthma pretty bad back then so playing sports was hard for me. I took refuge in games. Not everyone can be like Mike, or A-Rod. We all don't have God given talent like Reggie Bush. For many of us, games take up the gap and for many of those who seek games as a means to an end, they discover that they have talents they never knew existed. As their talents grow, they discover others with similar talents and similar interests. Teams are born, friendships grow, and, in some circumstances stars are born. But it is not easy and nothing in life that is worthwhile ever is. You look at a championship gaming team, like Final Boss. When you read the interviews they give, and you gain an understanding of how much time and effort they put in to being the best they can be, doesn't it sound like the same time and effort that professional athletes from traditional sports put in to become the best they can be? There must be something to it or else why would an All-Star like Gilbert Arenas go to the effort of sponsoring Final Boss, and MLG as well.

But E-sports also offers unique differences that differentiate it from anything else out there. You look at the different genres and see that to excel in the competitive aspects of the genre, you need to have different skill sets and be multi-faceted. If you play shooters, you have to know how to be a team player, know your strengths and weaknesses, know weaponry, and know that map like the back of your hand. If you are a sports gamer, you not only need stick skills, you need to have some knowledge of the strategy behind the actual sport you are playing to really excel (well, most of the time anyway). If you like driving and racing games, quite often you need to have some basic knowledge of physics, aerodynamics, and tremendous hand-eye coordination. If you play fighters, you need to know your character inside and out, but you need to know what your opponents character can do as well. And if you play RTS games, you have to be quick with the mouse and keyboard, know the best way to quickly amass resources, get your base built (most of the time) and have a strategy for either going on the offense, or playing more of a defensive posture. If you are into Guitar Hero or Rock Band, you need great reflexes as well, but knowing the song (similar to knowing a map) is almost as important. In many ways, each genre is a sport unto itself and the opportunities being created are very encouraging.

Eventually, more and more people will come to realize these facts and when that happens, E-sports will really take off. It is already well on its way. And one thing that I think all of us agree on:

I'd rather watch a good game of Halo 3 than a poker game any day of the week