From simple library competitions to full blown tournaments,
defining a champion for a video game has become muddled in the mass of tournaments
available to gamers.
Both gamers and companies, such as GameStop and Nintendo, can
invest a great deal of time and money into a tournament.
“The [tournament] I went to in New Jersey was international,
and people from Europe and Japan flew in,” said Bassem Hanna, a pre-med
psychology senior. “There was about 400 attendees total.”
The winner of the Super
Smash Bros. Brawl – a popular Wii game – tournament was Japanese and won $3,600,
Hanna said.
Even though Bassem tied for 49 for the tournament, he is
ranked third nationally for the character Wario on the Smashboards, a website
that helps organize Super Smash Bros.
tournaments and ranks gamers that play them.
According to the Smashboards rule page, The top five players
for each character on Smashboards is determined by the ratio of competition
wins and losses which each have a corresponding point value based on the type
of competition.
Aside from Smashboards, other organizations declare their
own champion.
In 2008, hours before Super
Smash Bros. Brawl was released, GameStop hosted their own tournament to
crown the Smash victor as an event that would go on with their midnight launch
of the game, a press release provided by GameStop stated.
That same year, Nintendo organized an official Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament as
well. According to the corresponding rule webpages, the Nintendo and GameStop
competition had different rules, prizes and ultimately different winners.
Regardless of who is officially the champion, both the
company hosting the tournament and the participants benefit from the event.
“It’s an effective way to get people to sample a product and
also get them into the store,” James Ivory, an associate professor who studies
the effects of games and other interactive media on society at Virginia Tech
said.
In addition to in-store sales for companies like GameStop,
Ivory noted that organizations that have sponsors, such as Major League Gaming
who is sponsored by companies like Dr. Pepper and NOS, receive money from the
advertising.
For the gamers who compete in tournaments, they can be a way
to earn money, if you win, and provide for a place to make new friends Hanna
said.
The opportunities for gamers to meet new people and earn
money are growing as more companies like the Cyberathlete Professional League
and Major League Gaming continue to grow, but add to the confusion as to who is
really at the top of the charts.
Ivory speculates that as video game tournaments continue to
rise in popularity, they could one day unite into one league like professional
football did years ago once it reached a high enough level of popularity.
“In South Korea, their video game champions are just as popular as their sports
stars,” Ivory said. “It might be unusual, but 60 years ago football players
wouldn’t have been seen as stars either.”