Apr 9, 2021

Vision Strikers continue their wild win streak with another victory at the VALORANT Champions Tour Stage 2 Challengers 1 event. The Korean Masters 1 champions defeated World Game Star to notch their 106th series win as an organization. With that match victory, we complete a momentous achievement, as we win our 100th official competitive VALORANT match without ever dropping a single series! 오늘의 첫 승리를 가져오며 비전 스트라이커즈의 100번째 공식 승리를 무패 기록으로 달성하였습니다! #FollowYourVision #VSWIN pic.twitter.com/8fMnbYiaGy The VALORANT website vlr.gg has their win total at 61, but Vision Strikers provided a list of lower round official matches that were not counted. Image via Vision Strikers Image via Vision Strikers Vision Strikers defeat World Game Star The Vision Strikers win streak started as soon as the team came together. They have not lost since the team’s inception. In their game today, Vision Strikers came close to ending its unprecedented streak. World Game Star took the first map, Ascent, in the three-map series. The teams split the first half, 6-6, but World Game Star went on a run after the first round of the second half. Vision Strikers dropped five straight rounds after winning the pistol round. At map point, Vision Strikers almost pulled the map into overtime, but gave away the final round. World Game Star’s best player that map was Kim “HANN” Dong-ho who pulled out Yoru to put up 21 kills. The series then went to Split. Vision Strikers took the map in a similar fashion to World Game Star previously. They won 11 rounds before their opponents tied the score at 11-11. Vision Strikers then won the final two rounds to force a third map. The final map, Haven, was more Vision Strikers sided as they dealt World Game Star a 13-6 loss. Three Vision Strikers players logged 19 kills or above on the map while World Game Star’s top player earned 18. You guys really thought we were gonna lose? pic.twitter.com/wIebVsf0i3 The team is still the top-ranked squad in their region and is its assumed representative at Masters 2 in Iceland. To qualify for the event, Vision Strikers would need to qualify for Challengers 2 playoffs with one more win against F4Q next week, April 15. They would then need to run through the bracket, adding four more series wins to their streak. Photo Credit: Steelseries Professional players and longtime fans will agree that Competitive Gaming has it’s benefits, but is it really the case? Competitive gaming, where players game against each other in either a physical or virtual location , It is one of the fastest growing segments of the gaming industry.. A report by Business Insider  shared that the esports industry alone is on track to pass a valuation of USD 1.5billion by 2023, with an estimated audience of over 500 million people around the world. This is helped by the streaming culture, amplified by the current pandemic where people see competitive gaming as a source of  entertainment. Inspired by their favourite streamer, many are dipping their toes in competitive gaming. The question to be asked – is playing competitive gaming good for your health in the long run? After digging around, we have found a few pros and cons on competitive gaming that could help you decide for yourself. PROS of competitive gaming  Improved motor skills There are many sides for competitive gaming – LAN tournaments, online tournaments, esports competition – but all of them involve a player playing a computer game. The saying that playing too many computer games is bad for you is both a truth, and an embellishment. Like how people play chess to exercise their brains, playing competitive gaming can help in developing better motor skills. A study  by the team at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software and University of Limerick (UL) shows that playing esports games ‘could accelerate motor performance improvements’, especially for novice players. “Our study found that novice gamers who received transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over their motor cortex before training improved their performance on the specific task over five days, significantly more than novices who trained following no such stimulus,” – Dr Mark Campbell, director of Lero’s Esports Science Research Lab (ESRL) The application of tDCS involves patients using a custom headset (HALO Neuroscience™). By using the headset, and playing with it for 20 minutes a day, gamers will see their motor skills in game and in real life benefit compared to those who don’t play as often. Padded bank account For those who play in the gaming circuits or even streaming popular esports games, playing esports can boost your bank balance. With many competitions giving away large prize pools as winnings, there are many millionaires among esports players out there. The top earning esports player of all time is KuroKy, who is currently the captain of Team Nigma., He has so far earned over USD 5 million throughout his gaming career, with names like Virtus.pro, Team Liquid , Natus Vincere and even Gosugamers associated with him, playing Dota 2 professionally Tournaments like The International by Valve usually give out big cash pools, with the 2019 edition paying out over USD 34 million to the 18 teams playing in the tournament, with the grand prize walking away with USD 15 million, or about USD 3 million for each player in the winning team, which was OG. That is a big purse to aim for any budding competitive game player. Streaming is also a big money maker – especially for someone who streams competitive gaming. Names like Ninja, Pokimane, and Shroud are just some examples of streamers who have made it in the streaming world. Combined, all three of them have over 30 million subscribers between them. Enhanced social interaction While computer games can be a solitary experience, the majority of the competitive games out there involve teams with numbers ranging from 4-6 depending on the type of game. Titles like Dota2 and VALORANT often will have multiple members in a team, with some acting as support and some acting as the frontline person in enemy engagement. The winning strategy will need to involve the whole team, and there is where social interaction can be developed further. Playing as a team brings in a different dynamic to the game, where communication is key and understanding your teammates can be the difference between getting the winning point or being washed out in the early stages of the tournament. In this group setting, social interaction is developed, and camaraderie is established. To expand on the communication part of socialisation, many modern games also feature party chat options for friends to group together and play cooperatively using voice or text functions. This allows players to interact with each other remotely and safely, permitting players from two different countries (or even continents!) to play with each other like they are in the same room. Image credit: Eastern University Physical health side effect With the good side, comes the bad side of things. For one, the physical health of the players may be in jeopardy as let’s face it – competitive gaming is not as strenuous to your body, unlike physical sports. Yes, you do get shots of adrenaline as you close in to clutching the win over your opponent, but your body is just sitting down not doing much. Furthermore, a bad sitting position is a bad habit commonly adopted by many esports players. The bad sitting position can develop into strained or pulled back, or even worse, spine-related injuries. Other common physical health problems include carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis or more popularly – gamer’s thumb, also known as inflammation of tendons in the thumb, which is usually associated with controller-based gamers. Other problems can include “musculoskeletal injuries of the neck, back, and upper extremities”. Mental health side effect Mental health is also an important aspect of competitive gaming that needs to be addressed. As competitive gaming and esports titles like Dota2 and VALORANT can be intense at times, the pressure to perform well is exceptionally high, especially in tournaments in front of spectators (IRL or virtual). The depression when you did not achieve a win or missed a turning point in the game can have a massive effect on both individual and the team morale. We have seen so many matches where the team essentially lost the drive to the game once they see the opponents gaining an upper hand. Depression can also lead to other dangerous side effects if not treated well. Effects such as overeating, self-harm or even worse could result from depression. Another major psychological problem that can be faced by competitive gamers is stress. This is related to depression as one can lead to another. Stress build-up can result in explosive confrontation with challengers, teammates or even family members, with disastrous results. We have a good resource on mental health that can be accessed here. Proper thinking on players’ health should be done properly by governing bodies to ensure the sport will not see major problems creeping into the scene and taint the industry. Stakeholders will need to sit down with everyone so ensure the positive sides are highlighted, and the negative side of competitive gaming is addressed properly for the sake of the players and the esports scene worldwide. Toxicity in publicly matched games One aspect of modern gaming is that players can be matched with other players randomly in multiplayer games. This is a dual-edged sword as the ability to play with random strangers will come with caveats – the chance of you playing with someone toxic is high. You can get abuse in the form of racial-tinged or gender-specific taunts, or even taunts of a sexual nature. Competitive gaming has both pros and cons, and players are advised to take in both sides into account to ensure that their playing experience is not tinged by negativity and their expectations are not overblown. QuickPoll Andbox and Built by Gamers were eliminated from Valorant Champions Tour Stage 2: North American Challengers 1. The closed qualifier for the VCT Stage 2 has already seen two teams eliminated from playoff contention. Andbox and Built By Gamers were dropped to the Lower Bracket by 100 Thieves and XSET respectively. Both teams were defeated 2-0 by their counterparts in one-sided series to move them to elimination contention. Immortals and Version1 were also brought down to the Lower Bracket after losing to Cloud9 Blue and Envy. Andbox has performed consistently throughout past qualifiers, but has failed to make any appearances at closed qualifiers. Stage 2 appears to be the same story for Andbox who have looked solid but have been unable to perform when it counts . Despite their loss to 100 Thieves, Andbox was still able to push Immortals nearly to overtime on both maps. Built By Gamers revived their roster by signing Raymond “Rarker” Xu and Jake “ POACH ” Brumleve before the closed qualifier. The team was able to defeat Stage 1 Masters Champions Sentinels to secure their place in the closed qualifier. However, a 2-0 loss to XSET brought them up for elimination early in the tournament. Andbox and Built By Gamers give it their best in the Lower Bracket Immortals and Andbox were evenly matched in their match in the Lower Bracket. Andbox selected Split as the first map in the best-of-three which was tied 6-6 at the half. Immortals struggled in the second half of Split, allowing Andbox to go up 11-9. Four back-to-back rounds on attack propelled Immortals to victory 13-11 over Andbox. The final round.