[Beyond the Keys] Overseas and Gaming: The Filipino Phenomenon

eSports? Like overseas?

Considered the modern-day heroes, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) receive unending praise for their consistent remittances, lifting the country’s economy for the past years. But behind the dollars, dirhams and yens, what they remit is a struggling heart — enduring miles and miles of physical distance from loved ones or worse, battling with and an ever expanding emotional gap. This, and a lot more shades of being an OFW, make it a bittersweet story.

The primordial reason for Filipinos to go overseas is for greener pasture — for better working environments, safer living conditions and greater opportunities. Perhaps the same thing could be applied to Rave Dota’s situation, the first Overseas Filipino Gamers (OFG).

Following their wondrous stint during the recent Mineski Pro Gaming League (MPGL) VI Southeast Asian (SEA) Grand Finals, they proved something far beyond what the Philippines could offer at the moment: pushing the limits and capabilities of Filipino gamers.

Boot camping in South Korea, the mecca of eSports,  opened greater opportunities for Rave Dota. One of valuable things they have is a fast and stable internet connection compared to what Philippines has, and this makes a big difference. The expensive yet slow internet connection in the Philippines somewhat hinders the growth of teams as they are limited to who they can compete with online, and this leads to them struggling or becoming isolated in other online tournaments with unstable game latency. This is a resource that Rave is currently maximizing by joining more online competitions, going up against other international teams especially the Chinese powerhouses, and getting a broader scope of competition and a bigger space for improvement.

Furthermore, having a more organized eSports scene, especially a government-supported one, helps teams’ improvements in terms of skill and competitiveness. The Korean eSports Association (KeSPA) creates and organizes tournaments which develop the Dota 2 scene in their country. One of their tournaments is the Korean Dota League, which became the most prestigious tournament in South Korea.

More so, players have the comfort and luxury of having better gaming houses.

All of these factors combined — a stable internet connection, an organized governing eSports body, a comfy gaming house — creates a well-structured gaming environment that pushes the talent and skills of Filipino Dota 2 gamers to greater heights. Rave Dota is living proof — they are currently the 15th best in the world and 3rd in the SEA region.

All these things considered, it can be said that the Philippine eSports (PH eSports) scene is still in its developing stage. Sure, we have the MPGL as the most competitive arena for Philippine Dota teams and undeniably they have produced or created some of the best in the country today, but competing against other teams, especially international ones, pushes teams’ improvement against the wall, something hindered by having a turtle net. Having such a connection is one of the, if not, the biggest struggles that the country has to overcome. Philippine teams miss a lot of online tournaments due to unstable internet connection and high latency, something that we could have maximized to our end.

But the presence and current developments by the Philippine eSports Organization (PeSO) are good sign that we could reach that level of KeSPA’s in time. The successful partnership between PeSO and INQuirer.net and the news about eSports getting into headlines are great things for PH eSports’ growth as well as its road to mainstream acceptance. Sooner or later, we could catch the attention or negotiate with government sports bodies such as the Philippine Sports Commission to gain support and recognition.

During the MPGL VI SEA Grand Finals, Mineski CEO Ronald “Roro” Robins said that we should have an economy that would revolve around the Philippine eSports community. An economy that would give a “win-win situation for all: the community and fans, players, and investors and organizers.”

But something goes beyond these resources and things, something that these first ever OFGs have, something that should embody each and every Filipino gamer: the will and passion for eSports. You may have an ultra-fast internet connection, a competitive environment scene and a home-sweet-home gaming house, but if you don’t have the heart for eSports, it’s all nothing but a business.

May we be in the Philippines or abroad, professional or amateur, let’s have that burning heart that would serve the fuel for a long journey toward Philippine eSports’ growth and development.

Mabuhay!

#eSportsOFG

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