Giant Bomb E-Sports team?

Hey my name is Dan Poole I and I've been playing games since the n64. My first and favorite game of all time is Mario 64 and spent most my time playing this game as a kid until I got every star. My 3 favorite games on the N64 are Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, and Wave Race 64. Then the gamecube came along and I never looked back and spent most of elementary school losing friends because of my Super Smash Bros Melee technique. I've been mainly a console game player my whole life but in college got into pc games as it was what all the friends I met and dearly miss (graduated in 2014 from UCSB with a major in Physics) were playing. I got into SC2, League of Legends, and then lost a year of my life to Diablo 3. Due to some extraneous life circumstances I haven't been playing video games in the past two years, other than the occasional black ops 3, and gave my ps4 to my brother. But I want back in the game and have decided if I do so its going to attempt to be in a competitive fashion.

My passion has been console fps or tps since Halo 2. I've always pondered creating an e-sports team with other passionate game players (notice how i do not use the word gamer because its a terrible word that should be ended). I have the capacity to play Gears of War, Halo, and Call of Duty at a professional level (unfortunately not Star Craft because I only build thors).

In the latest podcast which I've started listening to again and is great, the team joked about the idea of a gb esports team, but I think its a fantastic idea and I have personally always thought gb would make a great site to stream esports. The video podcasts are really cool and have always appreciated the site since its inception. Especially the Deadly Premonition endurance run which is probably the best content anyone has ever put on the internet, at least in terms of video games in my honest opinion.

I'd want this team to be comprised of the best international players the gb community can muster. Doesn't matter what country you are from, what ethnicity you are, or what religion you practice or don't practice. Everyone should be welcome to try out and join. But I think you have to be male for tournaments and speaking english is going to probably be a must as communication is necessary for success in any game unless a team is created entirely of people who speak fluently in a different language.

WE CAN BE THE BAD BOYS OF E-SPORTS. Think of the Oakland Raiders. That is the vision I have.

Here are some benefits of Giant Bomb becoming part of e-sports.

1. Any publicity is good publicity. I call this the Kardashian Effect. Even if the team is the worst group of players there ever was and we lose every game and only negatively effect culture and the collective conscious there should still be an increase in traffic to giantbomb.com. According to the Digital Sherpa 75% of users visit the brand’s website after viewing a video with the brands logo in them.

2. Merchandising in e-sports is insanely profitable and could further help the site and its long term goals, with the sale of uniforms, hats, scarves and maybe even giantbomb.com themed controllers/headsets. I wish i had an xbox 360 giantbomb.com faceplate. Help move giantbomb.com even closer towards being a lifestyle not just a website.

3. It could help strengthen the gb community by giving members something to root for and find pride in.

4. Streaming of tournaments could give the gb team another feature for subscribers to take advantage of. Im pretty sure the gb team could do their own commentary over the games (only games the gb teams are playing in) that could be very unique in terms of what is out there in e-sports land. I think most commentators take themselves too seriously and a three stooges approach (not saying you guys are ignorant about the games but humor isn't easy and the gb team has always had a certain way with words) to commentary might be what is severely needed to give some character to tournaments.

5. E-sports is growing and at a rate faster than ever. This doesn't seem to be a slowing industry, its an expanding one.

6. Having an e-sports team would encourage more advertising agencies to see giantbomb.com as a platform to place their products on.

7. It would advertise the giantbomb.com brand to those outside the video game review industry, people who only observe games but don't play them or care to know what critics think of them. Other websites would in effect advertise the giantbomb.com website on their own if they stream tournaments with the giantbomb.com team in them.

8. Team members can stream practice and online games/ post videos through twitch, azubu, youtube, facebook to reach larger audience and augment the ways in which people learn of giantbomb.com and eventually become consumers and maybe even subscribers of site content.

9. Giantbomb Team reality videos to let community members get to know the players and understand lifestyle build players into characters that community can empathize with.

10. Leave this open for best idea community comes up with in comments

I would want to be an active player on teams therefore there might need to be a person that isn't me with the sole focus of managing/promoting the teams and keeping things under control/ operating smoothly and efficiently. I could work closely with this person to ensure success in whatever problems arise. I have a close friend who might be able to fill this role but I'm not sure at this moment if this is a possibility anyways.

POSSIBLE E-SPORTS FOR GB TO COMPETE IN INCLUDE:

CS:GO

League of Legends

DOTA

SC2

Street Fighter V

Call of Duty (whichever one is out)

Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered

Halo 5 (presumably Halo 6)

Gears of War 4

Overwatch

There are most likely other games not listed that could ensure some interest. If anyone reads this feel free to add games to this list.

I love this site and want it to grow and prosper for as long as possible and see this as a path for just that to occur. Thanks for reading and hope that the community will add to this and hopefully create a discussion in regards to this post! Criticism welcome as well as anything that adds to this post.

Aside: I was in Petaluma for the first time recently and it had the best cheesy gordita crunches from any taco bell I've ever frequented. A giantbomb.com and taco bell collaboration is something this world desperately needs.

http://paynefears.com/sites/default/files/publications/Entity%20Choice%20for%20Esports%20Teams.pdf

that links to a document on how best to go about creating an e-sports organization.

Can I be the bad boy with a heart of gold?

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha .... You put a lot of work into a troll post, I'll give you that.

@bollard: For teams don't you have to be all male or all female? That's more or less what i was attempting to communicate. Are female teams allowed to compete in tournaments with male teams?

@arabes: You put in much less effort pal.

@adequatelyprepared: This guy gets it, I was going to take that role but sure.

I was being a bit of a dick, but yeah there are no rules as to gender in tournaments (or at least any respectable tournaments). Unlike physical sport there's no legitimate reason to separate male and female competitors for fairness. It's just a result of the gender skew in online competitive games that most professionals are male.

@dantheman1515: I'm not your pal friend.

@dudeglove: Why is that? I'm not attempting to use or take anything that is under the umbrella of CBSi, simply asking whether something of this nature would be possible and if so why it might be successful on some level for a website I've invested time and money into and care about.

Please remember that Giant Bomb is at least nominally a news outlet, and that managing or sponsoring an e-sports team may create a impression of impropriety, like if SI decided to put their name on the Jets. I can't think of any precedent in mainstream sports at the very least.

As silly as the idea is I think it'd be pretty awesome to have our own E-Sports team to cheer for, but it's a big undertaking.

Let's start with bringing Daily Dota back, the rest will work itself out

Oh wow. This was a serious post. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha :D . Now it's even funnier!

@arabes: I care a lot about non constructive comments on an internet forum. Why not find a post to comment on in a positive fashion rather than one to post on in a negative manner and actually add to community discourse?

@dantheman1515: OK. Speaking of constructive criticism: you might want to edit out your email address in the original post.

I haven't seen one of these weird threads on GB in years, blast from the past.

@dantheman1515:

Hey Dan,

You were right about constructive criticism so here are some points that I think would help you in your approach.

First of all, don't include your name and email address at the top. Have people pm you through the site and when you are setting up your business you can get to the personal details.

Secondly, the tone of your post is all wrong. It's too goofy and gamer brah. You're trying to coax people into committing a serious amount of time and effort into it with you. The tone doesn't match that at all. I'm not saying don't joke around, but make sure the jokes land and make them clearly distinguishable from the message you are trying to convey. Stating that you hate the word 'gamer' while at the same time projecting that as your image is just odd. This specifically was why I thought this post was a joke.

Lines like -

'We can be the bad boys of e-sports' & 'Help move giantbomb.com even closer towards being a lifestyle not just a website.' make me thow up a little bit in my mouth. You're talking about setting up a business with a large corporation and incorporating people from all over the world into it. You are not hanging out with weird, doushey, frat brothers. Never ever again talk making a website into a lifestyle. Just don't do it man. This, and one of lines below would make the GB team run a million miles away from you and never look back.

Next, leave out the boasting, it makes it seem like you're either joking or full of yourself. See the following two examples: '...I never looked back and spent most of elementary school losing friends because of my Super Smash Bros Melee technique' and ' I have the capacity to play Gears of War, Halo, and Call of Duty at a professional level (unfortunately not Star Craft because I only build thors).'

Neither of those sentences belong in this post. You don't tell people how great you are at something, you show them. Which leads to my next point, where are your links to your youtube channel and twitch streams?

If you can play games at a professional level you need to be leading with that and building up a following for yourself. The fact you haven't done that shows that you don't fully understand the undertaking that you are asking people to dive in to. You should take a year and build up your rep on these sites and try and garner some sort of following. It's really hard work and requires dedication but it'll show people that you are serious and that you have some chops. I'm guessing you're about 24? That might be a little bit late to get into this stuff (I'm not sure, I don't watch people play games) but you'll probably be grand if you have skills and are entertaining.

'But I think you have to be male for tournaments...', Jesus wept Dan. If I could have a head shaking emoji I would place it here. This sentnece alone tanks the entire piece that you wrote. It's fine if you are unsure about something but google is there to help you. This line betrays the fact that you haven't really put much thought or planning into this or at least gives that impression. Saying stuff like this in the current incredibly polarised climate is beyond foolish. Don't bring up gender, race etc. etc. It's a mine field that you are obviously not prepared to negotiate.

Finally, Giantbomb aren't gonna set up an e-sports team. Certainly not any time soon and certainly not on the back of something like this. It's great that you are passionate and and evidently sincere but you need to do a bit of research and have a plan. I wish you all the best and sorry for being shitty yesterday, work was giving me an existential crisis and I always end up taking that on forums. I hope to see you on RPS or Eurogamer or soemthing taking your team to victory in the COD 7 championships (or something :) ). Best of luck!

Unfortunately creating an e-sports team is a lot more effort than saying "Hey I'd like to be in e-sports". I'm most familiar with the professional League scene. I'm lucky enough to have friends that are analysts for teams and have managed teams. You need a lot of time, effort, money, and talent.

If you want some behind the scenes info you can watch the TSM Legends series. If you want to learn about the financial obstacles you can search for MonteCristo on YouTube. He owned a professional team for awhile, casts games, and speaks his mind.