Trademark Gamers

So we are now coming towards the end of Week 1 in the UKeSA league and as I am sure you have all seen TMG is reasonably well represented in both Championship and Premiership levels for Season 1. Our TF2 and CoD4 teams are in the Premiership along with Andy "mong00se" Orme for FIFA whilst our CS 1.6 team and Aaron "xDewingxLtdx" Dewing find themselves in the Championship level.

Last Thursday saw the first Premiership games and it was quite a night for TMG with the TF2 team coming from behind on the second map to grab a last gasp draw against Team-Coolermaster whilst Andy narrowly missed out on a draw against ChriSSyB in the FIFA. On the CoD4 side their first match was postponed although they will be in action this week so we all get to have a first look at them in competitive action.

For the Championship guys they kick their season off on Wednesday with the CS team playing Team Darkstyle on de_nuke and Aaron up against MadManc in his group for FIFA.

So then the big question, what are my thoughts so far? Well.....not bad on the whole if I am going to be honest. Ok we know there are problems with the website being a bit buggy (ok maybe a lot buggy) and that you can't enter scores or that there was no announcement about which teams had made it into the Championship or that fixtures had been announced but I dont want to go all out and turn this blog into something berating UKeSA.

They have set out to do something quite tricky and have a lot of expectation to live upto from the various communities involved and so this was never going to be an easy ride. They have stepped into the spotlight following the collapse of theCGS and now everything seems to be on their shoulders. If they fail a lot of people will likely turn round and say "I told you it would never work" and that it has once again set eSports on the backfoot but if they succeed and succeed well in building a new platform in the UK then I for one will certainly celebrate.

Those of us that have been in eSports for more years than we can remember (8 now for me) we have always worked to promote the things we love doing; the playing, the competing, the promotion etc. Having a platform / vehicle to help us do that and taking some of the strain is a good thing and that ultimately is what UKeSA is aiming to be. On the flip side though it is important that they dont go off on a tangent, see the dollar signs and forget the people that have made eSports what it is in the UK through blood sweat and tears.

So far so good though and it will be interesting to see how Season 1 develops and whether the promise of greater coverage and exposure for the Premiership teams will come to fruition and the media days / sponsor days. Time will tell.......