Evaluasi dan Relevansi Brand Sebagai Sponsor Game, Esports, ataupun Content Creator

Ketika KFC membuat kolaborasi dengan Genshin Impact di Tiongkok, banyak orang rela menunggu di depan sejumlah gerai KFC sejak tengah malam hanya untuk mendapatkan bonus berupa pin dari Diluc dan Noelle — dua karakter di Genshin Impact. Ada begitu banyak orang yang berkerumun di sejumlah restoran KFC sampai polisi harus turun tangan untuk membubarkan kerumunan di Shanghai dan Hangzhou. Fenomena ini sama seperti fenomena kolaborasi McDonald dengan BTS di Indonesia.

Suksesnya kerja sama antara KFC dengan Genshin Impact menunjukkan, jika dieksekusi dengan baik, kolaborasi antara brand dengan game bisa memberikan dampak yang besar. Pertanyaannya: apa yang harus perusahaan perhatikan ketika akan berkolaborasi dengan game?

Beda Platform = Beda Gamers

Penggemar musik rock belum tentu menyukai musik pop, walau keduanya sama-sama penggemar musik. Sementara itu, penonton sepak bola belum tentu menonton pertandingan basket. Begitu juga dengan game. Gamers adalah istilah yang mencakup banyak orang. Dan, sama seperti penggemar musik atau olahraga, gamers juga punya selera yang berbeda-beda. Salah satu cara untuk mengelompokkan gamers adalah berdasarkan platform yang mereka gunakan. Secara garis besar, ada tiga platform yang bisa digunakan untuk bermain game, yaitu PC, konsol, dan mobile.

Dari ketiga platform tersebut, mobile punya jumlah pemain paling banyak. Menurut laporan Newzoo, jumlah gamers di dunia mencapai 3,22 miliar orang. Sebanyak 94% — atau sekitar 2,8 miliar orang — merupakan mobile gamers. Sementara itu, jumlah gamer PC hanya mencapai 1,4 miliar orang dan konsol 900 juta orang. Mengingat mobile memang memiliki entry barrier paling rendah — dengan harga perangkat yang juga relatif paling murah — maka tidak heran jika jumlah mobile gamers mengalahkan gamers PC dan gamer konsol.

Jumlah gamers di dunia dari waktu ke waktu. | Sumber: Newzoo

Satu hal yang harus diingat, masing-masing platform gaming punya kelebihan dan kekurangan masing-masing. Hal ini memengaruhi karakteristik dari para gamers. Misalnya, keunggulan utama dari platform mobile adalah mobilitasnya yang tinggi. Jadi, pemain bisa bermain game hampir dimana saja dan kapan saja. Selain itu, banyak mobile game yang bisa dimainkan secara gratis. Namun, jika dibandingkan dengan konsol dan PC, mobile punya daya komputasi yang lebih rendah. Karena itu, mobile game cenderung punya grafik dan mekanisme yang lebih sederhana daripada game konsol dan PC. Kabar baiknya, dalam 10 tahun terakhir, mobile game terus berevolusi, menjadi semakin kompleks. Kolaborasi dengan mobile game cocok untuk perusahaan yang ingin menjangkau banyak orang.

Daripada mobile, baik konsol maupun PC menawarkan daya komputasi yang lebih tinggi. Namun, harga konsol dan PC gaming juga relatif lebih mahal. Sementara itu, keunggulan konsol dari PC adalah kermudahan pemasangan. Setelah membeli konsol, Anda bisa langsung menghubungkannya ke TV dan menggunakannya untuk bermain game. Lain halnya dengan PC. Kelebihan lain dari konsol adalah keberadaan game-game eksklusif, seperti Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales dan Horizon Forbidden West untuk PlayStation 5.

Jika dibandingkan dengan mobile dan konsol, salah satu kelebihan PC adalah ia bisa dikustomisasi sesuai kebutuhan. Bagi para sultan dengan dana tak terbatas, mereka bisa membangun PC gaming master race yang bisa menjalankan game-game AAA dengan pengaturan rata kanan. Namun, bagi gamers yang punya dana pas-pasan, mereka tetap bisa membangun PC sesuai dengan dana yang mereka punya. Karena itu, gamer PC biasanya cukup mengerti akan sisi teknis. Jadi, gamer PC cocok untuk brand yang menyasar orang-orang yang melek teknologi.

Model Bisnis dan Genre

Game juga bisa dikategorikan berdasarkan model bisnis yang digunakan: game premium atau game free-to-play alias gratis. Walau bisa dimainkan secara gratis, game F2P biasanya punya sistem monetisasi sendiri, seperti iklan, subscription alias langganan, dan menjual item dalam game.

Pertama, mari membahas soal karakteristik pemain game premium. Karena sudah mengeluarkan uang untuk membeli game, pemain dari gamers premium biasanya ingin mendapatkan pengalaman yang memuaskan. Biasanya, mereka juga alergi pada iklan. Buktinya, ketika Capcom memasang iklan di Street Fighter V, mereka mendapat banyak protes dari para pemain. Pada akhirnya, developer Jepang itu memutuskan untuk menghilangkan iklan dari fighting game mereka.

This is one of the most iconic poses in the history of the series. It holds power and history over not just the FGC but people who enjoy Street Fighter on a non-competitive level. It creates moments like Tokido leaping in front of the projector.

you just…cant do this to it pic.twitter.com/gLpzUEqIP6

— ☆「ＹＡＳＥ」IdolismJ ☆ (formerly Mr. u Suk) (@IdolismJ) December 12, 2018

Untuk bekerja sama dengan game premium, salah satu hal yang perusahaan bisa lakukan adalah membuat konten dalam game terkait produk milik perusahaan. Jenis konten yang bisa disisipkan ke dalam game bisa beragam, mulai dari item dalam game sampai tempat yang bisa pemain kunjungi. Misalnya adalah kerja sama antara Digital Happiness dan Exsport. Sebagai bagian dari kerja sama tersebut, developer Bandung itu membuat karakter utama dari DreadOut 2 mengenakan tas merek Exsport.

Contoh lainnya adalah kerja sama antara KFC dengan Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Dalam kerja sama itu, KFC membuat pulau khusus yang dihias layaknya restoran KFC di dunia nyata. Tak hanya itu, para pemain juga bisa memenangkan satu ember ayam goreng jika mereka berhasil menemukan Colonel Sanders di pulau tersebut. Sebelum mencari Colonel Sanders, pemain harus mendapatkan invite link dari akun media sosial KFC Filipina. Pemain yang berhasil menemukan sang Colonel akan mendapatkan kode yang bisa ditunjukkan ke restoran KFC untuk ditukar dengan ayam goreng. Sayangnya, kegiatan itu terbatas pada gamers di Filipina.

Strategi membuat konten dalam game juga bisa digunakan oleh brand ketika mereka bekerja sama dengan game F2P. Salah satu merek yang pernah melakukan hal itu adalah Louis Vuitton. Sebagai bagian dari kerja sama mereka dengan Riot Games, Louis Vuitton membuat skin untuk karakter di League of Legends. Tak hanya itu, mereka juga meluncurkan koleksi pakaian LVxLOL. KFC juga menggunakan strategi ini ketika bekerja sama dengan Genshin Impact di Tiongkok. Hasil dari kolaborasi tersebut adalah munculnya dua resep baru — resep ayam goreng dan burger — dalam Genshin Impact. Selain itu, pemain juga bisa mendapatkan skin glider khusus, berwarna merah-putih yang menjadi warna khas KFC.

Skin glider khusus KFC. | Sumber: YouTube

Selain model bisnis, hal lain yang harus perusahaan pertimbangkan sebelum berkolaborasi dengan game adalah genre dari game itu sendiri. Bagi perusahaan yang tidak ingin brand mereka dikaitkan dengan kekerasan, mereka bisa memilih game-game olahraga atau balapan. Perusahaan juga bisa memilih game yang memang berkaitan dengan produk yang mereka tawarkan. Sebagai contoh, brand sportswear bisa menggandeng kerja sama dengan game olahraga atau perusahaan otomotif dengan game racing.

***Esports* dan Konten *Game***

Apakah sebuah game punya ekosistem esports atau tidak juga bisa menjadi pertimbangan lain bagi perusahaan yang ingin berkolaborasi dengan game tertentu. Pasalnya, jika sebuah game punya skena esports yang berkembang, perusahaan akan punya lebih banyak opsi dalam menjalin kerja sama dengan game tersebut. Alih-alih membuat konten dalam game, brand bisa mensponsori liga atau turnamen esports dari sebuah game. Jenis sponsorship di esports sendiri bermacam-macam, mulai dari sekadar logo placement sampai menjadi title sponsor.

Salah satu bentuk sponsorship unik adalah in-game banner. Jadi, developer meletakkan logo atau merek sponsor di dalam game saat pertandingan tengah berlangsung. Strategi ini masuk akal, mengingat siaran pertandingan esports biasanya menyorot segala sesuatu yang terjadi dalam game dan bukannya para pemain. League of Legends dan Mobile Legends adalah dua game yang menerapkan model sponsorship ini.

Contoh in-game banner di LOL Worlds 2020. | Sumber: Esports Insider

Sebagian gamers, tidak hanya senang bermain game, tapi juga menonton orang lain bermain game. Karena itu, munculah industri streaming game. Sebagai turunan dari industri game, industri esports dan streaming game juga punya potensi besar. Menurut data dari Juniper Research, nilai industri esports dari streaming game pada 2021 akan mencapai US$2,1 miliar. Jadi, bagi brand yang ingin menjangkau gamers tapi masih enggan untuk berkolaborasi dengan game secara langsung, mereka bisa memilih untuk bekerja sama dengan streamer atau kreator konten game.

Mengingat keberagaman game, jangan heran jika influencer gaming juga punya gaya yang berbeda-beda. Ada kreator konten yang menonjolkan kepribadian mereka, seperti Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg alias PewDiePie. Tidak peduli game apa yang sang YouTuber mainkan, penonton akan tetap setia karena kepribadian sang kreator kontenlah yang menjadi daya jual. Ada juga kreator konten atau streamer yang menonjolkan skill mereka dalam bermain. Biasanya, influencer gaming ini merupakan mantan pemain profesional. Contohnya adalah Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek, yang pernah menjadi pemain profesional CS:GO sebelum berkarir sebagai streamer. Selain itu, juga ada kreator konten yang menonjolkan sisi sensual mereka. Di Twitch, bahkan sempat muncul tren hot tub streamers.

Satu hal yang pasti, ketika perusahaan mendukung seorang influencer, maka image sang influencer juga akan melekat pada brand. Karena itu, penting bagi perusahaan untuk memilih streamer atau kreator konten yang sesuai dengan brand mereka. Jika tidak hati-hati, reputasi merek justru bisa tercoreng. Hal ini pernah terjadi ketika Wacom menggandeng Abqariyyah Halilintar untuk mempromosikan Wacom Cintiq 16 — pen display seharga Rp9,5 juta.

Abqariyyah Halilintar yang menggambar di Wacom Cintiq 16. | Sumber: Instagram

Tak bisa dipungkiri, unggahan endorsement tersebut memang mendapat engagement tinggi. Saat diunggah di akun Instagram resmi Gen Halilintar, ungahan tersebut mendapatkan lebih dari 38 ribu Likes. Namun, Wacom juga mendapatkan protes dari designer dan seniman, yang merupakan target konsumen Wacom. Alasannya, Abqariyyah dianggap tidak bisa menunjukkan fitur-fitur yang dimiliki oleh Cintiq 16.

Memilih Game atau Esports yang Sesuai dengan Brand

Setiap perusahaan biasanya punya target konsumen masing-masing. Karena itu, ketika hendak menjalin kerja sama dengan developer game atau entitas esports, perusahaan sebaiknya memilih rekan yang memiliki target pasar yang mirip. Hal ini akan lebih mudah untuk dicapai oleh perusahaan endemik game dan esports.

Sebagai contoh, perusahaan yang berkutat di bidang komputer, seperti Intel, AMD, Lenovo, Acer dan lain sebagainya, tentu akan lebih memilih bekerja sama dengan developer game PC atau mendukung ekosistem esports game PC. Karena game PC punya kaitan langsung dengan produk yang mereka jual. Sementara itu, perusahaan smartphone seperti Samsung Mobile dan Xiaomi Blackshark pasti akan lebih tertarik dengan mobile game serta komunitas esports mobile.

Pertanyaannya, bagaimana jika produk perusahaan yang tidak ada kaitannya dengan game dan esports? Dalam kasus ini, perusahaan bisa memilih untuk mendukung game atau esports yang penggemarnya punya karakteristik yang sama atau mirip dengan target pasar perusahaan. Pada 2019, Dua Kelinci menjadi sponsor dari RRQ dan EVOS Esports. Padahal, Dua Kelinci merupakan produsen kudapan. Ketika itu, pihak Dua Kelinci menjelaskan, alasan mereka mendukung tim esports adalah karena fans esports punya profil yang sama dengan target konsumen mereka.

Menyesuaikan dengan Tujuan Perusahaan

Di dunia marketing, ada konsep yang disebut marketing funnel. Pada dasarnya, marketing funnel menunjukkan proses untuk membuat seseorang yang tidak mengenal brand perusahaan sama sekali menjadi konsumen setia. Secara garis besar, marketing funnel terdiri dari lima tahap: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, dan adoption.

Tampilan marketing funnel. | Sumber: Expert Program Management

Di tahap awareness, tujuan perusahaan adalah untuk membuat calon konsumen tahu akan brand mereka. Tahap kedua, interest, bertujuan untuk membuat orang-orang yang sudah mengenal brand perusahaan menjadi semakin penasaran dengan produk yang ditawarkan perusahaan. Tahap berikutnya adalah evaluation. Di tahap ini, konsumen akan menilai kredibilitas perusahaan. Jika perusahaan dianggap kredibel, maka konsumen akan masuk ke tahap berikutnya, yaitu trial. Di tahap keempat, konsumen akan mulai membeli produk yang ditawarkan oleh perusahaan. Jika konsumen puas dengan produk dari perusahaan, maka mereka akan menjadi pelanggan setia, yang berarti, mereka telah ada di tahap adoption.

Proses marketing funnel sering digambarkan sebagai segitiga terbalik. Hal itu menunjukkan, jumlah konsumen di setiap tahap akan terus berkurang. Jadi, jumlah konsumen yang tertarik untuk mencari tahu akan sebuah brand akan lebih sedikit dari jumlah konsumen yang sadar akan keberadaan brand tersebut. Karena itu, di tahap awareness, semakin banyak orang yang mengenal brand perusahaan, semakin baik.

Sebelum menentukan developer game atau entitas esports yang hendak diajak kerja sama, penting bagi perusahaan untuk menentukan tujuan yang ingin mereka capai. Jika tujuan utama perusahaan adalah untuk meningkatkan awareness, maka mereka sebaiknya bekerja sama dengan game, entitas esports atau influencer yang memang populer di masyarakat, seperti yang Renault lakukan ketika mereka memutuskan untuk mendukung ekosistem esports Free Fire. Padahal, Renault merupakan merek non-endemik game dan game battle royale itu memiliki profil konsumen yang berbeda dari target konsumen Renault.

Namun, tidak semua perusahaan ingin bertujuan meningkatkan awareness. Ada juga perusahaan yang lebih mengutamakan kesetiaan pelanggan dengan menjaga reputasi brand. Perusahaan yang memprioritaskan reputasi biasanya akan sangat berhati-hati dalam memiliki rekan kerja sama. Contohnya adalah Nike. Perusahaan sportswear itu biasanya hanya mensponsori tim atau atlet olahraga. Tidak banyak artis yang mereka dukung. Di esports, satu-satunya tim yang mereka sponsori adalah T1. Organisasi esports asal Korea Selatan itu telah memenangkan League of Legends World Championship sebanyak tiga kali, menjadikan mereka sebagai tim dengan trofi World terbanyak. Keputusan Nike untuk mensponsori banyak tim dan atlet olahraga mengukuhkan reputasi mereka sebagai merek sportswear yang dikenakan oleh atlet atau tim pemenang.

Salah satu hasil kolaborasi T1 dan Nike. | Sumber: Hypebeast

Selain meningkatkan awareness atau mempertahankan reputasi, perusahaan juga bisa melakukan kolaborasi dengan pelaku industri game atau esports karena mereka ingin memenangkan hati para gamers dan penonton esports, yang kebanyakan merupakan generasi milenial dan Gen Z. Menurut Forbes, salah satu karakteristik konsumen milenial adalah mereka lebih percaya omongan influencer daripada iklan. Selain itu, milenial juga biasanya senang dengan brand yang relevan dengan gaya hidup mereka. Jadi, mendukung skena esports atau influencer gaming bisa menjadi jalan bagi brand untuk terlihat terpercaya di mata konsumen milenial.

Intel adalah salah satu perusahaan yang secara berkelanjutan mendukung ekosistem esports Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Turnamen Major Intel Extreme Masters sukses diadakan selama bertahun-tahun. Tak berhenti sampai di situ, Intel juga punya Intel Grand Slam. Pada April 2021, ESL juga mengumumkan bahwa mereka akan melakukan rebranding dari semua turnamen ESL Pro Tour (EPT), menjadi Intel Extreme Masters. Alhasil, merek Intel sangat lekat di benak para fans esports CS:GO. Intel bahkan bisa mengklaim mereka punya peran penting dalam mengembangkan ekosistem esports CS:GO. Hanya saja, melakukan apa yang Intel lakukan tidak mudah. Selain biaya besar, perusahaan juga harus siap berkomitmen dalam mendukung skena esports dari sebuah game selama bertahun-tahun.

Kesimpulan

Ketika perusahaan memutuskan untuk bekerja sama dengan game atau entitas esports, hal itu merupakan bagian dari kegiatan marketing. Karena itu, sebelum menjalin kolaborasi, sebaiknya perusahaan menentukan alasan mengapa mereka ingin melakukan kerja sama dengan game atau pelaku esports. Setelah itu, perusahaan bisa mencari game atau pelaku esports yang punya audiens dengan karakteristik yang sama dengan target konsumen perusahaan.

Memang, meningkatkan awareness masyarakat akan brand perusahaan merupakan bagian dari kegiatan marketing. Hanya saja, mengeluarkan uang untuk mengenalkan merek pada orang-orang yang memang tak tertarik dengan produk perusahaan adalah sesuatu yang sia-sia. Jadi, penting bagi perusahaan untuk mengetahui target pasar mereka dan karakteristik dari masing-masing kelompok gamers. Dengan begitu, perusahaan bisa menyasar kelompok gamers yang tepat dan memperbesar kesempatan untuk membuat kolaborasi yang sukses.

How Video Games Change Communication Behavior and Social Interaction

Have you ever known someone chatty on the internet, but is secretly a quiet and introverted person in real life? Or maybe, you are this person. The online era has been vastly affecting how people communicate with one another. Video games, whose growth has been catalyzed by the internet, are also used by more and more people as a medium to socialize. Of course, there are implications to this new trend of social behavior, which will be discussed thoroughly in this article. However, before digging deeper into this topic, let us first take a look at the history of human interaction.

The Evolution of Human Communication Tools

Humans are inherently social beings. Communication is the key to the survival of our ancestors and even us today. However, humans have changed their method of interaction according to the technologies or tools that exist at specific time periods. As technology continues to develop, our socializing habits evolves as well. According to a paper called the Development of Communication Technology and its Impact on Human Life, there are four distinct eras that distinguish human interaction methods.

The oldest era took place in 4000 BC when writing was the main tool for communication. The second was commenced when Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1456. Newspapers then came around at 1600. In Europe, the first newspaper printing came from a German company called Aviso di Wolfunbuttel. In Indonesia, Medan Prijaji was the first national newspaper, which operated from 1907 to 1912, according to Kompas.

Matchmaking bureau column in an old newspaper. | Source: Hipwee

Newspapers, as you may have already known, are a form of one-way communication. It is simply impossible to “reply” to a piece of news. However, newspapers in the past have been used as a tool to find friends or even lovers. Indeed, there is a designated “matchmaking” section in old newspapers. The “pen pal” section is usually less common, although I have personally made a friend during elementary school by finding their contacts in a newspaper.

Proceeding from the era of writing is the era of telecommunications. The radio and Films are the primary inventions that formed this era. The term “radio waves” was first coined by the German physicist Heinrich Hertz in 1887. However, it was not until 1896 when the first radio transmitter and receiver were invented by Guglielmo Marconi. Four years later, in 1900, radio began to be used commercially.

In Indonesia, the first generation of radio stations appeared around 1925 in Malabar, Central Java. Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) was founded on September 11, 1945. This day was later also commemorated as National Radio Day, according to Kompas. Usually, in the past, the radio was used to give greetings to your family or friends, although there is no guarantee that the radio announcer will broadcast our message.

The telecommunications era also includes the arrival of television, which gave way to a variety of communication services. Just like newspapers and radios, TVs are a one-way communication tool. A person can use TV and radio to make announcements to the public, but the listener/audience cannot interact with the messages conveyed. This limitation, however, will later disappear in the fourth era.

The Internet emerged in the era of interactive communication. | Source: Deposit Photos

The fourth era in communication history is called the era of interactive communication. As its name suggests, two-way communication became the norm, and technologies such as satellites, computers, and the internet helped form this trend. According to Forbes, the communication industry in the 1990s underwent major changes thanks to the advent of these brand-new techs. They also established a new array of communication mediums, ranging from email, instant messaging, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), internet forums, social media, and also online games.

Just like other previous communication tools, social media also evolves from time to time. Friendster, one of the world’s first social media, used to be very popular back in 2001. LinkedIn, founded in 2002, became the standard social media for working professionals. 2 decades later, LinkedIn is still incredibly popular, having more than 675 million users, according to Mary Ville. In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook, which has billions of users today. And two years later, Twitter was founded with the concept of a microblogging site.

Between 2010 and 2011, the emergence of Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat changed the focal point of social media content towards images. After the release of TikTok in 2016 by a Chinese company called ByteDance, the mainstream social media content shifted yet again, this time towards short videos. The existence of TikTok is also proof that netizens are now more fond of consuming videos.

Social media is constantly evolving. | Source: Marry Ville

The existence of social media provides several conveniences to us humans, such as connecting with friends or family who live far away. It is also much easier for us to find and connect with people who have the same interests as ours. If you like gaming, you can easily find a gaming community online.

However, social media undoubtedly also has its downsides. Social media is designed in such a way that you can only see the content that you like. Therefore, it can act as an echo chamber that reinforces your biases and polarizes your beliefs. Another problem that commonly arises on social media is cyberbullying, which is caused by the vast anonymity that the internet provides.

Despite its many pros and cons, it is undeniable that social media makes communicating much faster, easier, and cheaper. In the past, you had to consider roaming costs when calling people in different provinces. Now, you can easily connect with people who live in other countries or even continents.

Today, the game is predicted to be the new social media. The arrival of the internet may have single-handedly revolutionized the video game industry. It gave birth to many of the popular online games we know back then, such as Lineage and Starcraft in 1998 or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 1999. Initially, online games were used as a means of personal entertainment, similar to offline games. However, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, online games nowadays are mostly used as a medium to hang out, interact, and collectively have fun with other people.

How Games Affect Social Interaction

What comes to your mind when you hear the word cool? Of course, everyone has a different definition or interpretation of being cool. For high school students, for example, cool might be associated with someone who is in a music band, a sports team, or student council presidents. In the past, video game enthusiasts were often labeled as nerds or maybe even losers. Fortunately, the trend today has changed. Now, people who are good at playing games have their own charisma. Being professional esports athletes is a dream for many people in today’s society, even though the chances are extremely slim.

The rise of Pay-to-Win (P2W) games also brought a lot of attention to people who spend a lot of money in-game, often crowned as sultans. Influencers in the gaming world even create content about how much money they spend to acquire certain characters or items. For example, Indonesian YouTuber, feraldoto, spent Rp. 64 million to get Albedo C6 on Genshin Impact.

Unfortunately, many of the negative stigmas attached to gamers still persist until this very day. For one, many still assume that gamers are anti-social or loners. Unknowingly to people with these false beliefs, many people make new friends — or even lovers — through online games. Not only that, in some countries — such as South Korea and China — gaming is considered a social activity. In 2003, Mark Griffiths, a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, released a study on online gaming. He conducted a survey consisting of 11 thousand Everquest players. From the survey, Griffiths found that 25% of the respondents’ favorite part about Everquest is the element of socializing. Therefore, the idea that gamers are anti-social is extensively misleading.

In 2007, he repeated the experiment with a different community in online gaming. This time, he gathered 912 Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) gamers from 45 countries who spent an average of 22 hours a week playing games. From the study, he also concluded that online games are a highly interactive social environment.

Ten percent of the survey’s respondents even ended up in a romantic relationship outside the game,” Griffiths mentioned in BBC. “In-game socialization is actually a concept that has been around for a long time.” And in 2020, when the whole work was brought to a lockdown, more and more people came to the realization that gaming is more than a form of entertainment; it is also a place to socialize and interact.

Reckful/Byron memorials are now being held inside World of Warcraft across multiple servers and locations to pay respects to a WoW legend pic.twitter.com/Nb4FHfwAvM

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) July 2, 2020

Last year, gaming has been used as a hangout spot between friends. Important moments, such as birthdays or even weddings, are celebrated inside games. Games have also been used as a medium to show condolences. When streamer Byron “Reckful” Bernsten died in July 2020, World of Warcraft gamers gathered at several locations in-game to pay their respects to the WoW legend.

The Effect of Anonymity On Social Interaction

A person’s behavior in cyberspace is not always the same as his/her behavior in the real world. One of the main reasons why this happens on a vast scale is the anonymity that the internet provides. In online games, for example, rarely anyone uses their real name as his/her in-game name. According to the journal The positive and negative implications of anonymity in Internet social interactions: “On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Dog”, hiding identities can have both positive and negative repercussions.

According to the Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effect (SIDE) theory, anonymity has the benefit of increasing the effectiveness of a particular group. However, this only applies when all group members completely hide their identity and thus are unidentifiable to each other. If one or more people fail to keep their anonymity, the benefit will cease to exist. Anonymity also eliminates the salience of personal features while enhancing social identity and group immersion.

Anonymity can have both good and bad effects. | source: Deposit Photos

The strength and chemistry in anonymous communities can also bring precarious consequences. One of the most alarming negative effects of anonymous groups is their ability to disrupt major groups using radical ideas. For example, if a minor group of people hates the Indonesian government, they can gather followers to overthrow the government using anonymity.

However, another positive impact anonymity brings is empowering marginalized groups such as women and people with disabilities. Based on the equalization hypothesis, anonymous communication via the internet can balance the “power” held between minor and major groups.

In the real world, we tend to treat people based on their race, gender, appearance, and so on. In cyberspace, however, we cannot see or judge these social cues, prompting us to treat everyone fairly. For example, someone might try to act cool in front of an attractive person of the opposite sex. This cannot occur in internet forums since he/she cannot see the appearance of other people.

The last and probably most obvious advantage of anonymity is privacy. Generally, anonymity has three links to privacy: recovery from social injury, catharsis by expressing their emotions freely, and autonomy by trying new behaviors or activities without having to worry about being judged by the public or known people. Unfortunately, the autonomy and protection that comes from anonymity can also catalyze reckless behavior that might go unpunished.

Conclusion

Playing games is no longer considered an antisocial hobby or merely a form of personal entertainment. Today’s games, especially with the current pandemic lockdown, became a medium to interact with friends or new people on the internet. In the past year, gaming has provided a place to hang out and celebrate important moments in people’s lives.

However, people in the gaming world, or cyberspace as a whole, often put on a mask that does not represent their real-world behaviors. Due to the protection of anonymity, nobody is afraid to be judged by their appearance, race, or other social cues.

People in the past have believed that friendships in the online world are pretentious and fragile. However, there are a bunch of internet applications that we can use to stay connected with our friends anywhere around the world, from WhatsApp, Facebook, to Discord. I myself am still in touch with friends that I met in Ragnarok Online from the early 2000s. News about gamers who found the love of their life from games is also common nowadays. Therefore, relationships formed on the internet or online games can, indeed, be very strong and long-lasting.

Translated by: Ananto Joyoadikusumo. Featured Image: Nintendo.

Peran Orang Tua dan Kebiasaan Bermain Game Menurut Orang Tua dalam Lingkar Esports

Berkat keberadaan smartphone, bermain game kini menjadi semakin mudah. Anda tidak perlu lagi harus memiliki konsol seharga jutaan atau PC gaming senilai belasan atau bahkan puluhan juta untuk bisa bermain game. Dengan smartphone berharga Rp1-2 juta pun, Anda sudah bisa menggunakannya untuk bermain game. Tak hanya itu, banyak mobile game yang bisa dimainkan secara gratis. Rendahnya entry barrier ini membuat semakin banyak anak dan remaja yang hobi bermain game. Dan tidak ada yang salah dengan itu. Toh, riset membuktikan bahwa game juga punya dampak positif.

Sekarang, orang tua juga sebaiknya tidak sepenuhnya melarang anak bermain game. Pasalnya, bermain game kini mulai menjadi kegiatan sosial. Menurut laporan Accenture, 84% gamers menjadikan game sebagai alat untuk bersosialisasi. Sementara Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) menyebutkan bahwa main bareng alias mabar bisa membuat hubungan pertemanan menjadi semakin erat. Jadi, melarang anak untuk bermain game saat ini sama seperti melarang anak keluar rumah untuk bermain bersama teman-temannya dulu.

Lalu, apa yang harus orang tua lakukan agar hobi bermain game sang buah hati bisa tersalurkan dengan baik?

Membantu Anak Mengatur Waktu Bermain

Ketika mendapati anaknya senang bermain game, orang tua biasanya khawatir sang anak akan menghabiskan banyak waktunya untuk bermain game dan menjadi malas belajar. Padahal, menurut Yohannes Siagian, CEO Morph Team yang juga pernah menjabat sebagai kepala sekolah SMA 1 PSKD, game bukan alasan mengapa anak menjadi malas belajar.

“Yang bikin anak malas belajar bukan game, tapi sistem belajar yang membosankan dan materi yang disajikan dengan cara yang kaku dan tidak menarik minat belajar murid,” kata pria yang akrab dengan panggilan Joey ini saat dihubungi melalui pesan singkat. “Sebenarnya, game itu banyak positifnya kok, seperti mengajar cara berpikir strategis, menggunakan logika, mengidentifikasi masalah, problem solving, dan lain sebagainya.”

Lebih lanjut dia mengatakan, “Namun, sama seperti semua hal, kalau dilakukan secara berlebihan, bermain game bisa menjadi negatif. Kuncinya sebenarnya ada di orang tua: apakah orang tua bisa mendampingi anak, apakah bisa mengajarkan disiplin ke anak, dan seterusnya…”

Orang tua sebaiknya mendampingi anak ketika bermain *game*. | Sumber: Deposit Photos

Sementara itu, studi berjudul Role of Parental Relationship in Pathological Gaming menyimpulkan bahwa ada hubungan antara kondisi keluarga dengan kebiasaan anak bermain game. Para pathological gamers biasanya merasa, kondisi keluarga mereka kurang menyenangkan. Yang dimaksud dengan pathological gamers dalam jurnal itu adalah para pemain game muda yang menunjukkan gejala patologis berdasarkan Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, 4th Edition (DSM-IV), seperti menghabiskan banyak waktu untuk bermain game, mengalami gejala withdrawal ketika tak bermain game, mengacuhkan tanggung jawab lain demi bermain game, berbohong tentang lama waktu yang dihabiskan untuk bermain game, serta kesulitan untuk berhenti main game.

Dalam jurnal tersebut juga dijelaskan bahwa kebanyakan anak dan remaja ingin hidup di lingkungan keluarga yang menyenangkan. Dan ketika mereka merasa bahwa kondisi keluarga mereka tidak ideal — misalnya, sering terjadi pertengkaran di rumah — mereka cenderung ingin “melarikan diri” ke dunia game. Dan bagi gamers, hubungan yang mereka jalin di dunia game sama pentingnya dengan relasi mereka di dunia nyata. Pasalnya, game online memang mendorong para pemainnya untuk berinteraksi dengan satu sama lain.

Sementara itu, menurut studi Factors Associated with Internet Addiction among Adolescents, remaja yang merasa tidak puas dengan kehidupan mereka di rumah memang punya potensi lebih besar untuk menjadi kecanduan internet. Hal yang sama juga berlaku untuk para gamers. Apalagi ketika teman-teman yang mereka kenal di dunia game bisa membuat mereka merasa nyaman. Rasa nyaman itu akan membuat mereka ingin terus bermain game. Hal ini justru bisa memperburuk persepsi mereka akan keadaan keluarga mereka, yang mendorong mereka untuk menghabiskan lebih banyak waktu di dunia game; layaknya lingkaran setan yang tak pernah berakhir.

Salah satu hal yang bisa orang tua lakukan untuk membatasi waktu bermain game anak adalah dengan memasang program/aplikasi parental control di komputer/smartphone anak. Misalnya, Google menyediakan aplikasi parental control bernama Family Link yang bisa diunduh di Play Store dan App Store. Aplikasi itu menawarkan berbagai fitur. Salah satunya adalah membatasi waktu yang bisa anak habiskan untuk menggunakan smartphone. Melalui aplikasi ini, orang tua bahkan bisa menentukan durasi waktu yang bisa anak habiskan saat menggunakan aplikasi atau bermain game tertentu. Selain itu, Family Link juga menawarkan berbagai fitur lain, termasuk membatasi pembelian aplikasi atau in-app item.

Family Link merupakan aplikasi *parental control* di *smartphone*.

Namun, menurut Joey, sekadar memasang program/aplikasi parental control di smartphone atau komputer anak saja tidak cukup. Karena, parental control hanya berfungsi untuk membatasi gerak-gerik anak di dunia online, tapi tidak memberikan edukasi pada sang anak.

“Jadi, begitu anaknya masuk ke device yang tidak ada parental control, atau sudah keluar dari rumah, dia malah nggak tahu gimana caranya untuk jaga diri dan memilih apa yang bisa dia mainkan atau dia lihat,” ujar Joey. “Yang paling benar adalah orang tua mendampingi dan melibatkan diri dalam dunia anaknya. Bukan sekadar berada di luar dan menegur tanpa paham sebenarnya apa yang anak lakukan. Banyak orang tua yang cuma tahu anaknya pegang device atau main game, tapi tidak tahu game apa yang dimainkan anak atau konten apa yang dia tonton.”

Mengatur Uang yang Dihabiskan Anak Dalam Game

Pernahkah Anda melihat video viral tentang seorang bapak-bapak tengah memarahi kasir Indomaret karena membiarkan anaknya menghabiskan Rp800 ribu untuk topup game? Menariknya, fenomena ini tidak hanya terjadi di Tanah Air tercinta, tapi juga di negara-negara maju seperti Singapura dan Amerika Serikat. Kepada Channel News Asia, seorang gamer muda asal Singapura — yang tidak mau disebutkan namanya — mengaku bahwa dia pernah menghabiskan uang orang tuanya sebesar SGD20 ribu (sekitar Rp10,8 juta) membeli lootbox dalam game. Dia bahkan sempat mencuri demi menutup utang akibat kecanduannya dalam membeli lootbox.

Seiring dengan semakin populernya game free-to-play, semakin banyak developer yang menjual item dalam game sebagai sumber pemasukan. Namun, terkadang, developer tidak menjual item secara langsung, tapi menggunakan sistem lootbox. Jadi, gamers bisa membeli lootbox dalam game, tapi item yang didapatkan dari lootbox itu ditentukan secara random. Selain itu, developer juga terkadang menggunakan sistem gacha. Baik sistem gacha maupun lootbox sering dibandingkan dengan judi dalam dunia nyata karena nyatanya memang judi. Dalam game gacha atau lootbox, pemain memang tidak tahu item/karakter apa yang akan mereka dapatkan. Jika tidak hati-hati, gamers — khususnya yang masih muda — bisa menghabiskan banyak uang tanpa sadar demi mendapatkan item/karakter yang mereka inginkan.

Hal itulah yang menjadi alasan mengapa beberapa negara membuat regulasi khusus untuk game gacha atau lootbox. Misalnya, Belgia melarang keberadaan game lootbox sama sekali, sementara Belanda hanya melarang game lootbox dengan tipe-tipe tertentu. Di Asia, baik Tiongkok maupun Jepang tidak melarang keberadaan game gacha atau lootbox. Hanya saja, pemerintah mengharuskan developer untuk memberitahu pemain tentang persentase untuk mendapatkan item-item dalam game. Semakin rare sebuah item, semakin kecil pula persentase untuk mendapatkan item tersebut. Tak jarang, persentase untuk mendapatkan item/karakter rare kurang dari satu persen.

Sayangnya, Indonesia tidak punya regulasi khusus terkait game gacha atau lootbox. Karena itulah, peran orang tua dalam memastikan anak tidak menghambur-hamburkan uang di game justru menjadi semakin penting. Untuk itu, orang tua harus bisa menjalin komunikasi yang baik dengan anak. Langkah pertama yang bisa orang tua lakukan adalah mencari tahun mengapa sang anak senang untuk bermain game yang sedang dia mainkan. Dari sana, orang tua bisa membuka diskusi tentang berapa banyak uang yang boleh anak habiskan untuk bermain game. Orang tua juga bisa menjadikan game sebagai insentif agar anak mau lebih serius di sekolah. Ketika saya masih duduk di bangku SD dan SMP, orang tua saya sering berjanji untuk membelikan game/konsol baru jika saya berhasil masuk dalam peringkat tiga besar di kelas.

Lootbox sering dikaitkan dengan judi di dunia nyata. | Sumber: Extreme Tech

Orang tua juga bisa mulai mencari tahu mengapa anak rela menghabiskan uang dalam game. Secara psikologis, memang ada beberapa alasan mengapa gamers mau membeli item dalam game. Bagi gamers muda, salah satu alasan utama mereka adalah demi bisa berbaur dengan teman-teman mereka. Contohnya, di Amerika Serikat, murid SMP bisa dirisak hanya karena menggunakan default skin di Fortnite. Padahal, game dari Epic Games itu bisa dimainkan secara gratis. Meskipun begitu, tak bisa dipungkiri, mekanisme dalam game memang dibuat sedemikian rupa untuk mendorong pemain membeli lootbox atau mendapatkan item/karakter yang mereka mau melalui gacha.

“Yang kami khawatirkan adalah banyak gamers muda yang sudah memainkan game gacha atau lootbox. Hal ini bisa membuat mereka terbiasa dengan konsep judi,” kata Nicholas Khoo, pendiri dari Singapore Cybersports and Online Gaming Association dan anggota dari National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), seperti dikutip dari Channel News Asia. Tak hanya itu, di game gacha atau lootbox, persentase gamers untuk “menang” — mendapatkan item yang mereka inginkan — lebih besar dari kemungkinan mereka untuk menang judi di kasino. Dan hal ini bisa membuat mereka punya persepsi yang salah, menganggap bahwa kemungkinan untuk menang di game kasino juga sama besar seperti persentase menang di game gacha/lootbox.

**Menjadi Orang Tua dari Gamers Profesional**

Pesatnya perkembangan industri game memunculkan industri yang sama sekali baru, yaitu esports. Sekarang, esports tidak hanya menjadi semakin populer di kalangan generasi muda, tapi juga diakui oleh pemerintah dari berbagai negara, termasuk Indonesia. Karena itu, tidak heran jika semakin banyak generasi muda yang bercita-cita untuk menjadi pemain esports. Bagaimana rasanya menjadi orang tua dari gamers profesional, yang kerjaannya memang untuk bermain game? Demi menjawab pertanyaan itu, kami lalu menghubungi Ari Susanto, ayah dari dua pemain profesional, yaitu Kevin “xccurate” Susanto dan Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto.

“Secara teori, tentu banyak orang tua yang akan lebih mementingkan pendidikan anaknya daripada game,” aku Ari ketika dihubungi melalui pesan singkat, “Karena, buat para orang tua, image dari game itu sendiri memang sudah jelek. Tapi, di zaman milenial, sudah saatnya paradigma orang tua tersebut diubah. Orang tua justru harus bisa memanfaatkan situasi ini.” Dia lalu bercerita tentang pengalamannya dalam mendidik anak-anaknya. “Dulu, saya selalu katakan pada anak saya bahwa dia boleh bermain game sesukanya. Dengan catatan, dia harus berprestasi atau bisa menyeimbangkan bermain dengan sekolahnya. Kalau sampai nilai ulangannya jelek, ada konsekuensinya.”

Pak Ari Susanto dengan anak-anaknya. | Sumber: Ari Susanto

Ari menjelaskan, membiarkan anak bermain game bukan berarti orang tua melepaskan anak begitu saja. Orang tua tetap harus mengawasi kegiatan gaming sang anak. Dia mengungkap betapa pentingnya bagi orang tua untuk menanamkan rasa tanggung jawab pada anak. “Apabila anak kita sudah punya tanggung jawab, mereka akan belajar dengan sungguh-sungguh supaya hobi game mereka juga terpenuhi,” katanya. “Untungnya, anak-anak om semuanya tahu akan tanggung jawab dan mereka juga bisa berprestasi.”

Menurut Ari, orang tua harus aktif mengawasi dan mengingatkan anak agar anak tidak menjadi kecanduan game atau terjerumus dalam hal-hal negatif lainnya. “Penting sekali bagi anak untuk mengerti antara hobi dan kecanduan,” ungkapnya. Dia menyebutkan, diskusi antara anak dan orang tua terkait hobi bermain game sudah bisa dilakukan sejak anak masih duduk di bangku SD.

Hal yang sama diungkapkan oleh Joey, yang menyebutkan bahwa selama anak sudah bisa memegang device dan bisa bermain game, walau hanya game anak, maka anak sudah bisa diajak berdiskusi tentang hobinya bermain game. Yang penting, ungkap Joey, orang tua bisa menyesuaikan cara penyampaian mereka sesuai dengan usia dan tingkat pemahaman anak.

Dua bersaudara Susanto: **Kevin “xccurate” Susanto** dan **Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto**. | Sumber: Revival TV

Menjadi pemain profesional bukanlah hal mudah. Kemungkinan seseorang bisa berhasil sebagai gamer profesional di Indonesia kurang dari 1 satu persen. Karena itu, orang tua harus paham kapan mereka harus mendukung cita-cita anak untuk menjadi pemain esports.

“Memang jadi pro player itu tidak mudah dan butuh kerja keras,” kata Ari. “Kita sebagai orang tua juga dituntut untuk mengerti kondisi anak kita: apakah dia memang berbakat untuk menjadi pro player atau sekedar hobi saja. Nah, untuk tahu tentang hal itu, kita bisa membiarkan mereka bermain di komunitas. Setiap game yang anak geluti pasti punya komunitas masing-masing. Biarkan anak bermain di komunitas sambil diawasi. Kalau menurut orang tua anaknya memang jago dan ada tawaran untuk masuk klub esports, sudah waktunya orang tua mendukung.”

Ketika ditanya tentang dukungan apa yang orang tua bisa berikan pada anak yang berkarir sebagai pemain profesional, Ari menjawab, “Ikut menonton semua pertandingan anak, selalu kasih support dan selalu memberikan masukan akan apa saja kekurangan dan kesalahan yang harus diperbaiki. Jadi, anak menjadi semakin disiplin.” Sambil tertawa dia bercerita, ketika anak-anaknya hendak berlaga, sebagai orang tua, dia juga ikut merasa tertekan. “Mereka tidak tahu kalau saat mereka ikut pertandingan, yang stres dan asam lambung itu bapaknya, karena ikut tegang.”

Sementara itu, Carol Bird, ibu dari Fred “Freddybabes” Bird, pemain Gwent profesional, mengakui, memang ada banyak orang tua yang punya pandangan negatif akan game. Menurutnya, hal ini terjadi karena game adalah fenomena yang relatif baru. Namun, dia merasa, orang tua harus mulai sadar bahwa game itu tidak melulu memberikan dampak buruk. Ada berbagai hal positif yang bisa didapat dari bermain game.

“Menjadi pemain esports adalah karir yang serius, begitu juga dengan menjadi streamer, caster, atau komentator esports,” ujar Carol pada British Esports Association. “Orang tua tidak punya masalah ketika anak-anak mereka ingin menjadi pemain sepak bola atau TV presenter. Namun, masih ada stigma yang melekat pada esports. Seolah-olah, bermain game hanyalah hobi yang menghabiskan waktu.” Lebih lanjut, dia berkata, “Jika anak Anda adalah seorang gamer berbakat, dukung dan dorong mereka, tapi jangan memaksa mereka. Percayalah pada anak Anda.”

Mike Atkins, ayah dari pemain Brawlhalla, Bill “Lanz” Atkins menambahkan, “Saya rasa, saat anak menunjukkan keteguhannya, orang tua harus mendukung sang anak, sama seperti ketika orang tua mendukung anak yang punya hobi berolahraga.” Dia menjelaskan, dari bermain game, seorang pemain profesional juga bisa mendapatkan berbagai kemampuan yang bisa digunakan ketika dia bekerja di bidang pekerjaan lain. “Menjadi pemain esports membantu Bill untuk mengatur waktunya,” katanya, memberikan contoh. “Dan ketika kalah, dia harus belajar tentang bagaimana cara menerima kekalahan dan mengubahnya menjadi pengalaman yang positif.”

Kesimpulan

Manusia cenderung takut sesuatu yang baru, sesuatu yang tidak mereka mengerti. Karena itu, ketika muncul inovasi baru, tidak semua orang akan langsung bersedia menggunakan inovasi tersebut. Terkadang, setelah inovasi baru diadaptasi sekalipun, masih ada kelompok yang takut akan dampak buruk dari inovasi tersebut. Waspada akan dampak buruk yang bisa ditimbulkan oleh inovasi baru — baik internet, smartphone, atau game — sebenarnya bukan hal yang buruk. Segala sesuatu di dunia memang biasanya punya dampak positif dan negatif. Namun, hal itu bukan berarti kita bisa berlarut-larut dalam rasa takut dan terus kukuh berpegang pada pola pikir lama tanpa berusaha untuk mengubahnya.

Begitu juga dengan game. Walau game masih punya stigma buruk, khususnya di kalangan orang tua, tak bisa dipungkiri bahwa game kini tidak hanya berfungsi sebagai media hiburan, tapi juga sebagai alat komunikasi. Tentu saja, orang tua punya hak untuk melarang anaknya bermain game jika mereka memang tidak suka. Namun, ketika bermain game juga menjadi wadah untuk mendekatkan diri dengan teman, apakah bijak jika orang tua melarang anak bermain game sama sekali?

The Esports Industry’s Polemic Against Certification

Talk is cheap. Everyone can claim that they are proficient at a certain skill or field. However, proving your competency is a whole other matter. Since the dawn of the education system, schools and universities have used scores or GPAs to measure the capabilities of students. For working professionals, certificates can be one way to validate one’s expertise. What about in the world of esports? Is there currently any form of certification system in the esports industry?

Esports Certification Institute’s Plan to Create a Certification Program

The Esports Certification Institute announced their plan to hold a certification exam in the field of esports at the end of April 2021. The goal of behind this plan is to push the culture of meritocracy and foster professionalism in esports players. Additionally, they also hope that the existence of this certification program will make the world of esports more inclusive.

How do you get a certification from ECI? Well, of course, you just need to take their exam. The test from ECI covers three main criteria: esports knowledge, problem-solving abilities, and statistics. In addition to being given a certificate, people who passed the exam will also be included in the ECI membership program, which provides the opportunity to network and discuss with ECI advisors.

ECI was founded by Sebastian Park, former Esports VP of the Houston Rockets NBA team, and Ryan Friedman, former Chief of Staff of Dignitas, an American esports organization. ECI’s advisory board members consist of executives from various companies involved in esports, from venture capital firms such as BITKRAFT, legal firms like ESG Law, to esports organizations such as Cloud 9 and Gen.G.

ECI wants to create a certification program for esports

“One of the biggest problems that exist in the esports industry is that employers have no way of validating the skills of job applicants,” Park said, according to Yahoo. “Most esports organization wants to hire someone based on their skills and abilities, but it can be very difficult to do so.”

Of course, the exams from ECI are not free. You have to pay $400 USD to be able to take the exam. The ECI that they have conducted their market research before determining this entrance fee. They claimed that their exam fee is relatively cheaper when compared to certification exams in other fields. For example, the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification costs $1000 USD. For the underprivileged, ECI has also collaborated with various educational institutions to create a free exam program.

The reason ECI created a certified exam in the world of esports is to solve the problem of finding qualified personnel in the field. Even Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is willing to donate US$4 million to the University of Michigan to open an esports major. However, ECI’s vision to create a certified test has actually drawn a lot of protests from parties in the esports industry, which caused ECI to postpone its plan of establishing the certification program.

Unfortunately, in Indonesia, there are currently not many programs that offer these sorts of certification. One of the only popular ones in the country is perhaps RRQ Academy. People who want to practice their gaming skills and potentially go pro in the future can join RRQ’s program. Currently, RRQ Academy offers training for four games: Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, LoL: Wild Rift, and Free Fire. After attending classes for two days, participants will get the certificate. Unfortunately, RRQ Academy explained that the certificate that the academy participants received does not include the assessment of their abilities. However, the certification does not have an expiration date.

Now, let us discuss the pros and cons of establishing certified exams in the world of esports.

Advantages of Having a Certification Program in Esports

Certificates can be proof of someone’s competency in a field. For example, anyone can create a Facebook account but not everyone has a Facebook Blueprint certificate. This certificate is only given to people who really understand how to use various digital marketing products provided by Facebook and its subsidiaries.

In addition to enhancing credibility, another advantage of having a certification program is that it extends knowledge and skills, according to the International Society of Automation. Furthermore, taking a certified exam will also enhance one’s reputation as a professional and prepares them to climb the career ladder. Certification will also allow companies to find employee that matches their needs.

We are excited to announce the launch of Esports Certification Institute, a Public Benefit Corporation created to foster professionalism, promote meritocracy, and increase diversity and inclusion in esports. ECI was created to give another path into esports for industry hopefuls pic.twitter.com/NQyxjiWOBc

— EsportsCI (@EsportsCi) April 27, 2021

Gary Ongko, CEO of BOOM Esports frequently compares the esports industry to the Wild West. “Many workers in esports industry are esports enthusiasts, but most of them do not have any form of certification,” he said when contacted by Hybrid.co.id. “Because there is no legitimate esports major, maybe this certificate can help us hire people who want to work/enter esports.”

Meanwhile, according to the Head of Operations, Mineski Indonesia, Herry Wijaya, the emergence of a certification system in esports is proof that more and more people are getting interested in working in the esports field. Hopefully, as more people get involved in the industry, there will also be a larger talent pool available to benefit esports.

The requirements for getting a job in the esports industry have continuously increased over the years. As mentioned previously, universities have even started to open esports majors. However, the industry will still have to ultimately wait a few more years before being able to hire people with esports majors.

Certification programs can also filter people who are truly committed and passionate about their career. Obviously, getting a certificate will require an extensive investment in money and personal effort. Getting a certificate at RRQ Academy, for example, requires you to play Rp. 199 thousand and spend 2×6 hours in online classes.

Lastly, certification allows for the appreciation of skills. For example, a person with a Facebook Blueprint certificate will be recognized as someone with the capability of maintaining an important Facebook Page.

Disadvantages of Emerging Certification Programs in Esports

As mentioned previously, one of the main functions of a certification program is to validate the competency and credibility of someone’s skill sets. However, the scope of work in the world of esports is incredibly broad. The qualifications required to become a team coach is obviously very different from a videographer. The esports industry is also still relatively young and there are no “best practices” like in other, more mature industries. The most obvious example of these differing standards is the way people write the word “esports”. While some may simply write esports, others may use e-sports or even eSports.

Indeed, certification programs can help companies find competent employees that suits their needs. However, making certificates an absolute requirement to work in an esports company can cause major problems. According to Tobiaz M. Scholz from The Esports Observer, the existence of a certified exam can hinder a lot of people from entering the world of esports because not everyone will have the chance to take them.

My esports qualifications:

University Degree❌
Esports Certificate❌
Literal World Champion ✅

— Isaac CB (@AzaelOfficial) April 28, 2021

ECI previously also revealed that one of its goals for making certified exams is to make the esports industry more inclusive. However, studies show that the existence of standardized tests can potentially deepen the chasm of racism or socioeconomic differences. Of course, not everyone in the world has access to the same level of education. In Indonesia, for example, high school students living in urban, more prosperous areas will have a better chance of getting high National Examination scores than students living in underdeveloped regions.

On the other hand, it is important to note that just because many people in the esports industry are against the existence of a certification program doesn’t mean that the world of esports doesn’t need credible professionals. It is quite the opposite, actually. The Head of Operations in Mineski Indonesia, Herry Wijaya, said that the esports industry is in desperate need of people who are highly skilled in the respective fields. Furthermore, he also felt that the skill sets applied in the esports world can be learned from other industries as well. He took broadcasting as an example.

Today, esports is able to attract many sponsorships due to its massive growth and young viewership demography. Esports, for the longest time, have been able to gather large audiences by making interesting broadcasts. Of course, creating an engaging show will require the collective work of skilled and experienced individuals who understand fundamental broadcasting techniques. To meet this need, many esports broadcasts frequently hired employees who had previously worked at TV stations.

“We already have a business plan, we already know what kind of people we need, so we just have to look for someone professional and experienced. For example, if we need someone to manage our events, we will hire someone who understands event and cost management, which are skills taught in economic studies,” Herry said. “This is essentially the hiring and workflow process in today’s esports industry 2.0.”

The CEO of RRQ, Andrian Pauline alias AP, also echoed Herry’s comments. He mentioned that the disciplines used in the esports industry – such as videographers, referees, or social media specialists – already exist in other industries. Those jobs are not something available only in the world of esports.

Esports teams and conventional sports teams have the same order. | Source: Hotspawn

“There are a lot of similarities between the esports industry and the conventional sports industry. There are coaches, managers, analysts, players, and sponsors,” said AP. “There are people who manage the team’s training schedule, scout for new upcoming players, and run the academies to nurture young talents.”

Furthermore, the AP said, “The most distinct difference between the two industries is the product. Football has been around for more than 100 years, while esports is still very young because it is based on video games. Although games always evolve from time to time, the whole framework stays the same. The skills that are required in the field don’t change. Therefore, if there were to be some sort of certification of esports, it would be more geared towards the general understanding or knowledge of the esports world.”

Herry then compared the current esports industry with the esports industry in the early 2010s, which he labeled as the era of esports 1.0. During this era, people who work and get involved in esports are only passionate about the scene. However, they do not necessarily have expertise in the profession they are engaged in. As a result, they will need to learn these mandatory skills by themselves. Let us take Eddy Lim, President of IeSPA and founder of Ligagame, as a case study.

“Mr. Eddy does not have a broadcasting background, but Ligagame works in the broadcast sector. So, he learned the necessary knowledge and skills to fit in,” said Herry. However, nowadays, most esports companies usually look for people who are already proficient or experienced, which is why tournament organizers frequently hire employees who worked in the TV sector in the past.

Alternatives to Certification

Even though the esports industry currently does not have any form of established certification systems, there are other ways the esports organizations can use to find competent professionals. Many of them have used scouting methods in the past to find talented young players. Tournament organizers like Mineski also have their own practices to screen their employees.

“We usually examine the applicant’s portfolio and work history first,” said Herry. “After we identify their skills and abilities, we begin the testing process. During the interview, we also try to confirm their competency in their field. For example, if an applicant claims to be skilled in handling esports events, we will test him/her about the basic knowledge of handling events and how to efficiently organize them.

Fathimah Prajna Iswari, People Team Lead, Garena Indonesia, also said that certification was not the main criterion when it comes to recruiting new employees. Of course, having a certificate is always a plus. However, Garena will mostly use screen candidates in the early stage by observing their performance in formal education.

“The more important qualities that recruiters notice when selecting candidates is their problem-solving skills, motivation to complete a set of tasks, the curiosity of and willingness to learn new subjects, teamwork aspects, and so on.” Fathimah mentioned.

Broadcasting is an important part of the world of esports. | Source: Twitter

Generally speaking, there are three stages in the recruitment process at Garena. First, they will review all incoming applications and screen which candidates will enter the next stage. As mentioned previously, formal education will be the main focus of the Garena team in this recruitment phase. Qualified candidates will then be invited to participate in an interview with the hiring manager in the second stage. Candidates who passed this stage will proceed to the final interview with Garena Indonesia Country Head.

“Particularly for esports, Garena is looking for people who have good project management and communication skills while also prioritizing teamwork,” said Fatimah. “Candidates with relevant experiences, such as internships in broadcasting events, will have a significantly higher chance to get hired.”

Conclusion

Passion is no longer enough if you want to work in esports. Today, people who want to enter the esports industry must have the necessary skills that organizations seek. Fortunately, most knowledge and proficiency from other industries can be translated into the esports sector. Before working at Hybrid.co.id, I was mostly involved with technology. However, after switching professions to an esports journalist, I can use the writing and journalism skills I learned at my previous job.

The popularity and immense growth of esports have attracted more and more people to work in the industry, especially because it is one of the few jobs that can survive the COVID-19 pandemic. However, newer and inexperienced people have a lot of to catch up before they can be qualified to work in esports. Certified training and tests can be a simple way to learn basic esports knowledge and solve this problem.

While certificates can aid workers in proving their competency and help companies in finding the employees with the right skillset, ownership of a certificate cannot be an absolute requirement for esports-related jobs. After all, the esports sector is incredibly dynamic, and a wide range of expertise is required throughout the industry.

In the end, we cannot really blame the agencies who want to create certification programs for esports since it can be used to filter people who are passionate about pursuing a career in the sector. However, if not executed properly, these certifications might cause their own fair share of problems.

Translated by: Ananto Joyoadikusumo

Protein Folding and How Your Gaming Rig Can Help the World

Human beings are known to be especially capable of doing things that other species might not be able to accomplish during our lifetime. Oftentimes, we solve questions that are seemingly impossible to answer and yet time and time again we find ourselves beyond what our ancestors might not be able to do.

Doing so may require the joint effort of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people. You see, usually, these kinds of questions or problems that involve peering internally into human beings are typically the harder problems to solve. Consciousness, intelligence, understanding the mechanics of human life — these things that are internally within us seem to be the most complex of questions out there.

A problem that lies similarly in the spectrum of difficult questions is the problem of protein folding. As a fundamental physical process that defines human life and life in general, understanding how proteins fold is certainly of great importance for reasons we are going to discuss later. However, it remains a mystery as to how their mechanics truly work despite being so essential to living.

This article will discuss the ongoing efforts by scientists and researchers alike to understand and solve protein folding. But before anything, I will introduce some core concepts to better understanding the importance of protein folding, what it is, and how we can contribute to a global effort of improving human life using our personal gaming rigs.

Proteins and Protein Folding

Let’s start with asking the question of why understanding proteins are important. They, almost literally, are the building blocks of life. Our bodies are made up of different organs and tissues, which are made up of cells, which are made up of organelles. These organelles are made of four major groups: carbohydrates, lipids, nucleotides, and proteins — being the most complex biological compound out of the four.

Now, what do proteins actually do? Different proteins have their own purposes and functions, but it’s important to know that their shape is a major factor that decides the function. The shape of the active site of enzymes, which are made of proteins, for instance, determines which molecules would be able to bind.

In a similar fashion, an antibody, a protective protein produced by the immune system in response to the presence of a foreign substance (antigen), has a binding site whose shape fits a specific epitope. Simply put, the shape determines whether the weapon of choice would be effective in battling specific enemies.

It is hence quite clear that proteins are a necessity to human life, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to us comprehending how they behave, including how they fold themselves. A protein’s activity is greatly determined by its three-dimensional (3D) structure, which is produced as a result of folding.

So what is protein folding? Originally, a protein is just a sequence of amino acids before they fold. But in order to biologically function, they are thus folded or converted into 3D structures. Different proteins have different 3D structures, as they require different structures to stabilize and function.

AlphaFold 2’s Experimental Results vs. Computational Prediction. Source: DeepMind.

It is this very problem of how these end 3D structures are formed that remains as the big question mark. At this moment, there are over 200 million known proteins across all life forms, but only 170,000 protein structures are known to us over the last 60 years of studying them (Service, 2020).

Explaining how the underlying folding process actually works is a bit too ambitious at the moment. What scientists and researchers are currently trying to do is to at least, somehow, predict a protein’s end 3D structure given its sequence, instead of interpreting how they were formed.

By at least knowing the resultant structure, we would know what the protein’s functionality is like and analyze details about it. Through techniques like X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance, we can determine the structure of proteins. And so scientists do these experiments in the lab, which are painstakingly slow and costly processes.

Therefore, there are efforts to automate this process more efficiently while maintaining accuracy, through different methods of computation. Traditionally, the molecular dynamics of protein folding are simulated in computers. The simulation keeps going until a stable structure is achieved which might reflect how the proteins truly are naturally.

However, the main drawback to this method is how large the search space of possibilities is. It takes only a millisecond for a protein to fold, but randomly simulating all the possible resultant structures to reach the ground truth would take longer than the age of the known universe (DeepMind, 2020). There’s virtually no exaggeration to this statement, as it is discussed in what’s known as Levinthal’s paradox.

The Problem with Protein Folding

As mentioned earlier, proteins are made up of chains of amino acids. Short chains of amino acids are known as peptide chains. These peptide chains are linked to one another by peptide bonds and these bonds could be configured differently to produce different resultant structures of proteins.

More specifically, these peptides bonds could be configured to have different angles which translate to the majority of the large search space. Levinthal estimates that there is an astronomical number of possible conformations of an unfolded peptide chain.

In his paper (Levinthal, 1969), he wrote, “How accurately must we know the bond angles to be able to estimate these energies? Even if we knew these angles to better than a tenth of a radian, there would be 10³⁰⁰ possible configurations in our theoretical protein.”

Moreover, it’s important that to understand why the correct folding of proteins is crucial. An incorrect fold of a protein is known as misfolding. Surprisingly, the effects of the misfolding of proteins could instead backfire on its host, known as proteopathy.

Diseases such as Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease, have been shown to closely correlate to the event of protein misfolding (Walker & Levine, 2020). Further, others also suggest that cellular infections through viruses like influenza and HIV involve folding activities on cell membranes (Mahy et al., 1998).

Therefore, if we can better understand how misfolding works, we can help mitigate the effects of protein misfolding through therapies that could either destroy these misfolded proteins or assist the right folding process (Cohen & Kelly, 2003). All in all, understanding how proteins fold will benefit us for the better by not only providing novel insights, but also tackle ongoing health problems we face.

Large-Scale Computational Projects

Before the rise of machine learning methods to tackle the problem of protein folding, most approaches rely on molecular dynamics simulation to find the resultant 3D structure of proteins. However, as outlined by Levinthal, a more clever strategy is required, otherwise, the problem is very much unsolvable within finite time.

One particular joint effort that became massively popular due to the COVID-19 pandemic is what’s known as large-scale computational projects. These projects allow volunteers across the world to assist the modeling of protein folding through distributed computing. That is, volunteers would lend their local computing power to these projects via the internet.

So almost literally, a ton of people are accumulating their personal computing resources to build one giant supercomputer, to be used to model the very expensive and lengthy protein folding simulation. A few of the ongoing projects which implement the channel of distributed computing include Folding@home, Rosetta@home, and Foldit.

What’s interesting is that software like Folding@home requires the same computational power used to render 3D video games, specifically those requiring a heavy utilization of Graphical Processing Units (GPU). CPUs would also do the job, but only multi-core processors are the one that really makes the cut. Who would have thought that gaming powerhouses were as useful for advancing science?

In fact, Folding@home used to work on PlayStation 3s through an online application called Life with PlayStation. More than 15 million gamers participated in the program, accumulating a whopping 100 million computation hours over the course of five years and seven months. Sadly, this game-changing approach was concluded in 2012 with the Life with PlayStation to cease service.

Of course, even if we have the largest supercomputer on Earth, random calculations of possible protein folds are implausible, again by Levinthal’s idea. Folding@home, particularly, approached this task a little more strategically than just outright wasting the supercomputing resource that they have gathered from thousands, or perhaps millions of computing power.

According to the Folding@home team, their technique’s core idea is the modeling of protein folding using Markov State Models (MSM). Essentially, what Markov State Models do is to explore all the possible configurations more efficiently by avoiding redundancy.

ACBP MSM from Folding@home. Source: Vincent Voelz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

As highlighted on their FAQ page, Markov State Models are “a way of describing all the conformations (shapes) a protein – or other biomolecule for that matter – explores as a set of states (i.e. distinct structures) and the transition rates between them.”

Aside from only exploring distinct structures, Markov State Models are much better suited for parallel/distributed computing, like that of the Folding@home project. They allow for “the statistical aggregation of short, independent simulation trajectories” which “replaces the need for single long trajectories, and thus has been widely employed by distributed computing networks”.

Further, Folding@home employs a modified approach to the classic Markov State Model, by applying the technique of adaptive sampling. Technically speaking, adaptive sampling builds the model on the fly as the data is being generated, rather than building the model only after the data has been collected.

The FAQ page elaborates on the advantages of adaptive sampling in a simple analogy of maze exploration using the aid of GPS. To put it differently, imagine you’re roaming around an open RPG world. If the world is massive and you’re tasked to find the best resources, revisiting the same site over and over again would be very inefficient, wouldn’t it?

With the GPS, you can keep watch of where you’ve been while building a map, avoid revisiting the same places, and effectively gather the best resources maximally; that’s adaptive sampling in a rough sense. There’s more explanation behind the idea of adaptive sampling in Markov State Models, which I strongly suggest the readers dive into the technical details if the topic greatly interests you.

Folding@home is one of the largest worldwide efforts to help tackle the problem of protein folding. It even has some of the leading figures in the world as its ambassadors, in a time when collaboration is as important as ever. The list includes Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, AMD President & CEO Dr. Lisa Su, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, Intel CEO Bob Swan, and still many other relevant people.

Of course, other similar projects like Rosetta@home and Foldit have their own approaches to protein folding. Rosetta@home, for instance, doesn’t address the question of how and why proteins fold like Folding@home attempts to answer. Instead, it concentrates on computing protein design and predicting protein structure and docking.

Nevertheless, these efforts complement each other and could utilize each other’s strengths to advance their own endeavors. For example, Rosetta@home’s conformational states could become the starting point for Folding@home’s Markov State Model. Likewise, Rosetta@home’s protein structure prediction could be verified by Folding@home’s simulation.

It’s safe to say that although both projects handle the problem differently and try to answer different sets of questions, they ultimately benefit the study of protein folding.

Machine Learning Methods

In recent years and with the advancement of machine learning methods, the problem of protein folding has found yet another probable solution. Instead of simulating the folding of proteins like the attempts explained earlier, some machine learning methods are used to predict the end structure of the protein given its sequence.

One of the more famous attempts that made it to mainstream headline is AlphaFold 2, a program built by Google’s DeepMind. The AlphaFold team joined what’s known as the CASP (Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction) competition which serves as a blind assessment of how well a program/model is able to predict the 3D structure of proteins (Moult et al., 1995).

In 2018, DeepMind began to join the CASP competition, starting with CASP13. The company is already famous for its achievements with AlphaGo, so it was definitely intriguing to see whether they could emulate the same successes in a completely different realm of protein folding. Of course, being an AI company, DeepMind naturally entered the competition using their machine learning/AI methods.

Unsurprisingly, the AlphaFold team managed to outperform every other team in the CASP13 competition using their unconventional methods. According to their paper (Senior et al., 2020), the team used very deep residual networks (He et al., 2016) — the same method used widely for image recognition and various deep learning tasks — coupled with evolutionary profiles (Pellegrini et al., 1999). AlphaFold 1 achieved a median global distance test (GDT) score of 58.9 out of 100.

Then in 2020, a large part of the active community was shocked to see how well AlphaFold 2 performed in the proceeding CASP14. AlphaFold 2 didn’t only win CASP14, they too attained a median GDT of 92.4 which is as good as the gold standard results found by using experimental methods like X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy.

Although the official AlphaFold 2 paper, and hence method, hasn’t been fully released, the team revealed the general outline of their approach. Their approach includes the usage of the attention mechanism (Bahdanau, Cho, & Bengio, 2014), a technique surprisingly commonly used for natural (human) language (Vaswani et al., 2017). In essence, this mechanism calculates the relation between two components in a sequence.

An example of the self-attention mechanism following long-distance dependency in the Transformer encoder (Xie et al., 2021).

In natural language, this would translate to finding relationships between words in a sentence. For example, given the sentence “the monkey ate that banana because it was too hungry”, the attention mechanism would highly correlate the words ‘monkey’ and ‘it’, while the words ‘banana’ and ‘it’ would have a lower correlation.

Likewise, the same attention mechanism has the potential to capture the relationship between an amino acid residue of the protein and another amino acid residue. In a different paper by Vig et al. (2020), the authors have shown that the attention mechanism can indeed draw the relationship between the folding structure of proteins, targets binding sites, and “focuses on progressively more complex biophysical properties with increasing layer depth”.

Therefore, what DeepMind managed to do using these existing tools in the seemingly unrelated fields of language and protein folding showed the possibility of finding parallels between the nature of data. Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks to using machine learning models, and molecular simulations in general.

For one, these machine learning methods are tough to interpret and it is the same ongoing problem with other tasks that rely on machine learning models. These algorithms almost serve as a black box that we have yet to be able to peer into, a problem known as Explainable AI (XAI). Secondly, AlphaFold was only tested on small protein domains, while a large part of proteins consists of multi-protein complexes.

Finally, although the AlphaFold 2 was able to achieve a GDT score of over 90%, the error rate that the program exhibits is still currently unusable in laboratories for usages like drug design, etc. Nevertheless, the last two problems seem the easiest to solve for the next rendition of AlphaFold. A major factor to these issues is mostly derived from the fact that the existing data for protein folding is scarce and machine learning methods could better generalize given the increase in the availability of data.

One thing to note is that, like molecular simulation, AlphaFold took a ton load of computational resources to train. DeepMind reported that the computing power used equated to that of 100 to 200 GPUs, spanning a total of “a few weeks” to finish.

In general, however, whichever path you decide to take, be it molecular simulations or machine learning methods, these two approaches can only partially emulate what’s truly happening in reality. In other words, even if we could solve the protein folding problem via these computations, they might not necessarily reflect natural proteins in the real world. Thus, more checking and surely clinical trials of these methods are further required.

Doing Our Part

For the reasons discussed above, it should be quite clear that protein folding is a serious matter and would require the efforts of many to devise a solution that would answer one of humanity’s biggest questions ever. Healthcare, drug design, and virus protein structure analysis are only some of the byproducts of being able to solve protein folding.

The ongoing pandemic is living proof that what we can do together would greatly improve the wellbeing of everybody around us, even in the smallest ways. If you feel strongly about this topic, I strongly encourage you to learn more and read various relevant resources on the matter to better understand, empathize, and educate ourselves and the people around us.

Since its launch in October 2000, results from Folding@home have helped scientists at Pande Lab produce 225 scientific research papers, all of which accord with experiment results. And if you have a gaming rig with insane GPU setups lying around doing nothing, I’d suggest you put it to good use, for a purpose that could improve the lives of many, including yours. Try a few of the large-scale computation projects like Rosetta@home, Folding@home, or whichever’s your favorite; let’s do our part.

Featured Image by Doxepine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

References

Bahdanau, D., Cho, K., & Bengio, Y. (2014). Neural machine translation by jointly learning to align and translate. arXiv preprint arXiv:1409.0473.

DeepMind. (2020, January 15). AlphaFold: Using AI for scientific discovery. https://deepmind.com/blog/article/AlphaFold-Using-AI-for-scientific-discovery

Cohen, F. E., & Kelly, J. W. (2003). Therapeutic approaches to protein-misfolding diseases. Nature, 426(6968), 905–909. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02265

He, K., Zhang, X., Ren, S., & Sun, J. (2016). Deep residual learning for image recognition. In Proceedings of the IEEE conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (pp. 770-778).

Jumper, J., Evans, R., Pritzel, A., Green, T., Figurnov, M., Tunyasuvunakool, K., … & Hassabis, D. (2020). High accuracy protein structure prediction using deep learning. Fourteenth Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (Abstract Book), 22, 24.

Levinthal, Cyrus (1969). “How to Fold Graciously”. Mossbauer Spectroscopy in Biological Systems: Proceedings of a meeting held at Allerton House, Monticello, Illinois: 22–24. Archived from the original on 2010-10-07.

Mahy, B. W., Collier, L., Balows, A., & Sussman, M. (1998). Topley and Wilson’s Microbiology and Microbial Infections: Volume 1: Virology (Topley & Wilson’s Microbiology & Microbial Infections) (9th ed.). Hodder Education Publishers.

Moult, J., Pedersen, J. T., Judson, R., & Fidelis, K. (1995). A large-scale experiment to assess protein structure prediction methods. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Genetics, 23(3), ii–iv. https://doi.org/10.1002/prot.340230303

Pellegrini M, Marcotte EM, Thompson MJ, Eisenberg D, Yeates TO. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999 Apr 13;96(8):4285-8.

Senior, A. W., Evans, R., Jumper, J., Kirkpatrick, J., Sifre, L., Green, T., Qin, C., Žídek, A., Nelson, A. W. R., Bridgland, A., Penedones, H., Petersen, S., Simonyan, K., Crossan, S., Kohli, P., Jones, D. T., Silver, D., Kavukcuoglu, K., & Hassabis, D. (2020). Improved protein structure prediction using potentials from deep learning. Nature, 577(7792), 706–710. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1923-7

Service, R. F. (2020, December 1). ‘The game has changed.’ AI triumphs at solving protein structures. Science | AAAS. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/11/game-has-changed-ai-triumphs-solving-protein-structures

Vaswani, A., Shazeer, N., Parmar, N., Uszkoreit, J., Jones, L., Gomez, A. N., … & Polosukhin, I. (2017). Attention is all you need. arXiv preprint arXiv:1706.03762.

Vig, J., Madani, A., Varshney, L. R., Xiong, C., Socher, R., & Rajani, N. F. (2020). Bertology meets biology: Interpreting attention in protein language models. arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.15222.

Walker, L. C., & LeVine, H. (2000). The cerebral proteopathies: neurodegenerative disorders of protein conformation and assembly. Molecular neurobiology, 21(1-2), 83–95. https://doi.org/10.1385/MN:21:1-2:083

Xie, H., Qin, Z., Li, G. Y., & Juang, B. H. (2021). Deep learning enabled semantic communication systems. IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 69, 2663-2675.

Aplikasi dan Inovasi Game ke Industri Lain: Militer, Kesehatan, dan Edukasi

Game layaknya pedang bermata dua. Di satu sisi, militer Amerika Serikat menggunakan game sebagai alat untuk melatih pasukan mereka. Di sisi lain, studi menunjukkan, bermain game tidak membuat pemainnya mendadak jadi beringas, bahkan jika game yang dimainkan penuh kekerasan sekalipun. Di satu sisi, World Health Organization menyatakan bahwa gaming disorder sebagai gangguan kejiwaan. Di sisi lain, game bisa digunakan oleh tenaga kesehatan untuk mengatasi gangguan kejiwaan. Di satu sisi, orangtua sering protes karena game membuat anak-anak mereka malas belajar. Di sisi lain, game bisa dijadikan sebagai alat pembelajaran.

Seiring dengan meroketnya popularitas game, semakin banyak pihak yang tertarik untuk menggunakan game atau inovasi dalam game ke bidang lain, mulai dari edukasi, kesehatan, sampai militer.

MILITER

Percaya atau tidak, militer AS sebenarnya telah mensponsori developer game sejak lama. Selama lebih dari dua dekade, pada 1960 sampai 1990-an, militer AS cukup aktif untuk mendanai pengembangan teknologi di industri game. Faktanya, Spacewar! — yang dianggap sebagai game pertama — bisa dibuat berkat dana dari Pentagon. Bagi militer dan developer game, kerja sama mereka merupakan simbiosis mutualisme. Bagi developer, jelas keuntungan yang mereka dapat berupa uang. Sementara bagi pihak militer, mereka rela menyokong developer game demi mendapatkan simulasi latihan yang memang berkualitas, seperti yang disebutkan oleh The Atlantic.

Secara garis besar, militer menggunakan game untuk tiga tujuan, merekrut tentara baru, melatih pasukan, dan juga menangani posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) pada veteran. America’s Army merupakan salah satu contoh game yang dibuat untuk merekrut anak-anak muda. Game FPS yang dibuat dan dirilis oleh Angkatan Darat AS itu diluncurkan pada 2002 dan bisa dimainkan secara gratis oleh siapa saja. Pada 2008, Richard Beckett — Chief of Advertising and Public Affairs di Angkata Darat AS, yang ketika itu menjabat sebagai Public Affairs Officer — mengatakan bahwa game America’s Army biasanya menjadi bagian dalam berbagai kegiatan sosial, termasuk di LAN parties, yang merupakan bagian dari program “Future Soldier Sustainment” milik Angkatan Darat AS.

Angkatan Laut AS gunakan Twitch untuk proses perekrutan. | Sumber: Military

“Kegiatan sosial seperti LAN parties sangat bermanfaat, karena kami ingin menunjukkan bahwa para perekrut adalah orang-orang biasa, sama seperti para pengunjung,” kata Beckett pada Ars Technica. Lebih lanjut dia menjelaskan, kegiatan sosial itu juga berfungsi untuk membuat para calon tentara yang sudah lulus boot camp tapi belum mendapat penugasan agar tidak berubah pikiran. Alasannya, setelah selesai boot camp, para calon tentara bisa menunggu hingga lebih dari enam bulan sebelum ditugaskan.

Seiring dengan meningkatnya popularitas siaran konten game, militer AS pun tertarik untuk menjajaki platform streaming game. Sekarang, baik Angkatan Darat maupun Angkatan Laut AS sudah punya channel Twitch. Tujuan militer membuat channel di Twitch bukan untuk merekrut para penonton secara aktif. Sebagai gantinya, mereka menggunakan channel itu untuk meningkatkan eksposur dan berinteraksi dengan penonton — yang kebanyakan merupakan generasi muda. Hanya saja, tidak semua orang senang dengan keberadaan channel Twitch dari Angkatan Darat atau Angkatan Laut AS. Tidak sedikit penonton yang justru memanfaatkan channel Twitch milik militer untuk menanyakan tentang topik sensitif seperti Eddie Gallagher atau kejahatan perang yang dilakukan oleh dan dituduhkan pada tentara AS.

Tak hanya perekrutan, militer AS juga menggunakan game untuk melatih pasukan mereka. Ada beberapa game yang memang khusus dibuat sebagai alat latihan militer. Dan masing-masing game itu punya fungsi masing-masing. Misalnya, DARWARS Ambush digunakan untuk mengajarkan taktik infanteri, operasi konvoi, serta Rules of Engagament aatu Aturan Pelibatan. Menurut laporan GamesIndustry, pada akhir 2008, lebih dari tiga ribu unit DARWARS Ambush telah didistribusikan ke Angkatan Darat, Angkatan Udara, Angkatan Laut, Penjaga Pantai, dan Marinir.

Selain DARWARS, juga ada UrbanSim dan Tactical Iraqi. Kedua game itu fokus untuk mengajarkan kemampuan bahasa asing serta cara melawan pemberontak. Sementara simulator perang seperti Virtual Battlespace 2 memunginkan komandan militer membuat skenario yang mungkin terjadi di garis depan medan pertempuran, mulai dari sergapan musuh, ledakan Improvised Explosive Device (IED), sampai evakuasi medis.

DARWARS Ambus adalah salah satu game simulasi untuk latihan militer. | Sumber: Stripes

Terakhir, militer menggunakan game sebagai alat untuk mengatasi masalah psikologis yang dialami oleh para veteran, seperti PTSD. Dalam jurnal Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Combat Related PTSD, Institute of Medicine menyebutkan bahwa Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) dengan exposure therapy merupakan satu-satunya jenis terapi yang direkomendasikan untuk menangani PTSD.

Dalam exposure therapy, penderita PTSD biasanya akan diminta untuk mengingat dan menceritakan kembali kejadian traumatis yang dia alami. Hanya saja, salah satu gejala PTSD adalah keengganan atau ketidakmampuan untuk mengingat kejadian traumatis yang menjadi penyebab PTSD itu sendiri. Jadi, jangan heran jika orang-orang yang punya PTSD tidak mau atau tidak bisa mengingat apa yang terjadi pada mereka. Di sinilah peran VR simulator, yang dapat digunakan untuk mereka ulang kejadian yang menjadi penyebab trauma. Keberadaan simulasi seperti Virtual Afghanistan dapat membantu veteran mengatasi trauma mereka.

Sayangnya, keputusan militer AS untuk aktif di industri game tidak selalu berbuah manis. Salah satu game dari militer yang menuai kontroversi adalah Full Spectrum Warrior. Game yang diluncurkan pada 2003 tersedia dalam dua varian, yaitu varian komersil dan varian militer, yang bisa diakses dengan kode khusus. Walau game itu berhasil memenangkan penghargaan di kategori Best Original Game dan Best Simulation Game di E3 2003, Full Spectrum Warrior tetap menuai kontroversi. Salah satu alasannya adalah karena pada akhirnya, militer AS tetap tidak menggunakan game itu sebagai alat latihan karena dianggap kurang realistis. Selain itu, biaya yang dikeluarkan Angkatan Darat AS untuk mendapatkan game itu juga dianggap terlalu besar.

KESEHATAN

Veteran perang bukan satu-satunya pihak yang mengalami PTSD. Warga sipil pun bisa mengidap PTSD. Karena itu, keberadaan VR Exposure Therapy (VRET) tidak hanya menguntungkan militer, tapi juga tenaga kesehatan. Selain PTSD, VRET juga bisa digunakan untuk mengatasi gangguan mental lain, seperti fobia atau gangguan kecemasan. Bagaimana VRET bisa membantu? Dengan membawa pasien ke dunia virtual untuk menghadapi kejadian atau lokasi yang menjadi sumber trauma atau mengekspos pasien ke sesuatu yang mereka takutkan. Mengingat dunia vritual bisa dikendalikan, penggunaan VR dalam exposure therapy menjamin keselamatan pasien.

VR Exposure Therapy bisa digunakan untuk menangani fobia. | Sumber: Digital Bodies

Penggunaan game di industri kesehatan tidak terbatas pada disiplin psikologi. Game, khususnya VR, juga bisa digunakan para tenaga kesehatan (nakes) untuk mengasah kemampuan mereka atau mempelajari prosedur baru. Dengan begitu, nakes tak lagi kagok ketika harus melakukan prosedur baru pada pasien. Ada berbagai hal yang bisa nakes pelajari dengan teknologi VR, mulai dari cara melakukan endoskopi sampai simulasi dari ruang operasi, seperti yang disebutkan dalam jurnal Gaming science innovations to integrate health systems science into medical education and practice.

Menariknya, game mobile pun bisa membantu para calon dokter untuk belajar. Ialah game PAtient Safety in Surgical EDucation (PASSED). Game untuk iPad itu dapat menampilkan berbagai skenario kejadian sentinel alias kejadian tak terduga yang menyebabkan cedera serius atau bahkan kematian pada pasien. Melalui game tersebut, para calon dokter akan bisa lebih paham tentang alasan di balik kekhawatiran pasien.

Mencegah lebih baik dari mengobati. Kabar baiknya, game bisa digunakan untuk mendorong pemainnya memulai atau mempertahankan gaya hidup sehat. Misalnya, Pokemon Go, yang mendorong para pemainnya untuk berjalan kaki. Contoh lainnya adalah WiiFit dari Nintendo, yang memanfaatkan Wii Balance Board. Selain mendorong pemain untuk lebih aktif berolahraga, game yang mengharuskan pemainnya melakukan kegiatan fisik juga bisa digunakan untuk mengukur kemampuan fisik pasien. Jadi, nakes bisa mengetahui apakah kemampuan fisik dari pasien membaik atau justru memburuk, khususnya pasien dari penyakit yang membatasi gerakan dan mobilitas, seperti Parkinson, seperti yang disebutkan dalam Innovation in Games: Better Health and Healthcare.

Wii Fit mendorong pemain untuk melakukan kegiatan fisik. | Sumber: Ichi Pro

Tantangan sudah pasti menjadi bagian dari game. Namun, game bisa membuat mengatasi tantangan sebagai sesuatu yang menyenangkan. Karena itu, game juga bisa digunakan untuk mengatasi kecanduan, seperti merokok atau berjudi. Salah satu contoh game yang dibuat untuk membantu pemainnya berhenti merokok adalah My Stop Smoking Coach. Dirilis pada 2008, game itu bisa dijalankan di beberapa platform, termasuk iPhone dan Nintendo DS. Escape from Diab dari Archimage Inc. jadi contoh lain dari game yang bertujuan untuk mendorong pemainnya hidup sehat. Game yang dirilis pada 2006 itu merupakan adventure game yang fokus pada pencegahan obesitas dan diabetes tipe 2.

EDUKASI

Game sering dituding sebagai penyebab mengapa murid-murid enggan untuk belajar. Lucunya, studi tentang potensi game sebagai alat pengajaran telah muncul sejak tahun 1980-an. Ketika itu, para peneliti merasa, beberapa game komersil — khususnya game dengan genre strategi, simulasi, atau RPG — telah menggunakan teori pembelajaran untuk mendorong pemain mempelajari gameplay dari game itu sendiri. Menggunakan game dalam dunia pendidikan bukan berarti semua materi dalam kurikulum dikemas dalam “game”.

Menurut Gaming in Education: Using Games as a Support Tool to Teach History, game punya beberapa peran dalam kegiatan belajar-mengajar. Pertama, game bisa digunakan untuk mendorong siswa untuk berpartisipasi. Harapannya, siswa menjadi lebih berani untuk mengaplikasikan secara langsung apa yang mereka pelajari. Kedua, game bisa membantu siswa untuk mengingat pelajaran yang mereka pelajari, khususnya poin-poin penting yang akan muncul di tes atau bagian yang bisa diaplikasikan langsung di dunia nyata. Ketiga, game dapat meningkatkan literasi komputer dan visual. Keempat, game mendorong siswa untuk berpikir kreatif dalam memecahkan masalah. Pada saat yang sama, murid tetap harus mengikuti peraturan yang telah ditetapkan dalam game. Kelima, game bisa mengajarkan berbagai soft skills, mulai dari cara berpikir kritis, berinteraksi dan berkolaborasi dengan teman, dan bahkan sportmanship.

Game bisa digunakan untuk meningkatkan soft skills para siswa. | Sumber: Spiel Times

Sementara itu, jurnal Digital Games in Education: The Design of Games-Based Learning Environments membahas tentang bagaimana game bisa memotivasi siswa dan membuat mereka fokus pada tugas yang harus mereka kerjakan.Memang, game punya elemen-elemen yang bisa membuat para pemainnya sepenuhnya fokus dalam menyelesaikan tugas dalam game. Elemen-elemen tersebut antara lain tujuan yang jelas, umpan baik — baik langsung maupun tidak langsung, serta keseimbangan antara tantangan yang diberikan dengan kemampuan pemain. Selain itu, dalam game, pemain juga punya kendali akan apa yang mreeka lakukan. Selain membuat siswa fokus, semua elemen ini juga bisa mendorong murid untuk menjadi lebih interaktif. Dan studi membuktika, tingkat interaksi siswa punya dampak positif akan prestasi mereka.

TEKNOLOGI

Controller merupakan alat input utama untuk kebanyakan konsol. Seiring dengan perubahan konsol, controller pun ikut berevolusi. Namun, hal ini tidak menghentikan perusahaan game untuk bereksperimen dan membuat alat input baru. Pada 2006, Nintendo meluncurkan Wii Remote atau Wiimote bersamaan dengan Nintendo Wii. Salah satu fitur utama dari perangkat tersebut adalah kemampuan untuk mendeteksi gerakan tangan pengguna. Pada 2009, Nintendo meluncurkan penerus dari Wii Remote, yaitu Wii MotionPlus, yang dapat mendeteksi gerakan yang lebih kompleks. Tak hanya Nintendo, Microsoft juga meluncurkan Kinect pada 2010. Dilengkapi dengan kamera RGB, proyektor infrared, dan detector, Kinect dapat mendeteksi gerakan pengguna.

Setelah itu, teknologi motion sensing pun digunakan di bidang di luar gaming. Teknologi pendeteksi gerakan bahkan bisa digunakan dalam aplikasi mobile. Dalam aplikasi mobile, biasanya ia akan memanfaatkan gyroscope pada ponsel untuk mendeteksi gerakan. Salah satu perusahaan yang tertarik untuk menggunakan teknologi sensing motion adalah Limix. Perusahaan asal Italia itu membuat wearable yang disebut Talking Hands. Perangkat itu dapat menerjemahkan bahasa isyarat menjadi suara menggunakan smartphone atau Bluetooth speaker, seperti yang disebutkan oleh HeadStuff. Keberadaan Talking Hands menunjukkan bagaimana teknologi motion sensing bisa digunakan untuk membantu tuna rungu.

Selain itu, game juga menjadi salah satu faktor pendorong perkembangan hardware. Pasalnya, game memang program yang menuntut kinerja tinggi dari komputer. Karena tuntutan gamer yang tidak pernah puas, manufaktur hardware pun mau tak mau harus memenuhi tuntutan tersebut. Kabar baiknya, hardware yang powerful tidak hanya bisa digunakan untuk bermain game, tapi juga untuk melakukan kegiatan lain yang membutuhkan daya komputasi tinggi, seperti mining cryptocurrency. Lucunya, walau telah ada GPU khusus untuk melakukan mining mata uang virtual, tidak sedikit penambang yang lebih memilih untuk menggunakan gaming GPU.

GAMIFIKASI

Sebenarnya, game — baik keseluruhan game atau hanya elemen di dalamnya — tidak hanya digunakan dalam empat industri di atas. Elemen dalam game bisa diterapkan di berbagai lingkup non-gaming. Karena itulah, muncul istilah gamifikasi. Jika Anda lebih tertarik untuk melihat bagaimana gamifikasi diaplikasikan secara nyata dalam industri non-gaming, Anda bisa membacanya di sini.

Komponen dari game yang bisa digunakan di luar lingkup game beragam, mulai dari pemberian poin, badge, penggunaan avatar, adanya leaderboard dan grafik performa, sampai keberadaan rekan satu tim serta narasi atau cerita. Jurnal How gamification motivates: An experimental study of the effects of specific game design elements on psychological need satisfaction membahas tentang bagaimana gamifikasi bisa memotivasi seseorang berdasarkan teori self-determination.

Di teori self-determination, ada tiga kebutuhan psikologis yang harus dipenuhi, yaitu kebutuhan akan kompetensi, otonomi, dan keterhubungan sosial alias social relatedness. Kebutuhan akan kompetensi akan terpenuhi ketika seseorang merasa puas karena tindakan mereka memengaruhi lingkungan mereka. Bagian dari game yang bisa digunakan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan akan kompetensi adalah pemberian poin dan badge, serta keberadaan leaderboards dan grafik performa. Dalam game, poin berfungsi sebagai feedback langsung. Jika pemain mendapatkan poin ketika dia melakukan kegiatan tertentu, dia akan termotivasi untuk terus melakukan tindakan tersebut demi menambah poinnya.

Ada banyak elemen game yang bisa digunakan di luar lingkup gaming. | Sumber: Deposit Photos

Sementara grafik performa bisa menunjukkan pencapaian seseorang dalam periode waktu tertentu. Misalnya, di aplikasi Duolingo, setiap minggu, Anda akan mendapatkan laporan berupa grafik akan berapa lama waktu yang Anda habiskan untuk belajar di aplikasi selama tujuh hari terakhir. Dari grafik itu, Anda bisa tahu apakah performa Anda menjadi lebih baik atau justru menunjukkan penurunan. Baik badge maupun leaderboards bisa digunakan sebagai penilaian atas performa seseorang secara keseluruhan. Di game, badge biasanya diberikan sebagai tanda bahwa seseorang telah mendapatkan pencapaian atau target tertentu. Dan leaderboards berfungsi untuk membandingkan performa pemain dengan pemain lainnya. Pada akhirnya, poin, badge, leaderboards, dan grafik performa bisa menjadi bukti akan kesuksesan atau kompetensi seseorang.

Kebutuhan kedua yang harus dipenuhi berdasarkan teori self-determination adalah kebutuhan akan otonomi, yang mengacu pada kebebasan dan kesediaan seseorang untuk menyelesaikan tugas tertentu. Kebutuhan akan otonomi terdiri dari dua aspek, yaitu kebebasan dalam pengambilan keputusan dan rasa puas akan menuntaskan tugas yang berarti. Penggunaan avatar bisa menjadi jalan untuk memenuhi aspek pertama. Memilih avatar — yang merupakan representasi pemain — membuat pemain merasa bahwa mereka punya kendali akan keputusan yang mereka ambil. Sementara aspek kedua bisa dipenuhi dengan narasi atau cerita. Banyak game yang menugaskan para pemain untuk mengalahkan musuh. Dan sering kali, tugas itu berulang: pergi ke desa A, kalahkan musuh X; pergi ke kota B, kalahkan musuh Y; pergi ke kerasaan C, kalahkan musuh Z. Namun, dengan narasi yang berbeda, maka pengalaman yang dirasakan pemain pun menjadi tak sama.

Kebutuhan terakhir yang harus dipenuhi dalam teori self-determination adalah keterhubungan sosial. Kebutuhan ini bisa dipenuhi ketika seseorang merasa bahwa tindakan yang mereka lakukan berdampak pada keadaan/performa grup. Karena itu, dalam game, termasuk game single-player, pemain biasanya tidak sendiri. Biasanya, pemain akan punya tim. Di game multiplayer, pemain membantu pemain lain. Sementara dalam game single-player, rekan pemain adalah NPC. Kebutuhan akan social relatedness juga bisa dipenuhi ketika sekelompok orang punya tujuan yang sama. Di sini, elemen cerita/narasi juga punya peran penting.

Kesimpulan

Saat ini, masih tetap ada asumsi bahwa game tidak lebih dari “mainan anak kecil”. Padahal, industri game lebih besar dari industri film dan musik. Selain itu, game atau inovasi yang muncul karena game ternyata juga menawarkan banyak kegunaan sehingga bisa digunakan di berbagai bidang lain. Jika ada yang berargumen bahwa game punya dampak negatif… Well, segala sesuatu yang tidak digunakan sebagaimana mestinya memang akan selalu membawa masalah. Lagipula, walaupun game hanya punya satu fungsi, yaitu sebagai media hiburan, toh game tetap terbukti punya manfaat. Buktinya, game berhasil membuat orang-orang tetap waras selama pandemi.

Sumber header: Deposit Photos

The Inevitable Decline of Digital Content Quality

Sponsorship is one of the most common sources of income for esports organizations. To attract sponsors, esports organizations usually have to maintain a growing fanbase by being active in social media, such as Youtube. Cultivating a fanbase using this traditional method can take a very long time. As a result, impatient organizations often choose to cut corners by using controversy or drama.

Unfortunately, the trend of creating exploitative content is growing and will inevitably continue to do so in the future. Let’s explore why this is the case.

The Content Creator Craze

More and more people today are becoming interested in being content creators. In fact, according to Indonesia’s 2020 Google Trends, “How to be a YouTuber” is the second most popular search in the “How to” category, while “How to become famous” was ranked fifth.

Indonesia’s Google Search trends in 2020. | Source: Google Trends

Of course, there is nothing wrong with becoming a content creator or a famous individual. After all, most Youtuber’s income is quite enormous, being able to earn millions of Rupiah per month just by uploading videos to the internet. For example, according to Kompas, Deddy Corbuzier, who is included in the list of the five most successful YouTubers in Indonesia, is estimated to have an income of around $34 thousand USD to $543.3 thousand USD (Rp.495 million-Rp7.9 billion) per month. With these kinds of numbers, who wouldn’t be attracted to a Youtuber’s income prospect?

However, as more people strive to become content creators, the level of competition in the profession will also rise. Some Youtubers might rise to the top, while some may stay irrelevant. We have seen many “OG” Youtubers hardly gain any subscribers, while several newcomers are able to become trending overnight. Therefore, it begs the question: what factors determine the probability of a content creator’s success?

According to Social Blade, the top 5 Youtubers with the largest income in Indonesia are Deddy Corbuzier, Ria Ricis, Baim Wong, Raffi Ahmad, and Atta Halilintar. Of these 5 individuals, three of them were already celebrities or considered famous before their Youtube career. However, for people who start out on Youtube from square one, they will have to work very hard to cultivate and grow a fanbase, as I have mentioned previously. Some individuals are even willing to risk their lives for the sake of creating attractive content, and this statement is not hyperbolic at all. In April 2021, a young man died after being crushed by a truck because he tried to block a passing truck. Of course, his action sounds flat-out stupid on the surface. However, he did that in the hopes of capturing a viral content that will potentially attract thousands or millions of views. A similar incident also occurred last March.

Another alternative route to fame is being an esports player. Most esports players today are getting the same idol status as professional athletes or celebrities. However, esports players or organizations will only be able to cater to the gaming audience, which is still considered relatively small. Indeed, for the past few years, the growth of esports audience does show an upward trend. By 2021, the number of esports viewers and enthusiasts in the world is estimated to reach 474 million people.

The expected growth of the esports audience. | Source: Newzoo

However, this figure is still incredibly minuscule compared to the scale of the total internet users, which reaches approximately 4.72 billion people. As a result, some esports players today can “get off track” by pursuing fame or growing a fanbase instead of maintaining their career in competitive gaming.

The Stiff Competition for Views

According to the law of supply and demand, the value of a product is determined by its availability and demand. If more people are interested in buying a particular good, then its price will subsequently increase. Conversely, if more people sell or provide a certain product, its price will decrease.

In the content creation industry, content creators are product providers or sellers. We, the audience, are the customers. To estimate the “supply” and “demand” of content on the internet, there are several benchmarks we can use. For example, the degree of supply can be measured by the number of YouTube channels, videos or digital articles. On the other hand, the number of internet users and watch duration can be a reflection of the market demand for internet content.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the data on the number of internet users around the world. According to Statista, by 2021, the internet penetration rate in the world will reach 53.7%, which suggests that the number of internet users reaches will reach 4.2 billion people. Comparing the internet penetration rate in 2020, 2021 sees a marginal increase of 1.3%. Similarly, since 2014, the internet penetration rate in the world has shown a steady upward trend. Overall, this might all sound like good news for future content creators because the number of audience or “demand” is predicted to continue to rise.

The percentage of internet users in the world. | Data source: Statista

However, if you look at the red line in the graph above, you will see that the growth of the internet penetration rate around the world has been declining since 2017. This trend suggests that the number of internet users in the world (blue line) might be plateauing soon.

Statista also finds the same trend occurring in Indonesia as well. The number of internet users in the country is expected to peak in 2019, before experiencing a drop in the next few years.

The number of internet users in Indonesia its growth rate. | Data source: Statista

Let’s now observe some YouTube-related data. As of 2020, there are 37 million YouTube channels globally, which increased by 23% in 2019, according to Social Blade. Additionally, 500 million hours worth of videos is uploaded to YouTube every minute. The following graph shows the growth in the number of YouTube channels from 2017 to 2020.

Growth in the number of YouTube channels. | Source: Social Blade, tubics

From the data and graphs above, we can observe that the growth rate of Youtube channels far exceeds that of the number of internet users. This trend can pose a significant problem for content creators on the internet. Going back to our analogy of supply and demand, what we have here is essentially a stagnating demand (number of viewers) but an increasing supply (number of Youtube channels). According to the analogy, a rising supply and a plateauing demand will result in lower product prices. In other words, videos become less valuable in the eyes of viewers, and competition will become much tighter.

The number of internet users is not the only metric that can be used to find trends in video consumption. We can also use the number of YouTube users. According to Hootsuit, YouTube has around 2 billion monthly active users. Given that you can still watch YouTube without an account, this figure might be even larger. Furthermore, adult viewers – who are at least 18 years old – spend about 41.9 minutes watching YouTube every day, which accumulates to 4.9 hours per week or 255 hours per year. In total, all YouTube users around the world consume more than 1 billion hours worth of video content every single day.

This figure does look rather massive. However, we have already established that 500 million hours of new videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute, which totals roughly 720 billion hours every day. Again, we observe another case where the supply (duration of uploaded content) far exceeds the demand (watch duration).

From all of these statistics, we can conclude that the Youtube space is incredibly competitive. This unfortunate state of Youtube frequently prompts many new content creators, including those from the esports world, to take shortcuts to fame by creating content with drama and controversy, which brings us to the question…

What Makes Controversial Content So Appealing?

Of course, everyone shares a different standard or taste when it comes to controversial content. What I consider controversial in my eyes might not be problematic for some people, and vice versa. Therefore, to maintain the consistency of the definition, I will limit the scope of controversy to topics that includes drama or obscenity.

According to Psych Central, there are several reasons why someone likes to watch content filled with controversy. Firstly, these kinds of content act as a distraction to the viewer’s personal problems. In other words, controversial content becomes some sort of escape from reality. Another reason why people like drama or controversy is simply because they often experience it in their own lives. These people usually don’t grow up with great relationships and are very used to experiencing conflicts.

Interestingly, biology also plays a role in determining your taste in controversy. Watching controversial content often triggers several emotions and hormones, such as endorphins, that can relieve stress or pain. A subsequent addiction to these hormones or chemicals can be developed through time as well.

In a study entitled “Social Transmission, Emotion, and the Virality of Online Content”, Jonah Berger and Katherine L. Milkman attempted to investigate the characteristics of viral content on the internet. Firstly, they found that emotional engagement plays an important role in developing viral content. Thus, inspiring or funny content is very likely to accumulate a high number of views. The researchers also found something rather amusing: content that triggers anger also has the potential to go viral.

Studies conducted by the University of Indiana also came to the exact same conclusion. However, the “anger” emotion referred here is not the one that relates to violence, but rather the drive to argue or debate. For example, if a content creator makes a video that says PUBG Mobile is a better esports game than Free Fire – or vice versa – the video is likely to be flooded with comments from hardcore fans of both games. However, you have to remember that Indonesian netizens are highly considered the most toxic netizen in all of Southeast Asia. Therefore, content creators who want to create controversy or spark debates should heavily prepare dealing with the toxicity or hate.

Other than today’s content creators, we often also see film studios manipulate viewers’ emotions. We can observe this by looking at the change in the villain’s perspective in Hollywood films. In the 1950s, the backbone of most films was the plain simple “us vs them”: heroes are good, villains are evil. There is a well-defined line between an antagonist and the protagonist. Today, however, viewers can sometimes sympathize with villains such as Killmonger from Black Panther or Thanos from Avengers: End Game. Although their actions are considered as nefarious, they do have an ulterior motive to make the world a better place.

Conclusion

With the amount of attention that esports has been receiving recently, more people, even the local government, started to show some degree of interest in the industry. Of course, having more people involved in the esports industry is great. However, competition can ultimately become stiff, and growing a fanbase can be a much more challenging task. Furthermore, after an esports team or athlete successfully grows a following, they will have to compete with non-esports content, such as music, documentaries, vlogs, etc.

As we have seen previously, the intense competition can potentially sway some content creators into taking shortcuts and produce controversial content by making highly bold contentious statements, involve personal drama, or even resort to obscenity.

Unfortunately, these cheap acts conducted by content creators are incredibly detrimental to the whole esports ecosystem. Various negative stigmas have been attached to the gaming and esports industry, which still hasn’t disappeared until this very day. However, we can’t really blame the content creators themselves. After all, the statistics do show that competition in the internet content space is extremely stiff and consequently pushes the idea of quality degradation for increased views or attention.

This article is translated by Ananto Joyoadikusumo. Featured image credit: WHYY

The Correlation Between Free-to-Play Games and Thriving Esports Scenes

League of Legends, Dota 2, Mobile Legends, and Free Fire are some examples of games with massively successful esports scenes. Uncoincidentally, they are also free-to-play games. Of course, this trend begs the question: why are most games with big esports ecosystems use the free-to-play model?

Esports is a clever method to generate long-term income, which does not apply in the Pay-to-Win method. Apart from the long-term business model, which we will discuss in more detail later, there are several factors that allow esports to grow rapidly in free-to-play games.

The Different Types of Video Game Monetization Models

Before discussing the correlation between free-to-play games and thriving esports scenes, let’s take a look at the various monetization models in the game industry today. Free-to-play is just one of several monetization systems used by game developers. Other models that are commonly adapted today are the pay model and subscription model.

In the pay model (sometimes referred to as single payment), players are required to pay a certain amount of money to be able to play a game. In other words, you pay for the game upfront, and the game is yours forever to play. The younger generation or today’s mobile gamers who are used to the free-to-play games may feel unfamiliar with this system. However, the pay model is actually the most common and oldest monetization methods in the gaming industry. Most AAA game developers (like Cyberpunk 2077 or GTA V, for example) and indie developers (like Stardew Valley) do use the pay model extensively.

Games using the pay model are usually not too focused on esports. Of course, there are exceptions to this trend, such as most of fighting games (Street Fighter Series, Tekken Series, and so on) or sports games (FIFA, PES, NBA 2K series, and so on). Counter-Strike: Global Offensive also initially used the pay model but then was made free-to-play in 2018.

In the subscription model, players have to pay a certain amount of money every month to play the game. This model is rarely used in Indonesia and is more commonly known by western gamers. MMORPG games, like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV Online, often use the subscription model.

The subscription fees of World of Warcraft. Source: Blizzard Official Site

World of Warcraft actually integrates different monetization models at once. For example, players must first pay a certain amount of money to get access to the latest expansion, then pay again every month to continue playing. The expansion access fees are usually more expensive (around IDR 500 thousand, similar to the price of AAA games), while the monthly subscription price is much cheaper (around IDR 150 thousand per month)

The subscription model may feel similar to the Battle Passes (like the Royale Pass on PUBG Mobile or Starlight Member on Mobile Legends) in free-to-play games. However, the key difference between the two is that Battle Passes don’t restrict you from playing the game if you don’t pay the monthly fee. On the other hand, in World of Warcraft, free-to-play players can only level up characters to level 20. Subscriptions will allow players to level up to level 50, and purchasing expansions will increase the limit to level 60.

As the subscription model continues to develop, payment of fees is no longer limited to real money. In World of Warcraft, for example, you can pay the subscription fee using the “gold” you get in-game (through crafting, hunting, or trading). Of course, players will need to collect a ton of gold to be able to pay the subscription fees on a consistent basis. Therefore, players have to either sacrifice their time in-game or real-world finances to play the game.

The most modern monetization system in the gaming industry is free-to-play. As the name suggests, players don’t have to spend any money to play the game. However, if the game is free, how can the developers generate revenue to sustain the game? Well, most free-to-play games nowadays implement various types of micro-transactions.

Weapon skins are an example of a micro-transaction used by the free-to-play game, VALORANT. Source: VALORANT In-Game Store

Micro-transactions provide the option for players to purchase cosmetics with real money. In some games, micro-transaction items are usually just add-ons and do not provide any unfair advantage to the gameplay. Examples of these items are character skins in MOBA games or weapon skins in FPS games. However, some in-game micro-transactions will allow the player to get stronger or reach higher levels faster. Purchasing the double XP item in RPG games is one example. Free-to-play games that include the option to afford items with unfair advantages are called Pay-to-Win.

The micro-transaction is not only used by free-to-play games. World of Warcraft and Street Fighter V also such in-game purchases to complement their gameplay experience.

In addition to the micro-transaction method, free-to-play games are now starting to explore new monetization methods to add to their source of income, one of them being esports.

Why Are Successful Esports Games Mostly Free-to-Play?

“If you don’t pay for a product, you are the product.”

A slightly different version of this quote was mentioned when the television was first booming in the public. Today, this expression became widely used, especially in the era of over-attachments to social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. So, what does esports have to do with this particular quote?

As you may have already guessed, most game publishers and developers in the esports world are trying to turn average players into esports enthusiasts. The esports audience will then be used as a “product” that can be sold to investors or sponsors. This statement may sound somewhat cynical on the surface. However, from the player’s perspective, we actually do not have to experience the “exploitative” nature of other monetization methods.

If you have read Ellavie’s article that discusses the different game industries of Japan, China, and South Korea, you may remember that the free-to-play model is actually a fairly old concept in the gaming industry. Nexon, a South Korean game publisher and developer, was the first to release a free-to-play game called QuizQuiz in 1999.

However, before today’s esports boom, monetizing free-to-play games can hinder the player’s in-game experience and, sometimes, make it severely irritating.

If you’ve been a gamer since the age of internet cafes, you might remember the infamous RF Online. If you play RF Online, you will eventually come across the Premium Service: a service you can activate by buying a voucher (with real money). Premium Service will give you the convenience of greater XP gains and more loot monsters.

RF Online, an RPG game that was popular in its time

Back then, this was one of the most common forms of monetization for free-to-play games. Indeed, RF Online can be played without needing to spend a single penny. However, your XP gain will be extremely slow, and getting good equipment is extremely difficult because your loot quality is underwhelming. Furthermore, the main attraction of RF online is its PVP element, which requires you to accumulate the highest possible level and obtain the best equipment to be able to compete with other players

Can players have super strong characters without Premium Service? Yes. However, you will need to spend more time and effort grinding the game rather than someone who simply used the Premium Service. These types of monetization systems place more priority on paid players and somewhat neglects free players, which is why I refer to them as being “exploitative”.

There is some debate about the fairness and ethics behind these systems. Fair or unfair, ethical or unethical, it is up to you to decide. In the end, RF Online is, surprisingly, still alive until this very day. Players who are still loyal to the game continue to buy the Premium Service and do not seem to have any problem with the monetization model. Back when I was in junior high school, I also played RF Online and even bought the Premium Service.

However, we can all agree that this system of income is incredibly limiting and somewhat risky for the game developers. What happens if all of the players suddenly stop buying the Premium Service?. Even worse, what if everyone stopped playing the game because they felt exploited by the Premium Service system?

Another system that is similar to RF Online’s Premium Service is the “speed up” feature in Clash of Clans (CoC). Although the two systems may look different, they inherently have the same principle: speed up the progression (character strength/troop creation/level up) for players who have in-game purchases.

During the height of its popularity, CoC had amassed tremendous income with this monetization model. According to statista, Clash of Clans had earned an income of $ 1.8 trillion USD in 2015. Unfortunately for Supercell, this figure continues to decline every year, reaching a low of $ 722 million USD in 2019.

The data is an illustration – if not evidence – of how this monetization system is not a sustainable income strategy. As I mentioned before, the system heavily depends on the player’s desire to speed up progress and buy micro-transactions. Once the game’s hype dies down, players will eventually stop playing, and the income source consequently disappears. We also briefly discussed the “pay-to-win” issue in free-to-play games if you want to know more about why monetization in this approach has its own problems.

Developers have used many ways of incentivizing players to keep staying in the system. They might use “subtle” methods, as seen in the Vox video below. If this method fails, they might use the “frontal” method, which is essentially slowing down the free players’ progress.

On the other hand, the presence of esports has indirectly opened up new business opportunities for game developers and can even extend the lifespan of their games. One of the reasons why this can happen is that esports games are usually very accessible.

As you have seen from the title, most games with successful esports scenes are free. Because the game is free-to-play, players can access the game as long as they meet the minimum specification required to run the game (which is usually much lower than paid premium games).

We can take VALORANT, released in 2020, as an example. VALORANT can be run with only an Intel HD GPU, which is built into the processor. FIFA 21, on the other hand, is a paid game that also requires an external GPU (adding to the total cost of the game) in the form of a GeForce GTX 660 and a Radeon HD 7850.

The two games have their respective esports scene. But which of the two are more popular? As you have probably guessed, it is VALORANT. Games with easy access (free-to-play and low hardware specification requirements) have more potential in attracting new players rather than games with difficult access (paid and high hardware specification requirements). As a result, VALORANT was able to accumulate up to 478 thousand viewers on Twitch, while FIFA 21 merely reached 82 thousand viewers, according to twitchtracker.com.

There are several steps in the monetization process of free-to-play games. Low specs and free games first attract new players (with little to no effort). These players slowly become viewers or enthusiasts through watching streamers or tips and tricks contents. Tournaments and leagues can then be presented to these viewers and commercialize them in the form of sponsorships, media licenses, or other investments from external parties.

Let us take Riot Games’ League of Legends as an illustration. If you frequently follow Hybrid’s news, you can see the abundance of deals Riot got in 2020 alone. Riot collaborated with many popular brands in various fields ranging from fashion such as Louis Vuitton, AAPE, tech companies like Cisco, to music brands such as Universal Studios and Spotify. These brands are willing to make a deal with Riot because it has the capability to ammas an audience of 44 million people during the 2019 LoL World Championship. Therefore, it is not surprising that Riot Games decided to make esports one of the pillars of their business rather than just a marketing tool.

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Riot Games’ achievements are living proof that esports is a more sustainable and profitable monetization method for free-to-play game publishers.

Dota 2 can also be another example of a game that thrives from the presence of esports. Valve sells a Battle Pass (containing various skin and cosmetics) on a yearly basis and uses 25% of the sales to increase the prize pool of The International (TI). Valve raised US$40 million from The International Battle Pass last year. Keep in mind that this is only 25%. The remaining 75% of the Battle Pass sales are going directly to Valve’s pocket. You can imagine how much Valve is profiting from the esports monetization model alone.

Making games that are free-to-play, especially when it is integrated with a healthy esports ecosystem, has been proven to be an effective business model. Esports also provides a lot of commercialization potential by building the interest of external parties to invest in the game. It can also incentivize players to buy in-game content, like Dota 2’s Battle Pass, that will support their favorite team and the overall esports ecosystem.

Why Are Other Monetization Systems Less Successful In Building Esports Ecosystems?

I have previously discussed the factors behind the success of competitive esports games. If you have read that article, you will also find the ease of access to the particular game is key to its esports growth.

The price of the game and minimum spec requirements are the two elements that affect the accessibility of a game. In the end, the number of players in a game will always be determined by how high the entry barrier is set by the game developer/publisher. The lower the price and the device specifications, the greater the market potential the game can amass. Referring back to the VALORANT vs. FIFA 21 argument, VALORANT is superior in terms of player numbers since the game is free, while FIFA 21 costs IDR 849,000. VALORANT can also run without an external GPU, while FIFA 21 requires the use of an external GPU.

FIFA 21 also has esports tournaments, but its growth has been severely limited due to the less affordable prices of the game and the requirement of higher PC specs than free-to-play games.

With regards to the different approaches of game developers I mentioned earlier, we can take Nintendo as a case study. The Smash Bros community frequently complained to Nintendo due to the lack of financial support they receive in Smash tournaments. On one occasion, Nintendo even expresses its unwillingness to invest in esports.

Despite Super Smash Bros having a massive following of loyal fans, Nintendo still does not want to capitalize on the esports income strategy. This notion is especially true for developers who already had success using the pay model. After all, if Nintendo already generated significant revenue from the sales of Super Smash Bros alone, why would it bother to risk investing in an esports scene?

Shuntaro Furukawa, Nintendo’s president who previously expresses his standpoint about the Super Smash Bros esports scene. Source: Time

On the other hand, developers releasing free-to-play games (which obviously cannot rely on game sales) will need an alternative source of income. Selling skins can be one way of generating revenue, but it will most likely not cover the operating cost of the game. Developers can also use the aforementioned “exploitative” monetization methods. For example, Riot Games can make a champion unlockable on a certain level, which indirectly forces players to pay to level up faster. However, these types of monetization model has been shown to not be sustainable in the long-term.

Indeed, cultivating an esports ecosystem requires significant investment and is not always guaranteed to be profitable. However, when proper and careful steps are taken, we have seen how many developers thrive solely from their esports scenes. As Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent once said, “We no longer see esports as just marketing, but as a business.” Nicolo also added, “we want to make sure everybody has something to win.” From Nicolo’s statements, it is clear how esports has a wider economic impact compared to micro-transactions or the pay-to-win model.

Conclusion

From this discussion, we have explored why free-to-play games, when integrated with esports, can bring many income benefits for the game developers. Esports also have the potential to build players’ loyalty, extend the lifespan of a game, and bring commercialization interests from external parties

So, should all free-to-play games have an esports scene? Well, not exactly. After all, the game’s direction is solely dependent on the developer’s goals and focus. For example, Clash of Clans still managed to persist until today (although its popularity is declining) without the esports monetization model. Riot Games, a developer famous for its thriving esports scene, still prioritizes making high-quality games rather than focusing on esports.

I very much agree with Riot’s philosophy here. After all, esports is the product of a game. A high-quality, creative, and well-balanced game will naturally produce a competitive esports scene. Thus, developers should put more effort in perfecting their game and player experience, then an expansion to the esports scene will automatically follow.

The original article is written by Akbar Priono

Jual-Beli Nama Tim Esports: Dampak Pada Sponsor dan Tim

Beberapa tahun belakangan, semakin banyak merek non-endemik yang memutuskan untuk mendukung pelaku esports, termasuk organisasi esports. Ketika sebuah perusahaan menjadi sponsor dari tim esports, salah satu hal yang bisa mereka dapatkan adalah pemasangan logo atau nama perusahaan di jersey pemain, sama seperti yang dilakukan perusahaan ketika mereka mensponsori tim olahraga konvensional. Sayangnya, siaran pertandingan esports jauh berbeda dari kompetisi olahraga.

Saat Anda menonton siaran pertandingan olahraga, Anda akan sering melihat para atlet. Namun, sebagian besar pertandingan esports justru menunjukkan jalannya pertandingan dalam game. Jadi, para pemain justru jarang disorot. Alhasil, nama sponsor yang terpasang pada jersey pemain menjadi kurang terekspos. Karena itu, ada beberapa perusahaan yang memilih untuk menjadi naming sponsor. Dengan begitu, nama perusahaan atau brand mereka akan dipadankan langsung dengan nama tim.

**Kontrak Naming Rights dan Organisasi Esports yang Telah Melakukannya**

Pada 2020, pemasukan industri esports diperkirakan hampir mencapai US$1 miliar. Sponsorship dan hak siar media memberikan kontribusi hampir 75% dari total pemasukan tersebut. Sementara itu, bagi organisasi esports, sponsorship justru memberikan kontribusi yang lebih besar lagi pada keuangan mereka. Menurut Gaming Street, sekitar 90% dari total pemasukan organisasi esports berasal dari sponsorship.

Tentu saja, ketika perusahaan menjadi sponsor esports, mereka punya tujuan yang ingin mereka capai. Berdasarkan studi Sponsorship in Esports, kebanyakan perusahaan yang menjadi sponsor esports biasanya punya tujuan jangka panjang, yaitu ingin membangun reputasi mereka, khususnya di kalangan fans esports. Para sponsor esports biasanya tidak berusaha untuk mencari Return of Investments (ROI) dalam jangka pendek, seperti peningkatan penjualan.

Memang, menjadi sponsor esports akan membantu perusahaan untuk memenangkan hati para generasi milenials dan Gen Z, yang merupakan demografi penonton esports. Menurut studi Sponsoring Esports to Improve Brand Image, ketika perusahaan menjadi sponsor esports, maka satu per tiga fans esports akan menjadi lebih menyukai brand mereka. Dengan asumsi jumlah audiens esports mencapai 474 juta orang pada 2021, maka sebuah brand akan bisa menjangkau sekitar 158 juta orang ketika mereka menjadi sponsor esports.

Pertumbuhan jumlah penonton esports. | Sumber: Newzoo

Secara garis besar, ada empat jenis sponsorship, yaitu media sponsor, promotional sponsor, in-kind sponsor, dan sponsor finansial. Media sponsor bertugas untuk mengiklankan sebuah acara, baik di media televisi, koran, ataupun channel digital, seperti situs dan blog. Sementara itu, promotional sponsor memiliki tugas yang sama dengan media sponsor. Hanya saja, jika media sponsor biasanya diisi oleh perusahaan media, promotional sponsor biasanya merupakan individu.

In-kind sponsor merupakan sponsor yang memberikan bantuan berupa jasa atau produk yang mereka buat. Misalnya, jika merek minuman menjadi sponsor dari turnamen esports, maka mereka akan menyediakan minuman mereka bagi pemain dan penonton esports yang hadir. Terakhir, sponsor finansial. Dibandingkan dengan tiga jenis sponsorship lainnya, sponsor finansial adalah yang paling sering dibahas. Sesuai namanya, sponsor finansial akan memberikan bantuan berupa uang pada turnamen, event, atau tim yang mereka sponsori.

Salah satu hal yang bisa ditawarkan oleh tim esports pada sponsor mereka adalah memasang logo atau nama sponsor di jersey pemain. Hanya saja, wajah pemain profesional tak terlalu sering disorot kamera, berbeda dengan atlet olahraga konvensional. Karena itu, beberapa perusahaan lebih memilih untuk menjadi naming sponsor. Dengan begitu, nama perusahaan atau brand akan disandingkan dengan nama tim esports. Sejauh ini, ada beberapa organisasi esports yang telah menandatangani kontrak naming rights dengan brand, baik brand endemik maupun non-endemik.

Kia Motor jadi naming sponsor dari DAMWON Gaming. | Sumber: Esports Insider

Salah satu organisasi esports yang punya naming sponsor adalah DAMWON Gaming, organisasi esports asal Korea Selatan yang memenangkan League of Legends World Championship pada 2020. Pada Desember 2020, DAMWON mengumumkan bahwa Kia Motor akan menjadi naming sponsor mereka mulai 2021. Nama mereka pun berubah menjadi DWG KIA. Selain itu, mereka juga memperkenalkan logo dan seragam baru untuk pemain League of Legends mereka. Hyugho Kwon, Head of Korea Business Division, Kia Motors menjelaskan, alasan Kia Motors mendukung DAMWON Gaming adalah karena mereka ingin “merevitalisasi” ekosistem esports global. Tak hanya itu, mereka juga ingin mempromosikan merek Kia pada fans esports di seluruh dunia.

Organisasi esports lain yang baru saja menandatangani kontrak naming rights adalah JDG Gaming. Organisasi itu merupakan bagian dari divisi esports milik Jing Dong, perusahaan e-commerce asal Tiongkok. Perusahaan yang menjadi naming sponsor JD Gaming adalah Intel. Melalui sponsorship ini, nama JDG Gaming diubah menjadi JDG Intel Esports Club. Kontrak naming rights ini berlangsung selama dua tahun. Sayangnya, tidak diketahui berapa nilai kontrak naming rights ini.

Team SoloMid (TSM) juga baru saja menandatangani kontrak naming rights pada awal Juni 2021. Perusahaan yang menjadi naming sponsor dari TSM adalah bursa cryptocurrency asal Hong Kong, Future Exchange (FTX). Kontrak naming rights antara TSM dan FTX berlangsung selama 10 tahun dan bernilai US$210 juta. Setelah menandatangani kontrak itu, TSM akan dikenal dengan nama TSM FTX. Tujuan FTX menjadi naming sponsor untuk TSM adalah karena mereka ingin membuat masyarakat Amerika Serikat mengenal brand mereka.

Setelah Genflix menjadi naming sponsor, nama Aerowolf pun berubah. | Sumber: Twitter

Di Indonesia, juga ada tim esports yang pernah menandatangani kontrak naming rights, yaitu Aerowolf. Pada Mei 2019, Aerowolf mengumumkan bahwa Genflix, platform streaming video lokal, resmi menjadi naming sponsor mereka. Alhasil, mereka mengubah nama mereka dari Aerowolf Roxy menjadi Genflix Aerowolf. Sama seperti FTX, tujuan Genflix menggandeng Aerowolf adalah untuk meningkatkan brand awareness. Hanya saja, Genflix menyasar generasi muda, yang memang merupakan demografi penonton esports.

Untung-Rugi dari Kontrak Naming Rights

Setiap perusahaan pasti ingin punya brand yang kuat dan positif. Alasannya, di tengah ketatnya persaingan, reputasi brand yang positif bisa membuat perusahaan lebih unggul dari persaingannya. Ketika sebuah brand punya reputasi yang baik di mata konsumen, kemungkinan besar produk dari brand tersebut dibeli akan menjadi lebih tinggi. Sponsorship menjadi salah satu cara perusahaan untuk membangun reputasi brand mereka. Menjadi sponsor dari kegiatan atau tim olahraga merupakan salah satu cara terbaik bagi perusahaan untuk membangun brand yang positif, menurut Winnan. Sekarang, perusahaan-perusahaan juga mulai menunjukkan ketertarikan untuk menjadi sponsor dari pelaku esports. Apalagi, ketika perusahaan menargetkan generasi milenial dan Gen Z.

Bagi perusahaan, salah satu keuntungan dari menjadi naming sponsor dari tim esports adalah meningkatkan brand awareness. Saat perusahaan menjadi naming sponsor dari tim esports, brand mereka akan disandingkan dengan nama tim. Dalam siaran kompetisi esports, para pemain memang jarang disorot kamera, membuat logo dan nama pada jersey pemain menjadi kurang terlihat. Namun, lain halnya dengan nama tim. Nama tim esports pasti akan selalu disebut dalam siaran kompetisi esports. Tak hanya itu, selama pertandingan, nama tim juga biasanya ditampilkan pada layar. Jadi, dengan menjadi naming sponsor dari tim esports, perusahaan bisa meningkatkan eksposur konsumen — khususnya penonton esports — akan brand mereka.

Keuntungan lain yang bisa didapatkan oleh perusahaan ketika mereka menjadi naming sponsor dari tim esports adalah kesetiaan para fans. Dalam buku berjudul The eSports Market and eSports Sponsoring, penulis Julian Heinz Anton Stroh, menyebutkan bahwa kebanyakan fans esports sadar, perusahaan yang menjadi sponsor dari tim kesayangan mereka punya tujuan komersil, seperti meningkatkan penjualan. Namun, para fans juga sadar, industri esports membutuhkan para sponsor untuk bisa bertahan. Jadi, komunitas esports biasanya tidak membenci perusahaan yang menjadi sponsor. Sebaliknya, mereka biasanya justru mengapresiasi para sponsor.

Fans esports punya antusiasme yang tinggi. | Sumber: ESTNN

Sejumlah studi juga menunjukkan, para fans tidak keberatan jika merek non-endemik yang tidak ada sangkut pautnya dengan game atau esports turut mendukung skena competitive gaming. Studi oleh Stroh menunjukkan, 70% dari fans esports berharap, akan ada semakin banyak merek non-endemik yang ikut mendukung esports. Walau memang, mereka lebih menyukai merek endemik.

Menjadi sponsor esports memang bisa membuat reputasi perusahaan menjadi lebih positif di mata fans. Hanya saja, ada beberapa faktor lain yang juga memengaruhi citra sebuah perusahaan, seperti metode activation yang digunakan oleh sponsor, target audiens, dan produk yang ditawarkan oleh perusahaan. Dan tak bisa dipungkiri, komunitas esports memiliki antusiasme yang tinggi. Jika sebuah brand sukses memenangkan hati mereka, maka mereka akan secara aktif memuju brand di media sosial. Word-of-mouth dari para fans bisa membuat memperkuat reputasi brand di kalangan penonton esports. Sayangnya, antusiasme fans esports ini layaknya pedang bermata dua. Jika pesan yang perusahaan coba sampaikan melalui sponsorship tidak tersampaikan, para fans justru bisa menyebarkan pesat negatif akan brand. Hal ini juga berlaku dalam kontrak naming rights.

Ketika perusahaan menandatangani kontrak naming rights dengan tim esports, brand mereka akan disandingkan dengan nama tim. Jadi, brand dan tim esports yang bekerja sama akan saling diasosiasikan dengan satu sama lain. Hal ini bisa menimbulkan masalah ketika salah satu pihak — baik perusahaan maupun tim esports — terkena skandal. Misalnya, jika sebuat tim esports terbukti pernah bermain curang, maka, tak hanya reputasi tim esports saja yang akan rusak, tapi juga brand yang menjadi sponsor. Begitu juga dengan sebaliknya. Jika sponsor terkena skandal, tak tertutup kemungkinan, tim esports yang bekerja sama dengan perusahaan juga mendapatkan cap negatif dari masyarakat.

Tujuan utama perusahaan menjadi naming sponsor dari tim esports adalah untuk membuat fans mengasosiasikan merek mereka dengan tim. Hanya saja, kontrak naming rights terkadang tidak berlangsung lama. Dan jika nama tim terus berganti, fans justru bisa menjadi tak peduli pada naming sponsor. Kemungkinan lain yang mungkin terjadi adalah fans akan mengingat sponsor lama dari tim karena sudah terbiasa.

Hal ini pernah terjadi pada Candlestick Park, stadion yang menjdi markas dari San Francisco 49ers dan San Francisco Giants, menurut laporan Chron. Stadion itu dikenal dengan nama Candlestick Park sejak 1960. Pada 1995-2002, nama stadion itu berubah menjadi 3Com park. Nama stadion kembali berubah pada 2004-2008, menjadi Monster Park. Namun, pada akhirnya, nama yang diingat oleh fans adalah Candlestick Park. Hal ini menunjukkan, jika kontrak naming rights hanya berlangsung sebentar, ada kemungkinan fans tidak akan mengasosiasikan tim dengan merek sang sponsor. Meskipun begitu, jika kontrak naming rights berlangsung lama — seperti yang terjadi antara TSM dan FTX — hal ini juga bisa merugikan kedua belah pihak.

Team SoloMid baru saja menandatangani kontrak dengan FTX. | Sumber: Dot Esports

Keputusan tim esports untuk menjual naming rights pada sponsor bisa dibandingkan dengan keputusan startup untuk menerima tawaran akuisisi dari perusahaan yang lebih besar. Baik kontrak naming rights maupun akuisisi punya potensi untuk kedua belah pihak untung atau buntung. Akuisisi yang menguntungkan bagi perusahaan adalah ketika startup/perusahaan yang diakuisisi bisa memberikan kontribusi pemasukan yang lebih besar dari nilai belinya. Contohnya adalah akuisisi Instagram oleh Facebook. Pada 2012, Facebook membeli Instagram — yang hanya memiliki 13 karyawan — senilai US$1 miliar. Sekarang, Instagram memiliki lebih dari 1 miliar pengguna dan memberikan kontribusi sebesar US$20 miliar pada pemasukan Facebook setiap tahunnya.

Namun, tidak semua startup/perusahaan akan menerima tawaran akuisisi atau merger dari perusahaan yang lebih besar. Biasanya, alasan perusahaan menolak tawaran itu adalah karena mereka percaya, mereka akan bisa tumbuh besar tanpa bantuan dari perusahaan yang ingin mengakuisisi. Atau, mereka percaya, nilai perusahaan mereka di masa depan akan menjadi lebih besar dari nilai tawar saat ini. Contoh perusahaan yang menolak akuisisi perusahaan besar adalah Discord. Microsoft sempat menawarkan US$12 miliar untuk mengambil alih Discord sepenuhnya. Namun, pihak Discord menolak dan memilih untuk fokus melakukan IPO di masa depan, menurut laporan Bloomberg.

Hal yang sama juga bisa terjadi pada kontrak naming rights. Mari kita ambil kontrak naming rights antara TSM dan FTX sebagai contoh. Kontrak yang berlangsung selama 10 tahun itu bernilai US$210 juta. Hal itu berarti, saat ini, nilai merek TSM memang hanyalah US$210 juta. Namun, ke depan, ada kemungkinan TSM akan menjadi organisasi esports yang lebih besar dan dikenal oleh lebih banyak orang, yang berarti, nilai brand mereka bisa naik. Sebaliknya, dalam 10 tahun, tidak tertutup kemungkinan, performa TSM justru menurun, yang menyebabkan nilai atas nama organisasi juga merosot. Dalam kasus ini, maka FTX yang akan dirugikan karena mereka sudah terlanjur membayar ratusan juta di awal kontrak.

**Kontrak Naming Rights di Olahraga Konvensional**

Tak hanya di esports, kontrak naming rights juga lumrah terjadi di dunia olahraga konvensional. Misalnya, beberapa tim basket di Indonesia telah menjual naming rights pada sponsor. Salah satu tim basket Indonesia yang punya naming sponsor adalah Satria Muda. Sejak didirikan pada 1993, tim Satria Muda telah menandatangani kontrak naming rights beberapa sponsor. Pada 1997, merek AdeS dari The Coca-Cola Company menjadi sponsor utama dari tim basket asal Jakarta tersebut. Alhasl, nama tim pun berubah menjadi AdeS Satria Muda. Satu tahun kemudian, pada 1998, nama tim kembali berubah, menjadi Mahaka Satria Muda. Alasannya, karena sponsor utama tim berubah menjadi PT Abdi Bangsa Tbk milik Erick Tohir.

Tak berhenti sampai di situ, pada 2004, BRI melalui BritAma mensponsori tim Satria Muda. Ketika itu, nama tim pun menjadi Satria Muda BritAma. Tak hanya itu, markas Satria Muda juga dinamai The BritAma Arena. Namun, pada 2015, sponsor utama Satria Muda kembali berganti, menjadi Pertamina. Seiring dengan perubahan itu, nama tim basket tersebut pun berubah menjadi Satria Muda Pertamina. Tim basket nasional lain yang juga punya naming sponsor adalah Amartha HangTuah. Ketika didirikan pada 2003, tim basket itu hanya menggunakan nama HangTuah. Mereka mengganti nama menjadi HangTah Sumsel Indonesia Muda pada 2008. Nama tersebut digunakan hingga 2019, ketika Amartha memutuskan untuk menjadi naming sponsor dari HangTuah. Setelah itu, tim basket tersebut pun dikenal dengan nama Amartha HangTuah.

Saat Amartha jadi naming sponsor HangTuah. | Sumber: Kompas

Tentu saja, tidak semua tim olahraga bersedia menjual naming rights dari tim mereka. Klub sepak bola Eropa misalnya, mereka biasanya hanya menjual naming rights dari stadion yang menjadi markas mereka, tapi tidak naming rights atas klub itu sendiri. Contohnya, maskapai asal Uni Emirat Arab, Emirates, membeli naming rights atas stadion markas Arsenal pada 2004. Diperkirakan, kontrak yang berlangsung selama 15 tahun itu bernilai £100 juta. Selain hak atas nama stadion, Emirates juga mendapatkan placement logo di jersey pemain Arsenal sejak musim 2006-2007. Tahun lalu, Barcelona juga baru menjual naming rights atas markas mereka, Camp Nou. Hanya saja, dana yang Barcelona dapatkan dari penjualan naming rights atas Camp Nou tidak masuk kantong mereka sendiri, tapi akan diberikan untuk kegiatan amal terkait COVID-19.

Sementara itu, alasan mengapa klub sepak bola ternama tidak menjual naming rights atas klub mereka adalah karena nama mereka sudah dikenal banyak orang. Berbeda dengan tim esports yang masih relatif muda, klub-klub sepak bola Eropa sudah berumur lebih dari 100 tahun. Empat klub besar di Inggris didirikan sebelum tahun 1900: Arsenal pada 1886, Liverpool pada 1892, Manchester City pada 1880, dan Manchester United pada 1878. Jadi, kecil kemungkinan mereka akan rela mengganti nama hanyay demi mendapatkan sponsor. Sekalipun ada tim sepak bola yang mau menjual naming rights mereka, belum tentu ada perusahaan yang rela membelinya karena harganya yang pasti mahal. Selain itu, jika sponsor hanya ingin meningkatkan brand awareness, mereka bisa mendapatkannya dengan menjadi sponsor biasa dari tim sepak bola. Toh, penempatan logo atau nama pada jersey pemain bola sudah dapat memberikan eksposur.

Kontrak naming rights tidak hanya terbatas pada tim olahraga atau organisasi esports. Ada juga perusahaan yang bersedia menjadi naming sponsor dari pertandingan olahraga atau kompetisi esports. Contohnya, liga sepak bola nasional Thailand dikenal dengan nama Toyota League Cup karena perusahaan Jepang itu memang menjadi sponsor utama dari liga tersebut. Sementara di esports, salah satu perusahaan yang membeli naming rights atas turnamen adalah Intel, yang memunculkan Intel Extreme Masters dan Intel Grand Slam. Di Indonesia, JD.id merupakan contoh perusahaan yang menandantangai kontrak naming rights dengan turnamen esports, yaitu High School League, yang diadakan oleh Yamisok. Tujuan JD.id menjadi sponsor dari HSL adalah untuk meningkatkan brand awareness di kalangan pemain dan penonton esports SMA.

Penutup

Ketika Anda pergi ke supermarket, ada berapa banyak merek sabun yang Anda lihat? Ketika dua perusahaan menawarkan produk yang sama dengan kualitas dan harga yang mirip, bagaimana Anda akan memilih produk yang akan Anda beli? Di tengah ketatnya persaingan di pasar, salah satu cara bagi perusahaan untuk unggul dari pesaingnya adalah dengan membangun reputasi merek yang baik. Salah satu cara yang bisa perusahaan lakukan untuk membangun reputasi brand adalah dengan menjadi sponsor di bidang olahraga, termasuk esports.

Memasang logo atau nama perusahaan pada jersey pemain merupakan salah satu bentuk sponsorship paling standar. Namun, bagi perusahaan yang ingin mengekspos brand-nya lebih jauh, mereka bisa memilih untuk menjadi naming sponsor dari organisasi esports. Dengan begitu, fans akan mengasosiasikan nama brand dengan tim kesayangan mereka. Hanya saja, jika tidak hati-hati dalam memilih tim esports yang dijadikan sebagai rekan, perusahaan justru bisa terkena masalah.

The Success Story of Moonton and Mobile Legends in Indonesia

The recent acquisition of Moonton by Bytedance sparks the question about the company’s future and the fate of MLBB’s esports ecosystem. In this article, Aswin Atonie, Brand Manager of Moonton Indonesia, also shared his insights about the direction of the company’s development. Before all of that, however, let’s take a step back into the past and observe the path that Moonton took to reach its success.

Moonton’s Arduous Path in Raising Its Golden Child, Mobile Legends: Bang-Bang

According to Moonton Games’ official LinkedIn page, Shanghai Moonton Co., Ltd was founded in 2014 as a software company and, eventually, shifted its focus into game development. Moonton’s first game was called Magic Rush: Heroes, which has the generic gameplay collecting heroes through gacha.

A year after the release of Magic Rush: Heroes, Moonton released a new game we all know today as Mobile Legends. Back in 2016, the game was released under the name Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA, which got renamed to Mobile Legends: Bang Bang soon after.

Competitive mobile games (especially the MOBA genre) are still relatively new and underdeveloped in 2016, prompting many game developers to take the early opportunity to jump into the genre. For example, other than Mobile Legends, Vainglory was released by a new developer called Super Evil Megacorp. Gameloft, a well-established game development company, also created its own version of mobile MOBA called Heroes of Order and Chaos.

Unfortunately, Moonton’s journey in developing Mobile Legends had a rough start, facing a number of controversies in the early years.

In the early versions of Mobile Legends, the game was argued to appear unoriginal and copied ideas from other franchises. For example, back then, Alucard very much looked like Dante from the Devil May Cry series. Akai also appeared as a panda wearing pants and carrying an iron ball, which has a slight resemblance to Po from the Kung Fu Panda movie. Franco also arguably a direct copy of Pudge from Dota 2.

Interestingly, there were no complaints or lawsuits coming from the organizations that owned Dota 2, Kung Fu Panda, or Devil May Cry. However, one particular game developer, Riot Games, does have something to say about Moonton’s growing franchise.

Riot Games launched a lawsuit against Moonton in the central court of California, United States, on June 7, 2017. At that time, Riot Games accused Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA and Magic Rush of copying or mimicking League of Legends. In its court documents, Riot provided several screenshots that shows the similarity of the content between League of Legends and Moonton’s games. Here are some examples of the accused plagiarism, taken directly from the official court documents,

Some snippets of plagiarism allegations in Riot Games’ legal prosecution documents against Moonton in 2017. Apart from Mobile Legends, Riot Games also considers Magic Rush: Heroes to have copied League of Legends. Source: Dot Esports

Another excerpt from Riot Games’ prosecution documents towards Moonton. This time, Riot Games provides a comparison between LoL’s content and Mobile Legends’ content. Source: Dot Esports

According to the Dot Esports article published in 2018, Riot Games’ lawsuit ended in a forum non-conveniens. In these circumstances, the case is dismissed because the California court considers that another area of jurisdiction will be better suited to deal with the action. Since Moonton is based in China, the lawsuit will be adjudicated in the high court of China.

After Riot’s allegations, Moonton faced yet another lawsuit in 2018, which was filed by Tencent against Xu Zhenhua, one of Moonton’s representatives.

Dot Esports claimed that Xu Zhenhua was sued because he was deemed to have violated the non-disclosure (prohibition of submitting confidential information) and non-compete agreement (prohibition of moving to a rival company in the same field). The lawsuit initially ended with Xu Zhenhua being fined 2.6 million Yuan (approximately Rp. 5.5 billion). However, further speculation by Dot Esports’ internal source suggests that the fine got raised to about 19.4 million Yuan (approximately Rp. 42 billion).

Despite all the hard-fought trials and tribulations that Moonton went through to develop MLBB, it eventually rose over its problems and grew to the giant franchise we know of today. However, before discussing the reasons behind MLBB’s success, let’s take a look at the fate of Moonton’s other games.

Other Moonton Games That Did Not Have the Same Degree of Success as MLBB

As I mentioned earlier, Moonton has released other titles in the past. Besides Magic Rush: Heroes, Moonton created Mobile Legends: Adventure and Sweet Crossing: Snake.io.

Mobile Legends: Adventure can be considered to be more of a casual game. Similar to Magic Rush, the gameplay of ML: Adventure is an automated turn-based RPG and also applies the concept of gacha with hero collections. Sweet Crossing: Snake.io is also a game suited for casuals. It has very similar gameplay to Snake.io, which was popular among local streamers, but filled with cute animal characters.

However, these games never reached the same degree of popularity as Mobile Legends, perhaps due to the absence of an esports ecosystem. According to Google Play, Sweet Crossing, ML: Adventure, and Magic Rush, only had around 10 million installs at the time of writing this article. On the other hand, MLBB surpasses all of them by a mile, already reaching more than 100 million installs.

Sweet Crossing, one of the games made by Moonton that is very different from the previous games released by the company. Image Source – Google Play Store

The total downloads per month of the three games are actually quite decent. Using data from Sensor Tower, Sweet Crossing recorded a total of 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store worldwide in February 2021, while Mobile Legends: Adventure and Magic Rush: Heroes accumulated 400 thousand downloads and 20 thousand downloads, respectively. However, these figures are relatively insignificant when compared to MLBB, which has over 5 million worldwide downloads on the Google Play Store in February 2021.

MLBB is arguably already ingrained in the current Indonesian culture. Every day, there is always some news that is somewhat related to MLBB. These news include information about the game, such as new hero releases, Starlight, or the latest skins, to esports content, rumors, and gossip. Furthermore, a great deal of MLBB news is not released by Moonton itself, but rather by local content creators, media, pro players, and Moonton partners.

All the other three games released by Moonton do have some degree of success. After all, reaching 10 million downloads on Google Play Store is not at all an easy feat. However, MLBB is simply on another incomparable level when it comes to success, and the three games will never be able to compete with MLBB despite having decent social media followers. Why is this exactly?

In my opinion, esports is one of the biggest factors that come into play in this matter. Esports makes the discussion of the MLBB ecosystem much more interesting. Without esports, Mobile Legends’ news will only be filled with patch updates, hero releases, tips and tricks, skins, or Starlight membership.

But with the presence of esports, the Mobile Legends game has various engaging topics of discussion, ranging from rumors or gossip, pro player’s opinions (team rivalries, in-game meta), post-match interviews, and so on.

Furthermore, MLBB tournaments in Indonesia have a league format that is routinely held every week. As a result, new content and drama is constantly produced to spice up the ecosystem and the news surrounding MLBB.

The presence of esports brings a lot of content and attention to MLBB. There are also many MLBB tournaments watch parties that bring new conversations or opinions related to the game. Image Source – Nimo TV’s Facebook page

On the flip side, the other three games made by Moonton have a more casual and simple gameplay. As a result, there are rarely any competitive aspects or drive that can arise through these games.

Therefore, esports is perhaps the primary reason behind the MLBB’s rise to popularity in Indonesia. If you want to look more into the positive impacts that an esports ecosystem can bring to free-to-play games, you can read the following article.

The Mutualistic Relationship Between MLBB and the Indonesian Esports Ecosystem

MLBB and the Indonesian esports market have benefitted from each other’s existence, hence the mutualistic relationship. To understand why this is the case, we need to take a look at the development of the Indonesian esports ecosystem.

As I have previously stated, the presence of MLBB might have single-handedly resurrected Indonesian esports. One of these “revival” moments was greatly felt during MSC 2017 and MPL Season 1 in 2018, held in Taman Anggrek Mall.

These two tournaments succeeded in showing the huge potential of the gaming and esports market in Indonesia. As an illustration, normal esports events held at Taman Anggrek can usually fill the whole 1st-floor atrium of the mall. However, MSC 2017 and MPL Indonesia Season 1 were able to fill the whole mall with esports enthusiasts. People were watching from the floors above, and some even deliberately stayed in the elevator to watch the tournament. Amazing, isn’t it?

In October 2020, I also briefly discussed why Indonesia was able to overtake other regions and become superior in mobile game esports. According to the Esports Charts, MPL Indonesia was also able to beat several major international tournament in viewership numbers. In February 2021 alone, MPL Indonesia had more viewers than older esports leagues such as the Korean LCK LoL league or the biggest CS:GO tournament, IEM Katowice.

We can clearly see the impact that MLBB and Moonton have brought into Indonesian esports. Although sometimes ML is considered “only popular in Indonesia”, the Indonesian esports community has to inevitably thank Moonton for being the main catalyst of the ecosystem’s growth.

One of the effects of the growth of the Indonesian esports ecosystem is the increasing number of game developers investing in the local market. To my knowledge, there were almost no game developers directly investing in the Indonesian market before the MSC 2017 phenomenon.

However, proceeding the event, Tencent entered the Indonesian market in 2018 with PUBG Mobile. Several years later, in 2020, giants like Riot Games even penetrated directly into the local market through games like VALORANT and Wild Rift. In the case of Wild Rift, Indonesia (and other countries in SEA) even received a “special treatment” through the earlier access to the beta release compared to the Western and East Asian regions.

Moonton also gave way for the massive development of local Indonesian esports teams or organizations. Many local esports organizations, big or small, can grow and thrive thanks to MLBB. Indonesian esports teams are also able to compete and get achievements on the international stage. You can see this example in my discussion about RRQ Hoshi’s position as the most popular and successful MLBB team.

MLBB was also considered as an impetus of the largely growing RRQ’s fan base. | Source: ONE Esports

Earlier I mentioned that the relationship between Moonton’s MLBB and Indonesia’s esports scene is mutualistic, which suggests that Moonton also benefited greatly from its penetration into the Indonesian market.

Why is the Indonesian market very profitable for Moonton and MLBB? Why do Moonton and MLBB need Indonesia? Well, despite Moonton being based in China, MLBB surprisingly did not get released in China itself.

If you frequently follow Hybrid’s discussion about the development of the game industry, you will certainly understand the importance of the Chinese market. In short, China’s rapid development of gaming culture and technological advancements essentially acts as a gold mine for game developers. If you discover more about this topic, you can read the following discussion on Hybrid.co.id conducted by Ellavie.

To see why the Chinese market is considered incredibly lucrative by most developers, we need to take a look at some data. Sensor Tower had investigated mobile games with the most revenue throughout 2020 and found that PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings were the two top-ranking ones.

PUBG Mobile was released globally (including in China) and raised $2.6 billion USD. However, Honor of Kings, which was only released in China, managed to collect revenue of $2.5 billion USD. You read that right, a game released exclusively in China can almost beat an internationally published game when it comes to revenue. Therefore, you can clearly see the scale of profitability and income that the Chinese market can bring.

Because MLBB was not able to be released in China, Moonton had to find another country with a market that can bring the same level of profitability. Eventually, Moonton found Indonesia. We also interviewed Moonton about the story behind Moonton’s market penetration into Indonesia.

Moonton Indonesia, represented by Aswin Atonie as its Brand Manager, replied, “The penetration into the Indonesian market has been carefully meticulously planned for a long time. We did various research and analysis before concluding that Indonesia’s gaming industry is essentially an empty canvas that is vastly open for development.”

Aswin Atonie, Brand Manager for Moonton Indonesia. Image Source – ONE Esports

Aswin Atonie also revealed a little behind-the-scenes story of MSC 2017. “From our studies, we prepared our breakthrough into the market through MLBB South East Asia Cup (MSC 2017), which actually has been planned since the first launch of MLBB in 2016. As we have expected, the event bore fruit and received great interest from the Indonesian fans.”

Without a doubt, Moonton’s decision to penetrate the Indonesian esports market brought in tremendous success. Through another interview conducted by Hybrid’s editor, Aswin Atonie revealed that Mobile Legends accumulated 1 billion downloads with 100 million active users today. According to an article published by ONE Esports in 2019, 31 million of those active users were from Indonesia.

The mutualistic relationship between Moonton and the Indonesian ecosystem that still holds to this very day has brought them both to the spotlight. If MLBB did not emerge as a phenomenon in 2017, the Indonesian gaming and esports market could stagnate without any skyrocketing developments. Likewise with Moonton, if it failed to realize the potential of the Indonesian gaming market, it may not have achieved the same degree of success today.

Now, the last thing we need to discuss is Moonton’s future ahead. What path of development do you think Moonton will take in the upcoming years? Will it continue to survive and grow only through Mobile Legends? Or will Moonton try to improvise and create new games in new genres?

Bytedance Acquisition, New Games, and Moonton’s Future

With the Moonton’s recent acquisition by Bytedance, this sub-topic is probably the most interesting to discuss today. In terms of MLBB game development, we saw the positive improvements of MLBB through project NEXT. Various elements in the game are improved, old heroes are updated or revamped, and in-game visuals are also upgraded while maintaining the non-graphic-intensive nature of MLBB.

With regards to esports, we can see how the Mobile Legends Professional League continues to grow in Indonesia. There is an ever-growing number of viewers, the commercial side is also constantly improving, and the scene continues to develop the competitive perspective as well. From a business standpoint, we, of course, already knew about the recent buzz of the acquisition of Bytedance (TikTok’s parent company).

With all the achievements that Moonton has achieved at this point, what will be Moonton’s next step? The recent Moonton acquisition has also spawned even more questions.

Although Aswin Atonie did touch upon this topic in our interview, he was not allowed to comment on the changes that will occur after the Bytedance acquisition. Fortunately, he did give us some hints about the direction of Moonton’s future development. Firstly, he discussed the potential of creating a new game. We already knew that Moonton has released other games such as Mobile Legends: Adventure and Sweet Crossing. However, does Moonton have any plans to dive into other competitive genres such as Battle Royale, FPS, or Digital Card Games?

“We always want to be updated with the latest trends in the game industry, but currently our focus won’t be shifting from the MOBA genre. We strongly believe that there are still countless aspects that we can develop in MLBB.” Aswin explained

“In the development of MLBB, we still focus greatly on improving player experience through the implementation various features, in-game updates, and events that we regularly release such as 515 e-Party, Project NEXT, Winter Gala, and so on. Behind the scenes, however, we (Moonton) are also currently developing other games. Information related to this will, of course, only be shared when the game is considered ready.” Aswin continued, explaining Moonton’s next plan in terms of game development.

The next question that comes to mind is the idea of expanding the MLBB market and esports to other countries. As I have explained before, even though MLBB has grown and developed tremendously, the scope of the game is mostly limited in the Southeast Asian region.

“We certainly want to continue to expand the market, and we already have specific plans for each region. Currently, we have two designated teams each responsible for managing the Developed Area, such as Southeast Asia, and Developing Area, such as Europe, the United States, and East Asia.” Aswin answered.

Despite its expansions proposals, Moonton still intends to put much of its resources into the Indonesian ecosystem. “We want to keep developing the esports ecosystem in Indonesia by educating the public perspective when it comes to the negative stigma of gaming, as well as inspiring the younger generation to play with a purpose. I feel that, so far, MLBB has opened up so many job opportunities in the esports sector, such as being an esports athlete, gaming content creator, esports team management, event management, and so on.”

Before closing the discussion with Aswin, I also asked about the possibility of Moonton exploring the world of console games in the future. Aswin answered that “As a business player in the game industry, we believe that PC and console games will continue to develop in the future. But, of course, we still want to capitalize on the current expanding mobile era. Therefore, as of now, Moonton will only be focusing on developing MLBB into a mobile game that provides the best player experience.”

—

That wraps up Moonton’s Cinderella story who had a rocky start followed by a period of exponential growth which propelled it to success. Hopefully, Moonton’s journey can be an inspiration for all of you who are currently looking to invest and grow a business in the esports or gaming industry.

Featured Image – Moonton Epic Con 2019 (Source – Moonton Official). The original article is written by Akbar Priono

Beda Platform = Beda Gamers

Model Bisnis dan Genre

Esports dan Konten Game

Memilih Game atau Esports yang Sesuai dengan Brand

Menyesuaikan dengan Tujuan Perusahaan

Kesimpulan

The Evolution of Human Communication Tools

How Games Affect Social Interaction

The Effect of Anonymity On Social Interaction

Conclusion

Membantu Anak Mengatur Waktu Bermain

Mengatur Uang yang Dihabiskan Anak Dalam Game

Menjadi Orang Tua dari Gamers Profesional

Kesimpulan

Esports Certification Institute’s Plan to Create a Certification Program

Advantages of Having a Certification Program in Esports

Disadvantages of Emerging Certification Programs in Esports

Alternatives to Certification

Conclusion

Proteins and Protein Folding

The Problem with Protein Folding

Large-Scale Computational Projects

Machine Learning Methods

Doing Our Part

References

MILITER

KESEHATAN

EDUKASI

TEKNOLOGI

GAMIFIKASI

Kesimpulan

The Content Creator Craze

The Stiff Competition for Views

What Makes Controversial Content So Appealing?

Conclusion

The Different Types of Video Game Monetization Models

Why Are Successful Esports Games Mostly Free-to-Play?

Why Are Other Monetization Systems Less Successful In Building Esports Ecosystems?

Conclusion

Kontrak Naming Rights dan Organisasi Esports yang Telah Melakukannya

Untung-Rugi dari Kontrak Naming Rights

Kontrak Naming Rights di Olahraga Konvensional

Penutup

Moonton’s Arduous Path in Raising Its Golden Child, Mobile Legends: Bang-Bang

Other Moonton Games That Did Not Have the Same Degree of Success as MLBB

The Mutualistic Relationship Between MLBB and the Indonesian Esports Ecosystem

Bytedance Acquisition, New Games, and Moonton’s Future

***Esports* dan Konten *Game***

**Menjadi Orang Tua dari Gamers Profesional**

**Kontrak Naming Rights dan Organisasi Esports yang Telah Melakukannya**

**Kontrak Naming Rights di Olahraga Konvensional**