6 Fundamental Differences between MLBB and Wild Rift

Riot Games finally launched the closed-beta phase for Wild Rift (WR) in some regions, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand. Previously, Riot Games picked Philippine as the first country to test Wild Rift.

I think Riot Games has a strategic reason for choosing Southeast Asian to be the first region. It’s because mobile MOBA is already big in this region. Talking about Southeast Asia (SEA) and its mobile MOBA, then we have to talk about Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB). MLBB has its strongest fanbase in this region. Their first international tournament, MSC (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup), is even made specifically for gamers in SEA.

So, it’s interesting to compare both of them head-to-head. We can’t say which one is better though because of two reasons. First, WR is still on the closed-beta phase. So it’s not fair to compare it at this moment. Second, even though we become one of the media who have exclusive access since 16 September 2020, we just played a couple of games in WR, which is not sufficient to give a full judgement. You could read our first impression on WR here, though.

Nevertheless, I think there are some exciting things that we found in WR that could be compared to MLBB. Here are some of the most fundamental differences between WR and MLBB.

1. Last Hit

The first core difference is on the last hit feature. In MLBB, there are gold and exp differences when you’re last hitting minions, but the gap is not that big. In WR, the gap is so much more significant.

This may sound simple but its implications are enormous. First, more forgiving on last-hit (MLBB) means it’s easier for newbies. When I was learning to play my first MOBA (DotA), I spent more than a month just to practice my last hitting skill. Even then, I still couldn’t manage to last hit an entire creep wave. Since players who are better in last-hit can progress faster, it will give a bigger chance to win the match or even bully their opponents.

Second, it also means you have to concentrate on more things when missing last hit is so punishing. In the laning phase, besides farming as fast as possible, you have to stay alive as long as possible. When last-hitting is more crucial, it means you have one more thing to concentrate besides harassing enemies, dodging their skills, and paying attention to your teammates or enemies’ location. It also means you can deny your opponent to farm more significantly.

2. Buying Items

Hybrid.co.id - Foto Oleh Akbar Priono — Wild Rift. Hybrid.co.id – Photo by Akbar Priono

In MLBB you could buy your items everywhere. In WR, you have to return to your base. This has a serious impact on your timing, like when you should return to your base.

It will undoubtedly make the game duration longer because players have to walk more frequently from the base to their lane. Team rotation will also become more critical.

3. Warding

Warding is an essential skill in LoL because information on enemies location could be the factor whether you will win or lose the match. Scouting is actually possible in MLBB, even without the warding mechanism if you play certain heroes.

However, with warding system, mapping becomes a responsibility of every team member. It means warding becomes one more skill to learn for everyone who wants to be decent playing WR. It certainly will make it more fascinating on high-level players and teams, but it will make it more challenging for new players.

4. More Spells/No Heal (Regen)

Similar to LoL, WR allows each player to have two Summoner Spells on every match. Meanwhile, MLBB only allows one spell along with Regen spell.

This difference will also have great significance. WR allows more variety since players could choose to pick two aggressive/offensive spells. However, MLBB is more forgiving to inept players because Regen will always be there to help them recover their health without returning to their base.

Talking about healing, MLBB is also more generous from another source. The crab monster in the river in MLBB will give a regeneration buff when killed. While Riot Games seems to put more emphasis on location information rather than providing an easier way to restore your health, with the neutral monster on the river and the warding mechanism.

Again, I think WR will make it more entertaining to watch professional players playing against each other. Why? Because position mapping is actually very crucial, but not everyone could take advantage of it — certainly not for beginners.

5. Skill Numbers on Every Champion

Sure, every hero or champion in MLBB and WR is different but it’s not unique between them — at least in my opinion, since this is also the case when comparing MLBB to other mobile MOBAs like AoV. What makes WR unique is the number of skills of every champion. In MLBB, most heroes only have 3 skills. In WR, similar to LoL, every champion has at least 4 skills.

It also makes a substantial disparity in learning the game. Every capable MOBA player should understand and memorize every skill in the game. You have to understand and remember enemies’ skills if you want to have a bigger chance to defeat them. One skill difference on each character is massive actually. Besides the number of total skills (from every champion) that you have to learn and memorize is much greater, the application of skill combinations in the game will become so much more complicated.

6. More Item with Active Skill

In LoL, there are 32 items with active skills such as Quicksilver Sash, Zhonya’s Hourglass, etc. Meanwhile, there are less then 5 items (AFAIK) with active skills in MLBB. If, later on, WR will import all of the equipment along with its effects from LoL, WR will definitely have more items with active skills.

This will have a similar effect with the previous differences I mentioned above. It will surely make new players have a longer time to adapt and learn. It can be really complicated to get the hang of active item skills in the real battle, yet it also means we have more tools to defeat our opponents.

Conclusion

With 6 fundamental differences above, I do think Wild Rift will be more difficult for newbies to learn the game, compared to MLBB. However, a higher skill cap and the more elaborate strategic decision will definitely make Wild Rift on the professional esports team level more impressive to watch. Also, for some people, more challenging skills to learn could give so much more satisfaction when mastered.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying MLBB is an easy game — especially if you want to get to the highest rank or even getting into the MPL level. It’s just MLBB is more forgiving for the new players compared to Wild Rift.

Last, disclaimer, again Wild Rift is still on its closed-beta phase. It’s still too early to verdict whether it will be more difficult or simpler. Maybe we will take a look at the same topic again after Wild Rift is officially launched.

What is the Impact of the Declaration of Esports as an Official Sports?

The declaration of esports as an official sport means that the government is increasingly concerned about the development of esports.

Esports is starting to be recognized as a sport in the international world. It has been included in several significant sports competition. For example, at the 2018 Asian Games, esports became an exhibition match. Even at the 2019 SEA Games, esports has become a medal sport. Before the 2020 Olympics was cancelled, esports was also included as a pre-Olympic event. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) also believes that esports can be considered as a sports activity, even though they only want to focus on esports games which are based on traditional sports.

In Indonesia, esports has been in the government’s attention for a few years ago. One of the reasons the government has interested in esports is the competitive gaming industry is believed to be able to open the job vacancies for the young generation in Indonesia. Indeed, even though esports athletes are often become the media spotlight and the attention of many people, there are actually a variety of other jobs you can find in the esports industry, from the esports’ team managers to analysts.

Last week, the government again showed its attention to esports. The Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora) and the Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) declared esports as an official sport. The questions are:

What’s the Impact?

Before we get into the discussion about the impact of the Kemenpora and KONI statements that esports is an official sport, let us discuss the meaning of achievement sports itself, which is contained in Law No.3 of 2005 concerning the National Sports System, Article 20.

“Achievement sport is intended as an effort to increase the ability and potential of sportsmen.” – Article 20, Paragraph 1.

Esports has been declared an official sport. This means that the government should increase the ability and potential of sportsmen. In esports, sportsmen are professional players. Hybrid then contacted Ashadi Ang, Head of Public Relations of the Indonesian Esports Executive (PBESI) to discuss the concrete plans of the government related to this regard.

Pengurus besar PB Esports. | Sumber: Dokumentasi Hybrid – Akbar Priono — PB Esports Indonesia. | Documentation: Hybrid – Akbar Priono

“The first stage, we will first capture superior seeds from various provinces and cities through the Provincial ESI which has been formed at this time,” said Ashadi. As of March 2020, PBESI has appointed administrators in 34 provinces of Indonesia. “Then, these superior seeds will compete again at the national level through the Central PBESI. Of course, the athletes / promising talents who have been netted will go through different coaching and training by PB Esports Indonesia. And of course, the ecosystem of esports itself which has joined PBESI will help for this development. ”

Furthermore, Ashadi explained, PBESI will hold regular esports tournaments, both at the provincial and district levels. Unfortunately, he did not provide further information about the tournament system or games.

“What game tournament will be determined according to the current game development conditions. The games that will be the focus of PBESI are games that have a lot of interest and can bring benefits to many people and also games that will be competed at the international level, “said Ashadi.

Based on the official PB Esports Instagram account, five ESI Provinces have held esports tournaments. One of them is ESI Badung, which held a Mobile Legends and PUBG Mobile tournament in early August 2020 with a total prize of IDR 8 million. In addition, ESI Lampung has also hosted the Esports Lampung Championship. The tournament with a total prize of IDR 50 million hold three games, namely PUBG, Mobile Legends, and PES. Meanwhile, ESI South Sulawesi is holding a PUBG Mobile esports tournament with a total prize IDR 10 million.

ESI Bangka Belitung is working with the Bangka Belitung Police to hold an esports tournament on August 21-23. The total prize of the tournament reached IDR 10 million. Finally, ESI Gorontalo held a PUBG Mobile tournament on August 29 with a total prize of IDR 20 million.

CS:GO jadi salah satu game esports terpopuler di dunia. | Sumber: Steam — CS:GO | Via: Steam

One thing that must be remembered, esports games that are popular in Indonesia are different from the games that are popular at the international level. According to The Esports Observer’s PC Games Impact Index, League of Legends has been the esports game with the most significant impact on the esports ecosystem for several consecutive quarters. However, in Indonesia, let alone the fast-growing esports scene, the popularity of League of Legends is still inferior when compared to other PC games, such as Dota 2 or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

As a mobile-first country, esports games that are developing in Indonesia are indeed mobile games, such as Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, and Free Fire. Not only that, the publishers of the three games – Moonton, Tencent, and Garena – also care about developing the esports ecosystem of their games in Indonesia. Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, and Free Fire, all the three have official esports leagues. Although indeed, the mobile game market in Indonesia is much bigger than the PC game market. So, no wonder, if mobile game publishers want to focus on developing the esports ecosystem in Indonesia.

Coaching and Counseling

Ashadi explained, after finding promising talents by holding tournaments at the district and provincial levels, PBESI will also provide coaching, under Law no. 3 of 2005 concerning the National sports system, Article 22, said Ashadi.

“The government carries out sports coaching and development through the establishment of policies, upgrading/training, coordination, consultation, communication, counselling, mentoring, correctional, pioneering, research, testing, competition, assistance, facilitation, licensing, and supervision.” – Article 22.

Currently, the regulations regarding esports are still in the drafting stage. Regarding what topics will be discussed, Ashadi said that policies related to esports will cover many things, including the age category of players and the requirements for organizing tournaments to ensure that the tournaments held are following PBESI standards.

Another discourse that is covered by the Law regarding sports of achievement is counselling. “One of PBESI’s agendas is to open up parents’ insights that esports is different from playing games, that esports has a future, and there is a career path,” said Ashadi. He also said that they want to provide practical education in the esports’ world and not just to be a professional player. “But also broadcasting, project management, content creators and so on,” he admits.

PBESI and Other Game / Esports Bodies in Indonesia

If you monitor the development of the esports industry (or become a loyal reader of Hybrid), you will know that PB Esports is not the first esports body in Indonesia. In fact, when compared to several gaming/esports bodies in Indonesia, PB Esports is still very new.

PB Esports was officially inaugurated in January 2020. Meanwhile, the Indonesia Esports Association (IESPA) has been established since 2013, the Indonesian Video Game Sports Association (AVGI) since July 2019, and the Indonesian Esports Federation since October 2019. Regarding this matter, Ashadi said that the games/esports bodies other than PB Esports are formed as recreational sports.

“Only PBESI is the only body recognized by the Republic of Indonesian Government as an official government body under KONI for the official sport,” he said. However, he assured, PBESI will cooperate with other existing game/esports associations.

Glancing at China, which has recognized esports work as a profession

Indonesia is not the only country in Asia which the government cares about esports. The Chinese government also cares about esports. In fact, the esports market in China is one of the most developed markets in the world. In 2019, the esports market in China grew by 25% when compared to the previous year. Government support is believed to be one of the reasons why Chinese esports market can proliferate.

The form of government support in China can be seen from what the Shanghai government is doing. In 2017, the Shanghai government began to issue a discourse that they wanted to make Shanghai the capital of esports in the next three to five years. To put the plan into action, the Shanghai government has made several guidelines. One of them is that they will increase their research capacity and content creation related to esports and also encourage the media to discuss esports more frequently.

The Shanghai government also wants the number of major esports tournaments which will be held in Shanghai to increase. One of the major esports tournaments that will be held in Shanghai shortly is the League of Legends’ World Championship. With the coronavirus pandemic, there were concerns that the global tournament would be cancelled or converted to online competition.

However, in August 2020, Riot Games said that they will still hold LWC in Shanghai. They revealed that to do that, they not only closely monitored the impact of COVID-19 but also continued to communicate with local and national governments. The government’s willingness to work with Riot shows its seriousness in developing esports, even amid a pandemic.

Apart from Shanghai, the Beijing government also said that they wanted to make their city as the Capital of Online Games. They hope that they will be able to realize the plan in 2025. Don’t be surprised if the city government has flocked to make its city to be a city that is friendly to the gaming and esports industry players. When a city hosts a major esports tournament, this will make a positive economic impact.

The support from the Chinese government did not stop there. In January 2019, the Chinese government formalized that professional esports and esports operators were two new professions. In July 2019, 88 esports athletes were declared as official athletes of Shanghai. Don’t get it wrong, the official athlete is not a title that everyone can get. People who become official athletes are also entitled to various facilities from the government, just like other traditional sports athletes. Examples of facilities provided by the Chinese government are international visa support and educational facilities.

Closure

If we reflect on China, government support can accelerate the growth of the esports industry. To support the esports industry, the government does not need to take over the duties of other esports industry players.

For example, the Shanghai government wants more and more major esports tournaments to be held there. However, that doesn’t mean they are busy creating their own esports tournaments. They are actually working with other parties. In League of Legends’ World Championship cases, they took Riot Games. If the Indonesian government can do the same (adjusted to Indonesia’s conditions, of course), the Indonesia esports industry may also be able to develop rapidly.

4 Qualities to Have as a Decent Esports/Gaming Journalist

I know that, for the younger generation, becoming a YouTuber or esports athlete sounds more glamorous. Admittedly, that’s true. Most people don’t admire or even recognize journalists.

However, being a journalist is one of the professions with the most extended career age. In fact, most jobs behind the scenes have a longer lifespan. In Indonesia, there are Rosihan Anwar (departed) and Goenawan Mohammad (GM) — which are my idols. Both of them were still actively writing in their 80’s.

Some of my seniors behind the editorial desk only began to reach their career peak after turning 40.

On the other side, who doesn’t want to work following their passion? Gaming/esports journalists will continuously pursue and write those topics every day — even though it’s better too if you want to learn more than those fields (that I will discuss it later).

So, if you are a gamer or an esports fan who wants to find a job according to your passion and has a long career path, becoming a journalist in a gaming/esports media is a choice that you could take.

Via: World Scholarship Forum — via: World Scholarship Forum

However, I do believe that there is no easy job in this world if you want to reach the highest level. Yes, it’s easy to cook an instant noodle, but it’s a whole new world if you’re going to be a chef in a five-star hotel or restaurant. You should need no longer than a year to learn playing a guitar. Yet, if you want to reach the same level as Carlos Santana, prepare to spend dozens of years to get there. This is also the case with your writing and journalistic skills.

I started my career as a journalist/writer in a printed magazine in 2008. 12 years of experience in the gaming/esports industry seems quite decent; though, it’s nothing in the writing/journalistic field — since there are seniors such as Rosihan Anwar or GM I mentioned earlier.

So, if you are looking for a shortcut, I think you should close this page. In contrast, if you’re prepared for a long journey, these are some fundamentals to learn.

Above Average Language Skill

Personally, this is the first fundamental skill that has to be honed continuously — no matter how long you’ve been learning.

Why is this the first skill? Because, no matter how smart you are, you are useless if you can’t transform your idea into verbal language. This could be useful for other professions too.

Language skill isn’t as easy as most people imagine, though. Identifying and understanding language units such as word, phrase, clause, sentence, and paragraph are just necessary to have. Likewise, it’s also essential to fully understand 4 aspects of language: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

These 4 aspects of language may sound simple enough. We could hear since we were born. We learned to speak when we were 1-2 years old. We should be able to read and write during our first year in elementary school. Yet, once again, it’s not that easy. Forget reading, I know a lot of people are struggling to become good listeners.

Meanwhile, in fact, you have to be a meticulous reader if you want to be a good writer. If you’re going to become a good writer and speaker, you must learn to be a great reader and listener. That’s just the rule of thumb.

I always emphasize to the writers in my team that we have to be fully aware when reading, especially our own writing. It’s simple: if you don’t love to read your own writing, don’t hope other people will like it.

Willingness and Tenacity to Explore Knowledge

The second most important thing to have, in my opinion, is our willingness and tenacity to dig information and to understand knowledge.

Your current knowledge is worthless if you don’t want to dig deeper tenaciously. We were born with zero knowledge. The difference between one person and another is only a matter of our willingness to accumulate knowledge over time.

This may sound trivial, and especially so in this age of democratization of information. Nevertheless, with so much knowledge in our fingertips, human become lazier and less inclined to investigate further.

For example, I’m not sure if all gamers know the difference between a game publisher and developer even though the information is straightforward to find.

In recent years, asking questions on social media has become more frequent even though the answers could be readily found using a search engine. Humans, you and me (since I don’t like the dichotomy of ‘we’ and ‘they’), prefer to be fed rather than finding the information themselves.

Games and esports are not that easy to learn, honestly. I know many people don’t realize the difference between esports and gaming industries. Understanding and memorizing esports teams, players, and competitions also take a lot of time. Furthermore, it’s indeed difficult to truly comprehend the gameplay of each different game.

Why is knowledge and our tenacity to dig deeper critical? Because, if you yourself don’t truly understand the subject you’re covering, then you can’t realistically expect your readers/listeners to be able to gain an understanding from your work.

Besides knowledge about games and esports — which should be the foundation of all people who want to have a promising career in this industry (not only the journalists), in my humble opinion, learning about different fields will also provide an advantage for you. For example, I’m interested in learning more about philosophy, business, and psychology. Those interests are the ones that make me unique compared to the others in the same field.

I also firmly believe that our mindset is influenced by whatever knowledge we seek. Besides, I think it’s important to learn outside the box so that we are not trapped in our own narrow perspective.

Social Capability and Equilibrium

A great journalist must have a balanced capacity between personal and social capabilities. In other words, the ideal journalist needs not only rich knowledge but also many friends.

In my head, if I have to simplify human capabilities, I divide it into two categories. The first is our cognitive function as a human being, which could be how to think critically, how fast we could understand new concepts, how good we memorize things, etc. Second, it’s our emotional capability like empathy, self-control, or effective communication.

I know some brilliant people who have difficulties in making new friends. On the contrary, I also know many famous people who have numerous friends but are ignorant.

From my experience, I have to balance it out and stay in the middle — since every human has a time limitation. To develop our cognitive capacity or to make friends, we have to spend our time. Meanwhile, we only have 24 hours every day. That’s why we have to manage our time between learning new things or maintaining our network.

I do think there are other jobs which are more suitable for those who want to focus on one side. A programmer or engineer, for example, should have better cognitive capacity than social skills. However, your network is more important than cognitive skills if you want to be useful in business or become a celebrity.

To be a decent journalist, you have to find an equilibrium point between two sides. Nevertheless, I do think this balancing point is also vital for every profession. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or Mark Zuckerberg are not the smartest in their respective fields. They are just better in balancing out their cognitive and social capabilities.

Before going broader, social capability is necessary because interviews are an integral part of being a journalist. Whether you believe or not, there is so much information unavailable on the internet so you can’t just google everything.

Personally, I get more off-the-record information that couldn’t be published. If a story couldn’t be published, what’s the purpose? Those stories could affect my thinking in assessing or understanding so many things. I genuinely believe that our capabilities to evaluate everything will be influenced by how much knowledge we have accumulated.

Besides that, trust is one of the most important things to have. In fact, our personal relations will always be relevant to our professional career. For example, if I publish every story, I will lose the trust of my colleagues, which means I will get less information in the future. Moreover, being a journalist in this internet age doesn’t always have a positive image since there are so many clickbaits and so much quote twisting done to gain attention.

I do understand why media do that, actually. There are so many contents on the internet nowadays. That’s why media have to steal the attention in every possible way. However, honestly, I don’t want to sacrifice the trust I gained just to get more clicks or views.

Fortitude in the Journey and Pay Attention to Detail

Finally, we reach the last important aspect for a journalist in gaming or esports media.

Why is this part pertinent? Because gaming and esports industries are full of young people who don’t always have for the fortitude for a long process. Again, if you want to become famous in the shortest possible time, this career isn’t suitable for you.

As I mentioned earlier, the productive age of a journalist is quite long. It’s like a marathon instead of a sprint. So, you have to think further ahead building this career.

Via: Ethical Journalism Network — via: Ethical Journalism Network

Journalism has been around since the 1400s. Modern journalism started in 1703. Therefore, there are so many people with so much experience here. You may feel superior working as a social media specialist for 15 years because Facebook was launched in 2004 and, before that, there was no such profession (AFAIK). Another example, it’s justified if you feel arrogant when you have been learning Phyton (programming language) for 20 years since Phyton 2.0 was released in 2000.

Yet, in journalism or even language and literature (which are older), my 12 years experience is nothing. I have written this in the beginning, but I do feel the need to emphasize it again since I saw many people feel satisfied with only 1-2 years of experience.

The ability to pay attention to detail is also related to perseverance, I guess. I know that so many people want to finish doing something quickly. You can’t treat journalistic work in such a way — what matters is done. Indeed, the deadline is also another integral part of a publication, but that doesn’t mean putting aside so many details.

I think this is the complexity of being a journalist. On the one hand, you have to keep up with the deadline but, on the other hand, you just can’t sacrifice the quality.

Last Words

Most of my experience comes from journalism and writing about the gaming industry however I do think that every quality mentioned above can very much be relevant to other professions as well.

For me, the most significant difficulty as a journalist is finding the equilibrium point. Too much time spent on studying without doing social activities isn’t ideal. While having so many friends with so little time on reading will make your writing banal. Furthermore, a balance between keeping up with the deadline and paying attention to detail could take years to acquire.

Lastly, I’m not perfect with so many flaws. I need so much more time to improve. Nevertheless, those things I shared above are the ones that carry me to this point, and I hope this article could be useful.

Feat Image: via Deposit Photos

Do We Need to Hold an Esports Tournament for Women?

Esports is now becoming increasingly popular. Not only that, but people are also starting to recognize esports as a sport. In fact, esports has been included in various prestigious sporting events, such as the Asian Games 2018 and SEA Games 2019. Rumour says that esports will also be included in the Olympics.

In traditional sports, most competitions are segregated by gender. One of the reasons is because physically, women and men are known to have different abilities. Knowing that when playing esports, the athletes “only” have to stare at the screen and move the mouse or touch the smartphone screen, you might think that there is no significant difference between men’s and women’s performance. However, is that really so?

Is Male and Female Performance Different?

When asked if there is a difference between the performance of female and male esports athletes, Shena Septiani, Digital Marketing Manager, Bigetron Esports said, “in my opinion, the difference in mechanics is influenced by hormones. Balanced estrogen and progesterone in women are key to how the brain and emotions work.”

Estrogen is a sex hormone in women that is quite dominant. Indeed, men also have estrogen. It’s just that the level of estrogen in women is higher than men. The function of these hormones in women and men is also different. Same with the progesterone, women and men do have this hormone but in different levels and functions. In women, progesterone affects the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and embryogenesis.

“These two hormones make it difficult for women to focus at certain times,” says Shena. “However, it could be solved with regular exercise and discipline. The proof is, at Bigetron, there is BTR Alice who is a member of Bigetron Red Aliens, PUBG Mobile division. ”

Bigetron Red Aliens. | Sumber: Facebook PUBG Mobile Indonesia — Bigetron Red Aliens. | via: Facebook PUBG Mobile Indonesia

Unfortunately, not all esports teams mix male and female players. This is due to several things, according to Kresna, Project Manager for Women Star League. One of them is because women might feel more comfortable playing with other women. Likewise, male players feel the same.

“Apart from that, there is also an assumption that the female players are not good at playing games,” said Kresna. “Yes, it’s a burden, it’s troublesome, and so on. That’s what makes men tend to create teams with male players too. “However, according to Kresna, this assumption is not correct. She believes that the existence of a women’s only esports tournament can help to erase this stigma.

Meanwhile, according to Herry Wijaya, Head of Operations Mineski Global Indonesia, nowadays, most female esports players are more interested in becoming influencers than being professional players. “If I can draw short conclusions without research, I see that female players don’t usually become pro players in the end. Even after winning esports tournaments for women, they usually become influencers,” he said. “I don’t see the ambition to shift the position of a well-known player in a big esports organization, like Rekt from EVOS for example.”

How Important Are Women Only Esports Tournaments?

According to Rezaly Surya Afhany, Esports Manager at Telkomsel and Head of Digital Games Product Management, women’s esports tournaments are essential to be held, both by publishers and by third parties. “My personal opinion is that the ecosystem in the game industry will grow organically and be much healthier if you pay attention to the needs of these lady gamers,” Rezaly said when contacted via text message. “One of them is through organizing a special women’s tournament.” He feels that currently, the number of esports tournaments for female gamers is lesser than for men, starting from grassroots to national level competitions.

The Prime Snaky jadi pemenang PINC Ladies 2020. | Sumber: Instagram — The Prime Snaky is the winner of PINC Ladies 2020. | Sumber: Instagram

“Several major publishers in Indonesia have been developing women tournaments for a long time, such as the Princess Cup, the Arena of Valor tournament from Garena or PINC Ladies, the PUBG Mobile tournament from Tencent. Although, the tournament is still presented as part of an entertaining match, “said Rezaly. “In my opinion, slowly but surely, the market is already visible, both from the participating teams or viewership. As long as the tournament exists, these female pro players will try to form a solid team to participate. So, the quality of the matches is no less fierce than men’s esports matches. ”

Regarding ability, Kresna has another view. “In terms of skills, I think female players are not the same as the Mobile Legends Pro League team. Maybe, if the Mobile Legends Developmental League is still 50-50. But, compared to other teams outside those leagues, the ladies in the esports organization, their skills should be at the same level or higher,” he said.

Martin Yanuar, Manager of Belletron, has the same opinion as Kresna. “In our opinion, the skills of male and female players will not be the same. Because female players tend to find it more difficult to train full-time,” he said. “Unless the ladies tournament gives a prize equivalent to a public tournament worth hundreds of millions.”

Indeed, in terms of total prizes, women’s esports tournaments usually offer much smaller rewards than general ones. For example, PINC winners get a prize of IDR 180 million, while PINC Ladies winners only get IDR 10 million.

As part of an esports organization, Shena expressed her hope that in the future, esports tournament organizers will give prizes that are as big as general tournaments. “Although actually, this problem does not only occur in esports, but also in the world of sports,” he said. “Hopefully, in the future, esports tournaments can be more equal to gain more female players.”

Pembagian hadiah turnamen PINC. | Sumber: situs resmi — PINC prizepool | via: official site

Pembagian hadiah turnamen PINC Ladies. | Sumber: situs resmi — PINC Ladies prizepool | via: official site

Regarding the imbalance of tournament prizes between male and female competitions, for Rezaly, as long as the organizers and participants do not mind the total prizes given, then this should not be a problem. “The size of the prize is usually used to attract teams to participate in a tournament,” he said. “If all parties, namely organizers and participants agree to participate, then the size of the women’s tournament prize is no longer relevant as the only thing that must be pursued.”

Meanwhile, Rezaly was asked whether the small total prize pool for women’s esports tournaments is due to the low audience interest. He replied, “it could be that the lack of interest from the participants or the number of views made the organizers. Also, sponsors could be thinking hard before holding women’s tournaments because of low ROI (Return of Investment).”

The attraction of Women’s Esports Tournaments

Games and esports are domains that are synonymous with men. So, no wonder that most esports viewers are male. According to a study conducted by Interpret in 2019, 70% of esports viewers are male, while the remaining 30% are female. The good news is that the number of female esports fans continues to increase from year to year.

Jumlah penonton esports perempuan terus naik. | Sumber: Interpret — Source: Interpret

However, Herry said, the fact that most of the esports audience is male actually makes women’s esports tournaments popular. “Because most esports audience is male, viewership should be higher for female competition because there is an attraction from the opposite sex,” said Herry. Rezaly also said something similar. The male audience also likes to watch women’s tournaments, especially if there are players who are their idols.

Meanwhile, Kresna said, women-only tournaments were still able to attract audiences. “But, it is not as much as MPL or MDL, which has been running for a long time,” he said. “Probably because women’s tournaments tend to be newer, and not everyone knows.”

Herry said Mineski did have plans to create a special women’s tournament in the future. It’s just that the project may not be realized soon. The reason is, the current esports tournament schedule is already tight. If a new tournament appears, it is possible, this will actually destroy the balance that has been achieved in the current esports ecosystem in Indonesia.

“There are many things to think about if we want to create a new IP,” said Herry. “There are already many competitions. Messing up with the existing schedule is not good. Thus, we prefer to focus on existing tournaments by improving the quality of those tournaments.”

Why do the organizers hold a women’s esports tournament?

The Women Star League was held with two purposes Kresna explained. The first is to build an esports ecosystem for female players so that they can compete and have a career in the competitive gaming world like men. “So that the ladies won’t be underestimated and be able to show that they have the same skills as men,” he said.

“Second, by holding a women’s esports tournament, we want this to be a place where women can express their interests or talents in the world of esports and pursue their dreams,” said Kresna. “We want more female players in the tournament so that the women’s esports ecosystem in Indonesia becomes even more acknowledged.”

Just like Kresna, Rezaly said, the aim of organizers such as Dunia Games (which is under Telkomsel) to hold a women’s esports tournament is to develop the women’s esports ecosystem. This will ultimately make the esports industry even more valuable.

Tim ladies DG Esports. | Sumber: LINE — Ladies team of DG Esports. | Source: Dunia Games

“We believe that the women-only tournament will bring out many accomplished female gamers so that there will be more engagement, viewership, more contents, and more new job vacancies,” said Rezaly. “We want the women’s esports ecosystem to be developed, just like many other sports events, both at the national and global levels. There are actually special competitions for women in traditional sports events.”

However, Rome was not built overnight, just like the women’s esports ecosystem. To develop the women’s esports ecosystem to be equal to the esports scene for men is not easy these days. Herry estimates that the time needed to establish the women’s esports ecosystem will probably take around three years. With conditions, women’s esports tournaments are held regularly. Ideally, there should be two tournaments every year.

“In 2017, there were only two Mobile Legends teams that had a good performance, namely Saint Indo and Elite8 Esports,” he said. “However, now, MPL has eight teams with the same level of performance.” He believes that something similar can also happen to the women’s esports ecosystem.

Conclusion

Esports has developed drastically all around the world. Unfortunately, women are still a minority in the industry. Compared to the number of male players, female players are really minuscule. Not only that, women’s esports tournaments also usually offer smaller prizes. Fortunately, various parties are still interested in holding women’s esports tournaments.

The existence of a women’s esports tournament can be an arena for female gamers to show their abilities. Also, if the tournament is held regularly, it is possible that the women’s esports ecosystem development will be balanced like the men’s esports scene.

Feat Image via: Red Arrow Studio. The original article is in Indonesian, translated by @dwikaputra

Between Achievements and Esports Team Content, Which One is More Important?

Having a top esports team might be one of the big dreams of esports fans. Self-actualizing as the best gamers, lots of money, and admired by many people, are some of many reasons why having an esports team is a dream come true. However, building and developing an esports organization is not easy.

It takes a lot of funding and capital to achieve that glory. For example, if you aspire to have a team that wins Dota 2 The International, you need financing in the range of hundreds of millions of rupiah for a High-End PC, internet, player salaries, gaming house, and various other operational costs.

However, apart from pursuing achievements, contents may be considered a relatively cheap alternative to raise funding and capital. I discussed an inspirational story when I wrote the profile of FaZe Clan, an esports team that started their career as a fun clan with a YouTube channel that contained cool trick shot content.

On the other hand, there are also success stories of other esports teams that started their development with achievements. This kind of success story comes from Team Liquid, which from the start was created as a competitive gaming clan and has reaped success from its dominance in various esports scenes in the world.

Achievement vs content, winning or gaining exposure, what is the simple formula for building and developing a successful esports organization? Here’s my take on this topic.

Costs for Managing A Champion Team

Collecting achievements is probably the most common formula for esports organizations to be successful. For example, T1 received a lot of sponsorship during 2020 due to their accomplishments, such as Nike, Logitech G, to Samsung monitors. Indeed, it seems a bit grandiose if we want to be like T1 who won the world champion three times in a row in one of the most popular esports scenes in the world, League of Legends.

So that we don’t get too far, let’s try to peek from local teams. For this example, I use the AOV division of EVOS Esports, whose achievements are similar to T1, only at the national level… Hehe.

EVOS AOS recorded a champion record three times in a row at the national level tournament through the AOV Star League Season 1, 2, and 3.

This victory has become the source of significant pocket income for the management of EVOS Esports. EVOS AOV received IDR 500 million from ASL Season 1 as well as IDR 355 million from ASL Season 3. If you only count ASL prizes, then EVOS AOV has collected IDR 1.3 billion. We have also written about EVOS total revenue from winning awards during 2019.

Huge amount?

It is, but let’s see how much it costs to run the ream. To find out about this, I interviewed my best friend, Hilmy Khairy who is also known as Hiruma, Deputy of Esports at EVOS Esports. Before taking up his current position, he was the manager of the EVOS AOV team.

I asked him about how much the EVOS AOV team needs operational costs? He answered, “Wow, that is a secret. However, every month there are approximately a total of tens of millions of rupiah spent on the team operations”.

Furthermore, Hilmy then explained what costs were incurred by EVOS management to manage the AOV division. “Definitely the salaries of players and staff, costs for gaming houses, internet, house maintenance, water and electricity, as well as daily expenses and catering fees.”

That’s still not all, there are always unexpected costs, which usually arise when the team is undergoing face-to-face matches. “For offline matches, there are usually additional costs, such as transportation fees for coming to and from the event, there are also snacks for a mood booster when competing. Hotels and accommodation for matches outside the city or abroad are usually from the event organizer” Hilmy added.

From the explanation above, let’s approximate the operational costs for a team like EVOS AOV. First of all, the players’ salaries. Hilmy did not provide the exact number, but he said that the EVOS AOV team’s salaries varied from more than the UMR to two times the UMR.

Jakarta’s UMR is currently IDR 4.276.349,906, and we round it up to IDR 4.3 million. To make it easier, let’s say that all EVOS AOV players’ salaries are two times the UMR which means IDR 8.6 million, multiplied by five people. Just counting the pay alone, we have touched the estimated number of IDR 43 million each month.

We haven’t calculated the costs of renting the gaming house, internet, electricity and water, laundry, catering, and other monthly operations. Let’s say that if you add up everything, the rough number could be in the range of IDR 80 million each month. With this figure every month, the operational costs of a champion team like EVOS AOV are IDR 960 million per year.

Dokumentasi Hybrid - Akbar Priono — When EVOS AOV won their 3rd time ASL Indonesia. Documentation: Hybrid – Akbar Priono

This number is quite surprising, especially since the income of the EVOS AOV from the AOV Star League tournament is only IDR 1.3 billion and was obtained for three seasons, which lasted one and a half years. ASL Season 1 and 2 were held in 2018, which means that EVOS AOV received IDR 1 billion for one year of the tournament.

The team management doesn’t take all the prizes, they only take a portion of the rewards they get. Hilmy said that esports organizations have a prize cut system that varies from 20% to 40%. With the assumption that EVOS uses the largest cut, this means that the management only gets IDR 400 million. If you solely rely on tournament prizes, inevitably, management cannot cover the team’s annual operating costs.

In reality, the income for an esports organization as big as EVOS Esports is not limited to one team, nor does it come from just one source. The estimation described above might be a very crude picture, that the team’s operation costs are high, and the tournament prizes only can’t cover it.

Peeking to The Source of The Esports Team’s Income

Before we move on to the next topic, let’s first discuss what the esports team’s business fields are. The assumption that esports organizations only rely on tournament prizes as the only source of income is and overs implication. Maybe only amateur or semi-pro teams that do that.

Esports organizations as big as EVOS Esports, Rex Regum Qeon, BOOM Esports, or Bigetron Esports, usually have more than one source of income. In fact, tournament prizes may not be seen as a source of income, but merely a bonus for the hard work of the management and players.

In a blog article written by an investment adviser from the United States, Roundhill Investment, it is stated that there are at least 6 other sources of income from an esports organization. In “How Esports Teams Make Money” article, it is said that the origins of income for esports organizations include sponsorship, advertising, merchandise, league revenue sharing, and ticket sales.

Sponsorship is perhaps the largest income source. If you’re a loyal reader of Hybrid.co.id, you may be aware of this. Sponsorship news is frequently circulating on our portal. From the local scene, we know that EVOS was sponsored by Lazada on April 15, 2020. From the international stage, there’s more sponsorship news for esports teams.

Quoting from Newzoo, sponsorship turns out to be the most significant source of income for esports, both for the organizations and the tournament organizers. According to the data, sponsorship contributed US $ 636.9 million (around IDR 9.3 trillion) until February 2020. This amount is the most enormous, compared to other sources of income.

After sponsorship, we have merchandise sales. This is also a significant source of income, especially if the esports team is in the top class is equipped with a variety of clothing designs that reflects the personality of the fans.

In the international market, FaZe Clan is an esports organization that is actively running the merchandise business. They even bravely declared their ambition to become the Supreme of esports. In Indonesia, EVOS is one of the esports organizations that has earned quite a lot from the merchandise business. According to the latest report, EVOS reportedly received IDR 150 million just from selling merchandise alone during M1 and MPL ID Season 4.

Furthermore, league competition proceeds and ticket sales may be a source of illicit income on the local scene. So far, no esports match in the country has managed to make a big profit from ticket sales. So, we still can’t discuss ticket sales as a source of income for the esports teams.

When it comes to profit sharing, MPL Indonesia applies a franchise league system in the fourth season, which also uses a profit-sharing system between competing teams.

The number is unknown, but the Chief Editor of Hybrid Esports, Yabes Elia, had a chance to talk with Chandra Wijaya, Managing Director of ONIC Esports, discussing the result of the MPL ID Season 4 slot investment. If you are curious about the impact of the MPL ID S4 league franchise on the business aspects of an esports team, you can watch the interview video below.

From all the various sources of income for the esports teams, how does content play a role in the development of the team? Let’s discuss in the next section.

Content as a Source of Income For The Esports Team

Before we discuss more, let’s equate our perception of what is meant by content. In this section, we will limit the discussion of content to Instagram content, YouTube creative content, and live streaming content.

From the source of income for the esports team that we discussed earlier, the income that can be obtained by content can be categorized in the advertising and sponsorship revenue. Why is that? Because sponsorship can include content collaboration in it and content can also get particular income in the form of advertising or brand advertising in the way of the esports’s team content.

If we take a look at the International scene, FaZe Clan is perhaps the ideal example of how an esports organization uses content as their source of income. If we refer to the social media analytics site, Social blade, we can see that Faze Clan’s YouTube channel is one of the biggest in the gaming category. It is noted that the Faze Clan YouTube channel has been subscribed to by 7 million people and can obtain up to US$ 1.5 million (around IDR 22 million).

However, the estimated earnings came from Google AdSense only. Even though it looks very high, the amount is insignificant for an esports organization which, according to Forbes, has a valuation value of US $ 240 million (around IDR 3.5 trillion).

Although it is estimated that Google AdSense revenue is not that large, the entertaining content that many people enjoy from FaZe Clan opens up other business opportunities like sponsorship and advertising. For example, the collaboration between FaZe Clan and Manchester City.

In the Co-Branding collaboration, it is said that the use of the Manchester City jersey with the FaZe Clan brand elements is one of the things that are done in this collaboration. But besides that, there is a content collaboration between the two. With millions of views of every content hosted by FaZe Clan, it’s no wonder sponsors are scrambling to get the opportunity to collaborate with esports team that started their journey from Call of Duty.

The gaming and esports industry are one of the hottest industries lately. No wonder that various brands, both endemic and non-endemic, want to have the attention from the esports audiences; which according to Newzoo has reached 495 million people in the world.

Apart from YouTube content, another area that is also promising in terms of content for esports team is live streaming. Twitch, as the most prominent platform with total watch time reaching 3 billion hours in Q1, is the best platform for esports organizations to get their fans.

In the international esports scene, it’s no wonder we see an esports organization that have a streamer who streams using the organization’s name. The SoloMid team, for example, has Ali Kabbani (Myth) as a content creator and streamer to represent the esports team. FaZe Clan used to have Turner Tenney (tfue) as their mainstay streamer and content creator, although they were eventually parted due to an exploitative contract scandal.

From the case example above, we see how content is also a promising source of income for esports organizations. Then what about esports organization in Indonesia? When it comes to live-streaming, the one difference is that Twitch’s position is irrelevant for the Indonesian gaming market.

Quoting the Esports Markets Trend report compiled by DSResearch in September 2019, 84,6% of the 1.445 total respondents still chose YouTube as their favourite platform for watching gaming content.

To see the role of content for Indonesian esports organizations scene, I took the example of Rex Regum Qeon, which has a YouTube channel with 1.49 million subscribers, one of the largest in Indonesia. Looking at the data from Social Blade, Rex Regum Qeon can obtain up to US$ 17.4 thousand (around IDR 258 million) per month with a total of US$ 208.5 thousand (around IDR 3 billion) per year from Google AdSense.

What makes it interesting, this number actually competes with the total winning prizes obtained by RRQ throughout 2019 which reached at least IDR 5.7 billion. Moreover, as we discussed at the beginning of this article, esports teams usually don’t take all tournament prizes, but at most only 40% share.

So, assuming that RRQ deducts 40% of the tournament prizes that players get, RRQ management will only receive IDR 2.2 billion, IDR 800 million less than the Google AdSense YouTube Channel revenue that they got.

Then how about spending on creating content? The salary for a streamer can be more expensive or cheaper than the wage required for an esports team. Suppose that the salaries for the AOV team for EVOS is in the range of IDR 43 million a month or the minimum salary for the MPL ID team is IDR 45 million a month (IDR 7.5 million x 6), the same number could be used to pay a content creation team. The initial capital for this equipment may reach IDR 50-100 million for video content. Fortunately, the money for this equipment is not something that has to be spent every month – except every month they slammed the camera.

Although esports team expenses could be varied, one thing that cannot be denied is that building a champion team may be more complicated than building a good content team.

Sumber: PUBG Mobile Esports — Source: PUBG Mobile Esports

Why? There are two reasons. First, the content industry is much more mature and older than the esports industry. Professionals who are good at video recording or editing can be found in entertainment industries outside of esports—likewise, the equipment. For example, you can find every component to assemble a low-class desktop PC to the high class in Indonesia. Whereas in esports, the players who are in the top category are still minimal. Same with the coach, for example. You can’t hire a soccer coach to train the Dota 2 team and expect it to adapt quickly – unlike videographers or video editors from the entertainment industry outside of esports.

The second reason why building a champion team is more difficult is because there is only one way; that is, to have a remarkable ability to be a champion. This ability is unlikely to be obtained instantly. The team cohesiveness when competing is also the same.

As for content popularity? There are many ways to find popularity. Female streamers can take advantage of body and face exploration. In fact, it’s easy to get a pretty face or a great body – if you’re lucky in the genetic draw. Some streamers prefer to take advantage of deviant behaviour and harsh words to provoke popularity. Popularity is often not directly proportional to capability. Even a little kid eating meatballs can be popular without needing thousands of hours of training like an esports team. Conversely, you can’t win a competition just by showing cleavage – unless maybe the tournament is about it…

The Conclusion

Through the discussions above, we can at least get a rough idea of what esports organizations can get for the achievements they are pursuing and the creative content they produce.

So, achievement or content? It seems that the two of those things are like two lovers who are inseparable and complementary in the process of developing an esports organization.

After all, even a team that is focusing on content like FaZe Clan also has the ambition to become a champion, to the point that they are willing to spend US$ 700,000 in 2016 to buy the CS: GO roster. Team Liquid, which aggressively pursuing achievements, also keeps creating content so that they can still exist in cyberspace.

Even RRQ, which focusing on becoming champions, continues to take advantage of the popularity of their victories as content to continue to make money to help RRQ success.

Building and developing a champion team takes a long time – at least not as short as finding attractive girls or funny and controversial streamers.

The original article is in Indonesian, translated by @dwikaputra

Apa Saja yang Dibutuhkan untuk Jadi Jurnalis di Media Game dan Esports?

Saya tahu, buat generasi yang lebih muda, menjadi YouTuber atau malah menjadi atlet esports terdengar lebih mentereng. Memang, pendapat itu tadi benar adanya. Jurnalis biasanya memang tak dikagumi atau malah dikenal khalayak luas.

Meski demikian, jurnalis adalah salah satu pekerjaan yang punya usia produktif paling panjang. Kenyataannya, pekerjaan-pekerjaan di belakang layar memang kemungkinan besar punya usia produktif lebih panjang. Jika Anda tidak percaya, di Indonesia sendiri, ada Rosihan Anwar dan Goenawan Mohammad (GM) — yang juga jadi idola saya. Keduanya masih aktif menulis meski sudah masuk di usia senja. Rosihan Anwar (alm.) dan GM bahkan masih aktif menulis meski sudah berusia 80an.

Tidak sedikit juga senior-senior saya di meja redaksi yang mencapai puncak masa kariernya justru di usia 40an ke atas.

Di sisi lain, siapakah yang tidak ingin bekerja sesuai dengan passion? Jurnalis media game dan esports, nyatanya, memang akan banyak berkutat dengan topik-topik di ranah itu setiap harinya — meski juga dituntut untuk belajar ranah lainnya, yang akan saya bahas nanti.

Jadi, jika Anda seorang gamer dan fans esports yang ingin mencari pekerjaan sesuai passion dan punya usia produktif sangat panjang, jadi jurnalis di media game dan esports adalah salah satu jalan yang bisa Anda tempuh.

Namun demikian, nyatanya, saya selalu percaya bahwa tidak ada pekerjaan yang mudah di dunia ini jika Anda punya tujuan untuk sampai ke tingkat profesional. Masak mie instan memang mudah namun memasak sampai ke tingkat chef hotel atau restoran bintang lima? Selamat berjuang selama bertahun-tahun. Sekadar bisa bermain gitar atau piano juga tak butuh waktu sampai setahun. Namun, untuk sampai ke level yang sama seperti Yovie Widianto atau malah Carlos Santana? Anda tidak bisa mencapai tingkat itu dalam sekejap. Demikian juga dengan keahlian tulis menulis ataupun jurnalistik.

Saya sendiri sudah mengawali karier saya sebagai jurnalis/penulis di majalah cetak dari 2008. Pengalaman 12 tahun di industri game/esports mungkin memang kedengarannya cukup panjang namun, di ranah tulis menulis, pengalaman tersebut masih terhitung bau bawang, eh bau kencur — mengingat ada yang sekelas Rosihan Anwar ataupun GM.

Jadi, jika Anda ingin mencari jalan pintas ataupun popularitas sesaat, mungkin ada baiknya Anda menutup artikel ini sekarang. Sebaliknya, jika Anda orang yang sabar dan ingin berjuang dalam waktu yang panjang bekarier sebagai penulis/jurnalis di media game/esports, inilah beberapa hal fundamental yang harus Anda pelajari.

Kemampuan berbahasa di atas rata-rata

Bagi saya pribadi, inilah kemampuan dasar pertama yang harus disadari dan dipelajari terus menerus — tidak peduli seberapa lama Anda sudah belajar berbahasa.

Kenapa kemampuan berbahasa jadi yang pertama? Karena, sepintar apapun, Anda tidak akan ada gunanya jika tak mampu menerjemahkan ide menjadi bentuk yang lebih verbal. Hal ini juga sebenarnya berlaku buat banyak profesi lainnya, jika ingin disadari.

Kemampuan berbahasa ini juga tidak sedangkal yang dibayangkan. Mengenali dan memahami unit bahasa, seperti kata, frasa, klausa, kalimat, dan paragraf hanyalah salah satu pengetahuan dasar yang wajib disadari. Demikian juga soal 4 aspek berbahasa: mendengar, berbicara, membaca, dan menulis.

4 aspek berbahasa tadi mungkin memang kedengarannya mudah. Kita bisa mendengar sejak lahir. Kita juga bisa berbicara sejak usia 1-2 tahun. Kita juga bisa membaca dan menulis setidaknya dari mulai kelas 1 SD. Namun, sekali lagi, kemampuan membaca itu nyatanya bahkan tidak semudah itu. Jangankan membaca, saya tahu menjadi pendengar yang baik saja tidak semua orang mampu melakukannya.

Padahal, faktanya, untuk jadi penulis yang cukup baik, Anda harus jadi pembaca yang sabar. Jika Anda punya tujuan untuk mengasah kemampuan menulis ataupun berbicara, hal fundamental yang harus selalu disadari dan dilakukan adalah mendengar dengan seksama dan membaca dengan teliti.

Hal yang selalu saya tekankan pada setiap penulis yang ada di tim saya adalah kebiasaan untuk membaca dengan kesadaran, apalagi tulisan diri sendiri.

Analoginya, jika tidak suka membaca tulisan Anda sendiri, jangan berharap ada orang lain yang senang membaca tulisan Anda.

Kemampuan dan kesabaran untuk menggali pengetahuan

Hal terpenting kedua yang bagi saya wajib dimiliki oleh seorang jurnalis adalah mampu dan sabar dalam mencari tahu sesuatu.

Bagi saya pribadi, pengetahuan yang kita miliki sekarang tidak ada artinya jika kita tidak mau dan sabar menggali lebih jauh. Kita semua lahir tanpa tahu apapun di dunia ini. Perbedaan antara satu orang dan orang lainnya hanyalah soal bagaimana kita mau terus belajar dan menambah pengetahuan seiring waktu.

Hal ini juga mungkin kedengarannya konyol dan mudah, apalagi di zaman demokratisasi informasi sekarang ini. Namun demikian, dengan begitu banyaknya informasi yang tersedia hanya dengan sejumlah jentikan jari, manusia justru jadinya terlalu malas untuk mencari tahu lebih jauh.

Misalnya saja, saya yakin tidak banyak gamer yang menyadari perbedaan antara developer dan publisher game. Padahal informasi ini mudah sekali dicari.

Beberapa tahun belakangan, fenomena bertanya di media sosial juga jadi lebih marak padahal sebagian besar jawaban pertanyaan tadi bisa juga ditemukan di dunia maya. Manusia, saya dan Anda (karena saya tidak ingin terjebak dengan dikotomi kita dan mereka), lebih suka disuapi informasi ketimbang mencarinya sendiri.

Game dan esports juga sebenarnya bukan ranah yang mudah dipahami. Bahkan saya tahu banyak orang tidak menyadari ada banyak perbedaan mendasar antara industri game dan esports. Memahami dan menghafalkan tim-tim, pemain, dan kompetisi esports itu juga sebenarnya tidak mudah. Apalagi soal pemahaman gameplay dari setiap game yang berbeda-beda.

Kenapa pengetahuan dan usaha menggali pengetahuan ini penting? Karena, sederhananya seperti ini, jika Anda tidak paham betul dengan hal yang sedang dijelaskan (baik itu lewat lisan ataupun tulisan), jangan berharap pembaca atau pendengar bisa paham juga dengan penjelasan Anda.

Selain pengetahuan tentang game dan esports yang tentunya jadi kebutuhan dasar setiap orang yang berkecimpung di industri ini (tak hanya jurnalis di media game/esports), bagi saya pribadi, belajar dari luar ranah ini akan jadi advantage tersendiri untuk Anda. Misalnya saja, saya pribadi tertarik mempelajari hal-hal berbau filsafat, bisnis, dan psikologi. Ketertarikan inilah yang membuat saya memiliki keunikan tersendiri dibanding jurnalis/penulis lain di industri ini.

Saya sungguh percaya bahwa pola pikir kita juga terbentuk dari pengetahuan apa saja yang kita cari. Ditambah lagi, saya kira penting juga untuk belajar dari luar topik profesi yang kita tekuni agar kita tak terjebak dengan lingkaran sempit yang membatasi kekayaan perspektif diri.

Kemampuan sosial dan titik keseimbangan

Bagi saya pribadi jurnalis yang hebat adalah mereka yang punya kapasitas yang berimbang antara kemampuan personal dan sosial. Dengan kata lain, jurnalis yang ideal itu tidak hanya butuh pengetahuan tetapi juga pintar berkawan.

Di kepala saya, jika harus menyederhanakan kategori kemampuan manusia, saya membaginya menjadi dua. Pertama adalah kemampuan kognitif manusia, yang bisa berupa cara berpikir kritis, kecepatan dalam memahami berbagai konsep, kemampuan menghafal, dan lain sebagainya. Kedua, adalah soal kapabilitas emosional seperti bagaimana berempati, kendali diri, bagaimana cara berkomunikasi yang efektif, ataupun tidak canggung saat bertemu dengan kawan baru.

Saya tahu ada orang-orang pintar yang mungkin kesulitan mencari kawan. Sebaliknya, saya tahu juga ada orang-orang yang populer dan punya kawan banyak tapi bodoh… Wkwkakwkakwa…

Dari pengalaman saya, seorang jurnalis yang baik harus bisa berada di tengah-tengah itu — mengingat setiap kita manusia punya keterbatasan waktu setiap harinya. Untuk mengembangkan kapasitas diri ataupun bersosialisasi, kita butuh waktu. Sedangkan setiap kita hanya punya waktu 24 jam setiap harinya. Karena itulah, kita yang harus pintar membagi waktu antara belajar hal baru atau membangun (atau menjaga) jaringan.

Saya percaya ada pekerjaan-pekerjaan lain yang memang lebih cocok bagi mereka yang ingin menitikberatkan di satu sisi saja. Programmer atau engineer misalnya, kemampuan kognitif mereka tentu lebih penting ketimbang kemampuan sosial. Sebaliknya, jaringan Anda lebih penting ketimbang kemampuan kognitif buat yang berkecimpung di bisnis atau malah jadi selebriti…

Seorang jurnalis yang baik, harus bisa menemukan titik keseimbangan di kedua sisi tadi. Walaupun, memang, saya juga sebenarnya percaya bahwa keseimbangan antara dua kapasitas tadi penting juga untuk setiap profesi. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, ataupun Mark Zuckerberg, bukanlah yang paling pintar di bidangnya masing-masing namun mereka adalah yang paling bisa menjaga keseimbangan antara kemampuan kognitif dan sosial.

Sebelum jadi melebar ke mana-mana, kemampuan sosial bagi jurnalis ini penting karena wawancara adalah salah satu bagian yang tak terpisahkan. Faktanya, ada banyak informasi yang tidak tersedia di internet sana.

Saya pribadi sebenarnya lebih sering mendapatkan informasi off-the-record yang tak bisa disampaikan ke publik. Jika sebuah informasi tidak dapat dipublikasikan, lalu apa gunanya buat jurnalis? Hmmm… Banyak sekali sebenarnya. Meski ada banyak informasi yang tidak bisa saya publikasikan, informasi tadi bisa jadi bahan pertimbangan saya menilai dan memahami banyak hal. Faktanya, kemampuan kita berpikir dan menilai sesuatu juga berdasarkan pada seberapa banyak pengetahuan yang kita miliki.

Selain itu, trust itu juga penting dimiliki. Nyatanya, kedekatan personal tetap saja berpengaruh terhadap perjalanan karier profesional kita. Misalnya saja, jika setiap curhatan para pelaku esports itu saya tuliskan jadi artikel, kemungkinan besar, mereka tidak akan lagi percaya saya bisa jadi tempat bercerita. Hal ini berarti semakin sedikit informasi yang akan saya dapatkan di masa mendatang. Ditambah lagi, saya juga tahu bahwa image jurnalis di zaman modern ini juga tidak selalu positif karena media-media tak jarang memilih untuk mengeluarkan berita bombastis demi menarik perhatian pembaca.

Saya bisa memahami metode tersebut sebenarnya. Karena begitu banyaknya informasi dan konten yang ada di zaman internet ini, media juga harus menarik perhatian dengan berbagai cara. Namun demikian, jujur saja, saya tidak ingin mengorbankan kepercayaan rekan-rekan saya di industri ini hanya untuk mendapatkan jutaan pembaca lebih banyak.

Kesabaran berproses dan ketelitian pada detail

Akhirnya, kita sampai pada aspek terakhir yang menurut saya penting untuk dimiliki oleh seorang jurnalis di media game dan esports.

Kenapa hal ini jadi penting untuk saya sebutkan? Karena, industri game dan esports memang biasanya dipenuhi dengan anak-anak muda yang mungkin tak sabar dengan proses. Industri ini juga biasanya dipenuhi dengan orang-orang yang memang punya passion di esports dan game. Jika Anda ingin terkenal atau sukses dengan cepat, mungkin Anda tidak cocok dengan profesi jurnalis di media game/esports.

Seperti yang saya bilang tadi, usia produktif seorang jurnalis itu panjang. Ibaratnya, jika dianalogikan dengan lomba lari, profesi jurnalis seperti lari maraton — bukan lari jarak dekat. Anda harus berpikir jangka panjang untuk membangun karier.

Jurnalisme juga sudah ada sejak lama, sekitar tahun 1400an. Jurnalisme modern juga sudah dimulai dari tahun 1703. Jadi, sudah banyak sekali orang-orang yang jauh berpengalaman di sini. Anda boleh bangga jika sudah berpengalaman sebagai social media specialist selama 15 tahun karena memang Facebook baru berdiri di 2004 dan, sebelumnya, belum ada profesi tersebut (sepengetahuan saya). Contoh lain, Anda juga bisa bangga jika sudah belajar Phyton (bahasa pemrograman) selama 20 tahun karena memang Phyton 2.0 memang baru dirilis tahun 2000.

Namun di jurnalistik ataupun dunia tulis menulis (yang bahkan lebih tua lagi), pengalaman saya yang 12 tahun pun sebenarnya masih terhitung seumur jagung. Saya memang sempat menuliskan yang sama di awal artikel tadi sebenarnya. Namun demikian, saya memang ingin menekankannya sekali lagi karena melihat banyak kaum muda yang sepertinya cepat puas dan bangga dengan pengalaman 1-2 tahun semata…

Kemampuan untuk memperhatikan detail kecil juga saya kira berhubungan dengan soal kesabaran… Tidak sedikit para pekerja sekarang yang inginnya cepat selesai dalam mengerjakan sesuatu. Karya jurnalistik, bagi saya, tidak dapat diperlakukan seperti itu — yang penting selesai. Memang, deadline juga jadi bagian tak terpisahkan dari publikasi berita namun bukan berarti jadi harus mengorbankan banyak detail.

Menurut saya, di sinilah kompleksitasnya. Di satu sisi, tuntutan waktu pasti ada namun tuntutan kualitas juga tak boleh dikorbankan.

Penutup

Mungkin, setiap kualitas yang saya tuliskan tadi juga berguna buat profesi lainnya. Namun demikian, berhubung memang sebagian besar pengalaman saya memang hanya soal jurnalistik/tulis menulis di industri game, saya tidak bisa berbicara untuk profesi lainnya.

Bagi saya, kesulitan utama dari seorang jurnalis adalah pada titik keseimbangan. Terlalu banyak menghabiskan waktu mengembangkan kapasitas diri namun tak punya kawan, akhirnya juga kurang maksimal. Sebaliknya, terlalu banyak nongkrong di warung kopi bersama kawan tanpa pernah membaca buku akhirnya pun tulisannya tak ada isinya. Di sisi lain, menjaga keseimbangan antara deadline dan detail juga bukan hal yang mudah dikuasai dalam waktu sesaat.

Sebagai penutup, saya pribadi juga masih harus banyak sekali belajar dan penuh dengan cela. Namun setidaknya, hal-hal di atas tadi yang berhasil membawa saya ke titik ini sekarang. Semoga artikel ini berguna untuk Anda.

Feat Image: via Bangkok Post

Positive and Negative Effects from the Petition to Bring Social Media Under Broadcasting Law

A while ago, a piece of news made Indonesian netizens mad. RCTI and iNews TV called for a judicial review to Constitutional Court, to bring social media under broadcasting law.

Upfront, I will tell you that I absolutely against this petition. However, I genuinely believe that to be critical, we have to be able to see every phenomenon from opposing perspectives.

That’s why I want to write the positive and negative effects if the petition is granted.

Before going further, there are two things that I need to clarify. First, Hybrid is indeed an esports and gaming media. However, since the impacts of this petition could affect so many people, we may discuss this beyond esports and gaming industry.

Secondly, this article mostly consists of my opinion, based on my experience working in the media industry since 2008 — when I was starting my career in a printed magazine.

Positive effects with social media brought under broadcasting law

As I mentioned previously, even if I firmly against it, it doesn’t mean I can see positive things from it. I think it needs to explain since I know so many people suffer from cognitive bias.

The first positive effect that I can see is from taxation from content creators in social media. I know taxation couldn’t be seen as positive from the anarchists… However, bigger taxes from a specific industry means more significant leverage it has against national policy. Of course, another good thing is in the form of higher income for this country.

If the petition is granted, anyone has to become a broadcasting institution with permission if they want to live stream or put content in social media. This is said by The Communications and Information Ministry’s informatics director general, Ahmad M. Ramli. Cited from The Jakarta Post, he said, “If the petition is granted an added definition […] it will cause legal uncertainty for broadcasting and the public,” Ahmad said during a hearing at the Constitutional Court last Wednesday. “Expanding the definition of ‘broadcast’ to include activities such as Instagram TV, Instagram Live, Facebook Live, YouTube Live and the distribution of audio-visual content on social media platforms […] means requiring [the companies] to register as broadcasting firms, which, in turn, requires the formation of entirely new broadcasting bodies that are not accommodated by the Broadcasting Law.”

By changing all streamers and content creators into legal institutions, it should be easier to monitor taxation from them.

Currently, I’m pretty sure there are many content creators from Indonesia on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and the others that don’t pay taxes even though they get revenue from doing it. If they are forced to become a legal institution, they could have an obligation to submit a tax report to have the broadcasting permission.

Another positive effect is about credibility and accountability. ‘Traditional’ media such as printed media, radio, or TV station could be said better in terms of accountability — generally — compared to the others posting contents in social media. Meanwhile, anonymity is one of the most significant factors that can be abused in the internet world; to escape from consequences. An example of this comes from the gaming community when anonymity creates toxicity among players.

However, this argument is flawed since, lately, the chaos in the virtual world caused by public figures — not from anonymous social media account with no name behind it. For example, the conspiration theory and bringing questionable sources to be interviewed came from public figures.

When talking about credibility and accountability, rules could be made to make sure more useful contents creation — rather than sensational or wasting time. Sadly, again, this is debatable.

Let me ask you this. Every content from TV stations is monitored by a government institution. However, is every content from them useful? Is there a bad quality or political contents on TV currently? This is me asking, not accusing…

Honestly, after 2 days and nights searching for positive impacts, I could only found the taxation argument that’s truly positive. However, there are more elegant ways to increase taxes from content creators.

If you find another argument that supports this petition, we can discuss it.

Negative effects with social media brought under broadcasting law

I still remember when I was working for a printed media. At that time, media become one of the few that could control information.

As a writer, I know exactly how precious information is. Business owners also know that information is expensive. That’s why the marketing budget is usually enormous for those who want awareness in a short time.

Nowadays, every person could share information (whether positive or negative, true or false) using any platform they want. Some people call this phenomenon with the democratization of information. This also means that people could choose which kind of information becomes trending and viral.

Indeed, democracy has big flaws — at least according to Socrates. A popularity contest isn’t always good compared to curator-based contents. For example, nowadays, personal drama becomes more popular than useful contents in the esports community — because of the fact that people prefer banal things. This is why the internet filled more with negativity.

However, I do know that many content creators have good intention, spreading positive and useful contents. So, nowadays, it’s up to us as consumers to choose whether we want to consume junk or meaningful contents. I prefer to spend my time to watch videos from Wisecrack, The Royal Institution, Economics Explained, Kurzgesagt, and the others.

If we look back to the previous era, when the information flow is controlled by a few people, the consumers are not the deciders on what kind of content that could be consumed.

Once again, I don’t deny that there are so many malicious and useless contents in the virtual world and social media. However, right now, I could choose to spend my time wisely or making a fool of myself. The choice is in your hand — not in the hand of some few people who have different purposes and agendas (though it could be positive or negative too).

The second negative effect is on the complication with the permit application. Let’s say every content creators from Indonesia must have a broadcasting license, how about the content creators from all over the world? Do they have to apply for a permit too?

On 2019, there are more than 31 million channels on YouTube. I don’t know how many of them come from Indonesia. What will happen if millions of them don’t have a broadcasting license?

Those numbers are just counting from YouTube. We haven’t touch Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, NimoTV, or the others. Besides the complications, the time to handle all of that application is absurd. Furthermore, we have seen more government institutions taking focus on morality rather than practicality. Maybe they don’t have any spare time to manage the applications for broadcasting licenses.

Another adverse effect is from the new industries that will be delayed with this new law, such as the esports industry. It’s undebatable that broadcasting is an integral part of the esports industry. If the petition is granted, there will be many organizations having difficulty to broadcast their esports events. Even though some companies may be able to get that, the process will take time. Should every event be put on hold because of that?

I’m pretty sure the law will delay other industries, other than esports and game. Indonesia is already left behind compared to the other countries, in terms of creative industries. Is it worth to delay it further just to make a few people happy?

Last words…

Finally, I know that it’s not possible to list every single possible positive and negative effect. Although, I think most arguments could be covered with the concept of the democratization of information.

On the other side, I, who have been working in the media industry from 2008, know precisely that this democratization of information make traditional media lose influence and revenue. Traditional media isn’t only competing with Google and Facebook in getting advertising budgets, but also with content creators in social media.

However, I do know that accepting reality and adapting is easier and more profitable, rather than being unable to move on from the past…

Feat Image: via Medium. The original article is in Indonesian, translated by Yabes Elia

Apa Dampak dari Dinyatakannya Esports Sebagai Cabang Olahraga Prestasi?

Esports mulai diakui sebagai olahraga di dunia internasional. Buktinya, esports telah dimasukkan ke dalam beberapa kegiatan olahraga akbar. Misalnya, pada Asian Games 2018, esports menjadi pertandingan eksibisi. Sementara dalam SEA Games 2019, esports bahkan menjadi cabang olahraga bermedali. Sebelum Olimpiade 2020 dibatalkan, esports juga masuk sebagai kegiatan pre-event Olimpiade. Sementara itu, Komite Olimpiade Internasional (IOC) juga percaya, esports bisa dianggap sebagai kegiatan olahraga, walau mereka hanya ingin fokus pada game esports yang didasarkan pada olahraga tradisional.

Di Indonesia, esports mulai menjadi perhatian pemerintah sejak beberapa tahun lalu. Salah satu alasan pemerintah tertarik dengan esports adalah karena industri competitive gaming dipercaya akan bisa membuka lowongan pekerjaan untuk generasi muda di Indonesia. Memang, walau atlet esports sering menjadi sorotan media dan perhatian banyak orang, sebenarnya ada berbagai pekerjaan lain yang bisa Anda temukan di industri esports, mulai dari manager tim esports sampai analis.

Minggu lalu, pemerintah kembali menunjukkan perhatiannya pada esports. Kementerian Pemuda dan Olahraga (Kemenpora) dan Komite Olahraga Nasional Indonesia (KONI) menyatakan esports sebagai cabang olahraga berprestasi. Pertanyaannya adalah:

Apa Dampaknya?

Sebelum kita masuk ke dalam pembahasan tentang dampak dari pernyataan Kemenpora dan KONI bahwa esports merupakan olahraga prestasi, mari kita bahas tentang pengertian dari olahraga prestasi itu sendiri, yang terdapat di dalam UU no.3 Tahun 2005 tentang Sistem Keolahragaan Nasional, Pasal 20.

“Olahraga prestasi dimaksudkan sebagai upaya untuk meningkatkan kemampuan dan potensi olahragawan.” – Pasal 20, Ayat 1

Esports sudah dinyatakan sebagai olahraga prestasi. Hal itu berarti, pemerintah punya kewajiban untuk “meningkatkan kemampuan dan potensi olahragawan”. Di esports, olahragawan adalah para pemain profesional. Hybrid lalu menghubungi Ashadi Ang, Ketua Humas Pengurus Besar Esports Indonesia (PBESI) untuk membahas tentang rencana konkret pemerintah terkait hal ini.

“Tahap pertama, kita akan menjaring dulu bibit unggul dari berbagai provinsi maupun kota melalui ESI Provinsi yg telah terbentuk saat ini,” kata Ashadi. Per Maret 2020, PBESI telah melantik pengurus di 34 provinsi Indonesia. “Lalu, para bibit unggul ini akan dipertandingkan lagi ke tingkat nasional melalui PBESI Pusat. Tentunya, para atlet/bibit unggul yang telah terjaring akan melewati pembinaan maupun pelatihan tersendiri oleh PB Esports Indonesia. Dan tentunya, ekosistem dari esports sendiri yang telah tergabung dalam PBESI akan membantu untuk pembinaan tersebut.”

Lebih lanjut, Ashadi menjelaskan, PBESI akan mengadakan turnamen esports secara rutin, baik di tingkat provinsi maupun kabupaten. Sayangnya, dia tidak memberikan informasi lebih lanjut tentang sistem turnamen atau game yang akan diadu dalam kompetisi tersebut.

“Turnamen game apa, akan ditentukan sesuai dengan kondisi perkembangan game yang sedang terjadi. Game yang akan menjadi fokus dari PBESI adalah game yang banyak peminatnya dan dapat membawa manfaat bagi banyak orang dan juga game yang akan dipertandingkan di level internasional,” ujar Ashadi.

Berdasarkan akun Instagram resmi PB Esports, ada lima ESI Provinsi yang telah mengadakan turnamen esports. Salah satunya adalah ESI Badung, yang mengadakan turnamen Mobile Legends dan PUBG Mobile pada awal Agustus 2020 dengan total hadiah Rp8 juta. Selain itu, ESI Lampung juga telah menyelenggarakan Esports Lampung Championship. Turnamen dengan total hadiah Rp50 juta itu mengadu tiga game, yaitu PUBG, Mobile Legends, dan PES. Sementara ESI Sulawesi Selatan mengadakan turnamen esports PUBG Mobile dengan total hadiah Rp10 juta.

ESI Bangka Belitung bekerja sama dengan Polda Bangka Belitung untuk mengadakan turnamen esports pada 21-23 Agustus. Total hadiah dari turnamen tersebut mencapai Rp10 juta. Terakhir, ESI Gorontalo mengadakan turnamen PUBG Mobile pada 29 Agustus dengan total hadiah Rp20 juta.

Satu hal yang harus diingat, game esports yang populer di Indonesia berbeda dengan game yang populer di tingkat internasional. Menurut PC Games Impact Index dari The Esports Observer, League of Legends telah menjadi game esports dengan dampak paling besar di ekosistem esports selama beberapa kuartal berturut-turut. Namun, di Indonesia, jangankan skena esports yang tumbuh pesat, popularitas dari League of Legends pun masih kalah jika dibandingkan dengan game-game PC lain, seperti Dota 2 atau Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Sebagai negara mobile first, game esports yang berkembang di Indonesia memang mobile game, seperti Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, dan Free Fire. Tak hanya itu, publisher dari ketiga game tersebut — Moonton, Tencent, dan Garena — juga peduli pada pengembangan ekosistem esports dari game mereka di Indonesia. Baik Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, dan Free Fire, ketiganya memiliki liga esports rutin. Walau memang, pasar mobile game di Indonesia jauh lebih besar dari pasar game PC. Jadi tak heran, jika publisher mobile game mau fokus untuk mengembangkan ekosistem esports Tanah Air.

Pembinaan dan Penyuluhan

Ashadi menjelaskan, setelah menemukan bibit unggul dengan mengadakan turnamen di tingkat kabupaten dan provinsi, PBESI juga akan melakukan pembinaan, sesuai dengan UU no. 3 Tahun 2005 tentang Sistem keolahragaan Nasional, Pasal 22, ungkap Ashadi.

“Pemerintah melakukan pembinaan dan pengembangan olahraga melalui penetapan kebijakan, penataran/pelatihan, koordinasi, konsultasi, komunikasi, penyuluhan, pembimbingan, pemasyarakatan, perintisan, penelitian, uji coba, kompetisi, bantuan, pemudahan, perizinan, dan pengawasan.” – Pasal 22.

Saat ini, peraturan tentang esports masih dalam tahap penyusunan. Terkait topik apa saja yang akan dibahas, Ashadi mengatakan bahwa kebijakan terkait esports akan mencakup banyak hal, termasuk kategori umur pemain serta syarat penyelenggaraan turnamen demi memastikan turnamen yang diselenggarakan sudah sesuai dengan standar PBESI.

Wacana lain yang dicakup oleh Undang-Undang terkait olahraga prestasi adalah penyuluhan. “Salah satu agenda dari PBESI adalah untuk membuka wawasan orangtua bahwa esports itu berbeda dengan main game, bahwa esports ada masa depan, dan ada jenjang karirnya,” jelas Ashadi. Dia juga mengatakan, mereka ingin memberikan edukasi bahwa pekerjaan di dunia esports tak terbatas menjadi pemain profesional saja. “Tapi juga termasuk broadcasting, project management, content creator dan lain sebagainya,” akunya.

PBESI dan Badan Game/Esports Lain di Indonesia

Jika Anda memantau perkembangan industri esports (atau menjadi pembaca setia Hybrid), Anda pasti tahu bahwa PB Esports bukanlah badan esports pertama di Indonesia. Faktanya, jika dibandingkan dengan beberapa badan gaming/esports di Indonesia, PB Esports masih sangat baru.

PB Esports resmi dilantik pada Januari 2020. Sementara itu, Indonesia Esports Association (IESPA) telah berdiri sejak 2013, Asosiasi olahraga Video Game Indonesia (AVGI) sejak Juli 2019, dan Federasi Esports Indonesia sejak Oktober 2019. Terkait hal ini, Ashadi mengatakan bahwa badan-badan game/esports selain PB Esports dibentuk sebaga badan cabang olahraga rekreasi.

“Hanya PBESI satu-satunya badan yang diakui oleh Pemerintah Republik Indonesia sebagai badan pemerintahan resmi di bawah KONI untuk cabang olahraga prestasi,” katanya. Namun, dia meyakinkan, PBESI akan bekerja sama dengan asosiasi game/esports lain yang ada.

Melirik Tiongkok yang Sudah Mengakui Pekerjaan Esports Sebagai Profesi

Indonesia bukan satu-satunya negara di Asia yang pemerintahnya peduli dengan esports. Pemerintah Tiongkok juga peduli pada esports. Faktanya, pasar esports di Tiongkok merupakan salah satu pasar yang paling berkembang di dunia. Pada 2019, pasar esports di Tiongkok tumbuh 25% jika dibandingkan dengan tahun sebelumnya. Dukungan pemerintah dipercaya sebagai salah satu alasan mengapa pasar esports Tiongkok bisa tumbuh dengan sangat pesat.

Bentuk dukungan pemerintah di Tiongkok bisa dilihat dari apa yang dilakukan pemerintah Shanghai. Pada 2017, pemerintah Shanghai mulai mengeluarkan wacana bahwa mereka ingin menjadikan Shanghai sebagai ibukota esports dalam waktu tiga sampai lima tahun ke depan. Untuk merealisasikan rencana itu, pemerintah Shanghai membuat sejumlah panduan. Salah satunya adalah mereka akan meningkatkan kapasitas riset dan pembuatan konten terkait esports dan juga mendorong media untuk membahas esports lebih sering.

Pemerintah Shanghai juga ingin agar jumlah turnamen esports besar yang diselenggarakan di Shanghai bertambah. Salah satu turnamen esports besar yang akan diadakan di Shanghai dalam waktu dekat adalah League of Legends World Championship. Dengan pandemi virus corona, sempat muncul kekhawatiran bahwa turnamen global tersebut akan dibatalkan atau dialihkan menjadi turnamen online.

Namun, pada Agustus 2020, Riot Games mengatakan bahwa mereka akan tetap mengadakan LWC di Shanghai. Mereka mengungkap, untuk melakukan itu, mereka tak hanya memonitor dampak COVID-19 dengan ketat, tapi juga terus menjalin komunikasi dengan pemerintah lokal dan nasional. Kesediaan pemerintah untuk bekerja sama dengan Riot menunjukkan keseriusan mereka untuk mengembangkan esports, bahkan di tengah pandemi sekalipun.

Selain Shanghai, pemerintah Beijing juga mengatakan bahwa mereka ingin menjadikan kota tersebut sebagai Ibukota Game Online. Mereka berharap, mereka akan bisa merealisasikan rencana itu pada 2025. Jangan heran jika pemerintah kota berbondong-bondong untuk menjadikan kotanya sebagai kota yang ramah pada pelaku industri gaming dan esports. Ketika sebuah kota menjadi tuan rumah dari turnamen esports besar, hal ini akan memberikan dampak ekonomi yang positif.

Dukungan dari pemerintah Tiongkok tak berhenti sampai di situ. Pada Januari 2019, pemerintah Tiongkok meresmikan bahwa esports professional dan esports operator merupakan dua profesi baru. Pada Juli 2019, sebanyak 88 atlet esports dinyatakan sebagai atlet resmi Shanghai. Jangan salah, atlet resmi bukanlah gelar yang bisa didapatkan semua orang. Orang-orang yang menjadi atlet resmi juga berhak untuk mendapatkan berbagai fasilitas dari pemerintah, sama seperti atlet olahraga tradisional lainnya. Contoh fasilitas yang diberikan pemerintah Tiongkok adalah dukungan visa internasional dan fasilitas pendidikan.

Akhir Kata

Jika kita berkaca pada Tiongkok, dukungan pemerintah bisa mengakselerasi pertumbuhan industri esports. Untuk mendukung indsutri esports, pemerintah tak perlu mengambil alih tugas pelaku industri esports lainnya.

Misalnya, pemerintah Shanghai memang ingin agar semakin banyak turnamen esports besar diadakan di sana. Namun, hal itu bukan berarti mereka sibuk menggelar turnamen esports sendiri. Mereka justru bekerja sama dengan pihak lain. Dalam kasus League of Legends World Championship, mereka menggandeng Riot Games. Jika pemerintah Indonesia bisa melakukan hal yang sama (disesuaikan dengan keadaan di Indonesia, tentunya), tak tertutup kemungkinan, industri esports Tanah Air juga akan bisa berkembang pesat.

Sumber header: Game Prime

Why Are There Fewer Original Concepts in Gaming Industry?

It seems there are more unoriginal games nowadays (whether it’s in the form of sequels, remakes, remastered, etc.) For console gamers (or even PC gamers), you should know there is a remake of a legendary game, Final Fantasy VII (FFVII). A while ago, two remastered games were being released close to each other, Mafia II and Saints Row the 3rd.

We don’t even talk about Skyrim or GTA V yet. Those two games have been reproduced many times to the newer platforms. Skyrim even has 3 versions on PC, Skyrim, Skyrim Special Edition, and Skyrim VR.

The similar reproduction phenomenon isn’t just happening in the gaming industry but also in other contents such as songs or movies/TV series.

This is getting worse if we are talking about mobile games because there are so many of them add familiar characters into new games — legally or illegally.

So, the big question, why is this happening and getting more frequent in our time?

There are 5 answers from different perspectives that I found. So, without further ado, these are the answers.

1. Low Cost and Low-Risk Effort of Business

The first answer could be the simplest to understand by everyone. Every business has a risk because it needs investments but it doesn’t always work.

By reproducing the same idea, the cost of doing business is automatically cheaper since there is no need to create the product from zero. Remastered version, for example, doesn’t need script writers, character designers, game designers, voice actors, or music composers. The developer just needs to improve the textures or add some new graphic features in the remastered version.

Remake definitely needs more resources (people, money, and time). Just as FFVII getting remade, the developer has to build the game from the ground. However, it still has one crucial factor that makes it lower risk, which is the audience (market).

FFVII is one of the legendary games from the first PlayStation. Even if you haven’t played, you should have heard of it. That’s why the developer and publisher don’t need to worry about creating a new market because it already exists.

Creating a new market isn’t easy. Gearbox, for example, made Battleborn a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, their effort to introduce new franchise doesn’t work. It means the result is not worth the time, effort, and investments to bring Battleborn to life.

Gearbox has been more successful with Borderlands 3 (which is a sequel) because it already has audiences since BL2 or even BL1.

I think it’s also the case with why so many mobile games offer little value in its authenticity (even though the concept of originality could be up for debate, which will be discussed later). From my experience observing the mobile gaming industry, indeed most (if not all) of mobile games are inspired by (if not copying) the others. It could be in the form of gameplay, characters, or other aspects.

Before we move to the second answer, which will take the user’s perspective, I want to say that remake, remastered, sequel/prequel, spin-off, or any other form that’s not truly original isn’t always negative.

I returned to Skyrim when Bethesda released its Special Edition (which is free for the owner of the base game and all of its DLC). I am also really impressed with Square Enix’s effort in FFVII Remake.

Even though derivative games mean lower cost and lower risk, we can’t judge it too quickly before we experience its implementation. On the other hands, every original thing isn’t automatically a good thing.

2. Nostalgia, Narcissism, dan Familiarity

Every product could stay in the market because it has its own market. This is also the case with the remake, remastered, spin-off, sequel, etc. We love those kinds of products.

There are 3 reasons that I found, from the user’s perspective, on why we love them.

The first and most apparent reason is nostalgia. Who doesn’t like feeling nostalgic? I still remember the feeling when I played Suikoden 2 or Legend of Dragoon on PSX and hope there will remake of them on PC in the future.

When we are listening to vintage songs, watching classic movies, or playing old-school games, our minds remember the sweet memories when we were a child or teenager.

Besides nostalgia, classic products could also be used to satisfy our narcissistic needs. Every person is a narcissist, though at different levels. This is why social media is viral nowadays because, one of the reasons, we like to advertise ourselves in front of our friends and the virtual worlds.

Games, songs, films could be a tool to advertise our taste. If you don’t believe me, you could post, “write 5 of your favourite songs during high school…” I think there will be many people to show their taste to you. This is happening with FFVII because we could show off to the people that this game is a part of our younger life.

Last but not least, one reason that makes us love classics is the familiarity principle/mere-exposure effect. With the hype of MCU in the big screens (which is also the results of familiarity with the comics), more people become familiar with characters in the Marvel universe. This is utilized (or exploited) very well into games on many platforms. Some people could use intertextuality theory, instead of familiarity.

This familiarity also works in our life. When joining a new company, there is a certain comfort to know we already knew someone there. When driving, we also prefer to go through a familiar route.

Those are the 3 factors that make us, as users, susceptible to remake, remastered, sequel, etc.

3. Technological Advancements

One more factor comes from another different perspective. The third perspective comes from the fast technological advancements these years.

In 2011, Ray Kurzweil even said, “so we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate).”

We don’t play classic games anymore because, one of them, is the bad graphic. This is happening because the advancement in graphic technologies is swift. Lets compared two games from Rockstar, GTA V and RDR 2. RDR 2 (2018) was released in just 5 years after GTA V (2013). However, if you compare the visual between them, RDR 2 is so much better.

Before this era, for example, during Super Nintendo (SNES) age, graphic technology development was so much slower. SNES was released first time in 1990 and stopped in 2003. So, its lifetime reached 13 years. PlayStation 4 was released in 2013 but we will see the release of PlayStation 5 soon enough, even though it’s still 7 years later.

This graphic technology development becomes so much faster when we see it through mobile and PC gaming.

On the other side, your standard of technology depends on your experience. For example, if you haven’t used a monitor with 120Hz refresh rate or higher, you won’t feel the need to use it. It’s also the case when you usually use headsets, keyboard, and mouse under $10. Big chance, you don’t need peripherals above $100.

A similar thing also happens in regards to game graphics. If you usually play on PC with the best graphic setting plus ReShade or ENB, you can’t stand to see console’s or even mobile’s graphics. PC Master Race FTW!

Furthermore, technology also makes it easier for the reproduction processes. This is why Skyrim is easier to reproduce, compared to Morrowind or Oblivion. Another example? It’s faster to recreate songs in the digital era, compared to when it’s on vinyl.

When the process is easier or faster, it will lower the cost to recreate the products.

4. The industry is about Reproduction

If the previous 3 answers are easier to understand, the last two remaining answers could be more difficult.

Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer coined a theory called culture industry. This theory says that films, music, and other contents could not be categorized as arts anymore, but products of enterprises. You could search and read it yourself since it will be too long to explain it here.

Theory from Adorno and Horkheimer could be seen as irrelevant with what I want to explain here. However, I mention it because it’s a fascinating topic to learn for people who wants to work in the creative industry.

Since contents (including games) could not be seen as art anymore, it makes sense if the products are replicated to maximize profit.

I’m sure there isn’t an outcry when a lamp is reproduced a million times every day. The designs of mice, keyboards, headsets, or smartphones are also similar among different models.

We don’t (mostly) protest about those things above. Why do we complain about similar contents? All of them are just products of industries.

Despite some people (including me) will still believe that games, music, or films are work of art, the primary purpose of those contents is to generate revenues.

5. Originality is overrated

The last answer could be seen as debatable because I will scrutinize the concept of originality.

Mark Twain said, “the kernel, the soul, let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances is plagiarism.”

He believed that there is no such thing as an original idea since every subject in this world must have been written and examined. The concept of a heroic story, for example, was already found when Beowulf was written a thousand year ago. Heart-broken or love songs? Indeed, we can find them in every generation.

We live in a time when civilization is already 6000 years old. It’s too arrogant or naive if you believe your idea is the first in history. Even the invention of computers came from so many different people’s vision. Every innovation in our history is the result of collaboration (effort and idea) from us as a society.

With the civilization getting older, there will be more unoriginal products in the form of a remake, remaster, sequel, or anything.

I know the fifth answers could be reaching too far from the specific question in the title. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to realize that the concept of originality isn’t as simple as you thought.

However, please don’t use this theory to justify shamelessly copying or plagiarizing other products just for the sake of taking a shortcut into profit.

Final Words

Those are the 5 answers that I can found that maybe could explain why so many remakes, remastered, sequels, in the gaming industry or even other creative endeavours.

From the business, market, and technology perspectives, reproduction makes sense to maximize profits. On the other side, from the culture industry and the concept of originality, it’s inevitable.

The original article is in Indonesian, translated by Yabes Elia

Dampak Positif dan Negatif Gugatan RCTI tentang UU Penyiaran ke Industri Game dan Esports

Beberapa hari yang lalu, jagat dunia lelembut, eh, maya dihebohkan dengan gugatan RCTI dan iNEWS ke Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK) untuk memasukkan setiap tayangan video di media sosial diatur dalam undang-undang penyiaran.

Jujur saja dari awal saya katakan bahwa saya sendiri juga tidak setuju jika gugatan ini dikabulkan. Meski begitu, saya percaya betul bahwa orang yang kritis adalah mereka yang mampu melihat setiap fenomena dalam perspektif berbeda yang bertentangan.

Makanya, saya ingin menuliskan dampak positif dan negatif yang mungkin bisa didapatkan jika gugatan tadi disetujui.

Sebelum kita masuk ke pembahasannya, ada dua hal yang ingin saya sampaikan sebelumnya. Pertama, Hybrid memang media game dan esports namun pembahasan kali ini mungkin tak akan spesifik di ranah ini karena memang dampaknya akan dirasakan di semua industri.

Kedua, artikel ini juga sebagian besar adalah pendapat saya, berdasarkan dari pengalaman saya berkarier di industri media sejak tahun 2008 — saat saya mengawali karier saya di media cetak.

Dampak Positif dari Masuknya Tayangan di Internet ke Undang-Undang Penyiaran

Seperti yang saya tuliskan sebelumnya, meski saya tidak setuju bukan berarti saya tidak bisa melihat sisi positifnya. Saya kira hal ini penting disadari karena saya tahu bahwa kebanyakan orang memang terjebak dengan yang namanya bias kognitif.

Sisi positif pertama yang bisa saya lihat adalah soal penerimaan pajak dari para pembuat konten di dunia maya… Saya tahu mungkin pajak tak bisa dipandang sebagai hal yang positif buat kaum bebal… Wakwkakwkkakwa… Namun, semakin besar pajak sebuah industri, lebih besar juga kemungkinan industri tersebut mendapatkan leverage dalam hal kebijakan negara. Selain soal bertambahnya pendapatan negara dari sektor pajak.

Jika gugatan RCTI tadi dikabulkan, pihak-pihak yang diperbolehkan melakukan penyiaran di platform media sosial harus berupa lembaga penyiaran yang memiliki izin. Hal ini disampaikan oleh Direktur Jenderal Penyelenggaraan Pos dan Informatika (PPI) Kominfo Ahmad M Ramli di Gedung Mahkamah Konstitusi, Jakarta. Katanya, dikutip dari Kompas.com, “definisi perluasan penyiaran kan mengklasifikasikan kegiatan seperti Instagram TV, Instagram live, Facebook live YouTube live dan penyaluran konten audio visual lainnya dalam platform media sosial akan diharuskan menjadi lembaga penyiaran yang wajib berizin.”

Dengan berubahnya setiap pembuat konten di dunia maya menjadi lembaga penyiaran yang berizin, harusnya, pengawasan soal perpajakan dari lembaga-lembaga tersebut jadi lebih mudah.

Saat ini, jujur saja, saya tidak yakin ada banyak kreator konten dari Indonesia di Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, dan kawan-kawannya yang membayar pajak meski mereka mendapatkan keuntungan/pendapatan dari sana. Jika semuanya diharuskan menjadi lembaga penyiaran yang berizin, mereka bisa dipaksa untuk memberikan laporan bukti pajak untuk bisa terus melakukan penyiaran.

Sisi positif yang kedua adalah soal kredibilitas dan akuntabilitas. Media-media ‘tradisional’ seperti media cetak, radio, ataupun televisi memang bisa dibilang lebih unggul dalam hal kredibilitas dan akuntabilitas — umumnya — ketimbang mereka-mereka yang mengungah konten di platform media sosial. Padahal, faktanya, faktor anonimitas adalah salah satu faktor terbesar di jejaring dunia maya yang bisa disalahgunakan untuk menghindar dari konsekuensi perilaku negatif. Contoh paling mudah adalah soal faktor anonimitas yang membuat banyak gamer jadi toxic saat bermain online.

Meski demikian, hal ini juga bisa diperdebatkan karena kegaduhan di dunia maya belakangan ini juga datang dari figur publik — bukan dari akun media sosial yang tak jelas siapa saja orang-orang yang berada di belakangnya. Misalnya seperti soal teori konspirasi pandemi ataupun soal mendatangkan narasumber yang bahkan tak jelas kredibilitasnya.

Berbicara soal kredibilitas/akuntabilitas dan aturan yang lebih ketat juga, harusnya, juga bisa berarti lebih memberikan penekanan pada konten-konten yang memang memiliki manfaat ketimbang yang sekadar mencari sensasi dan membuang-buang waktu. Sayangnya, menurut saya, lagi-lagi hal ini juga bisa didebat…

Izinkan saya bertanya, apakah semua konten di media-media ‘tradisional’ (TV, radio, media cetak) saat ini juga sudah bisa dibilang sepenuhnya berfaedah? Apakah tidak ada satupun konten di media-media yang berizin itu yang hanya sekadar mencari sensasi atau berupa konten picisan? Atau, apakah ada media-media tradisional yang digunakan untuk kepentingan politik golongan tertentu? Saya hanya bertanya ya… Silakan dijawab sendiri… Awawkoakoakwaokaowa…

Jujur saja, setelah 2 hari 2 malam saya mencari sisi positif dari dikabulkannya gugatan itu, saya hanya bisa menemukan soal penerimaan pajak yang (menurut saya) sepenuhnya positif. Meski begitu, menurut saya, harusnya ada cara yang lebih bijak dalam meningkatkan penerimaan pajak dari kreator konten.

Jika Anda bisa menemukan argumentasi lain yang mendukung gugatan ini, kita bisa berdiskusi lebih lanjut soal itu.

Dampak Negatif dari Masuknya Tayangan di Internet ke Undang-Undang Penyiaran

Saya masih ingat betul ketika saya masih menangani sebuah majalah cetak dulu. Kala itu, media memang menjadi salah satu dari segelintir pihak yang bisa mengatur arus informasi.

Sebagai seorang penulis, saya tahu betul betapa berharganya informasi itu. Pemilik bisnis juga tahu betul bahwa informasi memang mahal harganya. Karenanya, anggaran belanja iklan itu biasanya juga tidak kecil buat mereka-mereka yang ingin cepat dikenal masyarakat luas.

Sekarang, semua orang bisa menyebarkan informasi (baik yang positif ataupun negatif, baik yang benar ataupun yang salah) lewat platform apapun yang diinginkan. Ada beberapa orang yang menyebutkannya dengan istilah demokratisasi informasi. Selain semua orang bisa menjadi sumber atau penyebar informasi, masyarakat luas juga jadi penentu informasi seperti apa yang lebih nyaring terdengar…

Memang, nyatanya, demokrasi itu juga punya kekurangan besar — setidaknya menurut Socrates. Popularity contest itu juga tidak selalu lebih positif ketimbang curator-based contents. Salah satu contohnya adalah seperti soal drama di seputar komunitas esports dan game jadi lebih ramai ketimbang hal-hal yang bermanfaat — karena memang sebagian besar orang nyatanya lebih suka dengan hal-hal yang banal. Hal ini jugalah yang membuat internet sepertinya lebih banyak menawarkan konten negatif ketimbang yang positif.

Namun demikian, saya tahu tidak sedikit juga para kreator konten yang memang memiliki keinginan untuk menyebarkan hal-hal positif ataupun yang bermanfaat ketimbang yang hanya sekadar sensasional ataupun mencari keuntungan materiil. Karena itu, sekarang, keputusan untuk mencari konten positif ataupun negatif — konten bermanfaat ataupun konten sampah — ada di tangan Anda sebagai konsumen. Saya, misalnya, jadi bisa memilih untuk menghabiskan waktu menonton video-video dari Wisecrack, The Royal Institution, Economics Explained, Kurzgesagt, dan kawan-kawannya.

Jika kita kembali ke zaman dulu, saat arus informasi dikuasai oleh segelintir orang tadi, kita sebagai konsumen tak lagi bisa jadi penentu konten seperti apa yang ingin kita konsumsi.

Sekali lagi, saya juga tidak menyangkal bahwa ada buanyaaaaaaaaaaak sekali konten negatif di dunia maya dan media sosial. Namun, saat ini, saya sendiri yang bisa memilih apakah saya ingin menggunakan waktu luang saya dengan tontonan bermanfaat atau membodohi diri sendiri. Pilihan itu ada di tangan saya, bukan di segelintir orang yang tentunya punya agenda ataupun tujuannya masing-masing (meski bisa positif ataupun negatif juga)…

Dampak negatif yang kedua adalah soal keruwetan yang bisa diakibatkan dari keharusan masuknya kreator konten di media sosial menjadi lembaga penyiaran yang berizin. Misalnya saja seperti ini, jika memang semua kreator konten asal Indonesia di media sosial diharuskan berizin, bagaimana dengan kreator konten dari luar Indonesia?

Apakah mereka juga harus mengantongi izin? Dari data 2019, ada lebih dari 31 juta kanal yang tersedia di YouTube. Saya tidak tahu ada berapa persen dari semua kanal tersebut yang kreator kontennya berasal dari Indonesia. Namun saya tidak yakin jumlahnya sampai 10% dari total jumlah keseluruhan. Apakah puluhan juta kanal lainnya juga harus mengantongi izin penyiaran? Jika mereka tidak memiliki izin, apa yang terjadi?

Angka tadi masih menghitung jumlah kanal dari YouTube… Belum Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, NimoTV, ataupun yang lainnya. Selain keruwetan yang harus dijalani untuk mengurus itu semua, waktu yang dibutuhkan juga pasti tidak sedikit. Apalagi jika kita melihat tak sedikit lembaga negara yang lebih fokus mengurus soal moral ketimbang hal-hal praktis, mungkin tidak ada waktu lagi yang tersisa untuk mengurus izin penyiaran ataupun izin pendirian lembaga yang berbadan hukum.

Selain itu, dampak negatif terakhir adalah soal industri-industri baru yang akan tersandung dan terhambat dengan adanya aturan baru ini seperti misalnya industri esports. Bagaimanapun juga tayangan pertandingan adalah bagian yang tak dapat dipisahkan dari industri esports. Dengan berlakunya aturan main tersebut, akan ada banyak sekali pihak yang jadi kesulitan untuk menayangkannya. Misalnya pun sejumlah perusahaan mungkin bisa mendapatkan izinnya, tentu saja proses tersebut akan memakan waktu… Apakah semua kompetisi jadi harus tertunda sementara proses perizinan sedang berjalan?

Saya yakin hal ini juga akan menghambat industri-industri lain di luar game dan esports. Faktanya, Indonesia saat ini juga sudah tertinggal dibandingkan dengan banyak negara lain dalam hal industri kreatif. Apakah terhambatnya industri kreatif tanah air memang layak dikorbankan demi memuaskan segelintir orang?

Akhir kata…

Akhirnya, saya tahu saya juga tidak mungkin menuliskan semua kemungkinan positif dan negatif yang bisa terjadi. Seperti misalnya matinya ruang berkreasi, meski hal tersebut sebenarnya juga tercakup dalam konsep demokratisasi konten/informasi — ketika setiap orang bisa menyuguhkan sekaligus memilih konten untuk dikonsumsi.

Di sisi lain, saya yang sudah bekerja di media dari 2008 juga tahu betul jika demokratisasi konten ini membuat media juga kehilangan banyak pengaruh dan juga pendapatan. Media tradisional tak hanya harus bersaing untuk mendapatkan anggaran belanja iklan dengan Google dan Facebook, tetapi juga dengan para konten kreator (baik siapapun atau apapun bentuknya).

Namun demikian, saya juga tahu bahwa menerima kenyataan dan beradaptasi dengan perubahan zaman itu sebenarnya lebih mudah dan menguntungkan ketimbang tak mampu beranjak dari masa lalu…

Feat Image: via Medium