In the esports community, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved, but the most popular events are always the big tournaments with the highest stakes.
These tournaments serve a few specific purposes beyond acting as a simple competition. They allow for the expansion of the gaming community in one swoop as well as bring the community together in a large fashion.
While the big tournaments, with their daunting competition, tend to attract a lot of attention, they don’t bring many new people into the gaming community because their level of play can be off-putting to newer players. That’s exactly where a different type of competition, a local tournament, comes in.
A local tournament is just as it sounds. It attracts players within the nearby area to come and play competitively against people like them. Local tournaments tend to lure players in much the same way larger tournaments do, but they also have specific differences that make them much more effective at doing so.
For one, local tournaments always have a lower overall skill level of play. Large tournaments, with large prize pools, attract the highest level of play since big money prizes will always be more time-effective for pro players. They spend less time to make more money, but lower-level players, who don’t have the skills to beat top-tier opponents, generally go to large tournaments for a few key reasons.
These reasons may be to increase their community standing by placing well, trying to show off no matter how well they perform or just plain old fun. These players are always the ones losing money because the lower a player places at a tournament, the less money they win back, with prizes generally cutting off around 32nd place.
At a local tournament, the lower level of play ensures players who are trying to make an entry into the professional circuit can have similarly skilled opponents, instead of the nation’s top players. Gamers going to locals can get a better chance to show off their skills without getting snuffed out by players who are leagues better, and they have a chance to win a prize, increasing their chances of being a repeat figure at their locals.
This combination of more interesting and satisfying competition for players, alongside the idea of winning a prize, can keep more players coming back again and again. This makes the community bigger and, hopefully, gives those lower-level players a new passion.
Not only do local tournaments bring in more repeat competitors, but they are also much more plentiful. Large tournaments are a rare thing to behold, as their large prize pools and massive magnitude of players can make them quite a feat to organize and execute.
On the contrary, local tournaments typically require a small entry fee for players, often ask players to bring their own controller and make sure no one will ruin the community spirit.
The first two rules aren’t usually an issue since many local tournaments are free and other members of the community sometimes pay for their competitors. There are even players who bring extra controllers specifically so other players can play if they don’t have their own controller.
In a larger tournament, the entry fees will always be present, there won’t be anybody stepping up to pay for you and trying to find another player that will let you borrow their controller is a lot tougher.
Local tournaments tend to be better for the community because they’re livestreamed all the time. At any given time, there are more than likely multiple streams of local tournaments for any popular game.
These livestreams may not always be at the top of Twitch, a popular streaming service, but there are plenty to choose from. Many lively players provide a tight feeling of community because there doesn’t tend to be many viewers. These livestreams also push viewers toward looking into local play for themselves or even just getting involved with the community, regardless of whether they play or not.
One last reason local tournaments have a leg up on larger tournaments is their accessibility. The fact that local tournaments involve the close area means there is the availability of a nearby tournament almost no matter where you go. Alongside how often these local tournaments are held, it’s very easy to get involved in the community of just about any popular game.
All these reasons just go to show that local tournaments are worth a try, whether that reason is to compete or just to have fun and get involved.
Dylan Shepler can be reached at [email protected]