Dwarka: Gone are the days when video gaming used to be not taken well by the people. Today, eSports is becoming a phenomenon around the world because of its appeal to youths. It provides an opportunity for competitive gaming and is watched by millions. Now, educational institutes are also getting into it and engaging the students to participate in it. More and more tournaments are surfacing every day, giving gamers a platform and opportunity to compete and get recognition.
Divyank Atwal is one such youth from Dwarka who has been actively participating in eSports. During the lockdown period, he evolved himself as a champion player and he is now promoting the gaming platform through social media to motivate the youths. He says that video gaming is no more a taboo as it provides many good earning avenues to gamers.
He says, “I see myself as a professional gamer someday and hopefully will inspire many others. My passion for gaming evolved from within.” He enthusiastically said that gaming improves coordination, problem-solving skills, memory and many other multitasking abilities.
22-year-old Divyank is an engineering student and he has also made a team of gamers. The team consists of youths like him from Delhi-NCR. He shared that they have also won tournaments together and now going ahead with various new plans.
“I'm looking forward to growing my YouTube channel and inspiring more youths to participate in eSports. He wants to spread awareness so that parents don't stop their child if they see their children playing the game. I don't want others to miss the good opportunities that these games are offering.”
Divyank was drawn towards the world of eSports as he had a keen interest in computer games since his childhood.
He shares, “I am curious to tell how I got introduced to eSports. It reminds me of my childhood days of gaming. My journey started from a tournament which was organized by a school. One day, I saw my school friends playing this game known as Counter Strike 1.6 and practicing for it. It seemed interesting and there were so many other kids like us playing games from their computer online. They were screaming, enjoying and having lots of fun. The atmosphere gave me a good vibe. I started with Counter-Strike 1.6 and slowly got better at it. Later on, I got to know that I can participate in tournaments and get prizes. That’s when I decided I should give this a try.”
With this curiosity, Divyank kept on finding time from school and coaching classes to play the game and get better at it. Then, he with the team of five went on to play tournaments organised by schools as well as colleges too. They secured 1st and 2nd positions. “I kept on practicing. We were also offered sponsorship by a gaming café but couldn’t give more time to gaming as my board exams were near. It was a pause to my gaming career,” he continues.
He further says, “Community people think that it is a total waste of time and there is no future in this field. It is just like a normal video game for them and most of them suggest that I should stay away from it as I am now a grown-up boy. But I have seen older people playing such games professionally. They are being paid very well which is better than the payments from some of the recognised companies.”
Divyank looks at the new mode of gaming as a professional career for the youths. He has a vision for that. “As we all know, the pandemic caused a shortage of vacancies in companies, unemployment was introduced to a greater extent in India. With the cancellation of live sports across the globe, sports enthusiasts have been left with no choice but to watch the reruns of old matches on television. But for those, who want a taste of the action and that competitive feeling, online gaming has come to the rescue. eSports is already a burgeoning industry in India and with all social interactions shifting online in the pandemic, there’s been a significant uptick in adoption and traction. For instance, viewership for eSports on Amazon-owned Twitch has increased by 31 per cent in March after the pandemic, while Facebook also took the opportunity to expand its Facebook Gaming App,” says he.
Divyank has been doing research and making analysis for the future of the particular mode of sports and the career prospect in India. He shares such facts to his friends and discusses about them. “The Indian market has turned into a big potential opportunity for eSports startups, thanks to the rise of mobile gaming. Paytm First Games' first eSports tournament, conducted in April 2020 with Clash Royale, saw over 12K registrations and around 70K viewers.”
Divyank has also made a YouTube Gaming Channel ‘foxYYY Gaming’. He says, “I request not to stop your children from playing games. It’s not a bad habit but it’s the future with growing causes like unemployment and termination. When everything was shut down during the pandemic, this was the only career which was rising.”
