Post-Event: E-Sports and Gaming Summit 2014, big but lacking something

The newest e-sports event in the country, the Electronic Sports & Gaming Summit (ESGS) 2014 held at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City, November 15-16, 2014 had been a huge success but it seems something is lacking.

ESGS 2014 is my first time to be at an event which is not organized specifically by a game publisher. Previously I attended Cherry Con organized by Cherry Credits and then Cubicon organized by Cubizone and experience first hand game specific promotions, events and raffles, this time however, it was a combination of almost everything. It was an exciting, enjoyable and memorable experience all together.

There were lots of game tournaments during the event which I think everyone did enjoy. Dragon Nest by Cherry Credits; Music Man, Age of Kung Fu, Final Combat and Journey to the West by Cubizone; as well as other game titles like DOTA 2, LOL, Strife, Street Fighter, Smash Bros and more.

Game tournaments were also shown at different stages. There is the main stage were finals were done for every game and there is the MPGL stage where Mineski related partner games were held plus the game publisher specific stages like for Cubizone and Strife. At one point it was like a carnival because all of the sounds were happening all at once and they did become inaudible and confusing though I guess that is natural.

Lots of freebies were also available including poster, t-shirt, USB, balled IDs, in game items and more. Plus various publishers have their own gimmicks like the Bingo and K-Pop Dance competition by Cubizone, the Cherry Credits discount and spin-a-wheel by Cherry Credits, and the target shooting and innovative interactive games by Game Club. There were also booths by new game developers and some which I only met this time.

PC Buyers Guide, OLX, Gamex, PLDT, Monster Energy Drink, Razer and MSI are also present at the venue, though at some point I did ask myself what has OLX got to do with gaming and then I realized well you can buy second hand gaming paraphernalia there.

One of the best hosts when it comes to events was also very active at the Cubizone booth and I did manage to have a photo op with her just outside the venue.

Izaiah Luke, Buelos - winner of the Open Floor Cosplay Competition cosplaying as Velzkud

So what's lacking?

Honestly, I do not know exactly what is lacking but I kinda feel it. I do not know if it is just me or others which attended ESGS 2014 also feel the same way.

Here are some of my observations:

There are lots of gamers right but how come the turn out seems to be not that much?
Lots of free spaces which might be intentional or there is really just a few booths?
At some point I do not know what is going on or did I miss the schedule of events and games tarp or poster somewhere in the venue?
Was the screen and stage setup used standard for gaming events?
Are the tournaments live on Twitch?

Some of my apprehensions might be because of the fact that previously big events like this used to be a prelude to who will represent a game to the world e-sports olympics or the World Cyber Games and now that it is technically dead, seems like the excitement also settled down a bit.

Overall the event was well organized and there were no major hangups. It was an exciting and affordable event for gamers. I am hoping though that the next ECGS would be able to fill in the gaps of what might be lacking for ESGS 2014.

I cannot forget the Occulus Beta version present at the event and Ranne was lucky to have tried it. I am eager to try it but since the game is horror-suspense I had my second thought. I wonder how it felt though?

I also manage to get some freebies from Dragon Nest, well I should have since this is my favorite game. I also met my former officemates at GameClub and we had some photo ops. They also gave me cool shirts from Crossfire and Love Beat.