Ian Campbell started playing video games when he was five and now, 23 years later, his passion for esports has taken him across the world — competing against elite players in Canada, Australia, Thailand and Singapore.
Campbell plays in the fighting game division and says some people have used the same character for more than 20 years.
He's currently the best Street Fighter V player in the Northern Territory.
"People take it really seriously nowadays," Campbell said.
"With fighting games, there's a lot of different characters — back in the day there were 8 or 12, now there're 40 players and they all have strengths and weaknesses.
"Some of these characters have been in this game for 20 years and some players have never switched [characters]."
Campbell has been playing in elite competitions for about two years and relishes the sense of community that comes from being part of a league.
"It's the community aspect of it; it's all in good fun, you get to know the people you've played with online and offline," he said.
COVID-19 keeping people at home
With traditional sports shuttered worldwide due to the coronavirus, leagues and competitions from the NBA to Supercars are using online competitions to fill the gap and some game manufacturers have reported downloads have more than doubled.
Campbell wasn't surprised to learn there's been a surge in interest in esports during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It makes a lot of sense," he said.
"The people that are into sports and video games … sometimes cross over, so it's not surprising that people will want to do that; people are looking to stay busy while they are at home."
He said COVID-19 travel restrictions also meant elite international esports competitions would not be able to go ahead as originally planned.
"I'll miss travelling, the whole community is feeling it, feeling heartbroken," he said.
"It'll still be a lot of the same people competing, but you might see more people signing up, but because it's online [not at an international venue] people won't take it as seriously.
"It will never have the same vibe and production value."
Still, Campbell said he was thankful he could still take part in competitions — whatever form they would be in — as people across the world continued to self-isolate.
The Darwin esports scene
Dave "ScrubPheonix" Moore runs Next Tier Esports, the Northern Territory's first dedicated esports organisation.
With the 2020 league scheduled to start in the first week of May, Moore said there was already a lot of interest — with lots of new players reaching out.
But COVID-19 will change the way this season operates, Moore said, forcing the small Darwin-based league to cancel the venues it had booked for events.
"It has basically meant that we've had to go fully online with our gaming," he said.
Moore is encouraging Territorians of all ages to give electronic gaming a go as a way to keep their minds sharp and connect with other people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"If you do play the game, and enjoy playing it, it adds an extra level," he said.
"We want to encourage spectators, so even if people don't want to get involved as a player, they can just watch and get amongst it."
