Mohammad Abul Faiz has made a number of friends through online gaming. In fact, most gamers in his 50 member-strong clan, Chennai Warriors Gamerz, got to know each other through games like Clash of Clans, each from the comfort of his/her own home. “The only time all of us met and took a photo together was when one of us got married,” he says. But that doesn’t mean the association is a lazy one: Chennai Warriors Gamerz has been going strong for over two years.
Mohammad is now spreading the clan’s network by tapping into the gaming world’s latest rage: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG. Chennai Warriors Gamerz has been holding monthly PUBG tournaments since November 2018 — “We had 48 teams participating in February; this month we are expecting 84”. And they aren’t the only ones: clans, gaming centres and even restaurants in the city are tapping into the craze, using it as an excuse to meet new people and facilitate interactions.
Unlike Chennai Warriors Gamerz, city-based Arknemesis Gaming is bringing players into one fixed venue to play together. Though the game doesn’t require this, they have their reasons.
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“It goes for any game or sport: you can play cricket with your friends in a back alley, and have good fun, but it’s a whole different experience when you have a crowd of people watching your game and cheering you on,” points out Sudarshan S, an administrator at Arknemesis.
Gaming tournaments are not a new concept: they have been around for years, says Sudarshan. But PUBG seems to be really raking in the numbers. Arknemesis’ last PUBG tournament was for the mobile version, and attracted 450 participants in a day.
“We had room for only 100 at a time, so we had to break them up into batches,” he says, “The final 100 — top 20 from each batch — had to come back to the venue in Phoenix MarketCity for a final round the next day.”
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Theories abound about what makes this game so popular, for 13-year-olds and 40-year-olds alike. While Sudarshan appreciates the absence of a rule-restrictive format, Mohammad talks about the in-game voice chat. “I talk with other players in my squad while I’m playing: not only does it improve our game, it’s also a great way to bond,” he says. Other players look forward to the new maps that are updated frequently. And then there’s the relatable quality of the game, adds Sudarshan, “The graphics are realistic, the guns are present-day guns, not futuristic plasma weapons or something set in the past. It’s a game set in the present day.”
Another factor attracting gamers to such tournaments could be the prize money: though it’s not much in most cases, it does add a competitive edge. “I started with ₹5 prizes in November. Now it has gone up to ₹1,000 paid across different categories,” says Mohammad, who pays the amount from his own pocket “for the gaming community”.
While Arknemesis’ tournaments also involve prize money, the resto bar Thirsty Crow has decided to go for a gift hamper instead. Playing up the famous gamers’ victory call, “Winner winner chicken dinner”, the resto bar has also added chicken dinner vouchers for the entire squad in its hamper.