The Tragedy of the Commons

The Tragedy of the Commons

The Growing Pains of a New Industry

By Chris Postell

In my life, I partake in a growing and exciting new industry:  The world of E-sports.  E-sports is a term coined that represents competitive and professional video gaming.  It is a realm where players, young or old, can display their skills and dedication on a stage and win worldwide respect, fame, and millions of dollars.  Behind these professional gamers are the organizers behind the events in which players compete.  Those of us who build these stages of competition, whether they be large or small, are known as E-sports organizers.  

Press Start, a 3 day expo. with a $30,000 prize pool.  Over 1,000 gamers attended. 

My role in the E-sports industry centers around the collegiate scene.  I run the E-sports scene at the University of Cincinnati, and over the last four years, I have grown to encapsulate the majority of the state of Ohio and the surrounding region as my 'area of expertise'.  While there exist other organizers who do what I do, many of them fall into a similar camp that I oversee.  If this sounds a bit problematic already, it is and you're absolutely correct.  If you haven't yet begun to pick up on that, allow me to explain why what I just said above is a problem.

Miami Esports at Miami University hosts once-a-semester gaming parties.

The state of Ohio is not a particularly large state, but it is not small either.  Within the collegiate scene, there are over sixteen Universities that have gaming clubs or E-sports programs.  Outside of the college scene, there are dozens of gaming stores, franchises, and even some national brands located here and there throughout. Ohio is not a particularly special state, but rather Ohio finds itself quite average compared to the rest of the country.  However that being said, within Ohio, out of all of those schools and private enterprises, why am I considered a leader within the scene?  Why is it that other people will listen to my directions and opinions when I'm just simply a college student?

Esports Initiative at The Ohio State hosts the largest Super Smash Brothers tournaments in Ohio. 

The answer lies a bit outside the box and is endemic to the industry itself.  The world of E-sports is defined by events, competitions, and people who gather to show off their skills.  However the question that emerges is thus:  How often can you have these events and competitions?  If there are too few, the scene suffers, if there are too many, the scene becomes too spread thin.  You can only host as many events as there is growth and population within the local and regional environment to sustain them.  In Ohio, one can only have a certain number of large events every year, because that is the limit of what people are able to commit to.  Each year, that number grows, but very slowly.  Now if there can only be so many events, but there are so many universities and private practices that are involved and have an interest in E-sports, the question becomes:  Who hosts them, and where? 

However the University of Cincinnati, does the very best out of all of them.  Our events are both casual and competitive, with a heavy emphasis on professionalism. 

This is the Tragedy of the (E-sports) Commons that we live in.  By our nature as organizers, everyone wants to host successful and large scale events.  However the industry only has room for so many a year.  Those who have the most experience hosting events of their nature, people like myself, have developed a brand of trust that gamers respect, and so they will attend my event as opposed to someone else's.  But this means because they are attending my event, someone else's event will fail or suffer as a result.  And because events take a considerable amount of time to plan and organize, that limits how many times people can put forth the risk in hosting events.  This is similar to the example of an employee taking M&M's from an office jar.  An office has only so many Employees, but a greater number of M&M's  - both however, are finite.  The employees represent organizers like myself, and the M&M's are what we all want - the gamers and attendees for our events.  However our stock of M&M's only replenishes periodically, and each employee wants a handful.  If too many people grab at once, then the dish of M&M's disappears entirely and we all have to wait for it to come back.  The alternative is that only a few people eat them, and do it slowly, but that forces the others who want M&M's to the sidelines.  To spell it out in laymans terms, the scene only supports so many events a year.  There are more organizers than there are organizers who can host successful events, so there is heavy competition but ultimately you will see the same people hosting the large events consistently.  This is great for individuals, but also ultimately hampers the long term growth of the scene because the barrier for new entry remains high.  

The budget for Press Start was over $90,000 and was funded entirely out of pocket and through sponsorships.  Talk about a high entry!