By ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
THE PROVINCIAL government of Negros Occidental nailed another milestone. This time, for the Generation Alpha’s (GenA, those born on 2010 and beyond) sake.
It’s the first-ever Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (ML Bang Bang) Tournament during the Panaad sa Negros Festival on April 17-23.
Well, I have to admit I’m not familiar with this ML Bang Bang. Reality bites: Parents nowadays find difficulty disciplining their kids because of cellphones, among other modern gadgets. More so with this ML Bang Bang. What are the “essences” behind it?
I spent time sitting with Tina Orbecido, vocational school administrator of Negros Occidental Language and Information Technology Center (NOLITC).
NOLITC in tandem with AcadaArena Tehchnologies and Rektikano Esports League, organized ML Bang Bang Tournament. And because I am not a digital native, I demanded from Tina a vivid explanation with lots of “hows” and “whys”.
“Convince me that ML Bang Bang is good for kids,” I asked her.
In a smooth narrative, Tina presented facts and figures that, uh-oh, really shocked me.
NOT JUST FOR PLAY
Tina said ML Bang Bang ain’t just for play.
“Rather, kids are empowered to lead, strategize and be creative in school,” she emphasized.
With ML Bang Bang, careers are in the offing, too, she added.
These include sportscasting, event organizing, and marketing, among others.
Really?
In fact, Tina further said, ML Bang Bang is now part of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) campaign: esports.
“Why not leverage on the positive side rather than focus on stigma,” she told me.
Then she enumerated the soft and hard skills to be learned, developed and applied by ML Bang Bang fanatics. Among the soft skills are curiosity, growth mindset, problem solving, and work ethics.
They can be applied in team work, conflict resolution, strategy thinking, and can be beneficial to work under pressure, Tina said.
The hard skills, on the other hand, involve organizing events, design and production, player development and marketing.
EMPOWERING STUDENTS
To a greater extent, Tina confessed that the goal of the ML Bang Bang derby was to empower students by allowing them to collaborate, learn and develop important skills needed with the growing esports industry across the globe.
“Because there’s science in every ML Bang Bang game,” Tina pointed out.
Why? I asked again.
She answered: “Because in ML Bang Bang, there are explained motion, distance and Physics.”
And these are the reasons, Tina said, why they have overwhelming entries. There were 360 teams composed of 1,800 players from 100 schools.
And the beauty is, there’s equal playing field – college and high school students were free to battle.
This year’s champion was the Ethereal Synergy of Silay Institute with their lead player AJ “AZZYYY” Celestial hailed as the final Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Unfazed Instinct of STI West Negros University, Mistique of Northern Negros Stage College of Science and Technology (NONESCOST) and NOHS T1 of Negros Occidental High School were first, second and third runners-up, respectively.
Meanwhile, Tina said NOLITC aims to create gaming hub per school in the entire province, and an esports center at their soon-to-be completed NOLITC Global Campus in Talisay City.
NOLITC, Tina verbalized, envisions to erase the stigma, particularly the negative connotation, about ML Bang Bang, among other e-games that they’re bad for kids.
“We’ll see to it that it’s taboo no more,” she said.
“Again, ML Bang Bang is more than just play. There are underlying reasons behind it – beautiful reasons, perhaps,” she added.
MILLION-DOLLAR RAKER
Esports is still an emerging industry. But it’s a million-dollar raker in some Asian countries, including Philippines.
Data from AcadArena revealed, in 2022, Global Esports revenue summed up to $1.42 billion.
Indonesia topped with $8.36M, Singapore’s next with $7.16M, then Philippines in the third spot with $6.16M, followed by Myanmar with $4.64M, Thailand with $5.94M, and Vietnam with $5.20M.
Esports’ revenue, said AcadArena, can be attained via media rights, merchandise and ticketing, publisher fees, sponsorship and advertising and streaming.
In sum, with Tina’s garish explanation-slash-elaboration plus AcadArena report, I can say that there’s justice in what amazon.com is loudly advocating: “Video games don’t cause violence, lag does.”
But I do remember and get inspired by what the late Steve Jobs said: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Such has a valuable connect to this ML Bang Bang derby. Yes, bad for others, but good for those who love it. No can ever question someone’s passion. It’s up to him or her how he or she makes such passion “great” someday.
And in the era of digitalization, we have no choice but to adopt and adapt “sa anumang agos ng panahon.”/PN
