Gaming is becoming an amazing global phenomenon, and not just because Pokemon Go was introduced very recently. Spil Games (2013) estimates that there have been 1.2 billion people playing games worldwide as early as 2013 – that’s 44% of the world’s online population! It’s probably a safe bet to say that this trend is only likely to continue, especially as more and more people expose their children and the people around them to the wonders of gaming.
Ever since our friends at Gamer Malaya started our Featured Gamer of the Week series, we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing multiple gamers who started their love for gaming as a little child. Many expressed how their family or friends helped influence them to pick up gaming, and Jason “JhayShawn” Boyd is no stranger to that situation.
“Well, back when I was a young kid – about 5 years old I think? – my father exposed me to Warcraft: Frozen Throne. I started completing the campaign by myself and sometimes had to use cheats when it was hard,” the young gamer from Tambunan related laughingly. “Since then, gaming has been a part of my life, as when I play the game, it’s as if I’m inside the game and my life revolves around it.”
Like many others on Fundeavour, JhayShawn is an avid gamer who likes to play competitive games, mostly First Person Shooters (FPS) and Adventure-Action-Open World games. However, while he is also a competitive gamer who enjoys the pleasure of winning, JhayShawn also creates Youtube content in his spare time. As he suggests, Googling “JhayShawn” and combining it with the keyword “Unturned” will most likely turn up search results of him and his competitive playstyle within the game. (Editor’s note: You can also locate him by going to Fundeavour’s Gamer Search function!)
“The dream is simple for me,” he says, “I want to get lucky to get a good team, get lucky to find a local tournament, get lucky for my parents to agree (for me to join), and get lucky for me to win.” When quizzed about why he mentioned the word “lucky” multiple times, he explained that luck helps a lot in exposing normal gamers to bigger tournaments, bigger names and bigger brands.
“Even if it’s superstitious, as a gamer I believe in such a thing,” he adds, suggesting that gamers can ‘increase’ this luck by befriending people and interacting often with a particular community. “You never know if someone will talk about you to a huge sponsor team or brand.”
“Even if it’s superstitious, as a gamer I believe in (getting lucky). You never know if someone will talk about you to a huge sponsor team or brand.”
Meanwhile, his passion for participating in tournaments is reflected in his desire to make his parents proud. “Winning a tournament with a decent prize pool will prove to my parents that my hours and hours of (playing) CS:GO was worth it,” he states, adding that while this could be a potential path of success for him in his life, he might just prefer Youtubing more.
However, like his fellow gamers, there are multiple challenges he thinks we need to overcome. Key amongst all of them is the need for support.
“We gamers in Sabah, Malaysia, are often called slackers and lazy people due to the hours we spend on gaming,” Jason admits matter-of-factly. “The local people don’t know that the “gaming industry” has tournaments, so they mostly say that gaming just ‘eats up’ all our money – without knowing that winning a tournament is one way for us to get some of that money back.”
According to him, money continues to be a key influence in sustaining interest in gaming, and this might be necessary to change the mindsets of the public and what they think about gaming. “In this modern era, money talks,” he explains. “Having brand support is the number one influence on how people treat gaming, and these brands are sometimes viewed as expensive or premium, which gets people attracted.”
Brands can also play a huge role in helping to promote tournaments and eSports to a wider audience –here, JhayShawn suggests Astro’s eGG 24/7 eSports channel as a good example.
Lastly, JhayShawn tells us some words of advice on how competitive gamers can stay focused on their game instead of getting caught up in toxic behaviour:
“The more we speak, the more we cuss, the more we hate – this will just worsen things. Instead, just show them your true potential in the game; they’ll eventually pick up on it and maybe even be better gamers themselves.”
Word.
You can follow JhayShawn on social media here:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JhayShawn
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgY7kBBKTgoTl4jvjz7YQWw
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JhayShawnBoed
Fundeavour: https://fundeavour.com/JhayShawn
This feature was written as part of a partnership with Fundeavour, a site that helps out aspiring gamers around the world to get a head start on beginning their journey as content creators, streamers and eSports players. Want to be featured and share your stories with over 20,000 readers? Check out more info here or sign up with Fundeavour.com!